Peter Abraham

Good afternoon, The Tiffen Company is pleased to announce that B&H Photo is hosting a 2 Day Steadicam Zephyr/ Scout/ Pilot Workshop on February 6 & 7, 2012. Workshop will be held at Westside Jewish Center. 369 West 34th St. NY NY 10001. Tuition for this workshop is $ 600.00 USD prepaid at time of registration. To register for this or any other Tiffen Steadicam Workshop, visit our Workshops Web site. This group is limited to 9 students. If there are any questions regarding Steadicam Workshops or systems, please feel free to contact me. Sincerely, Peter Peter Abraham Director of Technical Services, Steadicam® GM Steadicam Workshops Program The Tiffen Company 90 Oser Avenue Hauppauge NY 11788 (917) 453-1219 (845) 595-2270 Fax pabraham@tiffen.com http://www.thesteadicamworkshops.com

Good Morning, The Tiffen Company is pleased to announce that Full Compass Systems, LTD. is hosting a 2 Day Steadicam Workshop. The Workshop will be held on February 15 & 16, 2012. Location is 9770 Silicon Prairie Pkwy, Verona, WI 53593-8442. Tuition is $ 600.00 U.S.D. prepaid at time of registration. To register for this or any other Tiffen Steadicam Workshop, visit our Workshops Web site. This group is limited to 9 students. If there are any questions regarding Steadicam Workshops or systems, please feel free to contact me. Sincerely, Peter Peter Abraham Director of Technical Services, Steadicam® GM Steadicam Workshops Program The Tiffen Company 90 Oser Avenue Hauppauge NY 11788 (917) 453-1219 (845) 595-2270 Fax pabraham@tiffen.com http://www.thesteadicamworkshops.com

Good morning all, Quick update= we have one slot left in the Eastern Classic. Register with us if you would like to attend the premiere Steadicam Workshop event ! The Eastern Classic Steadicam Workshop. Call or email me with any questions. Best, Peter Peter Abraham Director of Technical Services, Steadicam® GM Steadicam Workshops Program The Tiffen Company 90 Oser Avenue Hauppauge NY 11788 (917) 453-1219 (845) 595-2270 Fax pabraham@tiffen.com http://www.thesteadicamworkshops.com Skype: peterabrahamsteadicam

Hi Shawn, I'm on with a lot of the comments made by our esteemed colleagues. Allow me to add one bit to the mix. If you introduce a tilt by moving the camera on the stage all the way forwards ( or backwards ) until the plate cannot move any farther, you will have moved the camera's c.g. so far out from being over the gimbal's center that as you walk hands-free, the camera will "boat" side to side fairly aggressively. It is in the nature of all gimbals to do this. If you see this artifact, it means you've taken the fore or aft plate adjust too far. The way to beat this and accomplish very clean extreme tilt shots is to move the rig to what some call the "zero G" state. That is to say, adjust the gimbal very carefully so the rig does not drop at all, but is not flipping over. Set it to a neutral state. Then go and adjust side/side and fore/aft so that the rig truly hangs there straight up, with no inclination to roll. You can then go about doing 90º tilts straight up or straight down with none of the aforementioned "boating" effect found if you try to do a very extreme tilt just by sliding the camera all the way to one extreme end of the stage. Great for shooting the rotunda of the Capitol, the ceiling of a cathedral, the lobby of a large atrium / hotel setting and so on. This technique also makes easy and gratifying work of circular stairs. Best, Peter Abraham Director of Technical Services, Steadicam® The Tiffen Company and 26 years as a Steadicam Operator

