Author Charles Papert, S.O.C.

While a lot of buzz at this year’s NAB was focused on 5DMkII’s on exotic shoulder mounts, LED lighting and anything to do with 3D, not much buzz was left over for the venerable Steadicam and variations thereof. In the stabilizer world it was a year of incremental change, some new models and configurations but nothing earth-shattering. It’s been a…

This is a brief demo clip with Steadicam Pilot and my Canon XH A1, shot available light, camera on fixed focus and auto-iris. I focused mostly on incorporating extensive booms into this sequence to make full use of the Pilot arm. The second shot starts fully boomed down, laterally tracking across the table. This is a tough maneuver to pull…

There is plenty of documentation in the form of a manual and DVD to explain the balancing process. For many initiates this is a confounding aspect of Steadicam but I encourage all to take their time, read carefully and understand what is involved with both static and dynamic balance. If you happen to be one of those individuals who swears…

See www.steadicam.com/pilot.html Charles Papert flies the Steadicam Pilot in the Missionary Position with a Canon XH A1.When Garrett Brown was first developing the Brown Effect Stabilizer in the early 70’s, the cameras he used on his prototypes were then-current bantamweights like the Eclair and the Arri 2C, as it only made sense that if one were to cantilever weight off…

See the official Steadicam Pilot product page at http://www.tiffen.com/pilot.html When Garrett Brown was first developing the Brown Effect Stabilizer in the early 1970’s, the cameras he chose for his prototypes were then-current bantamweights like the Éclair ACL and the Arri 2C; it only made sense that if one were to cantilever weight off the body that it should be as…