Test Glidecam 2000 Pro and Canon XL1s

This is a little test with my new Canon XL1s and my Glidecam 2000 Pro. The footage is a bit shaky because I don't have a vest and a spring-mounted arm, yet. The whole equipment is quite heavy: 5 kg. I have to carry it with one arm. This makes it very difficult to balance. In addition, there are some seconds out of focus. The camera's autofocus is too slow sometimes. But the result is not that bad. I'm afraid, I need a little (muscle) training.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Glidecam
• 2000
• Pro
• Steadicam
• Steadycam
• Canon
• XL1s
• XL-1s
• XL1-s
• iMovie
• HD

[pianoalien]

By the way some of the video's on your youtube chanel are fantastic, Are you part of that whole team or have you just added their vids,? I spent a couple of hours looking at the vids the other day, actually I might have even subscribed..

Great stuff ..

[MisterMacCam]

@pianoalien No, I'm a single Steadicam operator. No team. The tests with the Glidecam are just tests and quite old movies.

[MisterMacCam]

@pianoalien Macs don't fiddle around with all those drivers like Windows. You just connect the camera and it works out of the box. That's why you should say farewell to Windows if you want to work more professional. Sorry to say that.

[pianoalien]

Like the video (y) Could you help me out by telling me, what did you use to transfer to pc? a firewire or usb.. and did you transfer to a mac or windows xp? .. I have just bought an xl1s and am having nightmares, coz my laptop dont have a firewire port. So I triede using a usb to firewire lead (my lappy says, "No device drivers found for the device) grrr, I phone canon and am told that windows Vista is not compatible and I defo need to transfer via firewire...

[MisterMacCam]

@pianoalien I always use firewire on a Mac. I don't work with Windows because of the very problems you described. So, find a cheap Mac with firewire and you are on track.

[MisterMacCam]

I can definitely recommend the Glidecam 2000 Pro. The difference to a normal walk with the camera is like day and night. But you will need practice to operate the system, otherwise it swings and turns. Too bad that the spring-mounted arm is so expensive. With my heavy camera it is a pain to operate longer than a few minutes. It is much easier with a lightweight consumer camcorder.

[pianoalien]

@MisterMacCam A Mac it is then... Thanks ....

[pianoalien]

@MisterMacCam I was looking at the steadycam tests/practice on your channel. (very good) I'm about to start shooting a film trailor to advertise my recently published book, so have learnt a few good tips from the vid. p.s sorry to be a pain but did your mac automatically find and download the drivers for the xl1s or did you download from a disc? I don't want to buy a mac and then find the same problems with drivers... 

[pianoalien]

@MisterMacCam thanks for the quick reply. deep down I think I knew I would end up having to fork out for a Mac. I just about managed to scrape the money together to buy the camera and was hoping there was another way. I want the best results so it looks like I'll be saving for a mac, I have a firewire lead so that's a start :o) haha.

Thanks and good luck ...

[Justinjaro]

you must have god like forearms