The 6th Annual Lake Arrowhead Classic Steadicam® Workshop The Tiffen Company is pleased to offer the 6th Annual Lake Arrowhead Classic Steadicam Workshop. It will be held at the U.C.L.A. Conference Center at beautiful Lake Arrowhead, California. The combination of quiet location, access to interesting spaces and rugged terrain and terrific lodging and food makes for a week of eating, sleeping and breathing Steadicam. The reknowned Steadicam Classic Workshop began in Malibu California in the 1980’s. It has developed into the premiere Steadicam Workshop in the world, offering excellent instructors, state of the art Steadicam gear and workshop experience. The group is limited to 16 students. There are 5 Instructors including our lead Instructor, Jerry Holway. Jerry has been a Steadicam Operator for more than 25 years and is the co inventor of the Steadicam Ultra 1 and Ultra 2, as well as many other inventions. Garrett Brown, Academy Award-winning inventor of the Steadicam will be instructing all week as well. Tuition for this workshop is $ 3,500.00 USD Pre-Paid. $ 500.00 desposit required at the time of registration, with the balance due by February 1, 2012. To register for this workshop, visit the Steadicam Workshops web site at The Workshops Web Site and fill out the form. The details page on this workshop can be found at The 6th Annual Lake Arrowhead Classic page . Any questions regarding the details of The Lake Arrowhead Classic Steadicam Workshop should be directed to Peter Abraham at pabraham@tiffen.com . Phone # (917) 453-1219.

Good Morning, The Tiffen Company is pleased to announce that Abelcine Burbank is hosting a 2 Day Steadicam Workshop. January 9 & 10, 2012. 801 South Main St., Burbank, CA 91506 Tuition is $ 600.00 U.S.D. prepaid at time of registration. To register for this or any other Tiffen Steadicam Workshop, visit our Workshops Web site. This group is limited to 9 students. If there are any questions regarding Steadicam Workshops or systems, please feel free to contact me. Sincerely, Peter Peter Abraham Director of Technical Services, Steadicam® GM Steadicam Workshops Program The Tiffen Company 90 Oser Avenue Hauppauge NY 11788 (917) 453-1219 (845) 595-2270 Fax pabraham@tiffen.com http://www.thesteadicamworkshops.com

Good morning, The Tiffen Company is pleased to announce that Abelcine New York is hosting a 2 Day Steadicam Workshop. November 9 & 10, 2011. 609 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10014. Tuition is $ 500.00 U.S.D. prepaid at time of registration. To register for this or any other Tiffen Steadicam Workshop, visit our Workshops Web site. This group is limited to 9 students. If there are any questions regarding Steadicam Workshops or systems, please feel free to contact me. Sincerely, Peter Peter Abraham Director of Technical Services, Steadicam® GM Steadicam Workshops Program The Tiffen Company 90 Oser Avenue Hauppauge NY 11788 (917) 453-1219 (845) 595-2270 Fax pabraham@tiffen.com http://www.thesteadicamworkshops.com

Sean's video captured the spirit so beautifully. Excellent work, and we're grateful he shared it all around. What to expect? Well. Expect wall to wall Steadicam. 7:15 am, the room is opened up for those who want to practice before the sumptuous breakfasts. 10:00 pm, we're wrapping up. Eat Sleep Work Think Steadicam. It's always a terrific blend of relatively new Ops, folks who have a great deal of Camera Operator experience but little or zero Steadicam experience, working Ops coming in for a tune-up and exposure to the latest tricks and gear and everyone in and around and between. Every group defines the energy and the 4 defined groups become small crews unto themselves, working out a rhythm and support method. It's always energizing to participate and I can speak for myself as well as the other Instructors when I say that we always leave the week energized, excited, thinking about new ideas, things that came up. A singular experience. We look forward to seeing you. Best, Peter Abraham

Good evening, Our friend Mike is correct. It is OCTOBER 19 & 20, with an Open House on October 18th. Let me try to edit this OP. Best, Peter Abraham

