Sony A7sii gimbal troubleshooting

[cotton]

 

Has anyone successfully rigged up this gimbal setup? Currently having quite the time...

Gimbal: Ikan Beholder EC-1 (Holds up to 4.5lbs)

Camera: Sony A7sii (1lb, 6oz)

Lens: Sony Vario Tessar Zeiss 24-70/f4 (15oz)

Additional: Sony XLR-K2M XLR Adapter kit (13.1oz)

Any thoughts or links that might be helpful? I've watched the Ikan setup video but they use a 35/2.8 lens and no XLR mount.

[VTC]

I run with the Beholder DS-1 which is the precursor to the EC-1. I'm betting the lens may be part of the problem. I have that lens and unless you leave it at whatever mm, changing the focal length mandates a recalibration due to lens extending. I typically use the 28 f2.0 on mine although I have used the 18-105 successfully because zoom is internal on that particular lens.

 

If you have that XLR mic mounted there's a good chance that places the vertical center of gravity outside the limits of adjustability the rig provides. Look to mount mic off camera on the 1/4" post on the handle and either 1) Connect to camera via extension MIS cable long enough to allow movement flexibility or 2) Connect to an external audio recorder. Any connecting cable generally isn't sufficient to throw the gyros into a trembling correction dance trying to compensate a slight balance offset. I have such a cable to trigger recording attached to the handle and have no problem maintaining gimbal balance.

[Chrissie]

The decisive thing is not the weight, but the  _balance_  of the camera/lense. Those brushless motors cannot provide for an arbitrarily large torque to maintain the direction. The ideal balance is, when the camera maintains horizontal orientation without the gimbal being powered on.

 

The other thing is mechanical blocking. Even though the gimbal is advertised featuring three 360° motors, mounting anything different from a pancake lense will likely introduce a mechanical block, if you really need 360° of rotation about yaw or pitch axis. (Roll should be fine, regardless of lense length).

 

A variable-length lense (zoom) is likely to add some off-balance to an initially balanced system, once you engage the zoom. Like @VTC, I would strongly discourage from mounting a micro to a "gimbaled" camera, as this off-center weight is likely to compound both mechanical blocking and compensative torque requirements.