Tiffen Steadicam Zephyr User manual

Contents
Operating Manual
p/n LIT-807000

2
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
© 2011 The Tiffen Company, LLC. Written by J. Holway & L. Hayball

3
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

®

4
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.

5
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.

6
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

7
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

8
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:







9
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







10
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.