Erwin Landau

"I HAVE RARE AND EXCLUSIVE ITEMS, MOST YOU WILL NEVER SEE AGAIN!" He was never on the set of Scrubs, they have so many, I think the janitor used it as a rug in one of last seasons episodes... "Dark blue shirt..." And Color blind is he aswell... If you ever find a Spare tire cover with Charles's logo... that got stolen. What was it, 2 years ago? Erwin"I also have one"Landau www.landaucamera.com

Jim you will remember the story of one of your BFD's that had to take the fall for the team... An Operator on a feature was using 2 of Jim's BFD's. One day all steadi dailies came back soft, it seams that one of the adjustment wheels got moved, bumped, etc. Nobody checked all day. Anyhow the blame was pushed to the BFD as there were also some issues with the unit and Cell phones in europe were the feature was shot... So long story short, everybody kept tight and nobody got fired, but the BFD got replaced with a Preston... Sometimes it works and you watch your back... and you still end up with a Preston. Erwin Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

I posted that a while back in the journal section... But what the hell, Many will remember that show as the last one with my PRO monitor... MTV's "Tail Dater's" I think they are at Operator number 20+ I think almost anybody that I know did a least a day on that crap. I did 3 days. To make it short: 1st day: 18 hole mini golf course in one take, 2 hours 25 Minutes changed 3 tapes and 2 Batteries without putting the rig down and that was still with my Front mounted vest. 2nd day: I also learned the floor plan of the Queen Mary almost by hart... picking up the guy at his cabine, of course at the other end of the ship going 2 flights of stair down, always preceding, picking up the girl, 3 stairs up to the restaurant... oh we lost the second quick release plate so we can't take the camera of the steadi... Stay on the diner then after the diner bring them back to there rooms... And by the way that is the wrong floor, one up walking, walking, no we where supposed to go right, no left, we lost the producer, she is the only one that knows the room number... at that point I told the director were he can bite me and cut the camera... 3rd day: After running after a drunken couple the entire day... the wrapped me. I'm just about to take the camera off as the senior producer screems: They are getting naked into the Yakuzee... (BTW: The guy was bringing me water the day before... very short leader at MTV, isn't it?) So run and gun for the Yakuzee... I don't think so, go or no pay...bla,bla,bla... 6 people jump into the Yakuzee and almost take me with them... 0.1 Minutes later the Monitor is shorted out the Camera is soked and that is a wrap... No worries... Insurance will pay. It took 2 months to get paied, The Insurance company get's fired, MTV is washing there hands clean, senoir producer get's fired, Production Coordinator get'd fired (she hired me)... 10 1/2 Months later I'm getting the last check from my claim. The part with the naked contestants never airs, the rest of all day shooting will be cut together with 2 other cameras into a 22 minutes best of show. And that was just the short version, Peace... Erwin Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Colin has a Party! Colin Hudson has a House warming/Getogether/Steadi Party. Everybody that knows Colin is here with invited to come. (Even if you are not an operator...) When: Saturday, January 10th starting 9.00 PM Where: Colin's New House 2530 Greenfield Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90064 Thomas Guide: 632-C6 By the 405 and I-10 interchange South of Pico East of Sepulveda Bring: Drinks,Girls and Food (I believe that was his order... or was it Girls and Drinks?) Do Not Bring: Your Steadicam!!!! Parking: On the street... See Colin for parking permits, (so that they don't tow your car). Colin has not yet hooked up his Computer so I'm writing on his behalf. Hope to see you there...

