Peter Abraham

Oops. Duh. You're in Spain. They are manufactured in Germany. Google Kipp Handle Germany and find the company, and find the Spanish Distributor. :)

The United States importer for Kipp Handles is Monroe PMP, located in Michigan. Call 1-800-440-3967 and ask for Theresa Daws. She can help you, and they do indeed sell as little as one piece per order. Best Peter Abraham New York

Glad to help. By the by, how can those big sharp blade thingys go round and round and round in circles, and yet the helicopter, it can go up and down instead of just going in circles like the blades do? :D

Word, gents. I am a big advocate of very slow work. Charles is being unduly modest. Working fast with a Steadicam is astonishingly easy. Making a very slow gentle start, slow deliberate path ending in a clean gentle lock-off is always the goal. It is the hardest work we are asked to do. Just check out someone's demo reel some time. If it is totally devoid of lock-offs, that tells you something. It means that they may have trouble starting and stopping gently. Similarly, a reel filled with running or off-horizoned music video shots tells me that there may be a lack of cleanliness when it's needed. Maybe, maybe not. But as a rule of thumb, as you start working on your chops to become more and more expert with our Noble Instrument, slower and more precise is the key. In addition to Charles' last remarks about how moving slower will aid you when moving faster, there is a mechanical element to consider. The Steadicam arm ( in general- there are a few flavors of arm now ) will work beautifully if it's reacting at 50 rpm's ( rebounds per minute ) or at 20 rpm's. Where your clean good work really shows is when you are using a firm right hand grasp of the Steadicam arm to keep sure that the vertical placement of the arm remains perfectly even as you move. Not too firm, but firmly enough to stop any vertical displacement of the rig. It's an acquired taste and one that folks work on from day one in Workshops. Frequently, it takes a while to learn to get out of the way of the arm's excellent absorption characteristics. Fast is easy. Perfect fast. Slow is hard. Perfect slow first. Luckily ( unlike some Steadicam work ), this can be done alone in even a small apartment. Chose a shot that's just stupidly boring and simple. Work it out. Then make it last 20-30 seconds instead of the 5-10 seconds it might take when moving at a normal pace. God, it's difficult. As you work the same shot over and over, you will discover the minutae of very fine Steadicam Operating. Time...and attention to detail. :) Peter Abraham New York

A few cautionary thoughts. First of all, I've no clue how good Production Insurance certificates are in your market. If your arm snaps and the camera is demolished as a result as the ATV flies along merrily, they will point their fingers at you. Fair warning. As for upgrading the Blue Spring EFP arms to Gold Springs, there is more to it than meets the eye. Despite the visual similarity between EFP and III-A arms, there are important differences that make upgrading springs a poor idea. 1. The dogbones themselves are not as thick. 2. The hinge is not the same thickness. You risk having the arm itself suffer metal fatigue or failure if you add Gold Springs and overload an EFP arm. That arm was machined to carry just what it was machined to carry. Fancying up the springs to make it be more than it is might well work. It might even fly for quite a while. Then again, a major arm component may well torque out and crack, or twist- leaving you with a broken arm. The arm socket plate that interfaces with the center spar of the EFP vest is not as strong as the III-A vest plate. AND- and-and- the vest "Y" upper spar is not nearly as thick as III-A vests or newer vests. If you overload a vest, you risk having the metal in the upper "Y" area along the breastplate bow out. When not overloaded, the EFP was as efficient and great a video rig as ya could find back then. I would beg you to look past the ease with which one can make 24 volts run up that centerpost, and consider how many of the elements are NOT made to support a Panavision camera. Oh. I forgot. The gimbal ring, bearing races and certainly the lighter and thinner Yoke are all not made to support an Panavision camera. As I said, you might get lucky. Or, you might drop a camera that cannot even be replaced with a new body because they cannot be purchased. Only leased. Proceed with care. I'd urge you to put out the call over Europe and rent or borrow a rig. Not just an arm, but an entire rig suitable to the job. I know this will cost production ( or you ) but it's small potatoes next to suffering a catastrophic failure of either the arm or gimbal when hard-mounted on an ATV. Please, be careful- and have a great shoot. Aside from any cost issues arising from possible damage to Steadicam or Panavision camera, you could be hurt badly if the arm snaps under load as you are leaning way over the arm up against a support pole ( as is frequently the case when doing ATV vehicle mount shots ). No shot is worth being injured. Let us know what happens. Peter Abraham New York

