Jess Haas SOC

It's more efficient in 24v. You are cutting the amp draw in half so there is less resistance and voltage drop on your sled wiring, etc... End result is batteries should last longer in 24v mode.

If you wire an XLR cable to provide 24 on what should be the 12 pin an Alexa will happily run from it.If using the Amira the D-tap will then be outputting 24 as well so you have to be careful to not fry anything on it. The Alexa will also happily run off 12v on the 2 pin power connector as long as the camera is not set to shutdown below a certain voltage above that (it's in the menus) If you hook up multiple power sources to the camera (12v battery and 24 on 2 pin for example) it will run off the higher voltage and hot swap if necessary. That's how I understand it atleast. Usual disclaimers apply (double check before doing anything silly)

Sometimes a super post is the only practical way to scrape the ground without hardmounting. If you can get the camera as light as possible, add some extra weight at the battery end and use a long post in your low mode bracket you should be able to get rather low but some directors just aren't happy until the camera is underground.

I believe they are slightly undersized 5/8" so more like .622 If you try to put full sized 5/8" rod it will be too tight. Could be wrong though.

I am still using the original Bolt Pro which is supposedly equivalent to the 300 (although the one time i had both on set the Pro seemed to have a more robust link than the 300). At short distances it works like a champ and has zero problems. As long as you keep the receiver and transmitter up reasonably high the range is rather good too. The only time I have had problems is when ACs insist on burying the receiver down low and then putting video village a ways from camera. I made a stand mount for the receiver but lots of ACs would rather velcro it to the back of a monitor or worse (my favorite was bongo tieing the 300 and the pro receiver together and to the c-stand the monitor was mounted on. The Pro was actually still fine as camera was close but the 300 wouldn't have it). If money is no option the 2000 is definitely the way to go and will be the most hassle free. That said the other options are perfectly workable and seem to be what most people are used to.

A properly speced diode will have a much lower voltage drop than the .6v mentioned here. Maybe not as low as an IC solution but not far off.

Just buy yourself a set of Standard/ASE allen wrenches at any hardware store. Should be able to get a cheap one for about $5 then your set. ~Jess

Used the F55 a good amount and rolled it around on my stand and cart with no problem. Are you using ENG style zooms with the backfocus/macro adjustment? I could see that loosening with a lot of vibration but it's also an easy fix.

Is there going to be an operators night like there usually is at the lake arrowhead one?

Looks like a piece of junk made by people who know nothing about Steadicam. Im looking at this picture: http://gl.merchantrunglobal.com/ImageHosting/ViewImage.aspx?GlobalID=1004&ID=4783&MerchantID=13168&DisplaySize=-1&From=ImageSummary Balance weights are stupid. No clue how that socket block connection works but it doesn't look good. Look at the angle of the arm post compared to his vest spar. Thats a lot of slop and twisting in that arm. Its wired for HDMI; HDMI is stupid. I doubt you could find anything better for the price but you definitely get what you pay for. If you are trying to do this as a profession then you need the proper tools to do the job. If you want it to shoot home movies then knock yourself out.

Ill take the Jerry Hill socket block. -Jess

Sounds like the receiver board might have come out of its socket. If your comfortable opening the unit it is easy to reseat it.

The usefulness of the pro drop down definitely depends on your height. With a Pro arm I have never seen any need for it and often am running longer arm posts to get higher as I seem to be working with tall actors a lot lately.

The Atlas is actually heavier due to the added boom range. It has a much slimmer feel to it though.

Hours are often long, 12-14 hour days, sometimes 6 day weeks. Doing commercials or music videos that could be for just a single or a few days at a time or for features and TV it could be a month to many months at a stretch. Also not any easy or cheep thing to get into.

I was really hoping the director would fit in the cage....

Its a great idea and when I get around to upgrading from my bolt pro (which has never had any issues and only seems to lose signal when ACs refuse to put the receiver up high) I would definitely get one. ~Jess

It's easy enough to add a little Speed rail rigging to help take the weight and decrease the amount of torque on the hitch. I usually put a T on the vertical Speed rail and have a piece coming back into the vehicle along the floor with sandbags(and me) on it. Also use a cross piece on that piece.

When it's hot and you roll endlessly it's still a noisy beast between takes. Some bodies also seen noisier/hotter than others even with the same settings.

I like it. I have something similar to this: that I bolted a speedrail fitting to. I then add some additional rigging to get rid of play and add additional support.

And to make sure that you can never hear when the director completely changes the action between takes without telling you. Helps keep things exciting.

-Batteries live on the charger and when I start to question their capacity I run a test to see where it is at. -Everything that could rust/corrode gets a little Corrosion-X every once in a while when I feel like it. -When things look dusty they get dusted off. -Stuff gets fixed when it breaks. -I try to let my vest air out before packing it up in the case. I haven't noticed any stench even after years of use but maybe lack of cleaning is why my ACs all seem to stay at the monitor these days? ;-) Thats about it. I like gear I don't have to baby and for the most part I don't baby it.

As they said its a great camera with some particularly neat features. Doesn't need special mounting but arri did make a fancy two piece baseplate for it that makes switching from studio to Steadi super quick so if you are going to be doing that ask for the steadicam baseplate for it (don't remember the official name). Only the 416 Plus has the built in FIZ not the base model.

I thought sound department carried some sort of microphone that handled them?

Make sure you tell Jim Bartell. When people steal things they don't know much about they quite often end up contacting the manufacturer for one reason or another.