Hi, Need to grip m M5 to Steadycam arm. My question is . Am i set with only the NinjaStar? or do I need the toad in the hole also? Cheers!
You don't need a toad in the hole, but attaching it to the arm without one, will make it very difficult for balancing and other such things. I have attempted to attach one to a Steadycam arm and found it very limiting in movement. How are you going to control position and orientation? I found the best way to utilize the steadycam arm was to rig it to hold up my arm, similar to the exoskeleton's that have been produced, then to directly fix a Movi to one.
I keep meaning to post the rig setup I created, but have not gotten around to it yet. However, I do have this photo, which shows the setup. Arms are supported by Steadicam arm. Offloads the weight of the Movi and makes it easier to use one for longer periods of time. Works very similar to the exosuits that are commercially available. it does take up more space then those though.
That's badass! The 2 times I put a movi on a steadicam arm it was not great at all. It was prone to bouncing around from walking vibrations that transmit through the arm. Running with it was a disaster. I've tried a lightweight setup with M5 and a fully loaded M10/ Epic setup.
My early prototypes tried mounting it directly and it was awkward to use to say the least. I have shot lots of footage with the above rig helping me to hold the camera without any issue. The steadicam rig in the photo above is really more just an exoskeleton designed to offload the weight of the Movi so you can shoot for longer periods of time without getting tired arms.