Damn, Mikko Now I gotta cut you in on a percentage? Harrumph !!! :P Yes, I am a dealer for Steadicam Flyers. The email he gave is accurate. Feel free to contact me off- Boards with questions. ASIDE from that fact, a few thoughts. You get exactly what you pay for when buying things. When purchasing gear, pay close attention to the track record of the manufacturer. Find out how many people have either A) Returned the gear quickly after purchase, or B) Suffered serious failures in gear within an unreasonable period of time post-purchase. Does the rig do everything a real Steadicam can do? Is it solid? Will it repeat motion perfectly, or are the elements badly built and badly assembled? How tight are the tolerances on the engineering? I've got 18 years in as an Operator. I've owned 5 sleds, 5 arms and 2 vests. ( God, I loved my Model I vest. :D ). The previous comments come firmly from the Operator side of my brain, not the Salesman side. Whatever flavor you chose to go with, it absolutely must be robust in terms of endurance and perfectly engineered. Your thousandth whip pan must occur with the same feel as your first. Peter Abraham New York

( Small Aside ) I am a huge proponent of the work done and products released by Tiffen. (/Small Aside ) I have a prototype lightweight rig. I built it before the Flyer was a reality. Last week I purchased the Flyer monitor to put onto it. ( I've had the rig for almost 3 years now ). that 7" LCD that comes with the Flyer monitor is so superior to any other 7" standard LCD that it's remarkable. At 500 nits is is clear and crisp outside on an overcast day. ( Opposed to a sunny day with deep blue sky. Overcast days are the roughest for LCD monitor imaging because the sky is a white silk overhead.) I saw that side-by-side last October. The Ultra-Bright is larger and as crisp as the Hummingbird. Were I flying a larger rig, I'd absolutely own the Ultra-Bright monitor. The more information my eyes are given, the happier my brain is. Peter Abraham New York

Dear Joe, I'm so very sorry to have to tell you this but yes, we are all indestructable operators. Except for me. I broke my back. But aside from me, we are all indestructable operators. To the last. B) I like the idea of guidelines to clue Production in to what we endure when Operating the noble instrument. Not that they will give a rat's patootie. But at least they will have been given written information. Peter Abraham New York

What size rig are you looking for? Flyer......... Archer..... Ultra? EFP....... Master Series....... ?? That will help some of us with experience in older rigs and newer rigs give you some things to look out for. Every Steadicam is different, and so the suggestions on what to look out for are different. I will be glad to offer a few general thoughts. Have a seasoned op fly it and look over the package. You are correct- we will see and feel things that you won't know to see and feel. Make sure the monitor fires up. Sounds simple, but hey- get someone else to fire it up if you live far away from where it is. Try to ascertain the provenance of the Steadicam. How was it maintained, and by whom? Some folks out there claim to do repairs/maintenance/upgrades and are perhaps less than reputable. Others are as good as gold. Read through the Forum, you will get a sense of what folks here think. Are you overbuying or underbuying? If your career is moving from Mini-DV cam to larger video jobs, you will want a rig that can handle full-weight High-Def camera systems. Similarly, if you are moving from video into film shoots, you will want a rig that is accessorized to be friendly to all formats and power needs. No doubt others will chime in with lots of things I am not mentioning- there's tons more but I'd rather hear from you as to the rig you forsee purchasing before offering more specific thoughts. Best to you, Peter Abraham New York

It appears from looking over the photos that the guy who came up with this has seen Antlers. If one thinks about the physics being applied with this wheel thingy, it sure looks as though there are essentially stabilizing antlers- arcing around the camcorder, instead of being attached just above a camcorder. Hardly original. And I love the part where they turn the sheer pain one is going to feel up and down the arm and neck, into a positive "feature"....how the tendons and muscles absorb all the bad bad things, and only smoothness reaches the camera. :P Peter Abraham New York

I kinda hope it goes without saying that if you are in Los Angeles or travelling through Los Angeles, take it to Tiffen in Glendale and let them do it. They've been doing it for a loooooooooooooooong time. My suggestions are for being deep in the field, and solving the problem when the alternatives are grim.

