#Perfect horizon stabilizer manual#

Its low profile gets you in and out of tight places without the fatigue associated with larger stabilizers. The Camera Motion Research Blackbird is an easy-to-learn-and-use camera-stabilization system. There is a learning curve, but at least with this unit it’s relatively brief. However no one, no matter how agile, can balance a stabilizer and produce perfect shots the first time out. He used one hand on the grip, and the other below the gimbal, and mastered the shot easily.Īfter using the Blackbird on more than 10 shoots, it has become the preferred stabilizer among my students. I let one of my students who’d been shadowing me handle the actual shooting. With the draft from the rotors moving everything about, this was a perfect test for a stabilizer in high winds. The real test came when I needed a stabilized shot of two people exiting a helicopter immediately after it landed. However, once it was fine-tuned, the shoot went flawlessly with beautiful results. The setup with the Canon camera was much more tiring than with the Nikon D800, as stabilizing a camera this heavy (almost eight pounds, the Blackbird’s limit) was a real workout for my wrist. (I turned the knobs a lot.) Larger adjustments are controlled by moving the camera either forward or backward on the plate. Although a numbered scale on the unit simplifies front and rear balance, I’m not sure that the numbers themselves are really necessary turning the knobs allows you to make very minute movement to the scale. The operator was another story.)īack home with a Canon EOS C100 mounted on the plate and attached to the Blackbird, it was time to begin the balancing act began.

(The camera did have a minor humidity meltdown, but not the Blackbird. I really appreciated the lighter weight of the camera and stabilizer package when traveling, as well as when using the system in the blazing heat and humidity I encountered in this shoot. “Starts” and “stops” proved to be the most difficult thing to master, but noticed less “pendulum effect” with the Blackbird than with some other stabilizers I’d used. After several hours of practice with tracking shots, I’d mastered the skills needed for really smooth movements. The client wanted me to capture just a couple’s feet as they strolled in the surf, and the Blackbird allowed me to easily tilt and show just this part of their anatomy.Īs with any stabilizer, it does take some time to gain knowledge of the system, but keeping the horizon stable with the Blackbird proved less difficult than I thought. Once on location, I mounted a Nikon D800 on the system, used the notched weights to help with the counterbalance, and was soon off and running in the sand. I was traveling light to shoot a web video, and the Blackbird and its weights fitted nicely into my suitcase. The only major differences with most camera stabilizers are the type of weights used and how the units are mounted.īefore students tried out the Blackbird, I was fortunate enough to get to take it (and my wife) to a tropical island in the Caribbean. Our school’s equipment cage contains five different types of camera stabilizers, so when the Blackbird arrived, few students gave it a second look.

#Perfect horizon stabilizer manual#

Although the Blackbird is easy to balance, first-time users will find the instruction manual helpful and straightforward, and the included DVD will streamline the learning curve.