Thomas English

Louis, I think you probably know but you can just mount the V in the V-lock on one of these: http://www.elementtechnica.com/vdock/ When is Transvideo releasing the LT ? Thats what I am interested in. I have noticed a big performance increase with the Wevis over the years. I only ever use rented ones and they are getting better and better. I have no idea if its a software thing or components but recent Wevis have surprised me. The Meridian Nano does seem like a winner. Although clearly it needs to be tested.

No, we live on FedEx as well here in London. Optical Support never seem to sell what you want but they do have some Bits. In Greenford there is Panavision with its Panastore run by Elliot Moore. He's great foe everything thats nothing to do with Steadicams like your velcro. In Manchester we have MK-V which has a lot of varied stuff kicking about in stock. In Oxford there is Tiffen which has everything releated directly to Steadicam . They do have a small shop in London (Brixton) called London Camera Filters which you can have things sent to. You could do Panastore, Tiffen and MK-V in one day as they are all on the same road.. Thomas

What monitor you using Jeff?

I've got an MK-V sled and am very happy with it. I can upgrade it to an AR when I need to. I purchased a 1.5 inch sled with 3a topstage and weird arsed base many years ago and slowly upgraded it to an all singing all dancing sled I have now. In all my upgrades I never had a problem.

What is interesting. For the UK market; Americans, I would be interested in comment. When I started out I HAD to have my own FF. Just because of the lower budget jobs. The bigger jobs... They ALWAYS have a preston, LCS or C-Motion on the list anyway. It is just there! In the camera truck as standard. To be honest. It is to the point where recently I borrowed a preston and offered production the deal. Bartech is with my kit but if you want a preston (with 2 chanels) it is an extra £140 quid (I.E. 100 included + 140 = 240) . NOT ONCE have I managed to get it onto a job. It is either the Bartech is fine or the Preston is already coming from the facilities house. One day I will buy a FIZ-3 ... but it won't be for any reasons I could explain to a rational business-man. Get a Bartech with whatever analogue motor you can buy second hand. You'll be grateful if your starting out and doing shitty 5d and 7d stuff where the lenses don't have end stops because on the analogue bartech you dial those end stops in yourself. The HoFo is apparently good. Viewfactor... no idea.

I do this very regularly on fashion jobs. The RED camera is very easy to mount on its side without any L-Brackets and most Transvideos can easily be mounted on their side so long as you are using the Transvideo Spud bracket. Forget about the TB-6. Not wanting to be pedantic but its called shooting in Portrait rather than Vertical. I did some stuff for the stage show of a well known band where I used Anamorphic (Lomo) onto the 16:9 chip of a RED on its side. Very very long upright strip.

QuickBooks and even Quickbooks online. Quickbooks is excellent. I went through the now unsupported Microsoft Accounting. Sage is rubbish and you, as a freelancer, probably just don't need that audit trail. Its way way complicated. Quickbooks just works. You can modify invoices at a later date. Its really easy to find invoices when mystery amounts of money hit your account with no "source". With Quickbooks online the whole thing is done in the cloud so you could do it off any computer, ipad, anything you feel the need to do it off. I don't work for quickbooks but if I could get a commission I would.

This is something I am struggling a lot with here in London. I am seeing a lot of work which would otherwise have been shot on a DSR450 or 900 / leutus adaptor on a big rig slip to Steadicam Flyers at £120 / day and them finding operators for £350 a day. There is now unfortunately a dearth of bad operators now in London to the point where DoP's have recently recounted newer directors moaning at the word Steadicam they have had so many bad experiences. A lot of it is agency led. The advertising agencies here seem to dictate the camera. First they were demanding RED, then the 5D and now the Alexa. The point is that since loosing film Moores Law is well and truly in action on the insides of the cameras. The image quality in the last 20 years has probably doubled every 18 months and now its probably time for the camera to halve in internal mass every 18 months from now on. To do amazing shots. Personally. My optimum camera weight is a tricked out Arri SR3 and I feel great when I have an ARRI LT. Maybe that is what I grew up with but I'll be gluing lead to cameras until i am retired to simulate that. In the meantime I continue to compete with Steadicam Ops hiring in a flyer and going out for £470 a day that pull focus off the barrel on a 5D.

