Tag Archives: Camera

Working With The Glidecam XR-2000

Going over the video footage from Matsuricon 2014 shows the Glidecam XR-2000 is a very picky and difficult piece of equipment to use and keep balanced. After some practice, it is easy to get the balance to be very close, but fine tuning get more and more difficult and the balance will change without any changes being made to the camera or the Glidecam. Perhaps this is why all the professional how-to videos I find are of the HD-2000 version.

Today offered more time to practice, so I took the Nikon D7000 and the Glidecam XR-2000 to Harbin Park in Fairfield. It was sunny, but not too warm with a good breeze to keep cool. I walked up and down small hills, in and out of trees, down narrow paths and wide, in and out of the wind. Sometimes the Glidecam was being used truly freehand, sometimes using the three finger method around the gimbal, and others holding onto the area where the weights are attached.

The results??

The Glidecam XR-2000 likes to move all the time. The slightest breeze will cause it to spin. Put the lens cap on after balancing and it will tip as though a huge weight was placed in the front. No matter how well balanced the unit is, when walking the camera will wonder left or right and up or down. Stop and the camera will continue to move. Very frustrating.

What about holding the pole??

Some guides say to use a thumb on the gimbal and two fingers in front of it. The touch is to be light. This doesn’t help. Any shake introduces by the arms or hands will be seen in the video. Hold too lightly and the camera will still move about as though you are not holding at all.

What about holding the weight plate??

Again, this will introduce shake and variance to the video. There is just no getting away from it. No matter how well balanced, the Glidecam XR-2000 will not stay steady.

Several times I held the pole as I walked from one area to another of the park without filming. Once in a new area, the entire rig had to be rebalanced. Sometimes the mounting plate had to be moved. Sometimes the weights at the bottom had to be moved. The settings on the camera for focal length and focus stayed the same. Why is there any need to balance it again?

When compared to other stabilizers for DSLR cameras, the Glidecam XR-2000 is inexpensive, but it is far more difficult to use. Ugh. More practice I guess.

My Thoughts On The Nikon D600

Nikon D600
Nikon D600 (Photo credit: Nkolus)

The Nikon D600 is out! It is here! Finally! Woo hoo! Ok, but why????

A few things for the technical geeks. It has 24 megapixels, so now you can zoom way in and have good, sharp images. If you lens can give you that much information. It uses SD based cards like all the other pro-sumer oriented cameras. Ok, not all, but most. TheĀ  means SDHC and SDXC are supported. These cards are quick, high capacity and inexpensive. And it has two of these slots, like the Nikon D7000. That’s cool!

Yeah, so what? So it is another camera at the top of the pro-sumer line.

This one is different! This one is….Full Frame!!! Yep! Finally! A full frame camera from Nikon around $2,000!

So?

So??? That means Nikon is finally allowing the rest of us to choose a full frame. That means no more cropping those old, beautiful lenses. That means we finally get great color and low noise ISO down in the price range that doesn’t require a second mortgage. That means that we may finally get a full frame price war between Nikon and Canon (please feel free to join in the fray Sony, Olympus and Pentax). This is great!

I really love the idea of the Nikon D600! No, I will not get one….yet…I tend to be a second generation adopter, but I really love this. Currently, I have a D7000 and I will definitely be upgrading at some point. I had thought to wait for the replacement of the D7000, but now I know I will not. That is, of course, unless it is a full frame camera. I have some older Tamron lenses that are full frame. Yes, the current crop factor of DX sensors is nice, but I’d rather have an affordable full frame with 16 megapixels than a 24 megapixel, APS-C sensor (yeah D5200, I’m talking to you) anyway.

This is the start of the full frame revolution. No longer relegated to the top end, really freaking expensive cameras, full frame for the masses is finally becoming a reality for every one. Yes, it is only the first camera in the Nikon line to be full frame at this level, but more will follow. Someday the entry level camera will be full frame too. I cheer its arrival.

See my video of my thoughts on the D600. Subscribed to my YouTube channel and share in the discussion.

Related articles

Enhanced by Zemanta