Peter Abraham

No, that would have been the lovely and talented Keith Greenwood of New Jersey. His work at CNBC is unbelievably clean, and he just keeps churning on through hour after hour, different sets, different shows. A nice fellow and very fine Op. Peter Abraham New York

Hey Marc, I was given something similar to use at ABC News Washington Bureau about two years ago, to fly with my Flyer prototype rig. Image was tasty, no rotating dish, etc. However there was about a 1/2 - 1 second lag in my shot. It took that long for the signal to be processed. ( Me, that sounds like frantic bullshit to me but what do I know? When surrounded by grumbling staff engineers, I sit and idly pluck at my velcro straps and wait it out. ) Glad you got a unit that has no line-of-sight issues- next time I am in ATL, I would love to see it ! And, tell Andy I said hi. Best Peter Um. In that BroadcastRF link? I would just like to publicly say that the guy wearing the Steadicam who thinks he's Operating it but apparently is not? That's not me. :blink:

Good advice, fellahs. Another fine reason to always carry a coupla pair of latex or better yet Nitrile gloves in the kit. The good purple Nitrile gloves have textured fingertips and are non-conductive. They also fit like a glove. :D It's an excellent thing to learn how to do, but I readily agree it's dangerous stuff. Find a t.v. repair shop ( yeah, right......these days?....... ) and get the tech to show you how to loosen and align the yoke. Its mighty helpful to have some lines being generated so you have perfect verticals to make use of. Peter Abraham New York

--Starch glare-- No, it's not what it looks like. Jeeeeeez man. One loses one's sense of humor about this stuff, Brant. That was aeon's ago, she was nowhere near 14, and this is my KID we're talking about here ! Not to mention Elaine. Who works at Panavision. And is not 14. Last time I feed that boy cold noodles with sesame sauce. Now then, back to topic. Was the video tap on the Elaine as ground-noise prone as older regular Panavision bodies? Peter Abraham ( who just yelled at the aforementioned daughter and made her change her shirt before going to the movies with her girlfriends I mean what was she thinking? ) New York

Nope- I really never knew ! I saw one at General Camera in NYC once, it had been flown in for a gig. Never flew it on my rig though, and although I knew that was it's name, I had no idea who she was. I'm a big fan of using names instead of numbers. My 14-year-old daughter is interested in learning Steadicam from me. The Flyer vest that is stock is too long and big around for her. ( She of the early teen waifish profile ). So, I took a Flyer vest and cut it down in all directions, including the main "Y" shaped upper vest spar. Sent it off to Frank Rush, who dug the idea. You can now order the Flyer "Laura Vest" if you need a compact vest for a Flyer. Naming is good. When I showed my kid the PDF file of the new ad slick that named her, she emitted the kind of high-pitched scream of delight usually associated with.....uh........oh. Teenage girls. Well, there you have it. :D

