Sunday, September 25, 2011

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.