Tiffen Steadicam Zephyr User manual

Contents

Operating Manual

p/n LIT-807000

STEADICAM®ZEPHYR™

Operating Manual

The Tiffen Company

90 Oser Avenue

Hauppauge, New York 11788

631 273-2500

800 645-2522

631 273-2557 fax

www.steadicam.com

[email protected]

www.tiffen.com

Technical Support

1-818-843-4600 ext.17

Manufactured in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Overview 4

The Zephyr™Sled 6

Getting Started 8

Attaching the Camera 10

Balancing 12

The Vest 14

The Arm 16

Setting Your Threads 17

Picking Up the Sled 18

Adjusting the Lift 20

Operating a Steadicam®stabilizer will take time and effort. One key to great operating is setting up and

balancing your sled properly. Another is adjusting the vest to your body, and setting the arm to properly lift

the load.

The next steps are learning how to balance yourself with the rig, how to stand and walk, how to prevent

pendular effects as you move, and what each hand is used for.

This manual is to be used to instruct you in setting up and using your Steadicam®Zephyr™ stabilizer system.

If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to take a 2, 3, or 6-day Steadicam®workshop for

the best possible training and start to your career as a Steadicam®

workshops at www.steadicam.com).

The Zephyr™is not a push-button magic stick that instantly creates great images. It’s a precision instrument



effort to learn. The more effort and practice you put into operating, the better you will be, so it’s important to

develop good habits from the beginning.

Several two-hour sessions will get you started, but an operator can always be more skilled with a

Steadicam®stabilizer and also be more effective and artistic in choosing how to start, move, and stop the

camera. In the beginning, it’s helpful and more fun to have a friend work with you. Take turns practicing

and spotting for each other. Use a second video camera to record your exercises – how you stand and move

is critical for great operating.

STEADICAM®, UltraBrite®, Ultra2® and Scout™are trademarks of the Tiffen Company, LLC.

Basic Operating 22

Advanced Techniques

Dynamic Balancing 24

Low Mode 26

Accessory for lightweight cameras 28

Zephyr™sled connectors and pin-outs 29

Accessories 30

Cases and Packing 31



®

Overview

The Tiffen Company takes great

pride in producing the world’s

best stabilizers. The Zephyr™

stabilizer continues our tradition

of excellence and innovation,



performance, lightweight, and

low-cost rig.

Like all our models, the Zephyr™

stabilizer is designed to be



tool-free, straightforward, and

versatile so the operator can



the sled, arm, and vest to the

best advantage for each shot.

Change the sled length, balance,

inertia, and go to low mode in

a heartbeat. Solid, versatile,

and fast – it’s a breeze with the

Zephyr™system.

The base Zephyr™system starts with a sturdy, two section, indexed



stage for quick and precise balancing. A new solid base is equipped

with independently telescoping monitor and battery rods. The Zephyr™

system comes standard with the Tango™-ready, tool-free gimbal, 16:9

SD LCD Color monitor, and a single battery mount for 12 volts—either

V-Lock or Anton Bauer (AB). 24 volts is optional.

A word about 12 and 24 volts as used in the manual: 12 and 24 volts

typically refer to the nominal voltages required by cameras and

accessories, but the voltage range accepted by the device might be 10 to

16 volts or 20 to 34 volts. Each camera or accessory has its own range

of useful voltages.

Different battery chemistries and numbers of cells typically result in

nominal battery voltages of 14.4 or 14.8 volts, or with two batteries in

series, 28.8 or 29.6 volts. The actual voltage in a battery might be from

11 to 17 volts, depending on charge and battery type. Nominal battery

voltages are always higher than the nominal required by the device, so

that when the battery is almost depleted, it still has more voltage than

that required by the device.

All “12 volt” monitor and power

connector ports are supplied

via unregulated battery voltage,

typically 11 to 17 volts.

Included in the base package: the

Zephyr™Iso-Elastic Stabilizer

Arm, Lightweight Zephyr™Vest,

Zephyr™Docking and Balancing

Bracket, 8 add-on Merlin™

weights, wheeled hard case with

handle, 12 volt power cable,

video cable, 2 video adaptors, the

EFP instructional DVD, and the

owner’s manual.

Options for the Zephyr™stabilizer



monitor, 24 volts, and a compact

vest, plus batteries, chargers,

cases, stands, power and video

cables, low-mode kits, vehicle

mounts, and other professional

accessories. Visit www.tiffen.com

for more details.

The monitor and the batteries are

adjustable in and out, which, along

with the add-on Merlin™weights,

creates many choices for viewing,

balance, and inertial control.

All of the above features are

integral to the Zephyr™stabilizer

design, ready to be used when

needed.

Camera mounting

platform

Dovetail

lock

The Zephyr™sled

The Zephyr™Sled

Fore-aft

adjustment

knob

Stage

connectors

Post

Post clamp

Side to side

adjustment

knob

Gimbal

clamp

Add-on

weights

Add-on

weights

Clamp for sliding monitor

and battery rods

Gimbal

handle

Battery mount

Gimbal

Registration pin

for monitor rod

Registration pin

for battery rod

1/4-20 threads

for mounting

accessory weights

HD BNC

connector

additional LEMO

power connector

Getting Started

Prepare the stand and docking bracket

Set up the stand and docking bracket:

Prepare the sled for the camera





















Adjust the monitor position:























Adjust the gimbal position:













Adjust the battery position and

attach the batteries:







Dock the sled in the docking

bracket:

















dovetail

lock

fore-aft

adjustment

knob

side to side

adjustment

knob

Remove the dovetail from the

stage and set aside:



































V-lock battery

AB battery













Attaching the

Camera

Attaching the camera to the sled

We attach the camera to the sled via a dovetail plate. With the Zephyr™stabilizer,

this plate has safety stops on the ends, and several holes for mounting screws. We

want to attach the dovetail to the camera so that we have the widest possible range of

adjustment, both fore-aft and side to side.



camera’s center of gravity (c.g.) or

balance point, then properly position the

dovetail plate relative to the camera’s c.g.

Finding the camera’s c.g.:



































Attaching the dovetail plate:





















This position is not intuitive, so

pay close attention to this detail.















Finding the camera’s side to

side center of gravity.

Finding the camera’s fore-aft

center of gravity.

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