Good afternoon, The Tiffen Company is pleased to announce that CinequipWhite Toronto is hosting a 2 Day Steadicam Workshop. September 19 & 20, 2011. 310 Judson St. unit 2 & 3 Toronto, Ontario, M8Z 5T6. Tuition is $ 500.00 U.S.D. prepaid at time of registration. To register for this or any other Tiffen Steadicam Workshop, visit our Workshops Web site. There will be a Steadicam Open House held in the afternoon of September 18th at this location. Check This group is limited to 9 students. If there are any questions regarding Steadicam Workshops or systems, please feel free to contact me. Sincerely, Peter Peter Abraham Director of Technical Services, Steadicam® GM Steadicam Workshops Program The Tiffen Company 90 Oser Avenue Hauppauge NY 11788 (917) 453-1219 (845) 595-2270 Fax pabraham@tiffen.com http://www.thesteadicamworkshops.com

Yeah, I've been considering easing up on the intensity of information flow by leaving out all of the vowels and just using the consonants. ;) Looking forward to seeing some footage soon, Craig !!! Best to all, Peter

Hi Thomas, Sadly no photos. The ladder was a regular fiberglass red ladder. 8 foot tall. The kind you find on every grip truck. The large heavy duty angle irons were bolted in to JUST barely fit inside of the verticals of the ladder up at the steepest angle ( and therefore had a bit of slop side to side on the lowest step ). Again, very much a home made kit. Used it for a lot of years, however. Support with apple boxes was key. Lacking them ( zero budget jobs ), I would simply stack a few of my cases up so they were jammed underneath the ramp about half way up. Again, enough to eliminate bounce or risk of cracking.

Used to drag around a wooden ramp. 4x8 foot sheet of 1" ply, cut lengthwise. Screwed together in a million places. Covered with that self-adhesive üuber-gritty black step tread stuff you can buy in bundles at Lowes or Home Despot. Took two of the thickest angle irons I could find. Bolted them to one end. Now I had a ramp of variable inclination. Pick the angle, hook it onto the step of a very strong ladder and you're good. A few apple boxes under it half way up to reduce flex and bounce. Worked like a charm, fit into the Mini Van. Some weisenheimer grip wrote " Steadi ramp " on it on a job. :) Wish I had photos of it in use. Pulled off a "crane shot" in front of the Ed Sullivan Theatre years ago, where Letterman is shot. Walked down at an angle from sign to sidewalk, straight into lobby, theatre, etc. Very inexpensive way to skin this cat. Best to all, Peter Abraham Director of Technical Services, Steadicam® The Tiffen Company pabraham@tiffen.com

Thanks, Scott. It was a terrific surprise !! Good weekend all around. Hard work, superb energy and focus from our group. We were once again fortunate to have Tony Foresta from FTC bring in his CineRover® device. Students got to use it on their Test Shot ! Best to all, Peter

Hey James ! I used to use the old J Bracket to get what you want, Low High Mode. You should be able to do it with the F Bracket. Here's how. Leave your rig balanced in normal mode. 1. Put the F Bracket into the handle. 2. Slip the arm in. 3. Mount up. The handle will turn upside down, angling up and away from the stage. The 32" boom range has not been altered. You have lowered the median height by about 7". ( That's a very rough estimate. ) Depending on the length of the camera body, when switching you may hit the handle against the stage. Try it out before you're on set. It's a wonderful way to fly. In 1989 I shot 23 60 second spots called When I Grow Up. Every shot of very spot was Low High Mode Steadicam. Just try it before the day, and know the angle of declination away from the centerpost so you know how you need to operate to get the shots you need. Best Peter Abraham Dir. of Technical Services - Steadicam® GM Steadicam Workshops Program The Tiffen Company pabraham@tiffen.com

Mark et al, Asking around to see who might have some good shots of it. Will post if I can find some- I didn't take any ( was very very bizzy !!! ) Best, Peter

Indeed. When you own a Merlin Arm/Vest kit already, you need only buy the Pilot Sled kit. It comes with the straight arm post. You take the yellow handled allen wrench that comes in the kit, loosen the lock on the bottom of the angled Merlin arm post and replace that post with the new straight one from your new Pilot Sled kit. Easy !! The Pilot does indeed offer a bunch of highly useful features listed above. The pan bearing assembly is as good as the Ultra 2's, it is just a smaller diameter. Tools free stage adjust, tools free arm adjust, easily adjusted vest- plenty to like. Best, Peter Abraham

