So i finished my stabilizer (steady style) - problem

[Patrick Jenkins]

(it's Like a steadycam flyer (arm, harness, sled, etc etc))

I'm practicing with it and I'm noticing that I'm getting a terrible vertigo(?)/queesy/noxious feeling when moving and watching the screen. I'm trying both the on camera LCD as well as a stand alone (7") LCD on the base of the thing, and it's both the same either way.

I've heard of things like this (your body thinks your moving while you're not - or inverse) with people who play 3d games or walking/running on a treadmill, but I've never had these problems before. I've never had a problem with the screen before.. eyecup.. you name it.

Does this happen to anybody else? Is this something I'll get used to? Very weird, I've never felt 'it' before. It's almost like your mind is saying your losing your balance but your body and muscles are solid.

[Patrick King]

Patrick,

What you are experiencing is called "Relative Motion Illusion" and contrary to what some of my friends on this community think, it has nothing to do with my cousin on a swing at the family reunion.

Relative Motion Illusion is pretty common. Have you ever been stopped at a stop light and looked at the car next to you just kind of day dreaming, and then the light turned green and the car took off and you thought you were rolling backwards? That's Relative Motion Illusion.

When you are looking at the monitor and swinging the cam to the right, you are seeing the scenery move in the opposite direction. During flight training, we tell the student to 'focus on your instruments' and 'trust your instruments' because you can't be both 'outside' and 'inside' (inside/outside means whether you are flying visuallly referring to inside flight instruments while in the clouds, or referring to outside landmarks on the ground).

So to overcome this, try and limit your vision to just the monitor. Wear a cap with a really large bill and curve it tightly so that it blocks out as much as possible when viewing the monitor. Create a french flag for your cap if necessary, like horse blinders. Try to look like Tiger Woods when he is lining up a putt.

If this doesn't cure it, you might just have loose rocks in your head...literally. In your inner ear are small rocks that lay on fluid covered hairs in your ear canal. When you tilt your head, the movement of these rocks across the hair is transmitted to the brain and that is what the brain uses to interpret where you are in relation to the earth (which way is up). Flight accelerations confuse this organ sometimes but I don't think you can sprint fast enough to confuse it, especially while maneuvering a video sled. But sometimes your rocks can come loose (displaced really). Had it happen once and it was a cheap drunk for about three weeks. Flight Surgeon had me doing head tilt exercises every hour; simply tilted my head as far forward then back the left shoulder then right and repeat about 5 times. Finally latched up and got back on flight status. Probably not what you're experiencing unless you feel some dizziness symptoms even when you're not filming. Doc wasn't amused when I asked if Tequila would make me walk straight since it seemed to make be walk crooked before my rocks were loose. No sense of humor.

[Patrick Jenkins]

I've gotten a lot of work with the stabilizer over this weekend and it's going much better than when I first tested it. Whatever was going on has been pretty specific to that day (I also had the beginnings of a sinus headache when I was trying it - maybe that was hurting things). No problems since.


Thanks!