2012Steadi-Newbies forum
Using a weight cage to balance light cameras on camera rigs
14 years old. Gear and prices may have changed since.
What the thread found
- A practice cage with removable weight plates makes it significantly easier to achieve proper balance when flying lightweight video cameras
- Weight cages with anodized black finish and rounded edges with multiple threaded mounting holes provide flexible attachment options for various camera setups
- Attempting to balance a very lightweight camera without a proper weight cage requires adding improvised counterweights throughout the rig, making flight control difficult
- A cage assembled from 6-pound and 2-pound plates provides adequate weight range for balancing light cameras in the mid-weight range for camera rigs
Depends on
- The user was a complete beginner at the time of use, so difficulty controlling the unbalanced rig may have been partly due to inexperience rather than purely the weight distribution problem
- The preference for shorter posts than the 9.5 inch standard suggests post length may need adjustment depending on specific rig geometry
- Experience limited to mounting a lightweight video camera, not tested with heavier DSLR setups