Here a picture, to get an idea what I'm selling: (Minus, Monitor and Camera of course...) Erwin Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Oh, Oh... playing Devils advocate and comparing the PRO with the Ultimate... Let's try and explain it with terms that I'm and most people are familiar with: Cars! Let's imagine, just for the sake of an example, the Ferrari F40 beeing the PRO and the Ferrari Enzo beeing the Ultimate. Boths are higly sophisticated street legal racing maschines, that boths will reach over 200 mph at about the same time, that have the same orgin, the same physics, etc... The F-40 has a 6 speed manual gear box that changes gears exactly and gigantic brake calibers that stop the car on a dime... and a Bi-Turbo V8. The Enzo has a F-1 style tiptronic shift, with ABS and traction control and a computer aided F-1 style V10. Which one is faster which one is better to handle? Give them both to Michael Schuhmacher and he will run exactly the same time on the track. What is your driving style... ? SO: The PRO is based on the EFP (Nobody wants to admit it, but the PRO is just a very fancy EFP) as Georges first rig was an EFP, which he immidiately highly modified and later derived with the use of 3A parts and new parts from DeRose to the first generation PRO back in 1992/3. No fancy electronics, or electric parts that could blow up, the monitor is the only unit with electronics. Just wires connected to batteries, without possibility of shorting out or false connecting of wires with isolated video and Power, idiot proof made to last forever it seams. The Ultimate is based on the second generation PRO which Greg used to own. Again immidiately he started to modify his rig to adapt it to his operating style, and adding his parts like the TB-6 the DUO and the UNO, the PDL etc, which picked with the eventual development of his rig. The rig is filled with modern electronics and nifty improvements like the integrated digital level, a transmitteable frame line and a very efficient High Voltage Power supply that makes running a 435 2 150 fps on one battery possibel. This rig was solemly ment to suite Greg operating style which resulted with the X-Y stage been moved to the bottom, and most of the aks beeing tooless and designed to be flown neutral. Again a experienced operator will deliver the same quality picture on both rigs, it just comes down to your style of operating and you preference of functions... What are you willing to sacrifice, you always gain something on one side and lose on the other... George did let me try one of the rental rigs when I came to him the first time back in 2000, and didn't wanted to sell me anything until I tried it. I used a demo rig from Greg on a feature to familiarise myself with the different style of rig, again he was denying any order until I had it for a while to make sure that I liked it... Try boths than deside... get in and take'em for a spin... Erwin"should have stayed in school to design cars"Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Did finally someone had the chance to test fly the MK-V Nexus base? What's the feedback? Are the 6 battery mounting possibilites worth it? As I heard, the Nexus is the first part of the highly anticipated Revolution rig. Where is the rest? Please don't answer with: Oh it's so great... Specific and objective evaluations please. Fly safe, Erwin"not in the market, but nosey"Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

I heard a rumor that GPI will hold a Workshop this year after a 2 year break. I'm really looking forward to that workshop, to get a chance to brush up on my form and get some feedback about some developed bad habits... Also a great chance to meet some of the Steadi legends... Just a FYI... Erwin"Still lot to learn"Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Let's start a disscusion about Front versus Back mounted vests. Experiences, good or bad. Stories, funny or not so funny. Short comings versus advantages. How many people actually own back mounted harnesses and how many of them still own there Front mounted ones? Just trying to jump start some disscisions here... Come on, don't dissappoint me guys. I'll start... I own a DSD vest #075. And I'm happy with it but would like to also have access to a PRO Front mounted Vest for certain situations on set... like tight spaces and flat out running shots... Erwin"backwards"Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

