Peter Hoare

Its strange how the Klassen vest with no steadicam looks like some kind of medical back brace device...

Also if you see this pic: Link The bottom left hand picture of the guy welding.... well if you type 'welding' into google images: Google First image?! lazy photoshoppers.

Would that be with a parachute or just a wing suit and crash housing? Those big flappy theigh pads extend out to form a batsuit type thing so the operator can gracefully glide down to the ground.

Shot Elements: Step off at altitude Have a look at this pic: Page Theres no way that rig is balanced, and the camera is pointing wonky.

cracked it. Cut from an MDF template which i hacked out in 10mins with a jigsaw.

Ah HA i think I have worked it out. They key is a really hot wire and fast movement.

Hmm yes, thats defiantly some nice foam. I quite like the challenge of doing it myself. I havnt spent anything on the cutter, the foam is dirt cheap. I think it will look pretty good. If not, i already have contacts at a case foam company that would do me cheap foam anyway...

Just a quick update regarding cutting foam. Its a LOT harder than it looks. ive gone through several differnt setups, the main problem is finding a wire size and tempreature that will stay hot enough to cut, without breaking. The thin wires cut very cleanly but snap after about three inches, and as you push the foam through, the wire stretches and the cut is not parallel through the foam. The thicker wires dont cut, they just burn whats infront of them, and the fumes give you major headaches. You also have to build in some kind of springy thing to take up the slack, as the wire expands when it heats up. My latest foam cutting device (made from 5inch steel box section) seems to do ok. The weight under the table is hanging off the wire, and this is what keeps it tight. It is powered with a car battery charger. I have made a temp regulator by winding some wire up and down a peice of wood. One end of the wire connects to the cutting peice, then the you connect the other side of the power supply to the regulator wire. The closer to the connected end the power supply wire is, the hotter the cutter. Its a fine balance between cutting, and melting. Also as you move the foam through the wire, it looses heat and starts to slow down. Then ou have to sit there and wait for it to warm up again, by which time its melted a big hole. More experiments to follow....

Its frustrating. I have been working on a product for the steadi industry for a year now, nearly ready to release it, and I would be pretty angry if it was ripped off in this way.

But hes looking at the monitor. It think the pinhole photography is probably the correct answer...

I think you would have gone to the post office first, no?

Just to clarify, when I say coke, I meant the drink coke (mixed with copious amounts of whiskey) not the drug....

This just about sums up the Frankie guys. Not sure what this guy thinks hes filming, but he wont get far with no lens on his camera.

Looks like they are using a high gain antenna on that one. Nice idea, but you would need to hire someone to stand there and point it at the camera... Although probably works fine over shorter distances... Boxx do a directors monitor package, its not a budget backup solution but its pretty solid...

Hello, Im still fairly new to the operating game, Ive got a Flyer and im doing little bits here and there, mainly for low budget music promos, short films etc etc. I was asked to do some stuff for a music video, so I turned up today, and they had a pretty decent green screen studio. The artists were a up and coming RnB duo (standard myspace thing), and it seems that the band, together with their producers and the video 'director' had absolutely no idea what was happening. They were all deciding what they were going to wear, who was going to do what etc. They were continually moaning because the 'director' had already shot afew scenes in SD and had decided to do the rest in HD, which ment re-shooting yesterdays shots. Eventually when it came round to doing any work, the 'director' told me what the general idea of the shoot was. He was attempting to key out the greenscreen and replace it for TV-car-insurance-advert-style infinity white. Mmm. Lighting was terrible, spill everywhere, you could see the greenscreen in the talents glasses, theres no way thats going pull a clean key, its going to look terrible. Camera was a sony FX1, that I had to weight to float on my small rig. Still not got any shots in the can, still faffing about deciding what clothes to wear, and they decided to break out the whiskey, and they all started drinking covert whiskey and coke. They were slowly getting drunk, and eventually we got round to filming something, and the director asked me to perform a jib shot (starting at their feet(?!?!) up the body to the head. I told him thats not what steadicam was for, and in any case, id need some kind of hole and fancy lift system (or an AR i suppose) to get this shot. I did the best I could, but the screen was so small, you only have to shuffle 2ft to the side and the talent is no longer against the screen, so I ended up being a human tripod with abit of side to side drifting. Eventually their time was up, and they tried to pay me in euros, giving me the excuse that 'its as good as pounds at the post office' Anyway, im starting to think that I should have just packed up and gone home. Any advice, what should we do in this kind of situation?

Ive found that the Flyer will handle reasonable weights, the most ive ever had on mine was this: (the monitor didnt stay there, was just there whilst Jeff played with the noga arm). Flew fine though....

Yes, the cable that comes with the Pilot is a simple RCA to RCA. For the Sony FX1, you can use the supplied A/V connecting cable , but this makes for a lot of cable looped up top. A better solution would be to to buy a spare Sony A/V connecting cable, chop it down to size, and solder up a custom cable. You would need a 14.4v to 7.2v adapter. Not cheap. It's probably better to use the FX1 battery. You could also save some money and get the Pilot-AA. See here for details: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/stabilizers-ste...attery-mod.html Hawk Woods and Swit make battery adapters for the FX1/Z1 cameras, which should allow you to power the camera off the sled. The bigger batteries help to give the camera weight though so probably isn't necessary.

Very nice, I know your freind Aleks S, he mentioned you had bought a rig a while ago. Defiantly some Johan Sandklef influences in there ;-)

If your in the UK, theres a company thats local to me in High Wycombe called GB Foam. I went there today and had a look at some of their stuff. The foam I have picked is perfect, quite stiff but soft and springy, and its black. Despite everyone at the foam suppliers telling me it wont work, it cuts perfectly with a hot wire. Its not too expensive, but it takes four days for them to cut it for you so you have to order it and then come back. If anyone wants some, they are round the corner so let me know. They can cut it to whatever size you like, whatever thickness. Maybe I can cut it for you too if you need it. Im getting pretty hot with a hotwire :-D

Have you heard of the Boxx Microwave transmitter system? Its not up and running yet but seems promising. The receiver has more antennas than the hubble telescope....

Mm interesting idea. Ive used hot wire cutters to cut polystyrene etc, but never considered it would cut foam so cleanly. I think Charles is right about the pick n pluck foam, it does tend to fall apart after a while. Anyone know where you can get foam like this from? Id like to replace all my pick n pluck cases with properly cut foam if possible....

Im quite a big person (6'3 and big in most other directions) and the standard Flyer vest is too small for me. I do fine with the ultra vest, just wondering if theres a bigger than standard one...?

How did you find flying the Phantom? Whenever I have used it, its been tethered to a trolley of laptops and monitors, its not really what I would call a portable camera... What kind of frame rate were you shooting at?

Make sure that your plate is screwed down nice and tight to the camera. If the screw is loose, the camera can rock back and forth to cause this shaking.