Blackbird Stabilizer Videos

[Paul Wags]

Hi, thought I would share what I have been doing with the Blackbird stabilizer over the last couple years.
I also now have a Glidecam HD 2000.
Each are better at different things, depends on what you are using them for.
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[Noa Put]

I have a blackbird and I"m very satisfied with it, it has good pan and tilt controll with heavier camera's but with very light setup's, like a 550d with a rokinon 14mm lens it's more difficult to control movement and it tends to sway sideways if I am circling an object too fast which is not the case with a heavy camera.

What do you think the hd2000 does better then the blackbird and at what is the blackbird better at?

[Trevor Dennis]

Paul, from what we've been seeing about Queensland on our TV news over the last few days, I hope that stabilizer is water-proof. ;-)

[Paul Wags]

Hi Noa

Yes the more weight the more stable they are but then harder to fly for long periods hand held
Flying the DSLR on the Blackbird I have added extra weight to keep it smoother.

Blackbird is fast and easy to set up, very precise and I can keep x and y pretty good unless the wind gets to me outside. Perfect to use inside but when on the Merlin vest you have to be very careful how you walk. It's also hard to run with and keep under control.

Glidecam is longer to set up and harder to keep x and y perfect but handles the wind better and you can run with it and make sudden changes in directions. Weight it up on the Merlin vest and its great outside and you can just walk normal with out any probs.

My first choice will always be the Blackbird handheld where precise slow perfect x and y is needed and the Glidecam on the Merlin vest for more fast outdoor long action shots. There is no way i could hand fly the Glidecam for any length of time with the amount of weight I got on it :-)

EDIT: Trevor I am in Cairns so all is well up here, been having stunning weather. Cheers...

[Noa Put]

Thx paul for the explanation, recently I flew the blackbird with my Sony nex ea50 and had much more controll over movements, especially tilting, but then again it also was very heavy to handhold for longer periods, I agree the blackbird is very fast to setup and get running with it, that's what I like so much about it at weddings because time can be limited. With my 550d I can use it without much issue for longer periods but because the inertia in movements is much less then with a heavy camera and more wheights I have to controll it much more delicately.

[Paul Wags]

Hey Noa I see you have the 50, are you happy with it? I'm looking at the little VG30 with the new Sony 10-18mm lens on. Is it okay in low light?

I find the Blackbird is also easier to fly longer as your hand is directly underneath the weight where with the Glidecam you are hanging onto it from the side, so places more pressure on your arm. Looks like I got to adjust the Glidecams bearing some as its out of wack slightly.

It did a little wedding with the Blackbird on the vest, you have to be careful as to how you step as it can can transfer through to the camera for some reason.. Steadicam Wedding Photo Shoot Cairns Queensland - YouTube

[Noa Put]

So far I like the EA50, it's not perfect but for the price you get a lot, the lowlight performance is a little bit better then my canon 550d and the ea50 also has a sharper image. It does show moire and aliasing but a bit less then my dslr as well. So imagewise it is a better camera then my 550d.

Yes, the handle of the blackbird is better placed for handheld use, I have a old glidecam from India, some kind of glidecam 2000 lookalike which is the biggest piece of crap I ever got, I bought it very cheap second hand and it puts quite a lot of strain on your wrists due to the placement of the handle.

[Paul Wags]

Mmm maybe I should go the 50 too instead of the VG30. Has the LCD viewfinder got a adjustable diopter in it

I just thought the VG30 would be better to fly hand held. Any chance of posting a pic of the 50 sitting on the Blackbird? Did you have a wide angle for it when flying. Cheers.

[Noa Put]

The steadicam shots in my "casino" video where done with the ea50 and a 14mm lens on the blackbird, see below at 00:17 and 01:30:
There is a adjustable diopter in the long viewfinder loupe but you have to consider it's a much bigger camera then the vg30 but it's not a very heavy camera, I did have to use 3 big weights on each side of the blackbird to balance it. I"ll try to post a pic next week, I"m filming a glass museum this monday and will be bringing the blackbird with me.

Casino on Vimeo

[Paul Wags]

Hey Noa, looks great mate well done... thanks for that.

Yep time to move on from these H.264 compression banding DSLR's me thinks.

So with that Samyang 14 mm lens, looks like you can have auto focus too on the fly?

Yes a pic would be great when you can, thanks.

[Derran Rootring]

Love your stabilizer work Paul, thanks for posting!