Erwin Landau

That should be under Vests... Anyhow, I think I have to jump in here... ALL and I mean EVERY single one of the DSD Harnesses ever build have been build by Klassen F/X. Daniel had the idea and Walter made it happen. As the set up was up to the split, Klassen F/X build the Vest and DSD bought the Vests from Klassen and Sold them under the DSD (Daniel Sauve Design) logo. Still the Maintenance, Repair and Sale was done/managed by Klassen F/X. The Latest Vest Design "the Deluxe" and "the Lite" are evolutions of the original design and are sole owned by Klassen F/X. (The sliding back, the new style Carbon fiber arm, the bladder, etc.) The latest that I heard was that Daniel will come out (very soon as I was told) with his own version of the Backmounted Harness, still named the DSD Harness. Then there will be 2 choices for Backmounted Harnesses out there... Klassen F/X, as the original Manufacturer of the original Harness, will honor all warranties and repairs on the original DSD Vests, as well as, of course, all Klassen Deluxe and Lite... Just a note... Erwin "Don't make me come back..." Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Tough call... Arm or Vest Topic... Let's go with Vest.... Socket Block issues... The Back mounted Harness and the Steadicam Arm. I'm using the DSD Harness in conjunction with the PRO Arm. I lately developed extreme deformations on my Male Socket Block (Arm Socket Block). In the 2 grooves where you tighten the Arm down, they are about to break off... and parts did... They started to appear during 2 excessive days off of a hard mount shooting from a Motorcycle a couple of weeks ago (GPI repIaced mine...) Using the Klassen build Hardmount, same design as the Backmounted Harness. I was told that that had to do with the fact that a DSD Vest/Hardmount where used and that the Socket Block Assembly was not designed for the DSD style connection... Front Mounted Vests are utilizing the Thumb screws only for safety and to adjust jaw of the rig assembly as weight of the Rig basically pulls the pin of the Male socket block further into the Female counter part (The proof of that was at the PRO workshop, when a 3A arm permanently wedged it self into a PRO Vest, and I mean for good... no hammer was to small and I think the bandsaw took care of that), versus with the DSD, where the thumb screws actually are holding the whole rig assembly (Arm, Rig, Camera, etc.) in place, besides providing a side to side adjustment. We had some extensive discussions on the last PRO workshop (last week).... Starting with the DSD/Klassen Socket Block having to be made out of steel or Titanium versus the still used Aluminium... up to having to redesign the whole Arm to Vest connection... etc... Just another fun day in Steadicam Land... Erwin "Titanium makes a very unique sound when it brakes" Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Better late then never... Hi Charles, There are a couple of companies that do Arm and Spring maintenance/upgrades/modifications... Robert Luna of course but also: - Daniel Sauve - Howard Smith (MK-V) - Hugo Langer and his Silver Spring conversion (Rig Engineering) - Tiffen (They still have springs in stock for the 3A/EFP Arm, last time I checked) Spring Color: Median Load: (+/- 2.5lbs) Red 37 Green 40 Blue 45 Black 51 Gold 54 EFP 24 to 39 lbs 3A lightweight 29 to 47 lbs 3A standard 37 to 57 lbs Master Broadcast 40 to 57 lbs Master Film/Elite 42 to 67 lbs I'm also including the Master Arms as in the past people have substituted 3A springs with Master Springs to reach higher load capability. I hope that helps. Erwin Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

- Transvideo Hermes Receiver with Antenna. 8-28 Volt DC on XLR4, Hirose 6 or eight AA Batteries.........$600.- - XCS Single Rod style Monitor Bracket with 1.5" clamp......$500.- - 3rd Generation PRO Post (Quick) Connector kit for Lower Junction Box. Not sold separately by GPI. Will fit the XCS to PRO, 2" Center Post conversion.......$1000.- - DeRose Arriflex 35-3 Lowmode Bracket with one PRO Plate.........$600.- (Or trade for a Hill 435 Lowmode Kit) - 3 Anton Bauer Compac batteries, NiCad, 13.2 Volt, 36 WH...........$200.- each. - Preston: (Run) (2) Panavison [4422]..........$164.- each (1) Arriflex3- (right angle) 11 pin Fischer [4420]..........$136 (2) Aaton [4424]..........$124.- each (1) Arriflex 435/535/SR3/Mvcm 3Pin [4421]..........$124.- - Master: (1) Master to Panavision Power Cable [250-0049].........$300.- or best offer (was $435.-) (2) Master to Modulus Video/Power cables [900-051].........$85.- for one ($150.- for both) If interested, please contact : Erwin Erwin Landau, SOC Steadicam 818-769-0293 818-448-2639: Cell www.landaucamera.com steadicam@landaucamera.com

Once and for all... The Rig is still sold!!!!