The AC... Basically a lower player on the set, most of the time not even credited, and still a huge player when hireing or fireing your Operator Behind. I heard in the past and was involved in occasions where the Operator was forced to buy/upgrade to a different Follow Focus System in order to stay hired or get rehired. Mainly going from whatever system to the "Industry standard" Preston. Just this week I was putting together an order for a Preston System for a fellow Operator, were the requirement to get rehired on a feature, was to get rid of his BFD and get a Preston... Soooo.... The AC accused for the soft dalies from yesterday were the result of the shitty FF system that the operator owned... get an operator that has a newer or useable unit. The AC does not like the Steadicam Operators FF because he has to turn this wheels, everytime they calibrate. The AC claims that the fous marks never line up... The AC claims he has neck trouble because the Handunit is to heavy... Etc... you get the idea. The result is always the same, the Steadicam Operator is a goner... or has to shell out 15 grand... I Know for a fact that there are bigger operator stil making a happy living owning a 3A with a Seitz... how does that work out? Any Ideas, stories, thoughts... Erwin"Industry Standard" Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Hi Joe, Firstly... Just for the record... Anything I'm writing here is only my private opinion, don't take me literaly or word by word... try everything and make up your own mind. I could write 20 paragraphs on why and how and whatever... Secondly... I think that the rig is, as everything you buy, is very personal and very subjective. As everybody has a different taste for cloths, cars, friends, men, women... the shadding of black that the rig is platted. (mine is dull, pale black... don't like the shiny stuff.) It has to work for you. I could keep on telling you what to buy and what not to buy and going on forever why... but at the end of the day, it's your money and you have to be comfortable with it, be able to afford it, be able to do your best work with it. If you can create "Larry's quality" of work with a broom stick, why should I, or anybody else for that metter, tell you to invest in tens of thousands of Dollars worth of equipment? (that will not happen... trust me, but anyways.) To answer some of your questions more specifically: I owned 7 PRO rigs, I guess that says it all... I owned 4 Vests (3 PRO ones), 3 Arms, 2 Follow Focuses... Hell on my last primary rig I went through 5 center posts, 3 donkey boxes, 4 gimbals, 4 monitor arms, 3 monitor and 2 battery systems... had 5 different battery styles... and 30 Batteries at one time. I didn't know what I wanted I just knew what I didn't wanted... very bad (and expensive) way of figuering out what to buy. I learned on a Master Series and an Ultra, I was dreaming of a PRO and practiced on a 3A. All of my equipment was either made by George or Greg, the only piece of Garretts Steadicam equipment (Hey is that a prerequisite to have a name starting with a G???) I ever owned were my 3A arms. I loved my first PRO Vest (unfortunately stolen) I really like my DSD... try boths and make up YOUR OWN mind. If I ever find a PRO vest that fits me like my first Vest, I will buy it on the spot, even as I have my DSD Vest, and still sometimes I'm running into a situation were the Front mounted vest would be the better choice. Ask around how many of the DSD owners stil own there Front mounted one... Did all of that equipment made me a better Operator? Hell no, I still suck... (don't tell my clients...) Did the equipment get me jobs? You bet ya. LA is strange with these things. You get calls like okay we saw all your credits, great... but do you have a PRO-Preston-System? I also learned to finally be fed up with equipment (buying and selling) I went in my short career through more rigs then most in there entire operating career, I will try and concentrade on operating for a change... Am I still searching for the perfect setup? Of course... and for the perfect frame, the perfect composition... If you I ever say no, then you can put me in a box and close it up for good... Erwin"equipment junky" Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Hi Charles, Are you a split personality? Charles Papert Member#79 or Chupap Member #43... Intertesting I thought you could only have one user name per e-mail address... Tim??? Anyhow... Hope that Garrett has a good time on the boat... Erwin Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Hi Mitch, Not quite what I was talking about... I'm very much familiar with Bernhard's product's and the "Cat Griller", I'm just talking about the possibility for the Motor Driver to stay with the Camera when you go Handheld or with a crane, etc. As you lose the plate anyways when with most Handheld rigs. I had a talk with Greg Bubb about a way to Hard mount the Motordriver (or better the whole FF for that matter) to the Camera from the get go, so that you always have the Remote capability, even when you go to the sticks or Dolly... Basically integrating (through a Bracket system) the Motor Driver into/onto the Camera... cut down on rebuilding, reattaching and recalibrating the motors and going to a studio style Follow Focus. (All done as you already calibrated all lenses during Prep...) So basically that the MDR is not attached to the Rig anymore... We ran in quite some problems and it's way to go to make it userfriendly... I thought that the new PRO bracket system could substitute for it until userfriendly... But thanks Mitch, Erwin Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Just saw the special edition "Indiana Jones" Nice footage of Garrett on "Temple of Doom" and the hanging Bridge... Garrett walking on that tiny walkway with the rig outside the bridge shooting Harrison Ford on the Bridge... Scary! Any Comment on that shot Garrett. Did Garrett mad it to the new Forum yet? Erwin Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Again got a post from the 2003 Forum... Very confusing... Erwin Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Hi Tim, How about a new Forum, or list or the like for stolen equipment, Lost or Found equipment. Put it in a seperate list so that you can find it quickly without going throuh the entire General Disscusion. So people can post there lost or stolen equipment with serial numbers and location as well as circumstances... I'm still looking for my Arm and Vest: - PRO Vest, Serial# 107 - 3a Gold Spring Arm, Serial# 588 Stolen at the Valley Collage, end of 2001... Thank you, Tim. Erwin landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Hi Tim, I had a suggestion: Concerning the classifieds. I know that it uses up webspace but would it be posibel to not delete them after 90 days. In the past there where disscutions started because of someones classidieds add that would disappear for good after 90 days also you could look up if and when certain parts were sold, of course the person had to repost that the item/s was/were in fact sold. Posts like: "I'm interested send pictures." You can delete that is supposed to private... and has not to be posted.... But: Maybe someone is looking for a certain piece and maybe months after he posted someone actually has it for sale or just wants to get rid of it... 90 days seams like a long time but most features are shooting these days that long and people that are on them miss posts due to the time constrain. Just an idea... Erwin Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Look out there Marc, Generalising is not a good idea. Every package is different especially here where everybody and I mean everybody is modifying changing adding or subtracting from hid rig and/or set up. Important parts are: - Manufacturer: PRO, Steadicam, Glidecam etc. - Model: is it a model 1 ore a PRO2, Ultra, Master, Video - Age: A Pro rig from 1993 will not be as expensive as a Pro made last year. - Condition: Was it used daily or was it a Back Up. - What kind of AKS do come with it, Cables, Transmitters. - What Arm, is it a arm capable of handling a 535 or only a PD150. - What Vest, is it an original steadicam 35 or a last years DSD. - Are batteries included or not, how many, in what condition, anychargers? - Follow Focus? - How high is the modification factor - How much is original on the rig - When was it serviced, if ever... - Where was it used, country and enviroment... - Was it ever crashed or salvaged (bought from an Insurance claim and rebuild) - How many time did it change hands... is something wrong with it if it changed hands 5 times in the last year alone? All this factors have to be taken in consideration and will change the price quite drastically: (An extreme example) A beat up Model one rental rig that was used for stunt Camera in the jungle of Argentina and was never serviced will be a bad deal. (rentals are always beat up, used in countries that have only older cameras like the BL's will secure that the Arm is probably trashed and has hair fractures trunions rusted due to the humidity, as well as mold in the monitor and electronics.) As versus a privately owned PRO used as back and spend the last 5 years in a enthumidified case , alwys serviced together with the primary rig and actually only taken out of the case to be serviced... I would say that that is the better deal. Get my draft? Having owned 8 rigs (ough that hurts...The ill fathed quest for the perfect set up...) and having started by assembling the first one out of junkyard parts and used parts and build many parts my self... and with a lot of help of fellow operators... I learned a lot... especially never to do it again, once was very educational. Ones piece of trash could be somebody elses treasure... ALWAYS. And how much money can or do you want to spend... and what are you going to use it for... Film, Video, Broadcast, Weddings, for school projects, to have it sitting in your living room... (makes for a nice $120'000.- piece of furniture...) Jason: The reason that you can't find anything older is that the classifieds are deleted after 90 Days actually I wanted to make a post about that... I will later... Check other websites for prices, like the SOA classifieds or check with Derrick Whitehouse, you can find a list of them and related sites on my website: Ask a used parts broker or a friend that had sold or bought used. The prices are very subjective, most of the time some sentimental attachment to the gear existent and will show up in the pricing. Or some people have to sell very fast etc. Don't offend anybody by trying to pay nothong for a very nice piece of equpment... Do your research and you will find what you need for the price you are willing to pay. But you will always have to compromise... Hope that made any sense... Erwin Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Hi Kenny, Tiffen still does repairs to all CP build rigs. The only question is if they have the parts or if they still can make them. I would give Tiffen a call and if they can't fix it I'm sure they can direct you to somebody. But also keep in mind that most parts of other rigs will fit or substitute for your EFP parts, you could use Model 3 and 3A parts as well as some of the ProVid and SK parts will/should fit as the design has not huggely changed. So you could find used parts on the market that will work... as a last resort. But first call Tiffen. 310-645-4568 If it's an emergancy I think the extension 13 will put you through to Frank Rush. (If anybody has newer or better numbers or ways to get into contact with Tiffen in a emergancy, like weekend and the like, please share them here and use a new Topic so that its easier to find...) Erwin Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Hi Michael, I missed you by a couple of minutes then, Taj was just picking up his arm as well. Mark was telling the story when the A camera guy fell asleep turing a take on the Dolly... looked like a small get together. When I saw the set up initaly I thought that was the set up I was looking for to be able to quickly take it off the rig and mount it to the Hendheld rig. But to be able to use it I will have to modify it quite a bit. Still a very nice idea. I'll post a picture once I made it work... Erwin Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

