Running video to a bottom mounted LCD on a Glidecam
 

Hey, I searched all over for this and coundn't find anything... so...

What's the best way to get a video signal to the bottom of a Glidecam 4000 Pro sled? I seems to me it might be best to drill a hole in the top and bottom of the center post and run it through the there...

Anyone...

Also, I'm asumming you can drop some weight on the front of the sled once the LCD is there, right? I've got it balanced and stuff with my XL1s, just don't have the monitor on. I can't imagine adding too much more weight, so I was just planning on taking a few of the washers off the front...

Kevin:

I'm not a Glidecam expert per se, but...

yes and yes.

Kevin,

I just did that with my sled which is similar to the Glidecam. In my case, I had to take all the weights off the front as I hooked the battery to the back of the monitor and mounted in on the front. I then had to add a bit more weight to the back to equalize it.

I had to do this as my battery cable is so short that I couldn't mount the battery on the rear of the bottom plate. I suppose I will make a longer cable so I can put the monitor on the front and the battery on the back.

I did notice that with the extra weight, my sled was a bit more stable but I do have an arm and vest to support it so a bit more weight is OK.


Charles,

How's your ankle? Remodel? Video?

Tery

Terry:

Healing slowly. Endless. Once I'm mobile again.

..but thanks for asking!

Hi Charles,

Sorry to hear your injury. Wish you recover soon.

Regards
Leigh

thanks...she's a beaut. Itching to get back to work again.

Hope you can get all done that you want to.

Tery

Which LCD monitor and battery are you guys using?

I'm using a modified Panasonic 7" widescreeen LCD. It has a mount on the back of it to run off the same batteries as my XL1s.

I got it from a company called Nebtek.

Nebtec NEB50 5" (looks great in full sunshine) with the Panasonic Li-Ion battery adaptor. The battery is the stock one (1600 mAh) that comes with the camera. I bought the 5000 mAh battery for my DVX-100a off of dvxuser.com because of the extra shooting time if allows. A great value!

Tery

By all means, drill a hole...just make sure you carefully deburr it and file the cut edges down (or use a rubber grommet) so that your cable doesn't catch on the edge and wear down over time.

I recently attached this monitor w/battery pack to the bottom of my Glidecam 2000 Pro (I use a Sony VX1000):

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

It's now pretty heavy, but my optional forearm brace helps. I think I'll need to purchase a Glidecam Smooth Shooter system when I can afford it to sustain longer tracking shots without wearing down my arm.

I screwed a hole on one end of the included "table" mount (came with the LCD) and placed the screw through it (I used the G2K screw). I then used one strip of velcro to secure the other end of the table mount. I then used two strips of velcro to secure the battery pack on the opposite side and attached G2K discs to balance the weight. It worked perfectly for me.

Some pics:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...red/G2K003.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...red/G2K002.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...red/G2K001.jpg

Armin:

I see that you have a very short cable between battery and monitor, but you still could rotate the battery 90 degrees, which would probably eliminate the need for the two weight disks (every little bit helps) as you are redistributing the battery's weight further back.

An even more useful project for down the road would be to mount both the monitor and the battery further apart, extended off the front and back respectively. This will give you an amazing amount of added inertia which will make a significant difference in keeping the rig steady, while not affecting the overall weight significantly (outside of whatever plate you need to use to achieve the mounting). This may also help with glare on the monitor as you may be able to set it less horizontally.

If you are now finding that the system is bottom heavy, one solution is to move the monitor up closer to the camera, which will also help with the tilt issue.

I took your advice Charles and it worked. It's now lighter and was still easy for me to balance. Thanks!

Glad it worked out...!

Another step to reduce weight would be to power the camera off your battery at the bottom, but this would require a voltage converter such as this one which may possibly weigh as much as your GL2 battery...!