Handyman - Handheld Results

D.M.Bonner (Matrox User Forum): Has anyone tried Glidecam 2000 pro or the Steady Tracker.. or both.. ? Any hands-on reviews of these two products are appreciated.

Gaby from TerraTech: They both work okay for what they are but they don't isolate your unwanted wrist movements completely. The SteadyTracker uses only a foam ring that rest on your fingers and absorbs some unwanted wrist movement (forward/backward pitching and side to side rolling) but if you rotate your wrist left to right it's noticable. Because there's friction between your fingers and the foam ring, any rotational movement is translated to the camera. It's relatively easy to hold because the camera weight is directly over the handle but the results are marginal at best.

The Glidecam isolates unwanted movements better because it as a ball bearing gimbal and works in all direction (pitch, yaw, and roll) however, it's not comfortable to hold. The handle is not centered directly under the camera and therefore induces a moment in your wrist (like trying to pick up a 2x4 by the butt end with one hand!). Within minutes your wrist will start hurt. The design is more suited to use with a full vest where the handle is support by the balance arm and not your wrist. Glidecam claims that this offset pivoting handle removes any unwanted up and down movement compared to other brands. It's bogus because it doesn't. As with all stabilizers of this type, unless you support it with a proper balance arm you will always get up and down movement depending on how level you can keep your arm while you move. It's difficult to get good shots once you start getting tired.

The best one I've used is the Handyman from ABC products. This unit is more expensive but it works the best. The handle is directly under the camera weight so there is no torque on your wrist. The "gimbal" arrangement completely isolates your wrist movement from the camera. It's not actually a gimbal. The handle has a Teflon insert on which the camera plate's pin rests. Imagine your camera sitting on the end of a pencil and the pencil tip sitting on the table. It's point contact and that's how they eliminate all the friction. Once this unit is balanced with your camera it gives awesome results.

There is one big problem with all of these units. It's the weight. They all work by adding counterweight to balance out the camera sitting above the handle. I use a PD-150 and when you add up the weight of the camera, the counterweights and the unit itself it's just too heavy to hold with one arm for a long shoot. Your supposed to hold everything in one arm and gently point the camera where you want with the other hand. I rented the Handyman for an off-road rockcrawling competition. After 8 hrs of running up and down hills and over rocky terrain my arm was toast. That's why they have full body harness for these systems. The weight is transfered to your waist through the harness and you can concentrate on framing good shots.

I hope this helps you out a bit.

Gaby - TerraTech