STEADY AS SHE GOES

  I've always been impressed by smooth, moving shots.  In the early days of movies and video movement generally required a dolly or cart of some kind, usually quite large, heavy, and expensive.

  Thanks to the inventive genius, Garrett Brown, a new form of moving a camera fluidly and smoothly came into being - the Steadicam.  However, when these devices were first introduced they too were both heavy and expensive.

  Then, in 1976, a new consumer-level model was introduced - the SteadicamJR.  This model could carry consumer video cameras of the day.  As can be seen from the picture at the right it no longer used a vest on the human operator and a spring-loaded arm to hold the camera and balance mount.  It used the human operator's arm for that function.  It had a small LCD display for displaying the output of the camera (before the days of built-in camera LCD displays.  The batteries for the display did double duty as counterweights for the unit and were mounted at the bottom of the bottom arm.  It even came with an "Obie" light for mounting on the camera.

  As soon as I started shooting with video cameras small enough to use on a JR I had to have one.  It served me well.  I even took it to Africa on a photo safari.  It was great in steadying shots from the back of a Land Rover moving over rough terrain.  In it's folded postion the JR could operate as a shoulder mount for the camera.  The JR finally went out of production several years ago.

  The venerable JR was replaced by the Steadicam Merlin, a much-improve version of a handheld stabilizer.  Unlike the flexible plastic construction of the JR, the Merlin is all metal.  It has much more flexibility in set up from small "palmcorders" all the way up to five-pound-class cameras such as the Sony ZR1, or even the Sony EX1.  When folded, the Merlin is small enough to fit in a small bag.  Because all modern camcorders have flip out monitor displays, the Merlin dropped the built-in display of the JR.

  When the Merlin came out I had to have one.  I soon sold the JR on eBay.  The Merlin is not simple to set up but it came with extensive video instructions and there are a host of tutorial videos on the web.  I have used my Merlin with my Sony ZR1, Sony A1U, and now my Sony MC50.  The MC50 is an ideal camera for the Merlin because of its light weight.

  Some time after the Merlin was introduced, a classic-style Steadicam arm and vest for it was introduced to make the Merlin even more like its big brothers.  I haven't had the opportunity to try one of the vests and arms but if one is shooting with a 5-6 pound class camera such a set up would be in order because, with a heavy camera, you arm gets tired pretty fast.

  Recently, a newer model of the Merlin was introduced - the Merlin 2.  I don't see any major changes with the new model other than a more form-fitting handle.  There are probably other subtle changes not visible from the pictures of it.  I do note that a vest and spring arm are no longer listed among the Merlin accessories so that add-on must have not been very popular.

  The Merlin is not inexpensive but is very high quality.  The range of cameras it can be adapted for is, I think, unmatched.  The fact that it can be folded for storage or use as shoulder mount just adds to its versatility.

  If you need smooth moving shots in your productions I highly recommend the Merlin, based on personal experience.

  Here's a short video reviewing the new Merlin 2 model:



  You can find the Merlin 2 at both Amazon and B&H.  Should opt to purchase one of the units via these links I will receive a small consideration.