Before I suggest some practical solutions, the idea offered up above that involves cutting a wire must be addressed. I have shot well over 100 live broadcast events, from the Olympics to soaps to Good Morning America to Webcasts. I am here to tell you that this particular suggestion is one to be avoided. Period. Here is why: 1. It shows a wanton disregard for the property of the Truck folks. This will earn you zero points with them, and they are your pipeline to the gear you will use on your live show. 2. It is without question completely unsafe. There is 165 volts running down a Tri-Ax cable. One does not slice into the cable. One doesn't throw snotty attitude at a production by vandalizing their gear to make them feel your pain. If one is not in the position to professionally handle the job and accessories, then perhaps one should stick to film cameras and not publicly advocate unsafe work practices. :) 3. You are creating a cable that will shock you- AND- may well fail while you are live. You have no back-up and when the camera head shorts out, you will have A)Gone dark while live , and B) damaged or destroyed the controller boards in the camera and C) Risked the safety of yourself and your cable pullers and D) Once the truck finds out you cut their cable down, you will be fired off of the job. Not great for you, your assistant or your career. 4. By severing instead of safely adapting the TriAx cable, you are risking having the camera lose continuous communication with it's base station back at the truck. If the CCU cannot control the camera, you are wasting everybody's time and denying them the shots that you are supposed to be delivering. In all, this type of advice smacks of a slightly arrogant and wholly ignorant approach. I would beg those reading that post to disregard it. Since the OP was about TriAx ( TA ) and not High Def cameras, I will only address TA situations. There are a few methods of dealing with the issues of the thick and torque-prone TA cables. 1. Obtain from Kings or GepCo a set of TA to Co-Ax ( CA ) barrel adaptors. These will allow you to turn around the cabling from the camera head from TA to CA, and run a Co-Ax cable from the camera to your vest. From there, you make use of the other gender of TA to CA barrel and convert the connection back to TA and so the run goes back to the Truck. This is a tried and true method. I would recommend the delicous neoprene-jacketed Mugami co-ax cable ( # 2964, noted as " Mugami High Def 75 Ohm coax 2964 " on the cabling itself ). This is a flexible braided cable, with enough copper to do the job yet with a flexible dielectric and neoprene outer jacketing. I've used it since about 1994 and I've only had the cable fail signal twice- both times it got caught and was torn out of the camera head. :eek: In this mode, you have the advantage of using the Truck's cable for all but about 6 feet of the run. And, more importantly, you can keep a spare 6 foot hunk of the Mugami velcro'd against your chest. God forbid something happens, you can swap out in 30 seconds and be back online fast. This is the set-up I used most frequently when I was shooting a lot of live t.v. with a larger rig. I did own one of #2 seen below, but it was a backup only. ( See bottom of post as to why ). 2. When the CP Video Vest was first announced, they had ordered a run of a very very tasty silicone-jacketed TriAx cable. No idea if Tiffen still has that stuff, or if they sell it with Tri Ax ends. If they do, that stuff is the cat's pajamas. Upside? It is true TriAx, and you have not shorted the inner and outer shields. Downside? It was pricey when I bought mine in the late 1990's, and if it cracks, you had better have a spare one on hand to swap out. 3. Some guys use the "thinner" TriAx that is available off the truck, or some who work network or continuous t.v. jobs have a short run made with connectors. It is narrower in gauge than the two thicker standard cables, but it is pretty stiff. You need to be careful about how you run that stuff to minimize twisting. Adam Keith at ABC has perfected that art. I've watched him build and shoot on and off for a few years, spending time pulling his focus on live shows. The work is exceedingly fine, and he uses a shortie yellow TriAx wired up by the folks at ABC. If you held the run of it, you'd be worried by how stiff it is, but if run carefully, it can be used for a long time without letting you down. The reason you may be forced to use true TriAx is that the truck engineer, or SVO ( Senior Video Op ) or house engineer may refuse you the right to use TA to CA adaptors, under the fear that the cable adaptors could result in damage to the base station or camera body. Some are also adamant because of safety concerns. As I said, I've torn out the Mugami twice, while it was hot. Once it brushed my hand, once it didn't touch me. No gear was ever damaged, and my hand got a nice tingle there when it brushed me. ( See my harsh comments up top re: taking a knife to TriAx........ ). The safety issue, you usually simply cannot battle. The shorting fears, are another matter. It's 2005. You will not be walking into a shop where you are the first person to operate a Steadicam in their studio. I just have to believe that 90% of the Engineers out there have faced a rig, know what you are going to ask for or pull out of your kit. It is only polite to ask first anyway. When hired for a truck job, I get the name and phone # of the company and get the actualy truck guy ON the phone. Tell him what I am doing, ask him if I may use my TA to CA adaptors. Most of the time when I did that, and asked instead of telling him/her, I was told that it was fine. Attitude counts, right? Studio guys are more paranoid, and have refused me at times the right to use my TA to CA stuff. I had to make do with the old Silicone jacketed TA I got from CP, and prayed I didn't crack it. ( no back ups. Who doesn't have back ups? Me. With that. Bad !!! ) Hope some of this is helpful. Anyone have other things to throw in about live t.v. work, please do !!! Oh, and a bit of selfless pimping here at the end- I manufacture a cheap, very bright Tally Light that works with every camera, and every Steadicam They're all over the planet at this point, I've sold a bit over 200 of them in the last few years and have some in stock. Email me to get one. Or, if you're handy, you can do a Search on the boards here and people have posted up how to make your own ! Fun and gratifying to accomplish. Best to all, Peter Abraham New York Oh- as mentioned up there, wireless is best. Total RF Video, and other companies make extremely reliable wireless backs for broadcast cameras. Ask if they are in use. If they will be on your upcoming gig, you will have one thing to look out for. The wireless backs have an auto-location rotating dish ( albeit a very tiny one ) usually covered by a white plastic dome. The dish rotates to keep locked on the recieve dish that is mounted somewhere in the venue. As this small dish rotates, if it is not VERY smoothly mounted, you can have it start and stop with a bit of a jarring feeling. This will be seen in your shots, even fairly wide shots. Since the jarring is originating ON the sled, it really does show. If this happens, you will want to see it early on during rehearsals on Day 1. Go to the RF guys, and ask them to swap camera heads out so you can find one that rides the nylon gear racking around more smoothly. Or, ask them to tweak the ride on your auto-locating dish motors so that you have no jarring backlash. I've only had that once, at the 2000 Super Bowl in Atlanta. The truck fellows were great, and fiddled with my camera back after hours. They presented me with it the next day for rehearsal and it moved with complete invisibility. Excellent stuff. ( I think at that gig it was Total RF that supplied us. ) Peter

