[Photo-SIG] Steadicam Merlin

[Dave Lundy]

Have any of you had the opportunity to try the Steadicam Merlin
<www.steadicam.com/handheldmerlin.html> or Steadicam JR Lite
<www.steadicam.com/handheldSteadicamJRLite.html>?  If so, what was your
opinion?  They're *relatively* inexpensive devices to steady a camcorder.
They're still probably more expensive than any camcorder any of us own. ;-)  My
Panasonic PV-GS15 camcorder has 24x optical zoom with electronic image
stabilization, but I've found that's not nearly enough stabilization when using
full zoom unless the camera is on a tripod.  But using a tripod for a camcorder
usually isn't very practical - you usually want to be able to *move* with a
camcorder.  There's a nice review at
<www.dv.com/reviews/reviews_item.jhtml?category=Cameras&articleId=168601423>
but you must register (free) to read it.
-- 
Dave Lundy   <http://www.dma.org/~lundyd/>