Polarised Filter Gopro Hero 4 Balance Weight

[KrisTheAJ]

Hi, I have a gopro hero 4 silver with my Solo and gimbel. I plan to purchase a polarpro polarised filter but want to know if the extra weight effects the balance of the camera and gimbel? Has anyone tried this out yet? Cheers

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Any lens will affect the balance. However, most of us are not adding counter weights to rebalance it. The gimbal handles it just fine. There are balance kits you can buy if you want to though.

 

[pyrate]

I find the gimbal performs better balanced.
flying the 3.97 lens and polar pros
went with the IMP concepts balancing kit
gimbal is much more stable now

 

[PdxSteve]

If it isn't balanced, it will wear out prematurely. It will work fine for awhile, but you are adding additional stresses to the gimbal motors which won't be apparent as they first start to wear out. They will act fine, until they don't. Then time for a new gimbal.

The less work the gimbal motors have to do, the longer it will last.

 

[Soul Patch Films]

I agree with both Steve and Pyrate. It will work with out. But the added weight does contribute to wear. Like any gimbal, you should balance with the gimbal while it is turned off, so that it stays in any position that you move it.
Here is a link to a good video of the procedure. It will apply to about anything you add to the camera.

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[KrisTheAJ]

Hi, I have a gopro hero 4 silver with my Solo and gimbel. I plan to purchase a polarpro polarised filter but want to know if the extra weight effects the balance of the camera and gimbel? Has anyone tried this out yet? Cheers

Thanks for your reply mate, appreciated.

 

[Jubalr]

I've always balanced my gimbals. Just less work on the motors.

 

[pyrate]

and the good news is, between the IMP concepts and Ribcage balancing accessories they are extremely easy to ballance

 

[Peter Spero]

I find the gimbal performs better balanced.
flying the 3.97 lens and polar pros
went with the IMP concepts balancing kit
gimbal is much more stable now

Hey Pyrate, I totally agree, I balanced with the 6g weights. I also have the 3.97 from polar pros.

 

[pyrate]

that IMP kit rocks, I can take filters on and off and just slide the balance to the sweet spot and roll on

 

[SurfnSkate81]

Hi, I have a gopro hero 4 silver with my Solo and gimbel. I plan to purchase a polarpro polarised filter but want to know if the extra weight effects the balance of the camera and gimbel? Has anyone tried this out yet? Cheers

I'm using the backbone balance kit with PolarPro and has been great once I found the right combination of weights and the placement of the weights on the GoPro.

 

[Mr GruntHunter]

I agree with both Steve and Pyrate. It will work with out. But the added weight does contribute to wear. Like any gimbal, you should balance with the gimbal while it is turned off, so that it stays in any position that you move it.
Here is a link to a good video of the procedure. It will apply to about anything you add to the camera.

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Doesn't the balancer come with a balancing rod?

 

[cameraguy]

I'm not ballancing. Bad Boy in me I guess, but you might be interested in seeing this short side by side of the GoPro on a Solo with and without the polarizer filter. Frankly, the neutral density filters make a more important impact.

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[Mr GruntHunter]

I'm not ballancing. Bad Boy in me I guess, but you might be interested in seeing this short side by side of the GoPro on a Solo with and without the polarizer filter. Frankly, the neutral density filters make a more important impact.

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Can you get a slip on ND filter that won't require balancing?

 

[PdxSteve]

Doesn't the balancer come with a balancing rod?

A balancing rod is for balancing props.

Can you get a slip on ND filter that won't require balancing?

"require" is kind of subjective. Most filters will "work" without balancing, but it also leads to premature motor wearout on the gimbal and the gimbal won't act uniformly. You probably won't notice until the damage is done and it's out of warranty.

It's really best to balance the gimbal. It's kind of like putting oil in your car. Yes it will work for a while when the level gets really low... until...

It's pretty apparent when it's happening. When the gimbal is perfectly balanced, it barely makes any sound when running with the gopro in it. When it's not, you hear the motors whining a bit as they are working harder to keep everything level. They're very delicate and not meant to work against a lot of force.

 

[Mr GruntHunter]

Sure, I understand but what I was eluding to was if there were any ND filters (maybe not heavy glass) that didn't off set the gimbal (yeah, I probably already know what the answer is).

 

[PdxSteve]

There isn't. Most of these filters are around 4-5 grams. 3DR included balance weights with the gimbal to make up the difference in weight between the Hero3 and 4, and those are only a few grams difference too.

 

[Mr GruntHunter]

There isn't. Most of these filters are around 4-5 grams. 3DR included balance weights with the gimbal to make up the difference in weight between the Hero3 and 4, and those are only a few grams difference too.

Thanks for the reply Steve. For now then I think I'll just stick with trying to figure out what the best settings are with my stock HERO 4 black

 

[RichWest]

I was joking in a previous post about RayBans as a filter. I actually did such a thing, taped on a redneck filter from an old pair RB... The left plastic lens and was grey polarized, lets call them RN-ND5CP. Anyway they had the effect that had been prescribed per others here, the motion blur thing and it actually worked well considering. It did compress the image on the edges however, being that the lens was curved. I have no clue what was the actual weight added.

Anyway the moral of the story for this thread, is that I had no issues from the added weight. There was no gimbal flopping or additional vibration from the added weight. I honestly couldn't hear the gimbal motors stressing under the additional load, as I checked before and after the flight for any vibration resonating out of the gimbal arm. Just my experience.

The gimbal is fairly strong, there really isn't anything close enough to compare it with in the RTF market. Maybe why people are more cautious based on their prior experiences with cheaper designs. I'd agree with others that balancing offers benefits, in the category of long term benefits. If you listen to the motors they'll tell you what they need.