GREAT gag, Rob. An interesting technique to dealing with shooting straight into the wind is, believe it or not, to have the grips be JUST behind you with as large a windbreak as you can manage. The wind does of course pass you and hit the windbreak and causes an area of relatively calm air to be created around you. As you walk, they walk and the wind coming into the lens is dampened. ( Not eliminated of course ). Larry McConkey told me this trick. I love Larry and admire his work immensely, but I thought he was insane with this one. Naw. He was spot-on. Peter Abraham New York

Thanks for the props, my friend. I , for once, declined a customizing job and here is why- Tiffen now sells those diagonally mounted back straps as a stand-alone bit. You get two straps, the goodies and everything. I think the pair is like $ 25.00 or something. Cheap and well-stitched, I've had a few of them in my hands. Considering the time it'd take me to sew up a set and install them, I'd charge more than $ 25.00 They truly do make a huge difference, since many vests rise up when put under load and these simple straps ( which, by the by, were on THE prototype Steadicam Vest and on Model I vests ) help the shoulders bear some of the load. Excellent stuff. Buy some ! Contact Frank Rush at Tiffen to get em. :) Best to all, and for those older vests and difficult to fix problems, you betcha- I am still making vest parts and doing mods. Love that stuff ! Peter Abraham New York

Now, why hasn't anyone asked the obvious question. Who is Elaine? ( after all, we are the culture of the West Docking Bracket and the Garfield Mount.... ) Peter Abraham New York

