Glide Gear SYL-3000 User manual
Glide Gear
GLIDEGEAR 3000 VIDEO & DSLR CAMERA STABILIZER
MODEL SYL-3000 Platinum
Setup and Operation Manual
Glidegear 3000 Video & DSLR Camera Stabilizer
Congratulations on your purchase of the Glidegear 3000 Camera Stabilizer!
Before you do anything please note that you must balance your specific
camera to the stabilizer to achieve effective stabilization. Think of this first
part of balancing your camera as an investment, it will also be a fun game of
weights and measures.
Camera stabilization is a dynamic science and a true art at the same time;
the essence of which, the Glidegear 3000 has captured and made easier.
Like anything else, you will certainly get much better with practice. The most
important fundamental is that you have your camera balanced. Please watch
the video here on balancing your camera: watch the quick setup video here:
http://youtu.be/Jozyg7T2N5k
Made from aircraft aluminum, the lightest, stiffest, most precise material
available on the market, the Glidegear Camera Stabilizer is a cause for dual
congratulations. If you purchased the Glidegear 3000 Camera Stabilizer
SYL-3000 Platinum Series deluxe pack, you now have a gadget weighing
less than 5 oz. that’s capable of balancing a camera! So, whether you are
using an iPhone, a DSLR camera, or a large camcorder, the Glidegear Camera
Stabilizer has you covered. So long as a camera is between 1.0 oz. and 5 lbs.,
your Glidegear 3000 Camera Stabilizer (SYL-3000 Platinum Series) will have
no problem balancing it.
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Table of Contents
Overview ....................................................................................................................... 1
A Brief Tour of the Glidegear 3000 ......................................................................... 3
Expanded View of Parts ........................................................................................... 4
Balancing Your Glidegear 3000 .............................................................................. 6
Troubleshooting ......................................................................................................... 9
Operation .................................................................................................................. 10
Advanced Technique ............................................................................................... 19
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A Brief Tour of Glidegear 3000
To begin our tour we will identify the main functional components. It is
important to be able to recognize and name these parts especially if you
should need a replacement or spare. No reason to begin unpacking the unit,
why not read this comprehensive guide first? (Yeah right!)
Amateur video is usually unstable because video cameras do not have the
built-in stabilization that your brain does when you are walking, jogging,
swaggering, going up the stairs, etc. Because your camcorder does not have
this capability, any slight movement will have a dramatic and unpleasant
effect on your footage. The Glidegear 3000 camera stabilizer is not only an
amazing resolution to this dilemma, it also provides an ergonomic way to hold
your camera to take spectacular shots and produce smooth, fluid motion that
can rival those taken by trolleys, dollies, cranes, and jibs. The Glidegear 300
removes your camera from the camera support, and if it is balanced correctly,
will float it in the air while giving you enhanced ability to frame and aim your
shots.
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Expanded View of Parts
Y-Plate
Gimbal Handle Screw
Gimbal Joint
Handle Grip
Camera Cushion Strips
Gross Adjustment Screw Fore and Aft
360 Nut
Tracking Knob
Weight Nuts
Counterweights Large and Small
• Gimbal Joint and Handle Grip: The design of the Glidegear 3000 is
engineered to stabilize the camera by moving the center of gravity below
the camera and under the actual gimbal joint. The gimbal will not permit any
angular disturbance to pass through it, so the shakes and bumps caused by
your hand or anything attached to your hand will be absorbed by the gimbal
and isolated from the camera.
• Tracking Knob: Just above the gimbal is the tracking knob. Use your free
hand to aim the camera with this knob. This requires a bit of delicate
maneuvering and becomes easier with practice. Master this and you will be
one very large step further in producing professional quality video.
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Bow Arm
Attachment Knob
Counterweight Arm
• Camera Cushion Strips and Gross Adjustment Screw - Fore and Aft: Your
camera will mount onto the camera cushion strips and the gross adjustment
screw forward and aft.
