Peter Abraham

Will, you surely had my back that day. What slayed me was not only the long tracking work ( which was rigorous but fun to do ) but how what might have been a neat sequence was hacked up. The usual....... Folks, this man carried my sled back to 1st mark take after take after darned take. A fully loaded Moviecam Compact, on Master Series rig. All day he helped me get through a string of long shots.7 weeks on location, a pleasure to be with. A saint, I tell you. Also possessed of an incredibly deft and genteel touch with a Fisher 10........... No wonder his Steadicam work is so nice to look at. :)

Please explain? It'd be a nifty thing to be able to dial in the armpost friction, wouldn't it? I prefer little to none, opposed to a sticky armpost any day !

Cool. I had no idea that the GPI arm came with this as a feature without added bits and parts. Obviously the whole idea only applies to other arms that don't have this feature ! Eric, I wasn't hardly suggesting that anyone give up an arm they own, use and adore. Just a comment on someone else's post, is all.......... :) Peter

I do not know. I only owned one carbon-fiber composite centerpost. It was built into my Master Series Elite sled, and I rubberized the fork of my docking bracket to save on chafing. I will try to find cites out there on the internet that discuss catastrophic failure in this material. Oh, and I watched a race car crash against the outside wall at Nazareth Speedway once, on a shoot. The pieces of the car did not crunch or fold over, as would metal. They exploded outwards all over the place. Zero flex means that when sudden forces are introduced, there is no place for the forces to be "spent". I will admit that I am aware that such amazing items as the US military Stealth Bomber make extensive use of this technology. Then again, if a Stealth Bomber wing strikes something repeatedly in the exact same place, I am guessin' that it'd be taken care of before fracturing within the wing took place. :blink:

You will notice that Greg did [b ]not[/b] smack that centerpost against the sharp metal edge of a table 10 times in exactly the same place, then present it as totally untouched and undamaged. Wooden bench, eh? The wood is slightly soft, and transfers force and vibration much more forgivingly than metal does.

I am sure it looked cool to see someone smack a carbon fiber composite post against something hard. No chips or dents- I believe that. However, it is worth noting that repeated strikes in the same place would slowly fracture the carbon fibers, as well as cause minute cracks in the epoxy resins used. Carbon fiber composites by nature do not slowly bend or develop hairline cracks that we can see. A drawback has always been that they suffer what is known as catastrophic failure in the field. This is to say that a post may have suffered repeated strikes ( or, to use the phrase, offenses ) and not show much externally to indicate internal stress fractures in the layering of the weaves and epoxies. Until....it simple cracks into pieces. Something as simple as docking your rig into a normal docking bracket. ( No offense to folks using the GoreLock, and other high-tech docks. I mean by normal to say a regular metal "U" - shaped dock with a pin to hold the post in ). You dock and undock dozens of times a day- really, hundreds of times a day on a busy day. The centerpost will slowly chafe along identical lines, each time. Eventually without realizing it you have weakened the centerpost. You go to low-mode, and the top of your centerpost ( which is now hanging just above the camera near the floor ) cracks off suddenly. A sobering reality. I'm not saying that carbon fiber centerposts aren't amazing- they are. But it is surely worth considering a fairly serious hidden flaw potential. Unless you carry around a portable x-ray machine and keep count on how the inner layers of your centerpost are faring, you may well slowly suffer internal fractures in the weave, and epoxy resin layering. Peter Abraham New York p.s. for my two cents, they do beat the heck out of titanium or aluminum as centerpost materials.

Nothing technical to add, but a very heartfelt thank you to Paul and the folks at Anton/Bauer. These guys set the standard in battery technology about 25 years ago and are still at it. ( Probably more.... ). Nice that they respond to a niche need this way, and nice that Paul's active on the boards, asking questions and helping us out. Excellent ! Peter Abraham- who has stood at Paul's desk while doing battery stuff. New York

Yeah. A highly appealing idea. Here's how you do it: 1. Purchase the flat washer-covered Needle Bearing shown in the link here. ( Reference to part number 2489K5 ). $ 7.00 per unit. 2. Make sure you buy one that is 5/8 inch ID and at least 1 inch OD. 3. Purchase two of these Split Collars from this site. Make sure it also has an ID of 5/8 inch. 4. Clamp the split collar on your IIIA Arm Post, just where it enters the arm end. Just BELOW the split collar, place the needle bearing. 5. Make sure your arm post is long enough that it sticks out the bottom of the arm a bit. Attach the second split collar on the bottom, to insure that it cannot come out the top easily. There you go !!! A foolproof way to have a frictionless IIIA Arm Post for about Ten Dollars US. :) Peter Abraham New York

I could not agree more with Wil and Mike's thoughts regarding starting out. There is a very fine line between charging a bit below prime price because you are new, and aggressively wrecking the market for everybody. No, nobody expects a person who just got their first rig and is struggling to get gigs on student films to demand $ 2,000.00 for a 10 hour day. No student could bear that load and that person would never get work. That's understood. On the other hand, it behooves all new owner/operators to keep a very close eye on detailed information such as that presented in posts like this one. Know your market, know the prevailing rates. Do not be afraid of experienced Ops in your market !! They will respect the hell out of you, rather than resent you, if you call them up blind and say, " Hey I am pretty new with my rig. Can I ask you some basic questions about rates for different gigs in our area? I don't want to top out my price, but don't wanna step on any toes either. Would you give me some guidance? " I can speak from experience here. Before I switched to a less gravity-driven rig, I owned a Master Series with all the trimmings and worked any gig I could get as long as they would pay the rate. It came to pass quite a few times that I would be pitted against an unnamed Op in my area, whose video operating rep is beyond reproach. The Production would play nickle and dime with he and I. Finally, he and I talked, and we agreed to be straight up if we found out he and I were competing for the same gig. No hard feelings if one or the othe got the gig- that's business. But we at least had a leg up on Production's shennanigans because we spoke about the gig. It wrecked production's efforts quite a few times to play one off the other in an attempt to save a few hundred dollars. It's really a pitiful environment to exist in. We do not know who our competition is for work frequently, but we can at least be honest and forthright about a range of rates for different work. Did I bill $ 2,300.00 a day for commercials? Yah baby. Did I dare try asking for such a rate on corporate / industrials? Whaddya kidding? Of course not. Get a sense from seasoned Ops in your area of what the prevailing rates are, and be blunt with one or two, and you will find that - even though we compete for similar work in an overall work environment that is very very tight- that we play straight up with each other whenever we can, and try not to backstab. Peter Abraham

