Tripods are impractical on single camera shoots because of the limited room and time to move around. I am considering investing in the Glidecam 4000 pro shooter. Anyone use this for weddings? or is it too heavy to wear for an hour or more at a time?

You do not actually 'wear' it.

What camera do you have? Or more to the point what is the weight (mass?) of your camera that you wish to support? What I'm getting at here is that the 4000 sled is the bigger of the two. I have a Sony FX1E and only need the 2000 Pro sled. Eoither way, I would not want to be holding it for more than a few minutes at a time. Try holding a 5Kg weight out at arms length in one hand and see how long you last. That's what we're talking about here.

For weddings, I think a better option might be the Steadicam Merlin. Much lighter and folds up into a match box (almost!).

Another option if you like the Glidecam products is the Smooth Shooter. This is a spring arm for teh 2000 and 4000 Pro sleds and turns it into more what you may be thinking about. Not convinced it's suitable for a single camera wedding though as the harness does not lend itself to quick on and off changes at all.

I have experience of the 2000 sled with the Smooth Shooter and I know one of us here has a Steadicam Merliln so you may get some nuggets there also.

Just ask if you need more.

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Also, do be advised that the Glidecam 2000 and 4000 products do need to set up properly and correctly to work properly. This is not actually. Well, ok, it is easy but takes ages and you may have to go back the beginning and start again in the setup (balancing) stage before you get it right. A time investment is required.

I've heard more than one rant/complaint about these products only to see that the balance was not even close to correct and so poor results were being obtained.

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Yes I meant the smooth shooter - for a pd150. Thanks for the advice - saying it would take too long to set up each time.

Well, strictly speaking it doesn't actually take ages.

Check me out with mine at Untitled Document and you can see the harness has four straps to fix and adjust and it's not easy on your own.

Also, the glidecam sled out of the box is not easy to take the camera on and off. The trick to making it easy is to mount a quick release plate on top of the sled as I've done to make it much easier.

It just doesn't lend itself to being put on and taken off in 'real time' (and then you nees to double check th ebalance properly) so I do not think it really suitable for a single camera wedding shoot - not with the smooth shooter anyway.

If yous strong/fit enough enough then get the sled on it;s own (with a quick release plate) and you'll be well away for those 30 second shots.

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I'm not young enough to know everything!