Always tough, stairs are. I personally found the transition moments to be the worst. You can dial in your angles for the actual staircases, and get yourself into a decent rhythm but hitting the landing ahead of an actor when you are going full bore is brutal. I always worried about the "bottoming out" stuff, and how to finesse the headroom while still running. And of course, how not to crash out. I am a huge advocate of doing Don Juan with one hand on the railing, I feel safer and therefore happier churning along fast. To be fair, I haven't had to do narrow stairs running. The staircase stuff I had to do that was fast was pretty wide work, with a spotter running ahead of me. You did do the right thing, you presented your concerns early on and offered/requested alternatives to be considered so that the powers that be could think ahead and perhaps go with your suggestions. Cannot ask for a better approach. It sounds like you protected yourself and gave them clean good coverage. This business of working down stairs in Don Juan. I happen to adore Don Juan, and use it frequently. After a lot of unnerving shots, I finally came up with a reasonable method of having someone spot me as I DJ'd my way on stairs. They move ahead of me, a few steps down. That way I don't worry about tripping on them. They have a hand on the railing for THEIR safety- and their other hand is up in the air, an inch from the hinge on my arm. In this manner, they are able to do two important things as we both move down the stairs: 1. They are holding on, and therefore safe. 2. They are in a position to shove violently inwards against the hinge. See, if you have a spotter shove against the portion of the hinge that hits the lower section of the arm ( that section that attaches to your vest ), the mechanics of all arms dictate that the arm section will shove into your lower torso- just near your personal c.g. You will be shoved backwards- into a sitting position on the staircase. The rig's forward momentum ( which is considerable ) has been slowed by the spotter having shoved the arm backwards. The upper arm section and sled may move forward for a few seconds, but a spotter who is on their game will have shoved you backwards onto your bum, AND reached with their other hand to shove the sled at you as well. The alternative to what may sound like a lot of ungainly shoving is a serious accident. No spotter moving down stairs ahead of you can save you by grabbing the gear- they are more likely going to down the stairs along WITH you. I've shown this technique to folks at Workshops and have had spotters shove me down onto the stairs. Works like a charm. It is of equal importance that your spotter does not give one rat's ass what kind of an operator you are or how lovely your shots are. Their whole world needs to be whether or not you are pitching over, moment to moment. Dicey stuff, but I've ( almost ) always had someone spotting me on the steps. Stairs == kneepads too, lest we forge the basics. Peter Abraham New York

Heh he....... He said "chops" .

Dude, you need to carefully read what I wrote. I didn't "scream" anything about Tiffen being the only company making good rigs. In fact, I said in part, " some are astonishingly fine or clever ". I would also never dispute that many of the best Ops on the planet ( and some good friends of mine ) do the mix 'n match thing quite heavily. It is the Operator, not the gear. Right? My post solely addressed the issue that...well...it addressed ! As for overpriced, you're bathing yourself in hypocrisy. Last time I checked, Tiffen was selling an arm that has been recognized as revolutionary in all aspects ( the G-50 Arm ) for less than HALF THE PRICE of what George Paddock now feels his arm is worth. Word is he just RAISED the prices of his arm. So, yes, competition is good. Apparently competition didn't serve to lower his prices any, now did it? :D

So sorry I misesd this autumn's classic event. Always a wonderful time- and every workshop brings something new to the Noble Craft. Take one !! Then work like mad for a year. Then take another !!!! :) Peace to all Peter Abraham New York

Photos?

How serious is Larry about this stuff? He turned me on to it when I stopped by the Bear Mountain Workshop a bunch of years ago. A CASE of the stuff arrived with bottles, empty spray dispensors and information. He was selling it like a Girl Scout with Snickerdoodles in the trunk. We all went for a quart. Or two.............. B)

Everyone gets their two cents. Here are mine. It's disingenuous bordering on outright insulting to say there are lots of other steadicam companies with lots of other steadicam websites. There is one Steadicam site. It's called http://www.Tiffen.com . It's capitalized, and is a registered trademark of The Tiffen Company. Just so we're all very clear about this. There are folks all over the planet claiming to make Steadicams. They're not. They're making their interpretation on a given situation and accessable ( or, outright stolen.... ) set of designs and ideas. They're each using their minds and desires to solve the same problem set. Some solutions are poor bastard substitutes, some are astonishingly fine or clever. Some are baldfaced theft. Free Market Society and all of that. However, there are not many steadicam companies out there. The comments about finding the dividing line between the very high-end Vector and the basic Ultra are good ones. I'd encourage you to fly both systems ( with G-50 arms, of course ) and talk to Owner/Ops of both systems before you chose which one you will go with. The Vector is a very robust system from what I have seen of it. I haven't ( and, cannot ) flown it but have handled it out of the box and poked around at it. The Ultra is, well. God. It's the Ultra. You will love owning either system. Peter Abraham New York Well, Afton is surely right on the money. It's wiser to buy ANY rig having been educated as to how Operating works. Consider a good Workshop as a part of the cost of getting into the Steadicam business. It is not a luxury, but rather a necessity for taking the first good solid steps on the road to perfecting our Gentle Art. :)