Nikk, Again check the Archives first... General Discussions 2004: Great Steadicam Shots (Pages 1 2 ) Topic Starter: tamarajones Last Post: 11th February 2004 - 04:44 PM Last Post by: jkilroy

I thought we had established the facts: The rights for the EFP Trainings Manual/Video are property of Tiffen. Jerry has talked to Tiffen and they are willing to transfer it from the original master onto a DVD that will be available from Tiffen some times in the near Future... Jerry had asked people not to put the Manual online and to honor international copyright laws... So, no matter what you may or may not think of Tiffen, this is no way of doing business and advertising a stolen product... What's next? Stars and Tripes made in China? So: Who the hell do you think you are? Erwin "Slightly pissed" Landau, SOC

Nikk, Check the archives... 2004. "General Discussion" under "The Alien....." Feb. 6th. Topic starter Ari Gertler (it's on the 3rd page) Also Check the 2003 Archives there where a couple of mentionings... 2002 Archives, under "Operating" : "Rolling, rolling, rawhide!" First official mentioning of the Alien... Also: The Patent #: 5,963,749 Issued: Oct. 5, 1999 Inventor: Lynn Nicholson Erwin "I have pix... no I don't... Some day... maybe, there will be more" Landau, SOC

Hi Max, It's actually $8500.- But seriously. As you know Max, I own a Walter Klassen build Vest, (is that the politically correct definition? as all DSD and Klassen F/X are build by him). And I tried one of Brian's (ActionProducts) early models. That experience actually pushed me over the edge to go ahead and purchase the DSD. It was nicely put together and fit quite well until I put weight on it, the moment I picked up the rig it turned into a painful experience. I don't know if he has done any improvements since then, I very much hope so. As they say, you get what you pay for. Why did you go with the PRO rig instead of the Glidecam Gold? Works pretty much the same... doesn't it? Or does it? Is it a lot of money? Yes. Is it worth it? Hell yes. Also Walter's service is an asset that you can't compare to prices. Hand's down, great product and craftsmanship, even greater costumer service... But then again... Try both and make up your own mind.

Hi Eric, I still work mostly with Film Cameras and the ProFormer are doing a very good job. Also at $150.- bucks not a bad deal. The Dionic 90 go for $430.- and the Dionic 160 are $995.-... I use the Hytron 100/120 for HD or the ProPacs with Video... (on the sled and if they only come with the Dionic, I use them on the Camera) I would love to use only one style battery. I used to own 4 different style A/B batteries (Compac, TrimPac, ProPac and ProFormer), now I'm down to 2 (TrimPac, ProFormer), but the real world is not that great in providing that ideal. Also I don't belive that they can recell the Dionic's, I encountered already trouble with NiCad's when recelled that you have to have a different charger then the A/B to be able to charge the batteries due to the chip set that is hard soldered to the cells... for the charger to identify the battery. Larry, I would love to hear Jim's take on the Dionic's, especially as many operators did complain that the PRO 2 with the Hytron's actually would be to light for the used Cameras... what will be now that the Dionic are even lighter.....? It seams that A/B every time we get used to a certain battery they stop making them... The price of progress?

Hi Max, I wanted to test the PAG L-75 at one point which are the same cells as the then Dionic 80 (now they are called L-95 and Dionic 90, still with the same cells just larger). The first thing that you see when you open the box is a warning label telling you that the battery is not designed for high current draw... So it would suggest that it would not turn over a 435 at 150 fps at a safe pace... Howard Smith claims he works with the PAG's all the time... Anton Bauer does not recell batteries, they do buy your old ones back and apply it to a new batch of Batteries when you purchase through them... There are after market companies that will recell older A/B batteries, like the ProPac's and the Compac's etc.... never heard a ProFormer being recelled.

Relax guys... That was the prototype Harddrive that they put inside a IDX charger, they had it just finished in time for NAB 2003. But keeping in mind that the Camera weights 6 LBS. the lens about 3 and the Harddrive including 2 Batteries was 4lbs... Still makes for a freakishly light set up... I heard months ago, that they had a proper dock ready that mounts in the classic fasion onto the back and is limited to 4.5 minutes... I'm sure you will be seeing it at this years NAB... BTW: Who is going to Vegas this year... anybody up for car pool?

