Balancing a Flycam Nano

What to expect: a 20 minute "setup" time each and every instance something is moved on the rig even a fraction of an inch. Millimeter accurate adjustments must be made on a clumsy bulky sliding sled apparatus in order to maintain balance, and the whole process is very frustrating- if anything moves, (like if you rotate the camera's preview display window or even if it moves the slightest amount) balance is lost and time consuming adjustments must be made.

To make those left/right precision adjustments much quicker though, (and actually possible) I've inserted a machine screw horizontally through the existing openings in the forward and back slider (below where the camera is mounted) with a couple of nuts on there for weight that can be moved left and right quickly and precisely calibrating the balance. Then, another for front and back. With lots of practice, accurate balance can be achieved in a fraction of the time (like 3-5 minutes OR less). Important: when you use those washers at the bottom to adjust front and back balance, you are also slightly changing the left and right pitch balance as well so practice is an absolute must.

Pinnacle Studio vs. Power Director Pro

The hard truth is that Pinnacle Studio 14 Ultimate Collection, even with today's latest systems, is still a 32bit software and a poor one at that. You can expect to have to wait 5-30 seconds after making ANY editing change in the timeline for a render progress bar to finish, not to mention the delay if you choose to be so BOLD as to add a 3D transition not to mention the 3 to 5 minute wait just for adding clips to an AVCHD project.

See my frustration comes after being told by Pinnacles tech staff for years that my computer hardware simply wasn't good enough, though it was well above the minimum specs. So twice I went out and spent thousands of dollars on a new latest/greatest systems with virtually NO difference in performance whatsoever! Then I heard about Cyberlink's 'Power Director Pro', the first 64-bit consumer editing product out there and for the same price as Pinnacle Studio! The reviews were good so I gave it a try.

No words could describe what it was like to use this program for the first time- it is just phenomenal, and there is NO RENDER BAR!!!! You simply add transitions and clips to the timeline and IT JUST WORKS...immediately! And when you're done editing the project, the actual render time is at least half that of Pinnacle Studio.

It's blaringly obvious now that the whole problem with Pinnacle Studio is poor software design and wasteful use of system resources.