Thomas English

Point taken Eric. Considering my theoretical twin J-box sled that Spin Dynamically balances perfectly (2 x 5kg Jboxs both out the front. One at the bottom of the sled and one at the top). Well it wouldn't be in Static balance upright. For it to Statically balance upright the top J box would have to point forward and the bottom backwards (or visa versa). This would then be in Static balance, in spin balance and in "Eric" balance. Basically to be in dynamic balance it doesn't necessarilly matter what direction the weight is going but how far it is away from the sled. The reason why Mickeys and "Erics" can be quite successful at Dynamic Spin balance is because our alignment is entirely either forward or backwards. Sorry I had to thrash that out to myself. OK then.... In that case could it be that some peoples sleds are more side heavy? Are people that are failing to Dynamically balance their sleds using an Eric or a Mickey; are they making sure they test the sled both on its side (with the camera parallel to the ground)and on its side but with the camera pointing at the sky? I think I officially give up otherwise and will leave this thread gracefully.

Sure Eric, I know what your saying. Actually this post has vastly improved my Dynamic balance speed. You see I rig my base of my sled a hundred different ways depending on the camera and power setup. This technique is great with a camera on board. I "Eric" it and then I spin it. Eric, you are balancing with a statically balanced camera onboard. In this case an MDR/nosecone will simply become part of the camera mass whose whole is balanced on the sled. Is Jerry Holloway trying to balance a sled without a camera on a Mickey? In this case is my theory in action?

Is the reason why some people have good luck with the Mickey and others not to do with how much Stuff is protruding from the front of the top of their topstages? J box noise cones etc. Its just that if you lie the sled on a mickey a J box will create a different moment than if you spin the rig upright. Look, if I get a sled with a big 5kg j box on the top and a 5kg J box on the bottom both 10cm away from the post and both 20cm away from the gimble and I spin the post in an ideal mathematical vacuum the rig will dynamically balance because both the top and bottom are imparting the same force due to rotational acceleration outwards. However if I stuck this funny sled on a Mickey it would drop like a stone because I have 10 kg of weight on one side. Could this explain why Eric has such luck with this technique because he has an XCS sled with its notoriously simply topstage and Jerry Holloway is having less luck with an Ultra2 and its chunkier nose cone. (is it an Ultra 2?). Maybe?

The RED plate is awful. Very badly made. I recommend you inspect the pins on a RED camera at breakfast for signs of charring and get the facilities company to send a new one if unhappy. I have changed from PAG mount to V-Lock a few months ago. Mainly because they are so common on set, there are more deals on cheaper batteries, you can rinse the facilities companies batteries rather than your own and if stuck in Europe you can order in more batteries easily. One issue with V-Locks is that if not correctly and firmly locked into place, they can seem like they are on but then fall off. I suspect that this was the problem on your show Ron. Maybe a limp wristed assistant? Another issue is that if you slam them down too hard you can bend the pins. You can actually see the metal pins when the battery is engaged. Not great in the rain. Basically they are a crap mounting system. AB mount and PAG mount is infinitely better. You have to weigh that against the convenience, shear range of different battery sizes/weights and volume of batteries in use. I have V-Lock on my sled now and I am happy.

I had a 4pin xlr to cigarette lighter socket made.

well done mate!

I think you can practise all the finesse you like but when something goes wrong you need that extra muscle to prevent injury. If I didnt have legs that I trained as often as possible there is no way my smile would still be there after 12 hours of solid 435 steadicam. I dunno. We are all different. But if your shlepping 4 days a week when do you train?

Kapil, For your market out there in mumbai I think it would be a killer. The lengh of takes you have in some of your films and the camera/dance choreography I think it could be great. It really depends what your shooting and its a tool for an application. I'll tell you what though, if I bought one I would fly to mumbai for a few months to really rinse it because of the nature of a lot of the shooting out there. Thomas

MK-V isn't going out of business. They seem to have opened an Australian office. The V3 electronics boxs are working fine with the ampage I put through it.

Yes Eric, The XCS does seem like an attractive option. A solid no adjustment topstage and full power bom shiva. What can it really handle? 6amps RED camera 4 amps (2 x 2 amps C-motions) 1 amp genlocks 1 amp decimator and modulus? 12 amps? no problem? or 16 amps with the C-Motion boosters on? The other camera I power from a cable up the front. I seem to be managing fine with my MK-V and I am hoping the Epic s will make these jobs a lot easier.

Something weird happened there with the forum duplicating my previous comments. Probably my fault. Yes, currenty the synch box's seem to have to stay on board and they will cause everyone a headache except you because its down time party time. I think we are using the lockit box's. I dunno how the Gen10 will be. Stereoscopers land and their headache and believe you me its a headache for the poor boys and girls.

Something weird happened there with the forum duplicating my previous comments. Probably my fault.

