Thomas English

Shawn, your going to have difficulty finding someone with experience of the top two arms, PRO and G70, that have tested the X45 in the field for long enough to understand its issues. If its absolutely all you can afford then get it, get out there working, make some money and buy a Pro or G70. It s a workman and not his tools that make a shot. If you've got the money get a better arm. I've had lots of arms in my life including a fake PRO arm called a PROGEAR. I've had a PROVID, Master, BaerBell and a G70. If its about the money just get out there and get your shots and your clients. Otherwise.... I've a G70 for sale if you want to buy one?

Dominic says Don Juan and not looking at the monitor. Its SO fast!

that's from Dominic Jackson. Amazing.

Rehearsed twice in the dress,No contingency once live, standby cabled hand helds ditched when we went on air, it was the second routine in the showI've got an Artemis sled with a Sony P1 camera Canon J14 lens Boxx Meridian wireless system with data control, return vision and a prompting screen.I use a g70 arm on the live stuff cos I trim it on the fly during the show depending what the shot is.

Dominc normally does a lot of 3D and has a few PS Techniks Steadicam 3D rigs... Maybe his legs have just grown so much this is what has happened! He normally uses a GPI PRO sled and arm. Who knows if he got a flyer or something in for this. It looks like it to me.

Got a G70 arm for sale: http://www.thomasenglish.co.uk/stuff-for-sale

We have some CML4 motors for the C-Motion kit. Test drove them today on a job and was very impressed. Should I try and plug them into my Preston MDR1? MDR2? They have the same lemo cable as the C-motion kits are lemo. So there are converter cables. Will anything blow up?

G70 ARM Fantastic arm with quick and easy adjustments for weight and Iso-Elasticity. So fast you can setup your sled weight whilst walking up to the first shot. Tweak the mid-points for the hardest parts of the shot and control how much midpoint you have with the RIDE control; adjusting Iso-Elasticity. This arm was recently (January 2013) fully serviced by Optical Support and given a clean bill of health. It has also had the bearings and small parts upgrades to G70x standards so has zero “stiction” issues. Its sweet. G70 arm (Upgraded to G70x bearings), Standard Arm Post for PRO/3a/XCS/MK-V, Long 10inch arm post PRO/3a/XCS/MK-V and arm bag. A full bore tiffen gimble post can be supplied on request. Photos and more information: http://www.thomasenglish.co.uk/stuff-for-sale £8500 + VAT or nearest offer (International buyers may not need to pay VAT: U.K. Value Added Tax)

Yeah, I am seriously impressed. Amazing slow moves. I also didn't want to insult or offend but I wanted to ask if any post Stabilization has been used. I ask this as a complement not an insult. I've seen stabilization (post) used on a few jobs I've shot over the recent years and the results are absolutely incredible. Having worked as an Editor and done visuals as a VFX artist for some of the biggest bands and being very au-fait with all the warp stabilizers currently out there I know it has been used in this video. Its obvious. Its not an insult. 1% is what tweaks amazing Steadicam into zapppppaaaaaaaaa kappowww omg! Doesn't detract from the incredible work, beautifully slow tilt up and insane slow moves. It doesn't detract at all.

Eric! I thought you had to play nice nowadays!

Thanks to Richard I use PTFE tape in a few places where I don't wan't any play in the threads or I simply don't want the threads coming loose. Its really a great tip. This issue you have is indicative to me of the base being out of line with the top stage. You can balance it fine but it will fall funny. I think that tallies with what Richard is saying.

The only Sony OLED that exists is the 7.5inch http://www.creativev...ct/sony_pvm-741 So that must be the one that fits in the bag! Thanks Job. Your a hero. Thomas

Thanks Job. That Petrol bag looks great. http://www.libraprobroadcast.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=PM801 And your using the Sony Oled 9inch? Or the 7.5 inch http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/897820-REG/Sony_PVM741_A_7_4_OLED_Monitor_3G_HD_SD_SDI.html Do you find OLED to be brighter than the LCDs for daylight directors viewing?

Yeah Martin, Super good call. And you could rig 15mm bars to go backwards; further than the camwave and its battery.

Insurance claims are a nightmare. Like I say this Delrin structure from Movietech is good. I've also seen this wide thing with two handles on each end but for the life of me I can't remember where. Might be best to just get someone to make something out of a nice piece of birch or other hard wood. Probably be a shed load cheaper than industry bags and metal work.

thinking of putting together a directors handheld monitor with an IDX Camwave on the back. Is there any combination of monitor and monitor housing that works well for this? Any porta brace or anything like that robust enough to withstand hot headed drunk crack smoking directors? I saw movie tech here in London built some really cool housings for their oxygen p3 monitors sporting a boxx receiver. they seem to have built it out of delrin. two side plates with 4 cross bars. To be honest a porta brace will do. Directors can't afford as much crack as they used to. any one used anything for this purpose?

"we should start to have the monitors ready on the shelf toward the end of the month.".. which month? Febuary or January? You mean now?

I am in London but Febuary the 14th is a prime evening to go chasing girls; so on that basis I charge more than usual. Give me a shout though if you need any advice.

Looks good. I might buy one and drop my prices so I can give production better value for money. I am being sarcastic by the way. It looks like its going to break in so many hundreds of ways.

This is a sports / live events rig. I was surprised to see the weight at only 0.95kg. Is there a smaller TX ariel available and what is the price point? These are in the £20,000 mark aren't they?

I refuse to give a rate over the phone and give an itemised quote by email. You have to understand that when they are ringing you they have a slot in their spreadsheet you need to fit into by the end of that phone call. When they receive an email the nature of that spreadsheet has to change until they have spoken to you or worked out what your quotation means. Whilst your figure in that box might only be temporarily higher than it needed to be because they need to get it down. There is a point for an hour to a day when other figures in that spreadsheet need to change to accommodate the higher figure. Most PM's also don't have a clue what you are talking about. They don't know what any of this stuff is. So if you negotiate on the phone you are negotiating different shopping lists. Your negotiating for all these bits and bobs and they are negotiating for robocop to turn up and clear out craft services. Itemise everything and email.

I operate with a Klassen and g70 and agree completely with Richard Lewis. Bearing in mind as well I have quite a long gimble arm. Not too much longer than the XCS but certainly far longer than the PRO. As a result I use between a full lock and 50% friction.

interesting... Sugru that is.. WTF have you done to your knob?

The sk-2 was cool. I used this arm when I started out. Buy Jerry Holway's book on using Steadicam and read it cover to cover then decide if its something u want to play with.

There is a version coming out for the G70 and G70x style arms as well from MK-V.