Excellent. I will be-amazingly- moving from booth to booth with the Steadicam Flyer, showing the rig for different groups. Like Alec, not hard to find wearing a rig !! Someone stop by and lemme know where we're meeting up. It would be a true pleasure to sit and dine with everyone. Peter 917-453-1219 cel #

Hi guys. Indeed, flipping your Flyer upside down will yield an upright image as Charles said. It also allows for reasonable low-angle peripheral vision. There are three combinations you can do with a Flyer. ( Or, most rigs ). 1. Flip the sled/camera upside down sans lowmode kit. Leave monitor where it is. Tilt monitor till you can see your image. Image is oriented properly. 2. Flip the sled/camera upside down, and unscrew monitor. Re-mount it so that the monitor is "facing upwards". This will yield an upside down image. The Steadicam Flyer monitor fortunately has left/right and up/down reorientation choices in the menu. In 20 seconds you can invert the image so that in this mode, you can operate properly without trying to re-wire your brain. 3. Using a lowmode kit. Now the lens is oriented properly to the ground. You can either leave your monitor in what will now be an upside-down orientation and use the menu mentioned above to re-orient, or you can unscrew the monitor and re-screw it back onto the mount so that both camera and monitor are facing upwards. I actually prefer using a lowmode kit and using the menu to invert left/right and up/down. This is because I feel the need to have my eyes cast downwards as I operate is strong enough that it's worth it to leave the monitor on the arm unflipped and alter the image electronically. However, there may well be times such as vehicle mounting when taking off the Flyer monitor and physically "uprighting" it may be very advantageous. A word to the wise- never ever leave the house without your Monitor manual. If one is unsure as to how to flip the image electronically and tries pushing buttons willy-nilly, one can put the monitor into Safety Mode. Then you've got a blue screen, unless you unlock it from Safety Mode. Very simple, just takes a few pushes of a few buttons- but in the right order. Always good to have the manual around. Make sense? :D Peter Abraham New York

I am also scheduled to be there- doing Steadicam Flyer demo on the 20th. If we get together that evening, I'd be delighted to participate ! Best to all, hope to see many friends there. Peter Abraham New York

That is a scary piece of videotape. I'm glad you are doing okay. As for the rig, meh- that's what insurance is for. My scars are from falling over when stepping up fast and catching aluminum diamondplate in my shin. Trotting, not full-bore run. Still, I fell right over onto the raised platform....and the person I was shooting sat down at his desk and went on air immediately live on t.v. The spots were for MSNBC. Ouch. had to lay there, with the rig against the platform, blood running into my shoe...till the guy went off air. ( Only about 90 seconds thank god ). It sounds as though you were operating with due diligence and the rig just got away from you. Jeff's right. Kneepads. Spotters. Western Dollies. :) Heal up !! Peter Abraham New York

Hi Charles, According to some very hush hush information that I've gleaned from offhanded comments and fragmented articles sprinkled across the Internet, Brant has been working on a new and amazing "Secondary 'O' " system. The word on the street is that once all of the Beta Testing has been completed, The newly improved and highly versatile " Secondary 'O' " will be inserted into it's proper place and we will once and for all be able to enjoy the fully-fleshed name of his company as it's meant to be shouted from rooftops and sung out in a clear joyoux voice : Missing Something? Technologies, LLC :D Peter Abraham New York