Greetings, Stephan. I have cleaned and serviced my gimbals for quite a few years now. You will want to have a plastic tub, not overly big. Some denatured alcohol. My personal fave lube is teflon oil. Dissemble the gimbal, taking care to note the order of items as you remove them from the outer gimbal housing. Take a cloth and clean off the inside of the gimbal housing with denatured alcohol, so that all lube and bits of goo are gone. Soak the two bearing races in the plastic tub. I mean, like a small Chinese food soup container. Small ! ( just make sure it's totally clean first :D ). Wipe off the bearings, soak again. Use goggles to protect your eyes and blow out the bearing races as you soak and move them around. The lube should disintegrate in the denatured alcohol and the canned air will blow out bits of lube and whatnot from the races. Check their spin. Do this by putting two fingers inside the bearing race. Spread those fingers out tautly, holding the inner ring. Give the outer ring a spin with your other hand. It should really scream, spinning freely for a few seconds at least before slowing down. This is where you find out if you have damaged bearing races. If any hard particulate matter, be it sand, dirt, bits of metal or whatnot have ground away at your bearing races, you will immediately feel and see it in how the race ring spins. If it grinds to a halt or sounds funky, you will need to purchase new bearing races. Tiffen does sell brand new bearing races for the III-A gimbal. If they spin freely, then drop TWO drops of teflon oil into each race, and slowly move it around and around to distribute the lubricant along the ball bearings. Then, I usually take a very little few drops of teflon oil, dribble them onto a rag corner and wipe them around the inside of the gimbal housing. Replace all elements as you took them out. ** Big Note** The bearing races and other elements are precision cut and fitted. They only will go in when inserted dead vertically. If you go to put in any element and it binds, please do not try to push it in the rest of the way. If you force it hard, you can bend one of the bearing races and your gimbal will not spin true. Replace outer cap with spanner wrench. Voila! Goodl luck with it. As a side note, I wholeheartedly recommend that anyone who can, should buy a spare set of bearing races from Tiffen. Bearings tend to fail suddenly after work near sand or salty air, or high blowing winds. I don't mean to say that they will fail ALL the time in those situations, but those exposures tend to put your Steadicam in the way of a lot of irritating particulate matter. Having a spare set of bearing races can make you a serious hero when you're out there in the wilds and your gimbal goes wonky. In 18 years, and 5 Steadicam Sleds I have had a gimbal go wonky on me exactly twice. Once it was an older used rig I had bought a few months before, and man it was just it's time to die. The other time was right after a shoot on the beach on Long Island. Very breezy, quite a few hours out shooting a music video. -shrug- it doesn't happen very often, considering the hours my rigs have been exposed to dirty or sandy air it feels about right that I've only had one or two issues. The gimbal assemblies on the CP/Tiffen gimbals tend to be extremely tightly designed. I don't know a thing about other manufacturers and so would not dare to recommend a method or lube to working with their gimbals. However, you asked about a III-A. There ya go ! Best, Peter Abraham New York

I will let you know the moment I find out, Bob. ( and all ) A few Flyers have gone out the door already, with new customers contacting me every few days. Anyone seeking a Flyer or F-24 rig or accessories, please let me know what you need by email. Best Peter Abraham

I'll have to check and let you all know. Why would you want to, out of curiosity- since the odds are good that you will wind up with a HD camera on that rig at some point ? Best to all, will report back ! peter

:) You guys are too kind. To set the record straight, I did break my back. I have a rather large fracture of the L-3 which is stable and cannot break the rest of the way. Not nearly a hairline, it broke open like a pita bread being torn open. Such is life...... Anyway, I fly a rig that can handle 5-15 lbs of camera payload. That's just about all I can tolerate pain-wise. I have worn a Flyer for 6-7 HOURS in a day, day after day, doing demos for Tiffen at trade shows. I mean IN the rig. No problem at all. Similarly, before my injury, I'd put in a 16-20 hour day on a music video, day after day. Here is the short line from me: If you truly work at perfecting a good "flying the rig" stance and take the cautionary steps mentioned by our esteemed colleagues here, you will face a long career with no back damage. None at all. Yes, folks get worn and hurt sometimes. Yes, guys get into a rig and haven't quite taken the time to really hone the basic skills--- and they pay. I know a fellow who is in such amazingly good physical shape, it's scary. He is an ex- US Marine. The boy's buff, ok? He got himself into an EFP rig a few years ago, and suffered badly with hip and back pains. Didn't stay with the EFP and sold it. I have to respect his dedication and efforts. It just didn't work out for him- and, although I admire the man and would never give him a rough time over his choice- I always felt that he didn't spend enough time truly perfecting the basics of the craft. ( I am not trying to pimp workshops here- it's a basic given that we all need training from experienced ops. ) Long hours in a full sized rig with a 535B are NOT the stuff of injuries. Short shots with a light video camera in an EFP can be painful. It all depends on how carefully you listen to your body as you learn to finesse flying a Steadicam. The other basics have been covered here and in other threads dedicated to endurance. Hydration. Stretching. Rest, and passing the sled off to a helpful grip for the long walk back after a long take. Own a second docking bracket and use it for long shots. And, so on. Take it from a person who lives with lower spine pain every waking moment, and is still operating a Steadicam safely and effectively. Do it right and you will not injure your back. Do it better than just right, and people will ask you to come back and shoot for them again !! :) Best to all, Peter Abraham New York

