HI there Have struggled with this for hours.. I`m trying to balance the Canon 7D on the roll axes. But when I find that "sweet spot" , the lense is NOT centered to the roll axes vertical lineup - Is that not vital to get correct roll adjustment ? looking from the front I need to get the 7D further to the left, on the tiltbar, but there is simply not room to push it further to the left. Anybody else got this problem, and maybe a solution ? best regards Bison
Hi Bison, It is not a huge deal if the lens is not perfectly centered on the roll axis. It would be ideal that way but in practice most of my ships it does not line up perfectly either. You can add weight to the side of the gimbal with no tilt servo if you want it to be perfectly lined up. Best, Tabb
Hi Bison: Have you considered loosening the clamps on the rear transverse boom (that hold it to the rear vertical post) and sliding the rear transverse boom over to move the balance point? That's what I ended up doing -- that way you can use the mass of the booms, battery etc. to counterbalance the camera. Note: in my case it's a 5D Mark III with 24 mm prime so for the 7D this might not work. Viewed from the front I have the gimbal 3S 1200 mAH Lipo on the left hand forward-pointing boom to help counterbalance the tilt servo, Radian sensor and large pulley on the right hand forward-pointing boom. Hope this helps. Andy.
Hi Andy - I have battery the same way as counter balance, and believe me I have tried ... Tabb a good idea I think would be to develop a quick release, as we have on the tripods. The standard camera plate is not giving much flexibility (moving range fore aft) on the tilt boom. If the camera is to aft heavy, turning the plate makes it fore heavy. A gliding adjustment would be a great addon... This would also make it a lot faster to change camera models like this:
Wow. The 7D's center of gravity must be in a really weird place. Well, as Tabb said, getting the optical axis of the camera exactly on the roll axis of the gimbal doesn't look like it is a big deal. My "quick release" is a second camera plate, with it's own boom clamp hardware....not as nice as a real QR plate. Andy.
Hi Tabb: I have sitting on my shelf the 3 axis cinestar gimbal that I was going to adapt it to a weird foxtech 800mm frame I ordered long time a go well the thing is that I rather ordered another frame from Jacques productions the Syn6 800mm pretty tough frame already assemble it and my freefly system just plugs and play on this frame, pretty happy with it. Now my question is : I have a movie production coming next week and the producer ask me if I can carry a 7D on my gimbal, Do I need to order some additional parts to be able to carry this camera, or will it fit no problem? Regards Pedro
Pedro, I fly a 7D and 5D on the 3 axis. It will fit just fine on the stock gimbr. The 7d actually balances easier than my 5Dmk3. Let me know if you have any other questions...
Hey Pedro ... did you come right with your balancing with your 7D. It's the main camera we fly with and had no problems with the balancing ... the unit does sit slightly off center but it seams to make no difference if your stabilization is dialed in on the roll axis. We're using the standard side arms, not the extended ones as well as the standard camera mount, not the slide/adjustable type. Same thing as mentioned by Brad ... need any help/suggestions ... just gimme a shout!
I am having some issues with I think the roll axis with a 5Dmk3 on, gains 50 pan, 100 & 100 tilt and roll, been trying to get rid of the shakes but quite dont know what else to do, balance 3 axis are excellent, just dont know how to set my gains properly maybe... you can see mainly what I mean on min 2:34 on of this clip Need some advise please.. jeje
Pedro it looks like it was pretty windy. If that was the case then the video is probably going to be a bit choppy. One of the ways to do final tuning is to do a test of each axis by itself to isolate which can be tuned further. Test of all axis off, just the tilt activated, just the roll activated and the all activated. One flight after another and then analyze the results. Follow the videos on the Freefly YouTube channel and then do the flight testing. There are no shortcuts if you want to get the maximum performance out of the Radians.
Thanks Gary, I will do that. I know its more dedication work to be able to get them as smooth as possible although its getting me a hard time. It was windy but not too much, shakes are too much. I will check my. Firmware as I m not sure if I have latest installed and was reading that new one is working better mainly roll axis and I think that could me my problem. Let I know today later... Thanks a lot