That is a full size A/B plate which would be about the foot print of a ProPac or Hytron 120... and not the compact plate... you are sure that it would clear the front position on the PRO 2 ?

Yep, that is Jason Statham. It was the music Video for "the Transporter" also we shot some additional stuff for the DVD that never mad it on it... Side note: We recreated some of the films chase scenes... but the only car they could find was the new BMW 745i as supposed the older style 740i that was used in the movie... Anyhow we crashed it twice (the stunt driver tried to slide the car sideways... the car had traction control... you get the picture...) had stunt guys and the actors jump on to the car had it scratched and a couple of dents... only almost at the end the producer came running out of the trailer to tell us that it was a rental from Budget Beverly Hills and that he had a $2500.- deductable on the insurance.... And by the way at the time there where no parts available as the car was brand new of the cargo ship, so the art department had to make up a new spoiler out of thin air... and they did... Erwin "I have some pictures somewhere...." Landau, SOC

I was told and got a confirmation that Anton Bauer will no longer produce the very popular, small and inexpensive ProFormer Batteries. It seams that Anton Bauer is starting to push there new Dionic Products harder. Lithium over NiCad I guess... I also heard that there was once again a new Battery supposed to get introduced at this years NAB, will that be the replacement for the ProFormer??? Or another addition to the Dionic Familly... Just wanted to give a heads up! Erwin "Running to B&H to get some of the last ones..." Landau, SOC

The Rig has been sold! Thank you all.

Hi Jerry, Anthony Hardwick (WentWest) has one of the Panasonic puppies. It can be powered directly of the sled without any mods, so you don't need the Seitz conversion, also he added the feature of being able to run it through the Preston, by wireing in through his sled (Ultimate). The moment the AC runs the Camera, the unit starts to record and stops when the Camera cuts. It needed some mods to the Preston, the Preston Power Cable, the Center Post and a "Medusa" Cable (Power, Video, Play Back, Remote... quite a "cable" I must say) to the Panasonic to get there, but you never miss a take... Bret, I haven't seen a picture of the Archos directly on a TV screen, for just play back looks fine, also I was not able to feed a constant picture to it from my Sled (???) still working on it... The AV converter is a pain and very fragile. It's a way better unit then the RCA Harddrive... I saw Rich Davis using a Panasonic SV-AV30 on the set of "Scrubs". ($400.-). It's so small... It uses a Memory card and gives you about 60 minutes of Video but at 15 fps... Erwin "No there yet..." Landau, SOC

Hi Guillermo, It's Aluminium. No the Vest has no brake away function. If I recall correct then George and Mark O'Kane were experimenting on an emergency release, were just the Arm Socket get's "ejected". But they never came up with a safe and effective solution so they abandoned that Idea. I also only know of a handful of operator that ever had to pull the release... Garrett and a Rhino are coming to mind... and some boat and a Panaflex sunken to the bottom of the mediterrainian sea... But most of the time the quick release did not work properly, it would release the shoulder pads and would stop with the whole equipment still attached to the waist. Makes for an even harder getaway... I heard a rumor that the DSD was supposed to come with a little detonator that would get rid of the carbon fiber arm when the operator would push a button... I was working on a Music Video a couple of years back with my PRO Vest, when a Key grip refused to spot me because of a bad experience where he pulled a Vest apart, by accident... Even after showing him that my Vest did not have anything like that, he still refused and assigned the Dolly Grip as my spotter. I have to agree with George's philosophy that if you have to consider to pull that quick release, you shouldn't be there in the first place... Play it safe... Erwin "What's that button...kabooom!!!... Ooops, Sorry" Landau, SOC

Hi Larry, You posted that information about the dummy battery almost a year and a half ago. I imidiately called Seitz and talked with there technician, he told me that it was months away before they could/would have anything available for me to look at and that they would give me a call when they would start building the units. A year has past and the PC-5 has been discontinued also the follow up the PC-9 is long gone... and it's replacement the 101 is also on the way out and I have moved on. I have since tried the RCA Harddrive Recorder and in the moment I'm testing the Archos Video AV320. But I'm very much in anticipation for the I-Pod Film... If Seitz wants to get back into the game, they should offer an array of different Dummy Batteries for most other recorders. I'm using the IP-5 from Sony with the F style batteries I believe. Any chance of them building for that style Battery/Camera as well? Thank you Larry for the update.