The solution to TX 3D would be to use a 3D brain to recompose the two cameras as side by side squeezed images and then to CamWave it out there. Lets keep quite about that for now eh? The Transiveo 3D 12inch that we've bought does not seem to have a viable signal out to send to another 3D monitor. I've not really had time to play with it but thats the word I've had back. I would recomend PAG L95e batteries. They can do 7 to 10 amps before fusing out unlike the REDs at 6amps. The REDs are far too heavy. L95e s seem to come in at the same weight as the Powercubes! Are you sure the powercubes are that light? I remember them being heavier but hey.. I'm a little dim sometimes so I probably missed that one. The really important thing is that you don't let some dim DIT come and start plugging in RED monitors or viewfinders into your setup. Your going to be so close to the wire Amps wise on your power distribution that they can literally piss off. They are not allowed under any circumstances to plug any view finders or RED monitors. They can work off the back of the RED camera or power the camera down, re-route power and use what they want. I recomend a few loud swear words at this point because they will try and it could fry your centre cable/lemo connectors. Remember to turn the power boosters off on the c-motions. With them on they will suck up to 4 amps. Two of them doing that is a rig fry.

With 2 REDs the Prestons are too heavy. You need to use C-Motions. Drop the CamWave. Your teathered anyway. I have kept my modulus on for the directors run monitor but stuff a CamWave. There is currently no genlocked transmittable two channel solution for 3D. Drop the Archos. Drop the Power Cubes. You need lighter batteries and a longer post. Powercubes are too heavy. Drop the motors from your topstage if you can easily. You can't afford the extra weight. Drop the nose cone on an Ultra 2 with its electronics. It comes off easily. You'll be able to get 2 REDs onto an Ultra 2. Remember though that there is a couple of lbs of genlock boxs and crap like that as well. Thanks Rob. I'll be in touch with him. It s definitely interesting to get in touch with people as stupid as oneself.

I am concerned about low-mode. I've been doing it but its a lot of weight pulling down.

Please read the forum archives to see what people have been using. Then do some comprehensive research about whats new and report to us all any new recorders you have found. There are so many new little gadgets and widgets out there I doubt anyone can keep up. Any threads on here will be months old. You might find something cool.

Haha! Brilliant. I'm keeping that. G70 is rated to 70lbs. I'm keeping that as my upper limit. I don't think it will snap. I'm sure they have had 70lbs Duracell bunnies jump up and down on that arm for months to make sure its safe.

Charles, you talk a lot of sense. Since our forum debate a little while ago I never fly the RED battery any more. I still have the top-handle, focus pullers monitor but never the battery. I think anything over 70lbs is overweight. Would you consider 70lbs itself overweight? It doesn't feel that heavy but I think it is and it will take its toll. On film its a DoP's choice of lenses and filmstock. The camera body is really the operators choice so long as it meets the required shutter and frame rates. Digital is complicated. The DoP chooses his camera because he wants its chip processing artefacts over another cameras chip processors. He wants its resolution etc etc. I don't think the Genesis argument stands up since you can always fly tethered. Believe you me if I had a tethered option here I would be all over it. BL4's are before my time but I heard they were heavy. How heavy were they? G70 to the max? I had a platinum on about 6 months ago with the sliding base plate and that also maxed out my G70 arm. Panavision have a lot to answere for with their needlessly heavy cameras. What were they thinking when they built the Genesis? But people used to fly the BL4's day in day out no? The conclusion is clearly that two REDs is too heavy for regular Steadicam work. Thats why you charge extra. I recommend 50% bump on your operators dailies rate and a dailies rate on kit irrelevant to how many days they take you for. I'm glad I don't have a PRO arm otherwise clearly that would probably be maxed out at 75lbs.

As far as I have gathered so far, Inter-Occular and Inter-Axial are interchangeable terms for the distance between the two "eyes". Convergence is the other variable that the s3D community is possibly shying away from pulling. Convergence aka "toe" is how cross eyed the eyes are. How cross eyed the are to point at the same object in Z. Essentially if you pull too much convergence you can get key-stoning of the background which messes everything up. So the argument is to only pull IA running convergence parallel and then to do the convergence in post (select where the frame overlaps) this is quicker, easier, gives more options later. Unfortunately you loose resolution. Another working practise is to set convergence for the furthest point away in the shot and pull the rest in post. It is also an argument that is best we stay out of as there seems to be a war going on in stereo land as to the best working practise with many ego's being slaughtered.

