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Tiffen Steadicam Merlin- New- Stabilizing System
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Editorial Reviews Product Description Steadicam Merlin Stabilizing System let's you "fly" wherever the scene takes you--up and down steps, indoors and outside, through crowds--almost anywhere, with precise, elegant control and ease. Product Accessories
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Customer Reviews David Garth Said: A great product that takes time and patience to master ( Sep. 5th 2009 )I've owned this Steadicam for about two months and used it almost every day with my Canon HF100. This is a beautifully made and cleverly designed product that works amazingly well. It's expensive, but when you see the beautiful machine work and finishes you'll understand why it costs what it does. It's truly a professional piece of gear. BUT, don't expect to take it out of the box and use it right away with good results. It takes some time, patience and commitment to become proficient. The initial setup took me a couple of hours the first time. But once I understood the basic principles, I was able to rebalance the camera with different accessories quite easily, usually in about ten minutes or less. I wrote down the basic settings that worked for the various configurations (camera alone, camera with with shotgun mic, camera with wide angle adapter, camera with both, etc) and that helps a lot. The major learning curve is learning how to make decent shots with it. The video and manual are quite good for a starting point. Then, it just takes time and practice. After about 5-6 hours of use I felt like I was really getting it. Now, I've got about 10 hours on it and I'm actually getting pretty good. The shots I'm making now are very usable. But each time I use it I get a little better so I know I have a ways to go before I'm really good.. It's actually been fun to learn it and not very frustrating. So that's the biggest downside. It's not for someone who's casual about their video shooting or isn't willing or able to put in the necessary time and effort. Other cons: My arms get tired after about an hour or so of shooting. Also, forget about using it outside unless it's a very calm day. Even a slight breeze turns the camera and makes it almost uncontrollable. Overall, I think this is a great product for the right person.Chris Said: You have to be a magician to handle the Steadicam Merlin! ( Sep. 2nd 2009 )The Steadicam Merlin is crazy, even insultingly expensive! It is not easy at all to set up, in fact it is a nightmare! BUT, if you are gifted at the art of physics, and have incredible patience, you will finally achieve some type of "Zen" with this thing and make it work for you. But, you'd better practice, practice, and practice. It is not just another way to hold a camera, it is an instrument that must be learned by way of practice. Did I mention practice yet? Set up, the key to know when you have it configured right on your camera is in the manual on page 25, "a properly trimmed Merlin can be panned and tilted with almost no effort on the Guide." This is how you know it is properly balanced. It will pan and tilt with almost no effort of pushing or pulling. It moves easily. You can be balanced and it still will not work, you have to be "properly balanced". The video that comes with the Merlin is ok, like a grade "C+" but falls way short to properly train us. The manual is the same. Manual and video are rough guides to how this thing works. The only way to learn is to spend time with it over and over again. What to expect for customer service? I emailed them because I thought my locating pin fell out and I thought I lost it. They told me to call the parts phone number and have my credit card ready. For $900 bucks you would think they would would send one out and thank me again for spending so much money on this tool from hell. But, atlas, once you have achieved or "earned" your Zen status with the Steadicam Merlin, the results are very good and will put the edge on your videos that will show you are a professional video magician.Daniel F. Niendorff Said: Amazing, but tricky to master. ( Jul. 4th 2009 )The merlin is very very smooth, and I was able to set it up in about 2 hours out of the box, to the point where I was able to use it to get short shots that looked very fluid. I am still learning how to get longer shots. The technique is actually very time consuming to learn, and is quite tricky. The merlin is a great tool for making good smooth shots, but it won't do it for you. There is a large element of skill that must to be mastered to get consistently good shots. It is not really second nature. Shots require much more planning, and spontaneous shooting doesn't work as well. I have found that it takes a lot of concentration on the steadicam function, and that I am less able to pay attention to what I am shooting. All in all I think its a great tool, and does a great job. It is a bit more difficult to use than I expected, but learnable with time and patience.Kenneth Geddings Jr. Said: difficult ( Dec. 3rd 2008 )I got this used and in good condition i spent a week trying to balance the thing. and finally decided its not worth it and am reselling it. It would be a great product and all but i just for the life of me coudnt get it balanced right. If you are interested in this product i STRONGLY suggest you find someone else who has it first who can show you have to use it and set it up before getting it. it is NOT something you can just pick up and use it takes a LOT of time. some people can get it right away but most others it takes a long time to get right. at least the creator Garret Brown was helpful. I really wish i could have gotten this to work...it would have great.. but i decided to make the very difficult decision of selling it back rather then risk spending more money or time to figure out how to balance it. one thought though i hear the lesser priced systems are even harder to set up... so if you have the time and perhaps know someone who has one too maybe it wont be so bad. i do know for the money this is the only product of its kind to do the job.. it just requires the skill which apparently i dont have yet..K. McKeever Said: So-so -- don't expect too much ( Nov. 26th 2008 )First of all, you will see a slight up and down motion resulting from your footsteps (this is apparent even in their DVD demo material). The faster you move, the more apparent it is. More importantly, it's very hard to get the gyro to aim precisely where you want it to. Pans and tilts are very difficult, so expect to do a lot of practice and many takes to get something that roughly equates to what you want. After a few months, I didn't see enough of a benefit versus frustration, and I sold it. I've also used a fig rig, which is much easier to control but doesn't give as smooth results. Basically, I haven't found a smooth-cam control at this budget level that I can really recommend.« Back Tiffen Merlin SteadiCam Steady Cam Camera Camcorder
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