I recently purchased a Merlin Steadicam 2 and, as I was warned, it is EXTREMELY difficult to balance. I found an online excel formula that will tell you the precise calibration of every adjustment, to achieve perfect balance, so long as you know the exact Weight of your camera with all items attached (which I do, since I bought a digital scale) and the Center of Gravity measurements of the camera. This is where things get confusing for me. Here is how the people at Merlin Steadicam (Tiffen) instruct you to determine this Center of Gravity measurement:

"Measure vert. c.g. distance from plane of camera base to point on side of camera where camera could balance lying sideways on the tip of your finger. If there are no flat surfaces on either side of your camera, this plane may also be discovered by pointing the camera straight up and balancing the rear surface of the battery (if flat) on your fingertip at the point where the camera can almost be balanced. Likewise if your lens shade is hard, this plane can be discovered with the camera standing vertically on its lens, and balanced on a round pen lying between the lens and your table. Then measure the perpendicular distance to the plane of the camera’s base. This is the camera vertical c.g. distance."

Source: http://www.merlincookbook.com/MerlinBetaBalInstr1-27.pdf

Can anyone help me translate that into something my feeble brain can understand? If anyone owns a Merlin Steadicam or can help me figure out how to measure the center of gravity I would be very appreciative. Not to mention so would many new Merlin users!

My camera is a Canon T3i. The lens is an EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Autofocus. I have attached a Vello-BG-C5 Battery Grip with two LP-E8 batteries, and a Hoya - 58mm UV filter. The weight is 2.36 lbs.

When Linda approached me with filming her wedding this autumn I was struck by the fact that there were to be no guests! They recently had gone through some difficult times and felt that a party was inappropriate. So instead of a church full of people there were only six of us: the couple, a priest, a girl by the piano, the photographer and me. Never the less I must say Linda was more than capable to fill that church with joy!

Solo shooter: 2 GH2s with @Driftwood Cluster 6 Drewnet 25/50p, Mostly shot on SLRMagic 12mm and Voigtlander 25mm. Panny 20mm, Canon FD 35-105 and Sony RX100 for the ceremony. Benro AF2 sticks, Manfrotto 561BHDV-1 (best tool I ever got!) and a modified Steadicam Smoothee.

Edit in Sony Vegas. CC with mostly curves and a little Magic Bullet Cosmo for a few close ups.

Music courtesy of www.themusicbed.com

You can get yours also at http://www.amazon.com/Opteka-SteadyVid-Stabilizer-Camcorders-Supports/dp/B007FDE4Y8/

Has anyone tried them ? It would be for a GH2.