by Matija Petrovic
The Glidecam Tru-Horizon is a motorized gimbal designed to attach to handheld stabilizers, such as the Glidecam Devin Graham Signature Series or a Steadicam, and to keep the camera horizontal no matter how you move the stabilizer.
The Tru-Horizon controls your camera’s roll axis. You can move the camera from low mode to high mode and back in a single fluid, cinematic shot while keeping it level horizontally. You can even rotate the stabilizer a full 360°, and the camera will keep its position the entire time. A built-in slip-ring allows 360° rotations of the motor without twisting wires.
The Tru-Horizon’s motor works with position feedback, encoders, and an IMU sensor to communicate with a custom 32-bit controller. Combining the accuracy of the sensor with the speed of the controller provides for stable video in all three axes with .02° of accuracy.
What’s in the box
– Tru-Horizon
– Dual charger
– 1 battery
– Power cord
– Camera mounting screw
– Manual
Battery
The Glidecam TRU-HORIZON comes with a BP-U30 lithium ion battery and the dual battery charger. Battery also has indicator so every one and then you can check battery life. We were shooting all day long with TRU- HORIZON and battery indicator showed it’s fully charged so our conclusion is that you can shoot all day just with one battery. Battery is charging one hour from empty to full.
Balancing Glidecam TRU-HORIZON is very simple. Anyone who has ever balanced a gimbal should not have a problem with this. Camera is balanced the same way as on gimbals. The goal is to find a position where camera stays in the same position, no matter where you put it (side or angle). It took us 3 minutes to balance it for the first time.
Our test
We didn’t base our testing on steady scenes only. Glidecam TRU-HORIZON was mounted on monopod and on a slider. We’ve managed to get excellent results and decided to make a short movie in which every scene was taken with TRU HORIZON. We used Glidecam HD-2000 for steady scenes and also a monopod and a slider. Here is the video of the shooting (behind the scenes) and the final movie.
The Dreamer
Glidecam has managed to impress us again, starting with the build to the capability of usage of Glidecam TRU-HORIZON which can be mounted basically to anything and you’ll always be sure the camera is in horizontal balance. There really is no need to use a crane anymore, just mount Glidecam TRU-HORIZON on a monopod and you will get a crane shot. There is no wave effect on Steadicam. We recommend Glidecam TRU-HORIZON to anyone who wants to get movie scenes with just one tool. Congratulations to Glidecam on another great product.
