A few things to note here... 1. You really want to balance your gimbal first, because to balance it, you have to move the camera up or down and it will shift the center of mass of the system and you may have to rebalance your steadicam. 2. Unless you are only shooting upright and doing a lot of panning, your steadicam should not be bottom heavy. It should be perfectly balanced top to bottom, just like the real Arri Trinity, to make it easier to get in every position. Like you said, if you put too much torque on the shaft, you render the steadicam useless. So, by having it perfectly balanced top to bottom, it will stay in any position you put it and you won't have to hold it in place. 3. You only showed how to balance the steadicam statically. You also need to balance it dynamically or it will drift when you pan or move it quickly. If you hold it upright, spin the shaft and let it go, it should remain straight and not drift or wobble. 4. Extending the shaft and adding weights is not exactly the same thing. You always want to extend it first. The more weight, the harder it will be to hold steady for long periods of time. Also, the longer the shaft is, the more your inputs can be light and precise. It will also make it harder to balance it dynamically if you add weights.
I love this and have been playing around with my own, but I think one of the main function and what attracted me to the Trinity is that it is fully balanced horizontally instead of bottom heavy so you can film in javelin mode. I am having a hard time balancing for javelin I believe because of the battery housing sticking out of the back of the weebill s and the gimbal working to keep the handle on the top as if it is in underslung mode. Also going from horizontal mode to upright or upsidedown, the roll on the gimbal controls the pan when upright, but is disabled in underslung, which is great, but I'm having trouble going from horizontal to vertical without the pan kicking in and jerking off course.
Awesome instructions and tutorial Josh. I like the step by step guide. Thanks for the sharing. Quick question. I've seen some videos where the horizontal balance is equal i.e. it doesn't fall so the weight is equal top and bottom. I'm trying to understand the practical difference between the balanced horizontal position and the bottom heavy horizontal position.
Thanks for the video! If you still have that hard drive you can send it to some pros in LA (Hollywood digital in Pasadena did it for a long time) that will put the discs on a pro system and get the footage copied off. Cost can vary with the amount of data but usually runs about $500-1k plus a new drive (your choice). May be less nowadays since it’s more common. Of course you have to decide how important the footage is to you. Buying backup hard drives is always cheaper, but for those time that you need it on a major project, these people are invaluable (and will always be working). Their claim is “as long as the disc still spins, we can get the info off). All the best.
Hey Josh, dumb question, have you tried doing this rig with an older Crane? I have the Zhiyun Crane v2, and was looking to try it, but didn't want to buy a stabilizer just to try it.
Hey Josh, thanks for the vids. Any thoughts or suggestions about rigging a monitor to this? The Arri Trinity monitor is on the handle. but there are some differences in clearance on that.
Just 2 more questions. What mode is the Weebill S in? Also, I’ve seen other videos, along with a balancing video of the real trinity. They balance the rig in the horizontal. Why are you balancing your rig in the horizontal (essentially making a big steady cam of the whole rig)?
I nervous to about trusting that 3/8 screw. Aren't you afraid of it snapping under the load of the camera gear.? I have an old glide cam rig with vest but haven't worked up the courage to fly my weebill s on it
Hey Josh I hope this message finds you well. I need your help. I just saw a video tutorial you did for kinemaster. First of all great job brother. I need help transfering my videos to my phone. I saw you transfer 220fps footage to your phone. Insane! I have a Sony a6400 and I am struggling to get that footage to my phone. I have a galaxy note 10+. The sony app is completely useless, same as the NFC method. What can I do to transfer my videos directly to my phone withou the need of a computer or laptop? I will be forever grateful.
So I have heard conflicting techniques, but a friend who operates Arri Trinity told me that for my rig (Crane 3s, thanos 2, with the trinipod) I should balance it horizontally for range of shot options vs the usual fully vertical balanced approach. Whats your take on that?
Just ordered my Zhiyun Crane 2S and I already have the Flycam Vista II and Redking. My question is in regard to Follow Focus. I see the Crane 2S comes with a Digital & Mechanical Focus Control. Is there a way to utilize it with a DIY ARRI Trinity set up? Before noticing that it comes with the Focus Control, I also ordered the Tilta Nucleus Nano. Would love your thoughts on how to make this work. Would it work with the Zhiyun Focus Control, or would the Nucleus Nano work better?
Don't trinity operators balance the gimbal so that there is no drop time? I'm no trinity operator but I'm pretty sure they balance it so that the steadicam portion can sit in any position without being held up. In potato Jets Trinity video Ari Robbins put the trinity into pendulum (turning the glide cam completely horizontal) and operated with no hands and it never dropped.
Josh, I love this idea. I have a Crane 3 lab and I've been using it with a Glide Gear DNA 6000 vest. Not in love with that vest -- the springs squeak and I've got the tensioners dialed all the way up. So if I add the manual stabilizer to this, that makes for more overall weight. I've been in discussions with SteadiCam and they refuse to support the Crane 3 series with their solution (no attach point). So I looked up a review of your vest - the Flycam vest. With springs in two ranges it looks like the 11 to 22 pound would work with my Crane 3 lab, BMPCC and some focus motors on the gimbal. The monitor I can moutn somewhere else I suppose on the manual stabilizer. HOWEVER, the Flycam vest is badly reviewed -- poor build quality -- anywhere where its sold. IS THIS YOUR EXPERIENCE? The vest solution is CRITICAL to the whole rig.
I bought the Steadimate-S that use the Steadicam arm and vest and connects it to the ronin to stabilize the Z axis but it had an big issue with the ring stopping the pan axis to work, now i am looking forward to use the flycam redking with the arm and vest without stabilizer and when the budgets comes i am planning to put on the zhyun 3s on top of it 🔥 what do you think about?
I am looking to make a setup like this soon, but I am concerned about the weight of the camera, lens and gimbal on that small 1/4" thread. In the past I have been using my Crane 2 on a monopod but that has a 3/8" thread which is obviously loads stronger. What are your thoughts or solutions? (I am thinking of possibly using a magic arm with clamp to screw to the top thread of the weebill s and clamp to the stabilizer).
SInce your video - DigitalFoto has come out with a complete "fake trinity" solution. Are you planning to review that? I'm one of many who would appreciate you reviewing what amounts to a production version of what you kitted together.
i have a question, i made the diy arri trinity with the weebill lab. whenever i would extend the diy arri trinity to shoot like a low shot ( holding the diy arri horizontal ) it would start trembling/ shaking. does anyone know why it does that?
I thought the same as well, by adding weights to the bottom of the monopod, however the added gimble handle on the stabilizer would make this much more of a smoother system.
The bottom has to be slightly heavier because otherwise you would not get any stabilization. The whole rig would flip flop by itself when the wind is blowing.
Im pretty sure you're right. Ive seen videos of trinity operators leaving it in horizontal positions with no hands and it never drops back to a vertical position. I feel like theres no point to the manual portion leveling itself when the motorized section levels the camera anyway.
Hi, I believe it would be better to balance the gimbal first and put it on the glider already balanced. Otherwise when you move the quick release plate of your camera on the gimbal during the balancing process, it is like moving the quick release plate of the glider, which slightly messes up with balancing the glider. And @ 3:53 there is not enough weight at the bottom not on the top as you said. Camera falls down, which means is heavier than the bottom. So, there is not enough weight at the bottom. Unless you meant the top of the plate located at the bottom of the glider :-)