Why would two RED s not be acceptable? Since when is it our place to stipulate a 2k camera when a 4k is required for the production. On film we can argue bodies as the lenses and stock are the same. We don't have that negotiating power in digital. Theoretically this film is for IMAX but we aren't framing for IMAX so I don't know and its not my place to opinion-ate. I do see what you are saying and I am clearly using the maximum limit of my G70 as a upper payload barrier. I refuse to carry any more because the equipment is not designed for that. Whilst I can muscle the arm over 70lbs as I did the other day with the 32mm Ultra Primes and their additional battery counter weight. I worry about all the other components. Its a lot of weight on your topstage especially in low mode and particularly as it is not correctly balanced on the topstage (a lot of the counterbalance has to happen from the batteries below. What is hard in 3D is just how stable the mise en scene is. Big wide lenses panning far slower than feels comfortable. The slightest reframe or "searching" and its apparently an NG ed shot. Any sense of floating is am NG ed shot, slightest off level... NG. Any wobble any any any anything that doesn't look like its from a dolly has the stereopticians and Director pull disappointed faces. I know none of this is acceptable on a normal shoot but how many times have you asked for another take and the DoP/Director have said that they loved it just the way it was! That doesn't happen in 3D. Everything is so critical and to be honest... its hard! The main fault I have with the REDs is that I can't put my gyro's on weight wise. I wouldn't know how to power them anyway. With 2 REDS pulling 6 amps each, two C-Motions pulling total 4amps, lots of little genlock box's and extra amp here or there and my transivdeos little ampere its already totally 18 or 19 amps. I am considering only having the gyros and powering everything off a block battery. Do you reckon a block battery could handle a 21 amp load? I don't even know if the gyros would help much especially considering the guage of mains cable I would need to power 21 amps. In anycase: we need not worry. The Epic camera will be out soon. Then we can shoot 4k all day. I think the Alexa. That fully kitted out is lighter than a RED but stripped is heavier. It will be too heavy for Steadicam. Besides its a 2k camera.

I am on a feature film right now with two RED s on the PS Technik rig. Long days hard days. I am trying to push everything I can onto the Rickshaw but there are somethings that are simply not possible on a Rickshaw. The rig with the genlock accessories, Ultraprimes and two c-motions max's out my G70 arm. I got stitched up the other day because they put on the two 32mm Ultra Prime lenses. These with their LLD circuitry are much heavier. This caused me problems for sure. I am only tethered with two skinny BNC cables so that is ok.

Kettlebells are cool but I found they overtrained my back causing problems. What weight KettleBells do you use? So this P90X looks like madness. Are you guys doing this before a long Steadicam day? Or at the end of a long Steadicam Day? Cheers Thomas

I am working quite a bit with the PS Techniks rig. There seems to be no actual "compensation" for convergence; however convergence does not seem to effect it at all. I've not had it with any long bodies on there like Sony900R s. I've only had it with the REDs on there and as yet it is fine. The convergence only effects the top camera and it rotates that top camera from the middle. Maybe that is why it is fine. The other bitch about 3D Steadicam is the shear size of the hoods. Perfect for catching the wind!

Can you give any more information about which ET rig it is? If your lucky it will be one of the prototypes or even one of the working models of the Neutron rig (very similar to the ParadiseFX rig). If it is one of the prototypes then be prepared to allow the Stereographers plenty of time to tinker because the motorization of the various cameras it at various stages of development. Otherwise it may be the Quasar rig. This is really built for full sized cameras so will be heavily over engineered for two little si-2k heads in there. Don't let them start wanting to put two full blown si-2k cameras in there. This is a very heavy rig without any cameras in there. I don't even know if it could go on a Steadicam. On this Imax feature I am currently working on I am with a very competent team of Stereographers: Vision3 , here in the UK. But my previous experience with Stereographers has not been that good. Many have not come up through the camera departments and lack a lot of real common sense. Keep a very close eye on the camera system as it is being built from scratch. Make sure that the same quantity of accessories are placed onto each camera or preferably no accessories on each camera and all placed somewhere "static" on the rig. They are used to dealing with stable setups on tripods/remote heads. This should be less of an issue with two little si-2k heads but keep a keen eye as to what is going on. They are going to want to do lots of chart work and quite often. If you have a magliner that you can dock into then use it. Your going to have people crawling all over your rig all day. If you can help them out and use a magic arm on the bottom of your sled so that you can dock it and have it level/static that will help them out. Use some kind of quick release plate (Romford snap plate) on your dovetail plate. Cameras go out of alinement the more the rig is manhandled. Especially if it is a Netron rig as that is so tiny. Operating wise: No whip pans, stable frame, let things happen within the frame. Lenses are wide anyway but the audience can feel sick with too much movement. You'll be cabled up. Enjoy it. Attached is an image of the neutron prototype. It should be this unit as there are plenty of them floating about. Its tiny. The top camera is static so balance up with the camera-system at zero IO (interoccular or interaxial) as you may find it is quite side heavy and may require a non central Steadicam dovetail plate positioning. Where do I get this Lisigav stuff and is it legal here in the UK?

Nice. There look like there are Satchler style dials at the ends of the little posts, do they do anything. Also can you get longer posts for it? How is it going into Low Mode? Does the whole monitor bracket spin around? Or are you just changing its angle and operating with an upside down monitor? It seems quite nice.