Hi Ramon, I'm guessing that that problem started recently? Which would indicate that either the outer or the inner tube got bend. I would guess the inner as it takes up most of the stress if extended, also due to the design with the sliced inner post, it's easier to deform that tube. If it was present from the get go, 1999, it is due to the fact that it would be still one made by Bob DeRose. If the plating is dull that would be a sign, his Center Posts where always very tight. I used to own one that I could only extend if I would loose the Monitor Bracket. What you could try is: - Take the post apart and clean everything with "goof off" or similar. If it still binds than... - Try to determine where it binds the most, if its the whole way, it's most likely the outer post. If it's only partial it would be the inner. Try to squeeze the inner post with your hand and see if it improves. - Or skip that altogether and give GPI a call.

Hi Ron, I'm happy to hear that you are still happy with your purchase... Any recent pictures available? FYI: The Artwork is only includet if you pick up the rig personally... that is a requirment, set by the artist (Victoria).

Here a picture of the back up rig (PRO Lite #008) in action on a Music Video with the Marell and a 435, after my Primary got damaged in the famous freak Yakuzzy (Spelling?) incident.

So... to answer all inquires at the same time: - This was my Back Up rig. It has a couple of "older" Componantes. - It's a 12/24 Volt system, as all PRO rigs are. - It's a 2 Battery system using Anton Bauer Goldmount batteries. ALL A/B Batteries will fit and work on this rig. - It's very simular to the "Jerry Rig" exempt: it has a Voltage indicator LED for each battery (2) so you can use batteries that are not Digital. - Yes you can fly a 435 at high speed, as the batteries I'm selling are NiCad's. - No it's not over priced, The Battery module is brand spanking new, it's Serial # 026, the last ever assembled and never used on a job since. - It's one of 5 PRO Lites that I used to own, This one is NEW, meaning it was not used on a Job, EVER. - I did some modification to it (As I did with all of mine that I ever owned), which will allow you to use an Onboard recorder and let you use and mount Gyros and other AKS to the unit. - There are some cosmetic issues with the post due to some pre Gorelock docking. - The PRO SuperPost will work with this set up. - All componantes of the rig were checked out by GPI and pasted or got replaced if they didn't. - Guy's it's a used rig, if you want one that looks like it came straight from George, go to George. He has a couple of rigs in stock ready to ship! - I'm aware that you have to get some other parts to compleat the set up... That's why it's advertised as "Sled only"... all other "missing" parts can be found for sale on the market. Do your homework!!!! - If it's to expensive for you, there are a couple Master Series for sale at the moment. FYI: No part will leave my hands unless tested and in a condition that I would be comfortable working with... Ask anybody that ever bought anything from me! Here a quick pix of the rig: (Quality is bad as I'm still trying to figure out that Digital thing... but it should give you an Idea.)

Guillermo, There was one, last year... Nobody was ever in it... so a waste of webspace... More for me to clog with pointless images....

Pro Sled for sale: - 2nd Generation PRO Donkey Box with FF Bracket - 2nd Generation Upper PRO Junction Box - 2nd Generation PRO Post with Bayonet mount (tooless) - PRO Gimbal with Gold Wrench - Wrap Grip (gray) - Marell Deluxe 5" CRT Monitor with Monitor Arm and Hood - Highly enhanced PRO Lite Battery Module with Bayonet Mount (Anton Bauer Battery Gold Mounts) - 11 Anton Bauer Compac Batteries - 1 Anton Bauer 4 position Quick Charger - 3 Pana Camera Plates (1 long, 2 short) - 2 PRO Docking rings (gray) - 1 Arri/Aaton/Video 12 Volt Camera Power Cable - 1 Moviecam 24 Volt Camera Power Cable - 1 PRO Monitor Cable - 1 Marell weight plate (to match the weight of a TB-6) - 1 Pelican 1650 case for Sled - 1 Anvil case for Batteries - 1 5/32 Wrench - all User Manuals All Parts recently serviced and/or updated and in perfect working condition. (PRO Lite battery module in new condition, never used on a job) Asking: $22'500.- If interested, please contact: Erwin Landau Erwin Landau, SOC Steadicam 818-769-0293 818-448-2639: Cell www.landaucamera.com steadicam@landaucamera.com