Hi folks.

Last night I got my first steadicam in the mail.

The budget flycam nano, I didn't expect too much, and I think I'm relatively happy for a cheap first steadicam. It did arrive with a few niggles, the bottom weight holding platform was a little bent, meaning the pole coming out of it wasn't perpendicular to the platform. I wasn't sure whether this would cause a problem, but i've bent it into shape of sort now. After this I experienced the problem where with the cam sort of balanced it would hang vertically with the camera pointing away from me, spin the camera any other way and it would always fall to the right a little. In the end i took apart the gymbal bracket and reattached it with even torque on both screws and i seemed to have improved this symptom mostly.

As a whole, the flycam nano does seem ok.. balancing is a bit of a chore but I think i can get close fairly quickly. I'm finding the handle a bit frustrating, the grip rubber can shift in certain orientations which always makes me a bit nervous. I also find i have to hold the handle very low down so my hand doesn't contact with the v bracket that holds the gymbal and stops it from flying properly. I brought the arm brace with it too, which helps with the handle holding a little, but in general i do wish the handle was an inch or two longer.

Now i'm left with a reasonably balanced flycam nano, with my GH2 and 20mm f1.7 lens. I've managed to balance this with only 2 weights on either end of the platform. Which leads me to the first question. To get this to balance i've had to extend the weight platform to about halfway down the pole extension. So I wonder, is there a rule for how much weight to put below, or does more weight with less extension have the same properties as less weight with more extension?

I've been working with a 2-3 seconds drop time from horizontal, i've seen various recommendations on this, i've noticed the slower this drop time the less pendulum-esque the steadicam behaves when you're flying it.

I've seen mention of static and dynamic balanced. I'm not clear on how to verify whether or not I have achieved dynamic balance, i'll assume static is sufficient for the steadicam to remain vertical when placed there, in all camera y-axis rotations.

Whenever I see video of folks showing a balanced steadicam they always shift it forwards, back, left and right with it remaining pretty vertical and stable. I can do this, however when i do do this I find that the camera tends to spin on its y-axis a little. Related to this if i'm walking with the steadicam and i change direction the same rotation can occurs and has to be combatted with the other hand damping the vertical post or even turning it back the desired direction. Is this the behaviour of a balanced steadicam, or a symptom of one that's not quite balanced, or perhaps has an over lubricated gymbal? I'm wondering if the compact nature of the GH2 and 20mm lens is meaning that it doesn't have a very large or dense z-axis which is meaning that its moment of inertia in that axis is so small that its easy to rotate as i've just described.. So i'm wondering if i balance it with a heavier and longer 14-140mm lens I may find it is less likely to turn.

I guess that's about it. Any help or advice would be really appreciated! I accept that it's going to take a lot more practice, but i just want to get a feel of whether i'm in the right area.

Cheers