Flycam Nano - budget stabiliser

chilipie

chilipie

Pro Member
indiePRO
I ordered one of these last Friday for £100 shipped and it turned up first thing yesterday morning. Technically, its 700g weight limit shouldn't even support the 550D and kit lens, but I've seen good results on it with a 5D MkII and 24 f/1.4 L so I wasn't too worried.

nano-6.jpg


From what I've seen so far, it's sturdy and surprisingly well made. Took a long time to balance the first time, but once you've got the right idea it's actually quite simple to do, though I wouldn't recommend using it without a quick release plate unless you fancy rebalancing every time you change a battery.

I'm not going to be one of those people who clog up YouTube posting video of their first run (or even worse, post a video when they "didn't have time to balance it") as it probably won't make me or the stabiliser look any good. However, I've been asked to be B cam operator on a music video the weekend after next and the DoP was very keen for me to try out a few shots with it, so if all goes to plan I'll be posting some of my shots up in a couple of weeks for you all to laugh at, alongside a review that's slightly more substantial than just my initial impressions.

If you have any questions please ask away - I know I was a bit apprehensive about dropping that much on a product that's not that established, but I've been very happy with it so far.

Ollie
 
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Papertwinproductions said:
It's looking strong. Weaving through the crowd turned out well, too.

One of the guys had a University project for an "Experimental 5 minute Video", there's alot of the Flycam involved being put to the test on alternate terrain.
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That looks fantastic! I do really like the look it gives you, and there it just takes away some of the distraction that handheld work often produces when working on that kind of terrain.

I worked on another music video the weekend before last as B camera operator and had another chance to put it to the test, but unfortunately I'm not allowed to upload anything yet. I was flying a 24mm f/1.4 L and man was it heavy… I can comfortably do four or five minute stints with the kit lens now, but this was something else. Might have to buy an arm brace in the near future if I carry on shooting stuff like that.
 
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chilipie said:
That looks fantastic! I do really like the look it gives you, and there it just takes away some of the distraction that handheld work often produces when working on that kind of terrain.

I worked on another music video the weekend before last as B camera operator and had another chance to put it to the test, but unfortunately I'm not allowed to upload anything yet. I was flying a 24mm f/1.4 L and man was it heavy… I can comfortably do four or five minute stints with the kit lens now, but this was something else. Might have to buy an arm brace in the near future if I carry on shooting stuff like that.
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Jesus, i can imagine.

Ant's not the biggest of guys, so he feels it if we go hard on the Flycam, especially with the heavier lenses.

I know there's a Vest for the Flycam, aswell as the Armbrace. Although, i think the vest may be a little excessive, yet, maybe it's worth the little extra fee.

Drop me the Music Video when you can, bud.
 
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JeremyToth said:
Hey Chilipie, I have the same issue where I am balanced but it goes out of balance when rotated 90 degrees. How did you calibrate your gimbal? Any tips would be much appreciated.
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Hey Jeremy, sorry I've only just seen your post! It basically comes down to tightening and loosening the bolts on the gimbal so that equal pressure is applied on both sides. This section of the manual for the Steadicam Ultra2 explains what you have to do much more clearly than I could - let me know if you have any questions, I know how frustrating it can be trying to fix it!
 
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would a lighter camcorder, like my hf r10 for example, be able to fly well with this?
all the reviews and tests i've seen on youtube have been with bigger cameras, and it's made me very skeptical on buying this haha.
 
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Artin said:
would a lighter camcorder, like my hf r10 for example, be able to fly well with this?
all the reviews and tests i've seen on youtube have been with bigger cameras, and it's made me very skeptical on buying this haha.
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You may need to add more weight to the top of the sled to stop it from going all over the place, but it'd be easy to do and there are plenty of weights included.
 
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chilipie said:
You may need to add more weight to the top of the sled to stop it from going all over the place, but it'd be easy to do and there are plenty of weights included.
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oh excellent, so i won't have to go out of my way to buy extra parts or anything to make it work? thanks for clearing that up for me :D
 
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Artin said:
oh excellent, so i won't have to go out of my way to buy extra parts or anything to make it work? thanks for clearing that up for me :D
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You shouldn't have to, nope! One thing I would say is that it's important to learn the basics of how and why the stabiliser works - half the problems people seem to have with low-budget stabilisers are because they have no idea what they're supposed to do when it comes to balancing and basic operating techniques.
 
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Got mine in the mail earlier today. It was a bit of a hassle trying to balance it, but like you said chiliepie, you need to understand how stabilizers work to be able to balance it. Once I got an idea of how it works and why it wasn't working one way or other, it became pretty easy.

It's pretty late so I can't get any footage right now, but in the next few days I'll have some up (as if we need more test footage)
 
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chilipie said:
…I just wanted to add to that rather long post that it hasn't all been brilliant. The gimbal arrived unbalanced, which meant that the camera would be perfectly level facing one way, but turn it 90° and it would be all over the place. It's very easy to fix once you know what you're doing, but it did take me several hours of research and wanting to throw the whole thing out the window. (It's worth pointing out that this has been a problem on the much more expensive Glidecams - I'd happily save £2-300 for a few hours of frustration.)

