Aaron Winters
March 7th, 2008, 09:38 PM
Just got my Indicam yesterday (the 6th) from Terry over at www.Indicam.com and thought I'd share some initial impressions. For reference I've never touched a steadycam system before.
First of all Terry was very easy to work with. He clearly stands behind his product and is proud of it, he should be.
The Indicam came within the week of payment. I chose the system with the dual upgraded arm (the 214 if you're on their website). Picked up the discreet vest, the high shot, and the Stabilizer Basics DVD. All of it arrived gently packed inside the backpack that is part of the vest system. Taking out the arms and vest it's easily seen that the gear is meant for the field. The arms are very sturdy as is the entire system. The vest is simple and straight forward, as well as being padded where necessary. The arms came with multiple springs for different setups. As my 2nd day owning it, I think I've tried all spring combinations just to see what happens, very easy to change things around.
The sled is pretty easy to setup. Balancing for the first time took about 25 minutes. It's all very smooth, and changing things on the sled is as easy as anything else. The linear gimbal is fun to play with, something about spinning the camera in front of me still delights.
Now I decided to put everything together last night at a local theater and play around. I had NOT watched the Stabilizer Basics DVD yet due to time constraints. Once I put the sled and arm on the vest, it was a humorous 10 minutes. I tried to find my "center of balance" first through small movements. Evidently small movements = whacking myself in face. My hands were always on or just a touch away from the sled, but it was definitely a new experience. Once the basic physics were figured out, we have this link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcc8yCT2Xu0
The link leads to my first footage with it. I really wanted to take that footage so in a week, then a month, then hopefully a year, I can compare how far my skill level with the system has gone.
Once home I watched the Stabilizer Basics DVD, it's a huge help and worth every penny. And today playing around with the Indicam was a lot smoother and more comfortable. To reiterate what everyone says, practice does help.
Overall I'm extremely satisfied with my Indicam. It's already led to some contacts for business interested in what it can do for video footage. And thanks to Terry for his help thus far, and for putting bloopers on the DVD.
First of all Terry was very easy to work with. He clearly stands behind his product and is proud of it, he should be.
The Indicam came within the week of payment. I chose the system with the dual upgraded arm (the 214 if you're on their website). Picked up the discreet vest, the high shot, and the Stabilizer Basics DVD. All of it arrived gently packed inside the backpack that is part of the vest system. Taking out the arms and vest it's easily seen that the gear is meant for the field. The arms are very sturdy as is the entire system. The vest is simple and straight forward, as well as being padded where necessary. The arms came with multiple springs for different setups. As my 2nd day owning it, I think I've tried all spring combinations just to see what happens, very easy to change things around.
The sled is pretty easy to setup. Balancing for the first time took about 25 minutes. It's all very smooth, and changing things on the sled is as easy as anything else. The linear gimbal is fun to play with, something about spinning the camera in front of me still delights.
Now I decided to put everything together last night at a local theater and play around. I had NOT watched the Stabilizer Basics DVD yet due to time constraints. Once I put the sled and arm on the vest, it was a humorous 10 minutes. I tried to find my "center of balance" first through small movements. Evidently small movements = whacking myself in face. My hands were always on or just a touch away from the sled, but it was definitely a new experience. Once the basic physics were figured out, we have this link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcc8yCT2Xu0
The link leads to my first footage with it. I really wanted to take that footage so in a week, then a month, then hopefully a year, I can compare how far my skill level with the system has gone.
Once home I watched the Stabilizer Basics DVD, it's a huge help and worth every penny. And today playing around with the Indicam was a lot smoother and more comfortable. To reiterate what everyone says, practice does help.
Overall I'm extremely satisfied with my Indicam. It's already led to some contacts for business interested in what it can do for video footage. And thanks to Terry for his help thus far, and for putting bloopers on the DVD.