Hi folks. Got another run of those rather popular Tally Lights for Steadicam use. They're self-powered. If used daily on a live t.v. show, the power supply will last for a year before requiring replacement. ( Normal 9 vdc battery ). So far there is a Tally Light from me on most continents on the planet, from The Phillipines to New Zealand to The Netherlands to Philly to Australia to Ireland and back again. They sell for $ 100.00 USD, and $ 110.00 USD overseas. ( To cover Air Mail costs. ) Payment is typically by check or Western Union Money Transfer. The led is an ultra-bright red light that is clearly visible in daylight shooting conditions, and wicked-bright in a darkened studio. Please email me if you are interested in purchasing this item. I have roughly 30 left in stock. To see the unit lit up, visit the following link: http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=2998191 Best to all, Peter Abraham New York visualist@frontiernet.net

Greetings all, After 18 years as an Operator and 15 years Instructing, I'm doing some deals for Steadicam ops selling new Steadicam Flyer rigs.** Accessories and parts are also available through my company. Please e-mail me for information and to discuss the details of pricing and whatnot. So far, three units have gone out the door to Philly, Australia and California. No hassles. No b.s. Just a good price on rigs, packages and accessories. :) Best Peter Abraham New York visualist@frontiernet.net ** And yeah, I'm still operating. Just shot a 24P-A job last week in fact.....

Glad to have been of service, Chris. I've got a rig going out tomorrow, and two more interested parties both in the USA and overseas. Quick turn-around these days, too ! The last Flyer I sold was paid for two days ago and ships out to me in about 2 hours . It's a lot of fun to get new ops into their first rigs. :) Best to all, Peter Abraham, New York

I've been a Steadicam Operator for 18 years, an Instructor for 14....and a Steadicam Flyer dealer for about 4 weeks. I've already sold one. ( close to taking delivery ). I'm still a working Operator; I was up at 5:00 am today for a 7:00 am call with my rig in hand. Aside from a busted HMI ballast that the supplier dropped and broke, it was a delightful day's work. :blink: I do not want to get into a range war with other dealers, nor am I interested in playing a numbers game on the Internet. So, no prices are advertised. Anyone who is serious about purchasing a Steadicam Flyer and a series of Flyer accessories is welcome to email me and we can discuss the business off-board. About 10 days ago I stood in the Tiffen Steadicam facility in Los Angeles, being given the tour by Frank Rush. They are making Flyers to beat the band. Like any product that takes off in a huge way, there's a production line curve. I can tell you they're making more than they have been, and will continue to up the output on a monthly basis. Best to all, Peter Abraham peter@TheSteadicamWorkshops.com

Frightening thing, that bending. I have to say, that photo of your modified socket block- it appears that there is a crack in the metal. Is that possible? Or, is it just a surface scratch we see on it? Peter Abraham New York

Please be so kind as to identify the manufacturer of the part that wasn't able to support a Panavision Gold II without breaking ? I was forced to fly one on a job once. It felt like I was shooting with a Volkswagen Beetle on my arm. The identical part broke at a Rockport Workshop on my arm, about 13 years ago. -shrug- It may have just been "it's time". How old was that arm when this happened? Peter Abraham New York

The Tiffen G-50 arm has a 32 inch boom range with zero bump or lock-up OR shift in dynamic at each end of the range. Despite any angry protestations to the contrary, it is a simple fact that the boom range of the G-50 arm exceeds that of a PRO Arm. I have flown the G-40 and G-50 arms ( both for short amounts of time, to be honest. ). To be blunt, they solve every single problem that every single other arm has. Yes, including the PRO arm. Peter Abraham New York

Just so we all have the facts straight, Ted Churchill committed suicide early on the morning of June 17th, 1995. The 10th anniversary of his passing approaches rapidly. Peter Abraham New York

Yeah, I've used theirs too. The Lithium Battery belts fail incredibly fast- you have to have spare belts hidden around the place in case you start to run low during a live event. How long ago did you use their stuff? Perhaps they've solved some of those issues?

I used a unit similar to the D-Cam at the 2000 Super Bowl in Atlanta. While it was delightful to be cable-free finally, there was a feature of the white domed antenna that was a bit disconcerting, and did directly affect the shot. The white dome covers the antenna itself, and the antenna spins on a large flat gear ring. ( Some are apparently rubber belt driven ). As the Steadicam Op moves around, the antenna is incessantly " locating " the catch dish and keeping itself on line with that dish as best as it can. The net effect is that you have this small thing that has some weight to it, turning around and back again as you move and turn your body. The unit I worked with had a bit of a jerky motion to it- enough so, so that if I did turn my body 180 degrees quickly, the shot took a slight jarring effect for a second because the antenna was autolocation and rotating very quickly around on its base within the white dome. If you face this set-up, try out different camera backs. Some may "autolocate" a lot more smoothly than others. Unlike hand-held, this shifting of the antenna can indeed sometimes affect your shot in a negative manner. Peter Abraham New York