I advertised a couple of things under "For Sale" Unfortunately I'm getting e-mails originating in this Forum, but I have no chance to find them or reply to them as there is not a search function to find members and or there e-mails. In the old Forum you had the posibility to look for a name and it would give you there E-mail address. As most of the members do not use there real name or use a username that is not searchable ... Would be great to integrate the old style search members function and demand to have the people give there real names and real e-mail addresses... IF you really want to buy that stuff.... Would be nice and would facilitate the comunication as well... Just food for thoughts... Erwin" Hallo, Hallo... who are you?" Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Hi Tim, Me again... After overcoming the initial "New Forum Angst" I will try to contribute to this Forum. As you can tell I got the hang of it now... So: I went throught my old files and stumbled over some archived AOL Folders. I have the Folder #2 throught Folder#9 (parts of the #1 and some of the #10). Some condenst 300+ pages, of old school Steadicam Info, when printed... (Not to mention The Steadicam Letters most of them scanned... But I think you have to ask Garret about that...) (No guys I can't e-mail it to you, last time I tried, it took 5 and a half hours and my computer crashed and that was only for files 2, 3 and 4, So no I can not mail it to you. So don't ask...) Any interesed in adding it to your Archives, There are nowhere left on the net and will be for sure lost if not enbedded in a permanent Archive. I condenst and edited some of them to just the real tech stuff, even though most of it is out dated it would be fun to relive once in a while... I do not believe that anybody owns right to it as they are gone. (Maybe Joe Broderick, but my archives exide his by far...) Just an idea... Take care, Erwin"finally got used to it" Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Cleaning out. Misc. Parts, bits and pieces... some cables. E-mail me for list as it's getting smaller by the day. steadicam@landaucamera.com Erwin Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

Okay... I got it, if you want to post you get redirected to the new Forum... But Still how do you post pictures... Erwin"Insomniac" Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com

It says that the 2003 Forum is read only... But I'm still getting posts from there... Are we here or there? Now that I finally figured out how to work that forum... Just... How the hell do you post pictures???? Erwin"Confused" Landau, SOC www.landaucamera.com