Digital Video - April 2008 - (Page 23) VIDEO IMAGES BALANCE BEAM IN REVIEW A SIMPLE, STEADY SYSTEM WEIGHING IN WITH THE BALANCE BEAM. BY ANTHONY BUROKAS O ne of the problems with using deceptively small HDV gear is that, on a small tripod, you’ve ended up with a considerable amount of weight atop your usually non-counterbalanced fluid head. This creates problems when making smooth pans and “professional” moves. High-end tripods have builtin counterbalance systems that push back harder the greater the tripod head is tilted. Pay more and you can “dial in” your counterbalance to perfectly match your camera system. But it’s seldom you find a $5,000 tripod system under a $2,995 HDV camcorder. Even panning is an issue because little cameras have no “inertial mass,” meaning they shake and twitch at the lightest touch. A big camera won’t readily react to button pushes, and pans are much smoother. A tiny camera shows all your mistakes. The Balance Beam is a 9pound system. It features a bent, machined aluminum beam, two weights that can be slid some distance up and down on each end of the beam, and a Bogen/Manfrotto 3273 or 3272 quick-release plate in the middle that affords about 8cm of movement front to back. There are also six unthreaded holes at each end through which I suppose you could mount additional accessories. I added the Balance Beam to my Bogen tripod with the Sony HDR-FX1 camcorder on top. It immediately felt like I had a big on-shoulder camcorder on there, except the camera was less topheavy. This comes from the fact that the two ends of the Balance Beam are bent downward, lowering the center of balance of the entire system. The weights on the Balance Beam do not move in and out to a great extent because of the bend. Some of the motion is vertical, some is horizontal. By moving the front weight in, and sliding the camcorder back all the way, I was able to balance my camcorder to get more tilt than normal, and much smoothing panning. However, the two big weights included with the Balance Beam may be too much for tiny camcorders, yet may not be enough for the Canon XL-H1 with its big 20x lens on the front. Without the ability to take just a few disks from the front and move them to the back, the users’ ability to fine-tune the weight distribution is limited. The weights do adjust quite easily, though, with a simple grab-and-twist lock — an instinctive procedure that requires no special tools. Overall, I found the Balance Beam a useful tool with the small or off-balance camera that needs a bit more mass to achieve optimum smooth camera moves. At just $249, it’s considerably cheaper than upgrading to a proper counterbalance and multi-step adjustable fluid motion tripod. I’d recommend the next version offer the ability for users to move weight fore and aft as they need it, or reduce overall weight altogether. DV Twenty-year video veteran Anthony Burokas is a contributor at FreshDV.com, publisher of TechThoughts.org, and Technical Director of the PBS cooking series Healthy Flavors. SCORE BALANCE BEAM PROS: A simple, affordable tool that smoothes out lightweight camera tripod movements. Weight adjustments are instinctive. CONS: Fine-tuning the weights is limited. May not work with certain larger cameras. BOTTOM LINE: Cheaper than upgrading your tripod. A good buy. MSRP: $249.95 CONTACT: www.videoim agesbytrig.com dv april 2008 www.dv.com 23 http://www.freshdv.com http://www.videoimagesbytrig.com http://www.videoimagesbytrig.com http://www.dv.com
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