Can't find a current email for Dan.Anyone? Dan, you out there? :) Peter Abraham New York

Thank god. I was gonna say.................................

How much for that piece of centerpost and wrecked gimbal? :D

And , to address the OP. I've had my hands on ( possibly ) more Flyer gimbals than almost anyone else around. This includes both prototype Flyers. None of them were anything except very slick and even in all axis. I would encourage you to contact Tiffen in LA directly regarding such a serious issue. My guess sight unseen is that a few bits of grit have indeed gotten into the gimbal. That is simply not the way any Flyer gimbal should act or feel. Give Frank Rush or Robert Orf a call at Tiffen in LA. :)

Oh lord. Original and innovative in all of its designs and concepts. Like the fact that the Steadicam Flyer came out and then-miraculously MK-V invented its own lightweight rig which is for all intents and purposes a Flyer? Have you no manners at all? No grace or respect, no recognition or admittance of the facts of history? How thoroughly appalling of you to say such a thing to Mike, when the careful examination of your products and the dates of "invention" reveal otherwise in the extreme. For shame, sir. For shame. The ability to machine a hunk of aluminum to 1/10,000ths of an inch ( or metric equivalent thereof ) doesn't make one a gentleman or a respectful member of the community. OR an inventor of truly original products. It just means one can cut metal.

Please explain what this means? Because, to someone unfamiliar trying to understand this statement, it could well mean that if someone is bringing their own Steadicam in to the Brixton area for a one-day shoot, they must first purchase a license to operate it from you. Tell me this is not true. What does this quote mean, please? Peter Abraham New York

That alone should tell you everything you need to know.

Absolutely right, my friend ! Who in their right mind spends twelve THOUSAND DOLLARS US on a rig of whatever brand name.............. with no monitor?

I just wrote yet another tiringly snarky post supporting this. But what the heck. We're adults. Howard: Please state clearly and without obfuscation exactly why you refuse to post on the Internet photographs of this device? If the patent is secured and it is being sold in the United States, then................................. ?? Thank you. Peter Abraham New York

I respectfully disagree with a bit of this, Bob. Do not spray in anything. The only way to successfully clean out a gimbal, at least a real Steadicam Gimbal, is to remove it from the centerpost and dissemble it. Have canned air ready. Have a small container with denatured alcohol ready. Soak the gimbal bearing races in the alcohol, until the orignal lube dissolves away. Agitate gently to facilitate same. Remove, blow off vigorously with canned air. Immediately replace into freshly cleaned out gimbal housing. A drop or two of the lube of your choice will finish off the job. In my experience, blowing air into a closed area guarantees forcing particulate matter farther into the area. It may work with loose ball bearings, but not with captured bearing races. Blowing air into a fairly open work area ( a camera body and movement with lens removed, for example ) is a great way to clean it out. Crucial difference there, of course. Peter Abraham New York p.s Unless you are the original owner, buy new bearing races when you buy a used rig. Usually an excellent investment and preventative measure, considering the cost of a set of bearing races compared to the cost of your used gimbal slogging down one day suddenly.

Yeah, I caught that shout-out at the Oscars as well. Made me very proud of the fellows- clearly Mr. Campanelli has found a creative home with Malpaso. More power to him. I just saw the film today, as a matter of fact. That iris pull is beyond gutsy and yet it works and doesn't disturb the feeling. Hell of a piece of work, the whole film. Elegant focus pulling as well, with what appears sometimes to have been bitchin' iris marks. Peter Abraham New York

Interesting. And as is usually the case with knock-offs, a wee tad too late out of the gate. Why look at someone else's knock-off of a Flyer, when you can look at the real F-24 Flyer? Runs 12 or 24 Volts, and comes with a monitor- a High Def monitor at that - for less money than Howard just said in this thread that he is asking for his lightweight rig. ( $ 12,500.00 ) -sigh- Days late, many dollars too much. Try the real Flyer...or, the newer F-24 rig. :) It's quite a system. Of course it's also a real Steadicam which means you get 30+ years of engineering precision and an arm that is to die for. Peter Abraham New York

2003 : All will be revealed soon, no words may be spoken. 2004: All will be revealed soon, stop already with the requests for hard data. 2005: All will be revealed soon. :)

I own a copy of it. It's a booklet really, not a book book. It's startlingly honest and hilarious, which pretty much sums up a lot of Ted Churchill's draw. -sigh-

Jerry Holway is the legally recognized designer of that tilt head. Before you go rushing to file patents on a newly improved one, and since you're in the same area code, why not talk to the man who made it? :)

I use the Teflon Oil sold in small needle applicator tubes at Radio Shack. Just a drop or two, that stuff is just wonderful. I've used it in quite a few gimbals over the years and have never felt it to be gummy, or sloppy or viscous. Peter Abraham