Monitor For Glidecam 4000

[Vishad Dewan]

I'm looking for a way to mount a small monitor to the Glidecam 4000 Pro. I have to monitors: a small 2.5" and a 7" I'd like to use. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get a mount that actually works well with the rig. Does anyone have suggestions? I'd like to mount the 7" on the base of the 4000 Pro and be able to swivel and pan it, if possible; the far more expensive rigs out there have monitor mounts, and I'd like to use something similar.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Vince Lucena]

Although I have only been researching the Glidecam4000, I saw this video of a guy who shoots while riding a unicycle. At the begining of the movie he shows that he mounted a display to the 4000. Perhaps you can contact him for more info..

http://balanceproductions.ca/videos/glidecamDemo.wmv

[Afton Grant]

Something like this would work well for mounting a monitor:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ad_Medium.html

I would suggest finding a happy medium in your monitor size. If not, I might prefer the 2.5 vs. the 7. A 7in monitor on a handheld rig is enormous. 4" would probably be just right.

[Charles Papert]

The nice thing about this is that you can eliminate the front weights by adding a monitor, so you haven't increased the payload any (assuming you pick a monitor that doesn't weigh more than same). And of course you will now need to replace the rear weights with a battery that can power the monitor. If you find a monitor that has a snap-on battery plate on the back, get yourself an extension cable/cradle affair so you can relocate the battery to the rear of the rig. You might even be able to power your camera from this, via a Y extension cable that runs up to the top stage (probably easier to have it travel up the front rather than the rear, to avoid collision with your arm). With a handheld rig, every ounce of extra weight counts--carrying two batteries is a bit of a waste.

[Vishad Dewan]

Ah, yes. The product at B&H might work well. I have something very similar to that, but it's an accessory shoe adapter on the bottom, not a hole for a screw. But $30 for something like this is way to steep a price for a 2" piece of metal with a swivel head. There's got to be something more practical.

[Charles Papert]

$30 is way too steep for a plug-and-play, 2-axis swivelling monitor mount with the currect size threads on both ends???!!! oh boy.

[Vishad Dewan]

Uhh, yes, Charles, it is. You may or may not recognize this, but paying $30 for an item you could cobble together over the weekend with parts from Home Depot isn't worth it. Furthermore, these particular items are extremely unstable with bigger and heavier monitors, anything over 5" will turn out unbalanced and a problem to mount.

[Tom Wills]

I'm agreeing with Charles here. I doubt you could get a real, good performing ball head from parts at Home Depot and spend less than $30. $30 isn't a bad price for a ball head at all, but if you insist on a cheaper price, I saw one at B&H for $10.99. Also, I personally use a 7" monitor with a ball head, and I find no problems and no instability.

[Vishad Dewan]

Tom, not all ball heads are made equal. Plus, the tightening mechanism has to be strong enough to secure a large monitor without it getting lose. I also have a ball swivel head adapter and put it onto my rig; it just didn't work very well. I'm speaking from experience. Maybe you purchased a better item than I did, but the fact remains that these adapters are trustworthy. Period. No offense intended, by the way.

[Tom Wills]

Just looking through B&H, apparently there are multiple designs of these. I use one where the ball is between two parts which then clamp around both it and a "base", locking the parts all together. My ballhead is a Panavise model, so maybe you should look at them, or this one on B&H which appears to be of a similar design: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._Ballhead.html Possibly yours was of a different design type, and wasn't up to the task of supporting a monitor.

Oh, and no offense taken.

[Vishad Dewan]

Yeah, mine was from a different manufacturer. But it still has a three-point secure system where I can tighten the monitor into the adapter, adjust the pivot and role, and the horizontal movement. I guess it's just made from cheap material. I'll take a look at your recommendations. Thanks.

[Charles Papert]

There are many ballhead adaptors in use on film sets with onboard monitors; personally I've always had issue with them because they are two-handed devices (you need to stabilize the monitor with one hand while you loosen and tighten the ball during the adjustment). However this design is more than strong enough to support a monitor of this size, in fact the Transvideo type monitors in use on film sets are quite a bit heavier than the consumer plastic case versions. In recent years these have largely been replaced by Noga-type arms because of their enhanced flexibility of monitor placement, but they still suffer from the two-handed adjustment curse. Still though, there are plenty of ball and socket mounts working out their in the field. So Vishad, if you are suggesting that ball and socket mounts are never trustworthy (I think you were missing the negative from your statement?), that is not the case as they were an industry staple for years.

While there is often a need to pan and tilt a monitor, there is virtually never a need to adjust the roll axis, and again this is why I'm not a fan of either of the above systems for monitor mounting. I have had several LCD's modified with yoke mechanisms that incorporate tension washers so that they can be adjusted in pan and tilt with one hand, sometimes even during the shot (booming through the complete range of tilt will often cause the LCD to "reverse out" from the operator's perspective because of the limited vertical viewing angle). The other advantage of a yoke is that assuming it is properly built, it will pivot through the monitor's center of gravity and thus not require a rebalance after adjustment.

Anyway, that type of setup will cost significantly more than $30 if you are not a machinist yourself...! But as far as cobbling a Home Depot version together for less, I'm not familiar with their stock but it does frankly surprise me that they can provide a locking ball and socket assembly that terminates in a 1/4-20 screw for direct mating to the monitor (1/4-20 is standard for the still and small-format video world, but fairly exotic as far as household items go).

[Charles Papert]

Here are a couple of old pix I found where I was testing the absolute lightest my full-size rig could be built into, for DV cameras. My 5" LCD (since replaced with newer version) that I used for running shots or as a backup to the green screen is shown here with custom yoke mount as described above.

The second image is an especially unusual configuration, with the monitor mounted above the gimbal to add some needed weight to the top of the rig. Realistically I wouldn't work with a setup like this (this still puts the gimbal way too low on the rig), I would either use a lighter sled or add weight to the top stage, but it was an interesting experiment.

[Tom Wills]

I actually just grabbed my ball head out of one of my spare parts boxes and put close to 3 pounds of steel blocks on it, and swung it around. It worked pretty darned well. I'm not using one for my rig, because I hate having it swivel all around and all, but it sure will hold up a monitor. I really have no clue about the one I linked you to, it just was the first one I could find with a design like I was describing.

[Vishad Dewan]

Charles, the pictures show exactly what I'd like to put on my rig. I'm trying to figure out how I can kinda build my own, but something on the market will work fine, too. The ball and socket design is nice but it gives me plenty of trouble, especially when I have to figure out where to mount the battery pack (quite heavy by itself) and how to keep the balance with so much weight (battery pack and monitor together). The arm design is perfect for what I'd like to do. Do you have any suggestions where I might find something like this? An arm with a clamp fitting the Glidecam 4000 Pro telescoping pole would be perfect.