• Counterweight Arm: This allows you to distribute the mass of the system
along the horizontal axis. If your camera has most of the weight to the right
side of midline, then you would need to adjust the counterweight arm to the
left appropriate to obtain level condition along the horizontal - X-axis.
• Counterweights: These allow you to balance the system along the
vertical - Y-axis. This is totally going to depend on the weight of your camera
and general rule of thumb would be to start out with 1/4 or less weight of your
camera on the counterweight arm and then fine tune from there. For example,
if your camera weighs 1 lb., then you would start with about 3.5 oz. of weights
and then fine tune by adding or subtracting small weights from there. Your
Glidegear 3000 camera stabilizer comes with 20 pieces of large weights (0.6
oz.) and 4 pieces of small weights (0.25 oz.)
• 360 Nut: With the innovative 360 Nut, the Glidegear 3000 camera stabilizer
becomes unique to all other camera stabilizers. Loosen the 360 Nut and you
gain another dimension of range of motion. With the Gimbal Joint and the
360 Nut together your Glidegear 3000 has over 90° of range of motion. This
means you can take more versatile shots than with any other stabilizer on the
market, including the professional models.
***If your camera is 6oz or less you need to use the small camera adaptor or the
system will not properly balance***
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Balancing Your Glidegear 3000
When your camera is mounted onto the Glidegear 3000 (with battery and
memory card), the unit must be balanced correctly to achieve optimal and
effective image stabilization. The center of gravity (COG) of the entire system
must be manipulated to be just below the fulcrum (gimbal). Usually this
means to have about 1/4 of your camera weight on the bottom (counterweight
arm) so that the system is slightly bottom heavy. Let’s take just a minute to
understand this:
Try to balance a shallow bowl on the end of your thumb. You will find this very
difficult to do. This is because the COG is above the fulcrum, your thumb, in
this example:
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Now turn the bowl upside down, you will see this becomes much easier. This
is because the COG is now below the fulcrum in this system and you can
even move your thumb from side to side without having the bowl fall over:
So, the key to effective balancing of your Glidegear 3000 is to make sure the
COG is just below the gimbal joint. This is achieved by distributing the weights
such that the system is slightly bottom heavy. As a general rule of thumb, it is
a good idea to start with 1/4 weight of your camera or less and then fine tune
it from there by adding or removing weights appropriately.
Although the pictures and explanations are pretty clear, we can do you one
better, you can also watch our video on balancing the Glidegear 3000 camera
stabilizer: http://youtu.be/Jozyg7T2N5k
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With the small camera adapter, the Glidegear 3000 has the capability to
stabilize cameras from 1oz (28g) to 5lbs (2.2kg).
Begin your balancing with the batteries and memory card installed in your
camera. There are three axes of balance that need to be achieved: vertical
(Y-axis), horizontal (X-axis), and fore/aft (Z-axis). To keep it simple, better do
them one at a time.
Vertical: For this explanation we will start with the vertical balancing. You
can simply start with all weights removed and keep adding weight until the
system is vertically balanced. The large counterweight discs are 0.6 oz., and
the small counterweight discs are 0.25 oz. It is an important point to make
that the nut that holds the weights in place also has weight and when fine
tuning your system, you may improve the balance by the addition or removal
of one or both of these nuts.
Horizontal: Next, make sure the horizontal is balanced by use of the counterweight arm. Some cameras will have the mounting hole well off to the
left or right of the center of mass. To compensate for this simply loosen the
attachment knob and carefully adjust the counterweight arm to the opposite
direction that the system is leaning. You will know the horizontal has been
balanced properly when the system is completely level along the X-axis. (Hint:
use a small camera bubble leveler for precision).
Fore-and-Aft: If your camera is way out of balance in the Fore and Aft department, you may want to make this adjustment first. Simply slide the camera
forward or backward along the mounting cushion strips with the gross
adjustment screw.
This process will be a little different for every type of camera so it always
takes a little fiddling and fine-tuning adjustments. So, how do you know if
your system is balanced? Your system will be balanced when it is completely
level and you can move right to left and forward to aft without the camera
tipping over, and negligible pendulum effect from the bottom of the counterweight arm.
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