Oye gevalt. Kevin, congrats on finding gold in them thar Thermodyne's. Feel free to email me. I've never been to Foxwoods and am in the Hudson Valley of NY. Be glad to come up and take a look at what you've got ahold of. I owned a MS Elite- similar in many ways to your rig. There are some minor tweaks unique to the MS rigs that I can pass along. The strike plate locks on the gimbal handle and telescoping post sections can indeed slowly become more gentle. They won't lock hard and if you whip pan, the sections can rotate out of alignment. ( Or, the gimbal will slide on the post slightl ). Easy to fix. Using the small allen wrench that will fit into those two tiny set screws in the strike plate lock, give each one a TINY turn- I mean, about 5 % of a full rotation turn per set screw. Keep them even, and turn them a tiny bit per try. You'll hit that magic point where they lock totally hard, can be opened quickly but cannot slip. Also, because the centerpost is carbon-fiber composite, I rubbed the post down with denatured alcohol every coupla months. It takes the light bit of dust off the post and stops things inside the gimbal from becoming mucky before their time. ( It is an absolute of the world of Steadicam and knock-offs that the gimbals can and will become dirty and gritty. No matter what brand, eventually the bearings will wear or gather grit and go south. ) Move the gimbal/handle way down on the post and clean up top. Then move the gimble/handle up north to the top and do the rest. Fred Davis is the man, he can solve your wiring woes and has an elegant touch with both solder and shrink-tubing. :) Hopefully the gentle jibing in this thread hasn't turned you from the Forum- I highly doubt that anyone was really trying to be snarky. As is always the case here, your bretheren and sisteren (cistern? Hmm. ) are glad to listen and offer suggestions. And welcome back to active Operating. Nice to return, isn't it?? Peter Abraham New York

Yes, in fact I built two back-mounted vests. The first one was a fair knock-off of the well-known Klaussen/Suave vest. That is to say, it had a rigid back and flaps around the waist to close. I made an armature out of titanium. Now, I figured it might work well. I was wrong. That bar of titanium came in at about $ 475.00, and was amusing to bend into a 90 degree angle. I did it using the incredibly powerful tube bending machine utilized in Meineke Muffler shops and the like. The arm flexed, since titanium is springy. The vest was fairly comfy- I made the pads out of Thermopedic Memory Foam. Had I made the armature out of carbon-fiber composite I might really have had something. The vest was honeycomb carbon-fiber composite and was very light yet rigid. The next vest was all carbon-fiber honeycomb, but I had it all filled with epoxy. It was 100% rigid and I attached the arm socket directly on the right hip. It worked pretty well, although the padding never really worked out well. Both vests were attempts to stay in my large rig after suffering a broken back in an accident. I ultimately moved on to lighter rigs like the Flyer, but making both vests was an education. Having seen quite a few iterations of the Klaussen vest, I must say that you are getting what you are paying for here. The measurements, padding, air bladders and whatnot all contribute to a unique feel and weight distribution. It is not for everyone but it sure is a fascinating and valid option. Peter Abraham New York

If you are in the market for a new Steadicam Flyer and / or accessories for a Flyer, look no further. With 18 + years of Steadicam Operating experience and 15 years of Workshop instruction under my belt, selling Flyers to operators is the next step for me. In my time as an Op, I've owned 4 sleds, 5 arms and 2 vests. The Flyer is a true pleasure to operate and wear, it is lightweight, elegant and efficient. In order to appreciate the system and accessories that go with it, please regard the website linked below. The prices for Flyers and accessories are the lowest that can be found in the United States. ( Sales limited to USA customers ). Email me with any questions or concerns- always glad to talk Steadicam with people who love it as much as I do. :) Peter Abraham Magic Carpet Films New York http://www.SteadicamFlyer.com

An excellent point. Before the newer generation of arms, ( pre- Master Series/PRO ), we all dealt with the world of I/II/III/III-A/EFP arms. All of them seemed to be most controllable when adjusted to have a slight drop, so that the Operator had to lift a pound or two. Since moving on to my MS arm, and now my Flyer arm I do not have to do that. I've tried it, and sometimes it helps but not with the consistency that it worked with my older arms. Must look into this more. Peter Abraham New York