Pilotfly H2 Gimbal

[Craig Seeman]

Slavik, how to you find it handling vertical bounce from walking/running with the cameras you've tested?
I've seen widely varying examples including some impressive running footage and others that practically look like it's on a pogo stick (ugh).

[Noa Put]

The gimbal doesn't remove vertical bounce, if it's too obvious then a wrong walking technique was used.

[Slavik Boyechko]

With such a lightweight gimbal and lightweight cameras, you're bound to see more up and down walking motion than heavier rigs.

The advantage of this one, so far, is that it's very small and super user friendly, simple to balance, doesn't wobble even if you point it directly up at some trees or down at your feet, has encoders so if the horizon is out of balance you can simply hold it in the right position for a couple seconds and it'll reset (has been very helpful in a car). There are a few different modes, but one really nice one is mode 3 which keeps left/right pan locked straightaway (you can adjust it with the built in joystick), so super straight slider-like shots or up and down jib-like shots are easy to achieve. Also the two handles are a must, I think, for extended shooting, but it's nice to switch to one handed for low-profile shooting on the streets. I like to flip it upside down so it looks like I'm just carrying a camera down alongside my legs, but can actually be shooting.

One thing I've already learned is you have to get a separate battery charger for the Li-Ion batteries in the two-handle accessory. I found one on Amazon for about $20 that is supposed to automatically detect the special Li-Ion charge requirements.

[Craig Seeman]

Although in my very post on the this thread, the walking/running video is unusually smooth.

In my next post there are two videos and in the second video do note his walking technique examples. Apparently the angle of the handle can help to some extent see 2:54 on. Unfortunately the forum doesn't resolve the time link so you'll have to shuttle to that point. It's almost as if at that angle the arms take on some of the role of a "4th axis." Notice his walking shots about a minute later. Alas it's really just a walking technique but, none the less, interesting.

YouTube (Short URL)

[Slavik Boyechko]

The Newsshooter first look/review is forthcoming. In the meantime, here's a video showing a variety of XC10 footage on the Pilotfly:

Pilotfly H2 - Canon XC10 demo on Vimeo

The music is pretty dramatic, eh?

I did a few tests down my driveway and found little difference in up-and-down motion between walking with the camera sitting below the gimbal, versus having it sit above at an angle, like the review video shows. I ended up leaving it in the above mode just because the XC10's screen is easier to see, and you can have the camera up closer to the eye line.

At any rate, shooting in 4k and applying a very small amount of stabilization does a good job of removing slight up and down motion, though you still want to walk lightly. The H2's Mode 3 helps in that it locks both the pan and tilt movement, making it a lot easier to do a very straight walk forward or backward.

[Dan Brockett]

Very nice test clip. Thanks for posting that, Oregon is beautiful.

[Slavik Boyechko]

Thanks Dan. The first part is Anchorage, Alaska, which this time of year is not as pretty as the Oregon coast. :-)

[Mark OConnell]

That's looking good!

[Mike Paterson]

Hi Slavik - I'm thinking about the same pairing of H2 + XC10. Does the combination work well for you? Did you have any trouble balancing the camera or have to do much tweaking with the settings on the H2? Also, how well do you find the autofocus on the XC10 performs while on the gimbal? Any other issues/advice for this combination?

[Buba Kastorski]

I an very impressed with the product! Great built quality, easy to balance, very long battery life plus5 different modes of operation and the 'home' position is very handy. While i am waiting for DXmkii, I tried it with caged a6300 - amazing.

[Slavik Boyechko]

Hi Mike - I emailed you back. Cheers -

Originally Posted by Mike Paterson

Hi Slavik - I'm thinking about the same pairing of H2 + XC10. Does the combination work well for you? Did you have any trouble balancing the camera or have to do much tweaking with the settings on the H2? Also, how well do you find the autofocus on the XC10 performs while on the gimbal? Any other issues/advice for this combination?

[Mark OConnell]

Has anybody heard anything about when these are expected to be more available?

[Buba Kastorski]

it's in stock @ B&H now