I still don't feel very happy putting any footage up at the moment, as I'm still a bit all over the place and I don't think it would do it justice. I'll try and get some clips up in the week, and then with any luck post some of my shots from the music video when I've seen what it's like using it with the time and space limitations of a proper shoot.
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Sorry to revive an old post on my first post.. :) But i was wondering if you could share what you did to fix the issue with the gimbal on your flycam nano? I have tried the method found on youtube of adding lead tape to kind of rebalance it but it does not work for me. I know there are lots of people with the same issues.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks.
 
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mtler said:
Sorry to revive an old post on my first post.. :) But i was wondering if you could share what you did to fix the issue with the gimbal on your flycam nano? I have tried the method found on youtube of adding lead tape to kind of rebalance it but it does not work for me. I know there are lots of people with the same issues.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks.
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Not at all! I followed the advice in this PDF, which is intended for a very different, much more expensive piece of kit, but the principle is exactly the same.
 
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Hey chippie,

I just got my Flycam today and was very excited until I realized balancing it was nearly making me cry. I just understand so much what you mean here :

chilipie said:
…I just wanted to add to that rather long post that it hasn't all been brilliant. The gimbal arrived unbalanced, which meant that the camera would be perfectly level facing one way, but turn it 90° and it would be all over the place. It's very easy to fix once you know what you're doing, but it did take me several hours of research and wanting to throw the whole thing out the window.
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I thought about just leaving it and never touch it again/sell it to someone more patient/send it back/crawl on my bed and just start crying for spending money for nothing, etc...

Could you please share everything you used to balance this thing. Even the quick release baseplate is a problem for me since it's never really fixed in place no matter how hard I screw it. It turns (the bolt turns too) and it's just driving me mad.

Also, when you adjust the sled length, the upper part revolves which seems wrong...

Anyway...help...
 
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Just a quick comment about stabilizers here. I see a few people talking about different ones they want to get and lumping them together where the only difference seems to be cost.

Just wanted to say that different equipment gives different looks. A shoulder mount and steadicam are not interchangeable just because they are both stabilizers. Those looking into purchasing either should base their decision on the aesthetic their story and shots warrant.
 
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TheArtist said:
I thought about just leaving it and never touch it again/sell it to someone more patient/send it back/crawl on my bed and just start crying for spending money for nothing, etc...

Could you please share everything you used to balance this thing. Even the quick release baseplate is a problem for me since it's never really fixed in place no matter how hard I screw it. It turns (the bolt turns too) and it's just driving me mad.

Also, when you adjust the sled length, the upper part revolves which seems wrong...

Anyway...help...
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This video tutorial might be useful if you've no idea where to start.

A few things that I found particularly useful when I started using it…
  • Buy a decent quick release plate and mount it on the top stage (I bought a Manfrotto 323). It'll save you having to rebalance every time you take the camera on and off.
  • A spirit level that fits in the camera's shoe mount will allow you to balance much more precisely than just eyeballing it. I picked one up for about £2 on eBay.
  • Patience! It's never going to work if you don't balance it carefully and methodically, so leave it for a day if it's getting too frustrating. If you rush it or cut corners you'll be disappointed with the results.
 
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I saw that video and many more like three times each in case I missed something.


As for the quick release, I've been considering getting another onesince the one they gave me with the flycam has only one attachement point to the baseplate. Not enough to prevent it from turning around.

And for the gimbal problem, is there any video that shows what needs to be done ? I understood the idea but I don't know what screws should I be looking at on the flycam. Isn't dynamic balance critical to achieve ? Without it it feels like the camera is fixed on a boat since the frame is moving in all directions, smoothly sure, but all over the place !

Thank you anyway for your guidance ! I'm keeping faith, I know I can do it !
 
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TheArtist said:
As for the quick release, I've been considering getting another onesince the one they gave me with the flycam has only one attachement point to the baseplate. Not enough to prevent it from turning around.
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I glued a thin piece of cork mat to the bottom of mine - metal on metal wasn't grippy enough.

And for the gimbal problem, is there any video that shows what needs to be done ? I understood the idea but I don't know what screws should I be looking at on the flycam. Isn't dynamic balance critical to achieve ? Without it it feels like the camera is fixed on a boat since the frame is moving in all directions, smoothly sure, but all over the place !
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I haven't seen any videos, but it's not that difficult to do, just time consuming - you want the two screws either side of the gimbal, indicated in the picture below.

flycam-nano-gimbal.jpg


If you've achieved static balance but it's swaying when you start to walk with it, it could be because it's too bottom heavy (i.e. the drop time isn't long enough). Try shortening the centre post to solve this.

It's also worth noting that it flies better with more weight, even if it is then more tiring to shoot with. A short post and more weights will give you better results (up to a point) than a long post with fewer weights.
 
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I'm screwing with the gimbal and just one thing.

Balance side to side and fore-aft as precisely as you can to get the post vertical. We
recommend you use a bubble level on the stage, and be sure that the tilting head is set
90° to the post (horizontal). Rotate the sled 90° so that the camera is aimed at along the
axis of the yoke handle, as shown in the right photo, above. Tweak the fore-aft balance
as precisely as you can, then do not touch the stage adjustments for the rest of the
procedure.
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So after the first 90° degree rotation, I don't have to balance it side to side, just fore-aft ?
This seems weird as once I make the rotation, it become very right-heavy. It seems I can make it worse but loosening the left screw but I can't make it really batter.
 
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