Love the D-Tap on the side Blake. How much are they? Currently I use RED batteries at 1.1kg and 140Wh for "heavier" sets. Although I do have some pag lock-on 20's and a superpack for low mode.

Yeah, the non-offset nature of your offering sells it to me. I am surprised by the lack of fore-aft flexibility using my XCS plates. I've been lucky so far but you never know whats going to get thrown on next. Count me in.

Negligible latency, negligible cost, easier form factor (vs Wevi) HDMI is a pain but a converter? Lets hope there is more to come from other manufacters http://www.brite-view.com/air_synchd.php Thomas "still holding out for an HD transmitter that doesnt cost and look like a bus" English

The buddy cam is also helped by the fact that it averages out the vertical movements of the two people holding it. Just hope they don't walk in step! I'm still planning on getting that Buddycam you sell Jerry. I built a 6foot wide one to do that shot a coupla weeks ago when I couldn't rent an AR rig in. It was awesome but I still need one of your reasonably sized ones. You do have to put in quiet a lot of manual input with a lot of arms. Especially I find when walking really really slowly.

How strong is it? Have you had it on any stiff lenses? It really is a second motor no? You need something stronger as your primary motor?

I did a ladder shot the other day. Had to get a lens directly above a doorway looking down. Low budget with no kit. I decided to do it on a ladder. Went into super long post mode. Clambered up the ladder with 2 sparks and my focus puller holding onto the thing (as well as about 8 sand bags). Extended my long camera over the doorway and got a .... static. I dunno, its not the right tools for the job but come on. If your careful its not that bigger deal. I would point out though that doing that same shot with the correct grip equipment would have been quicker (and safer). We just didn't have it. This took longer and was not that unsafe. I like Charles idea with the crank stand. To be honest I don't think it would have worked for me because of the footprint. Thanks though Charles. I also imagine that the guy in the photo had someone with him on the ladder the whole time ... just one person though.. who also had to go take THE photo.

Not too sure what to make of this: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Glidecam-Steadicam-Operator-All-UK-Dates-Available-/320604555364?pt=UK_Consumer_Professional_RL&hash=item4aa5854864#ht_1088wt_1139

Optical Support recommend sending them to Greg and Greg recommends finding a good TV repair shop for simple calibration.

Hey, can anyone recommend anywhere that can calibrate a TB6 monitor in London? Thanks Thomas

Nice work Ramon, Geeky question... What combination of plates did you use there to get the camera body so far back without vibrations. Thomas

With the new RED MX upgrade cameras they supplied a new powersupply. Anyone know how the new MX cameras power consumption effect us?

Hows it going Matt? your touting a high speed camera nowadays aren't you? Hows that going? I reckon if you want a lot of shot for a lot of action where you need to maintain resolution then yeah, Steadicam is great. I've done quite a bit of Phantom Steadicam with its funny power issues and granted... Your operating can get away with being far more jittery under some circumstances; nevertheless Steadicam is a great tool to give a director a lot of usable well framed footage to choose from. Far better than handheld or on a head when on a jumpy jumpy topsy turvey platform like a quad.

I think the Tango add-on is a little more than $3000. Since in UK money a Zephyr setup (inc arm and vest) is around £7000 and a Tango/Zephyr combination is more like £16000. I make that a difference of £9000 or $13000 for the Tango and not $3000. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Pedro, that is very clean. Where you running parallel with the intention of converging in post on this one? Have you tried dynamic IO and convergence changes on that rig yet?

Top tip. IDX batteries that can stack into each other. Helps you send more weight backwards. Forget about Dynamic balance. Book yourself a physio.

Making it ever so slightly negatively balanced does seem to eliminate the friction issues for me.

Have you heard any workarounds to these friction/bouncing issues?