All students registered for the workshop get an email about a week before which details the location and start and stop times as well as some other things to keep in mind as we head into the workshop. Nelson, if you need any information, just email me ! Best, Peter

What a painful thing to read. Not only because the Emerson student was using a stabilizer, but because it was a student. Filled with energy, joy and hyperfocus on camera and all things photographic. This is not a stabilizer issue. It's an inexerience issue. Quite a few years ago, I stopped by my alma mater, The School of Visual Arts on East 23rd ST in NYC. It was the final day before holiday break in December. As I got back into the elevator on the Film Dept floor to go down, I shared the elevator with two incredibly excited students. They had a beat up old canvas mail bin filled with Nagra, Mics, a light kit and a few other bits. Their conversation went a lot like this: " Do we go straight to Panavision when we land or check in first?? Oh, we go straight to Panavision. We need to do the check-out and then get the gear, the hotel can wait !" I asked what they were up to. They were shooting a short film in Florida. It included car chases and a plane to car chase reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock. I wished them luck and remembered well that level of intense excitement. A month or two later I got word of an accident during a student film shoot. They were shooting a plane chase using a crop duster, shooting hand-held. The Director wanted a shot looking straight down. As we all know, a normal airplane can pull a very tight turn but cannot truly shoot straight down. The kid who was the DP/ Cameraman refused to shoot the shot. Apparently the real adult on the set was the crop duster pilot- who should have known better. The student A.C. decided to man up and said he'd be glad to shoot the shot. The plane stalled and fell out of the sky. The student shooter and pilot were killed. Safety is a global issue. It surely comes into play in our corner of the world, but is not unique to Steadicam®. Always, always, safety first. It is ONLY a movie, it is only a shot. Peter Abraham Director of Technical Services, Steadicam® GM Steadicam Workshops Program The Tiffen Company pabraham@tiffen.com

MLB Network is located at the old MSNBC studio complex in Secaucus, New Jersey. Not far from the Lincoln Tunnel. They have several Ops. I know that Steve Minnick does a lot of their work, and was part of the full-time crew to win a Sports Emmy last season for the studio shows. Best, Peter Abraham

Good evening. It occurred to me that this is the easiest way to share this information. Again, a strong word of caution: This data works for the exact camera body and lens listed. They are what I call "Starter Settings"- to be used to get close, then balance up. It also does NOT include the battery power base that can be screwed into the Canon bodies. Having said this, it's a good guide for all HDSLR's. If you start with this, you will get close enough if there are no accessories mounted anywhere that you can get the rig into balance using the blue knobs on the Merlin. Enjoy- and by all means, share feedback regarding these starter settings here. Best, Peter ====== CANON 5D AND 7D TO STEADICAM MERLIN BALANCE STARTER DATA Canon 5DMkII – with 24-135 lens Nose Weight- 1 Mid, 1 Finish Bottom Weights- 3 Mid, 1 Finish Plate Hole- N Balance line marker on Merlin Stage- set to -4 Measure from stage to bottom weight line as per photos- 13” to middle of alum. Tube Canon 7D - with 18-135 Nose Weight- 1 Mid, 1 Finish Bottom Weights- 3 Mid, 1 Finish Plate Hole- N Balance line marker on Merlin Stage- set to -1.2 ( move plate to -1, then 2 small lines past it towards the -2 marker ) Measure from stage to bottom weight line as per photos- 11 3/8” to middle of alum. Tube Notes: The fore and aft balance is a critital element, as is the side to side. Once the settings are put into place as shown above, the fore and aft is affected by where you are in the zoom range. As the front elements move out, the camera will move forward a bit. This is not cause for alarm. It can be adjusted by moving the small blue knurled knob on the side fore or aft.

