Good news!
After working with the Pegasus II and trying many, many, many configurations. I think I may have something that works pretty well. I spent maybe like six hours today looking at Steadicam Merlin videos, Hague videos, going back to the Pegasus II manual and videos and figuring out what the hell am I doing wrong that is making this unit sway!!
- 1st Test with the Pegasus II I had used very little weight and you can see in the footage the camera begins to wander both in the B-Boy and skater footage.
- 2nd Test the tour guide footage was better. It was weighted very heavily and for the most part it did fine but there was still control issues.
Basically here is what I found:
- The actual weight of the lens and GH1 is close to about 940 grams so to apply the 1:3 ratio that is needed to balance the camera on the Pegasus II then we would need about 313 grams of weight. What I noticed in looking at Steadicam Merlin footage is that all the weights were similar in size so that got me thinking.
- The Pegasus II comes with a big 250gram unit which I assumed to use first but somehow this larger weight did not balance the unit properly so you would have that buoyant effect. Luckily, the Pegasus II comes with smaller weights and are similar in size. When I did the recommended “push-front pull-back test” each time I did it the unit would tip or sway but this time since I used the smaller weights and it was very steady. YES!! Finally!! So don’t use the big 250g weight use the small weights.
Here’s what worked for me:
2×1 (100g) 1×1 (50g) 1×1 (25g)
275g of total additional weight to place on the Pegasus II
- Also it’s important to note that the GH1 should be secured not in the middle or front of the plate but at the back end of the plate that way the unit can balance better. I have the unit set at (-3) from zero so the plate is just a little off from center.
- Now when you do the “push-front pull-back test”, it’s important to engage the spring of the gimbal in the handle before you do the test. Feel the spring and let the camera and Pegasus II achieve balance, then push the camera forward and pull back on a completely steady horizontal plane. The unit should stay completely steady the whole time.
- I put a chopstick and wedged it into the back of the plate so I would have the ability to turn the camera as I’m using the Pegasus II. The skinny Japanese wooden chopsticks work the best because they are light weight and have a skinny point at the tip to wedge into the plate.
Panasonic GH1 with Pegasus II DV Stabilizer and a skinny chopstick!