Info about "chinese" steadycam

[Marius Tatarasanu]

So I was browsing the internet and I saw a review about this particular type of stabilizers:
Carbon Fibre Steadicam Video Support Stabilizer Rig Load Vest Arm Support 7KG | eBay
or
Load Vest Steady Rig Stabilizer Rig Double Arm Stabilizer Camera Video Support | eBay
The prices vary from 500 to 900 dollars, but it seems to be the same build
Is it any good? The reviewer I say said it was decent for its price, but to be fair it is a very low price so the expectations arent great
I saw a video (from the producer, I guess) of its assembly, and it seemed pretty well built, also some fairly decent shots.

Has anybody here ever bought something like this? For my budget it seems good, but I dont want to throw my money away, I can't put my faith in these no-names just from a video or low price, so, any thoughts?

[Warren Kawamoto]

I saw the actual products last year at NAB. My first impression was that of surprise at how well it seemed to be built. I have a Steadicam Flyer, so I had a point of reference. However, looks can be deceiving. Just because it has metal and carbon fiber doesn't mean it's rock solid. I'm wary of Chinese products. As an example, I have a Chinese band saw built of solid cast iron. When I shipped it, however, some of the "solid" parts broke. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that the "solid" iron looked like it was made of compressed metal powder inside! Be careful of Chinese products. Some may be ok, but most are probably not. You know what? I just realized that Steadicam contracts a Chinese company to make their products! My Flyer says "made in China" on it. I'm sure the Pilot says that too.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/stabiliz...tabilizer.html

[Marius Tatarasanu]

A lot of modern hitech equipment is made in China due to economic reasons and I read an article once about chinese factories that during the day made products for famous companies and during the night, using the same equipment, made clones. Being ”no-names” there is no guarantee for quality and some elements might be missing due to patents, but I'm thinking that if they profit from selling these stabilizers for 500$ what kind of technology goes in those that cost 5000-10000$ that justifies that price?
Is it all technology or is it brand-crazyness?

[Noa Put]

The reviewer I say said it was decent for its price

Trust me, for steadicam "decent" isn't good enough, it has to be absolutely right in used materials and how it has been machined or put together which in both cases has to be high quality.

I bought a Indian cheap second hand steadicam once from cinecity, no vest or arm, just the stabilizer and it was a piece of crap, then I got the Blackbird which was 3 times more expensive and it works 10x better and with much higher quality parts, here you definitely get what you pay for. I wouldn't even touch these no name stabilizers with a stick.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Noa

Cinecity was poor quality in the beginning and some products do have faults but overall you can still get a decent end result if you are handy with tools. I have had my Flcam 5500 now for 3 years (it only emerged for a short while due to copyright issues) The overall construction was pretty good but I had to do several mods on the sled and arm to get it working really well and it now is excellent...It's aa close to a real Flyer than most and balances very well and cost me under $1500 and works at every wedding too!!

The Chinese one will be much the same too ... it won't be perfect but it can easily be made quite useable with a little bit of DIY work and save a heap of money...due to economic reasons we had better get used to having "Made in China" on our products. My Sony cam is made in Japan as are my Panasonics but plenty of the modules/casing etc etc will come from China

Chris

[Noa Put]

Well, all demo video's or video's from users I have seen so far using the Indian steadicam don't look good to me as they wobble all over the place, it can ofcourse be up to an inexperienced user but I can find a lot more very fluid movements done on the more known brands.

[Sean Seah]

Marius, I tested the sled before. Actually it is pretty good quality but the stage is too small and i had issues balancing a DSLR. I am now testing another Glidecam rip off from Beijing called the Wieldy. Its built pretty well but the gimbal is not very smooth from initial testing. I have to do more work to find out.

[Kris Pyland]

If you're looking at Flying a DSLR, and want a handheld camera stabilizer, check out the SteddiePod.
Had a GC 4000, took too long to balance. Borrowed a Merlin, couldn't get it balanced either.

Borrowed (then ended up buying) a SteddiePod. Took a bit to balance, but much easier compared to other systems. I like the multi function aspect of it, and due to the design, shots are good OOb, and getting better as I use it.

No weights to adjust on the bottom, but it is limited to cameras 6lbs and under.

[Andrew Dean]

I bought the wieldy iron triangle with 7kg arm and vest. The build quality is very good. There were a couple adjustments to the angle of the springs (just twisting them around by hand) that needed to be done and I ended up doing a light oiling of all the bearings. After that, all the shortcomings i can see are the result of lack of experience and training. If you aren't already an experienced steadicam operator it is very hard to figure out where the line is between the hardware's shortcomings and your own.