Brooks et al, A pleasure. I do have a Word Doc that is a cheat sheet for this process for Merlins. It has all pertinent measurements. Did one for 5D and one for 7D- using similar lenses. But as I said, while it is fact that the true C.G. does shift closer or farther from the camera body depending upon the weight of the lens, the cheat sheet is a great place to start. For that matter, of course, if you zoom in or out you radically alter the C.G. of the mass. The Merlin has more than enough fore / aft adjust range to allow you to trim back to a good flat trim without removing the plate. This is one of the key reasons why we are so "big" on having Steadicam Operators start with the mounting plate in the optimum location. Anyone interested in this document, feel free to email me. Just title it, " DSLR Merlin Document " in the Subject line. Again, fair disclaimer: This is a good guideline to get you close. Depending on the body and lens, it will not deliver a perfectly balanced Merlin just by following the steps in the document. It will get you so close that using the fore / aft and side-to-side balance rollers, you can trim the rig up very nicely. Happy Shooting !! Best, Peter

Oh, he's done more than interrupt them. :D Seriously- the Merlin will do a great job for you. Make yourself watch the DVD from start to finish. The manual is not a mirror of the DVD- it is a companion piece and quite useful as such. By the time you've watched it through, you will have balanced the camera. Here's a tip to save you a world of heartache regarding DSLR cameras and the Merlin. Finding the Center of Gravity ( C.G. ) is usually a very straighforward proposition. Not so with a DSLR. I cannot figure out how to get a drawing into a message board so I'm going to do this verbally. Take your DSLR. Hold it upside down so that the bottom of the camera body and underside of the lens are facing up towards you, and the back of the camera body is aimed at your chest and the lens is aimed forwards away from your body. In this manner, the curved pistol grip is on the left hand side. What is difficult to find with any DSLR is the specfic C.G. If you are using any kind of shorter zoom ( the 18-55, etc. ) or even a 50mm prime, this basic rule of thumb applies: The center of gravity of this form factor is the area of air space about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch along the lens barrel from where it mounts AND between the edge of the lens barrel and the inner edge of the pistol grip. That area, that small bit of air space, is where the C.G. will be found. Depending on the camera body, the lens length, etc. it will be in a slightly different space in that area. But if you try to put the Merlin plate with the center of the Merlin Plate in that air space, you will see that the closest hole to use is "O". Use that hole. The Merlin stage has more than enough side to side and fore / aft adjustment to allow you to balance out your DSLR. This is a good rule of thumb. It is not an absolute. If you have anything- anything mounted on your DSLR in the way of accessories, lights, clip on mattebox, etc. then this rule of thumb is thrown away and you need to find a way to determine the C.G. But, for a basic Canon or Nikon DSLR with a short zoom or single focal length prime lens, this works well. Try it ! Best, Peter Abraham Director of Technical Services, Steadicam® The Tiffen Company pabraham@tiffen.com

Greetings, Good question here. At NAB last week, Tiffen debuted the new SteadiPrompt. Comes with an 8" or 10" monitor. Through the lens. Very rigid. This last detail is so key with our rigs, of course. Back in the day, I flew the prototype Shoebox Prompter from Listec. It was excellent but the image was much smaller than this new rig. Listec is now a part of The Tiffen Company, and so the push was on to develop a Steadicam-friendly teleprompter. Will keep all posted as the unit approaches the point where we are taking orders and shipping SteadiPrompts. I helped to design it and flew it an awful lot at NAB. Rock solid. The entire thing including glass and LCD weighed 6 pounds. ( The 8" Panel was on board ). Best to all, Peter Abraham Director of Technical Services, Steadicam® The Tiffen Company

Ditto. Enjoyed my old MS Elite rig day in and day out till the day I stopped using larger rigs. By design it was plug and play for the Video D/A, Frameline generator and Power management. IC chips mounted on rigid plastic boards to be pulled in the field and replaced if need be. Great feature- I did have my Video D/A go down once. Since I owned spare boards, it took me less than 10 minutes to be up and flying again. There is an enormous amount of field-serviceablity by design in the Tiffen Steadicams. Always useful to know how to do emergency maintenance in the field with your particular rig. Best to all, Peter Abraham