Charles Papert

Glad it worked out. I used a Blackmagic switcher as part of my monitoring setup and it doesn't know anything other than 59.94, so I quickly learned about the Alexa monitoring options. I've also put a couple of Decimators into the chain that can convert the signal as well, which is another useful fix in these situations.

The part of the library scene that takes place in the stacks (where they meet the librarian ghost) was shot in LA subsequent to the NYC shoot...I don't think the operator for that section was ever identified?? Ted did operate for scenes inside the NY Public Library, on the day he invited me to meet him and hang out on set, which I would consider the exact moment that my future career was solidified. I also visited the exterior of the apartment building on 66th and Central Park West with the half-cars sticking out of the street, watched Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver kiss on top of the asphalt chunks and other shenanigans. Working as a usher in a movie theater a year later, I must have watched Ghostbusters 60 times, always noting the Steadicam shots.

I think probably the most important thing to impart on the newer gang is that the changeover to low mode should be rehearsed ahead of time. In other words, do it at the prep to learn if there are any weird kinks--cables don't reach, motors hit the stage etc. If you are bold/dumb enough not to go to prep, do it when there is downtime on set. The last thing you want to do is hold everyone up while you solve problems on set. Poor man's low mode is much easier in this regard. My old quote with safety margin was 8 minutes, knowing I could do it in less. The best part was then watching a 5 minute debate over whether there was time to do it or not. For jobs when there are going to be multiple flips, it's often helps to get the AC onboard. If you can delegate out the responsibilities and have four hands working at once, it can all happen like lightning. My personal record, like Eric's, was on an SR3 with a legit flip to low mode--the sixth time we did it in a day, we clocked it at 45 seconds and were mighty proud. Not much worse with the LWII--if I remember correctly, the "meatball" had near-perfect weight distribution so it basically rotated in place, assuming you knew how to mount your plates properly (the lost art!) Probably a good time to bring up the old chestnut of "is it really low mode, or just low high mode?" Until you know for sure that the director and/or DP have a miraculous sense of all the heights a Steadicam can achieve via brackets and armposts can achieve, it's best to ask what the shot and intended lens height will be. Example from the wayback machine: "Papert, go to low mode". "What's the shot?" "Start on their feet, tilt up to their face". "Are you OK with looking up their nose?" "No, it should end up at their eye height". Slipped on J-bracket, boomed and tilted down--lens two foot above ground, perfectly acceptable shot of feet. And then boomed all the way up, back to eye height. No low mode needed. I hate to admit it but as a boss even I have mistakenly called for low mode when it wasn't necessary, and I felt like an effin' traitor. One time it happened with an A-list op who helped me out on a short I shot 15 yrs ago--he was a reasonably good sport about it.

Poor man's is fine as long as the camera in question has an image flip mode (and the AC's know how to activate it quickly), or there is a workflow via DIT etc to convert the image for monitors. Otherwise, unless the director's monitors are on yokes that allow for quick inversion, or have quickly accessible internal image flip, it's not so cute for everyone who is watching.

So far I've found the Bolt 2000 (I feel like the performance of that and the Tomahawk are close enough to interchangeable to consider them the same) reasonably good, but the Boxx with the panel antennae somewhat better under most circumstances. Yesterday had the 2000 with clear line of site out in the desert, neither unit moving, and it was showing degradation at less than 400 feet. In other circumstances it has been fine much further away. I can't be scientific about all this because I don't have the units next to each other but based on four years working with the Boxx, I'm sensing that it still may be the winner by a small margin. This experience is contrary to Graysons, but that's the nature of RF.

My first guess is that you were feeding a 24psf signal to the monitor, which supports it, which then passed it onto the Nyrius, which doesn't. Easy fix: you can switch the monitoring output of the Alexa to 29.97 which will look the same visually, but will be compatible with the Nyrius.

What format are you feeding the monitor?

I have the Arri 3/SR3 right angle plate and a Moviecam spud for sale. Somehow I suspect you were talking about brackets that still have relevance, but hey, worth a try. http://www.charlespapert.net/gearsale/Hill_right_angle_mount.htm and http://www.charlespapert.net/gearsale/Hill_Moviecam_spud.htm

This is a philosophy that largely materialized in the DSLR era and I never understood it. Way I see it, the more batteries you have onboard, the more chances that one of them will go down in the middle of the shot, and you have to check multiple places to figure out which one it is and then swap it out, let alone manage multiple types of batteries and chargers etc. How is adding a cable more work than that? Power everything off the sled battery, you can keep an eye on the charge level more easily and change out as you see fit. A lot less hassle.

Um yeah...here's my AC's hard at work last week! Hey, I'm all for comfort, who I am I to disparage. yhe goods are tack sharp so whatev. On the Steadicar day we used my Bolt 2000 on Steadi and it worked great from the center of an 1/8 mile oval loop. Dave the B cam op pulled his own focus. We never planned to put two cameras on the Steadicar or I would have added a second tx. We gave Bernard a 7" monitor on the spud so he could regulate his speed to the actors.

I could see this being a great tool for those "because-we-can" handheld gimbal shots also, with the operator having the ability to step on and off, take advantage of the boom range etc.

You know what they say Will; once in a boy band, always in a boy band.

For what it's worth: I never got into the habit of "cooking" batteries when not in use by leaving them on the chargers. I had a set of Dionic 90's that lasted 5-6 years or so without issues. The AB guys were kind of astonished to hear about their longevity and assumed I had left them on the charger every chance I could. Nope. That was when I was using them on a pretty regular basis so they would rarely run all the way down on the shelf anyway. After the Dionics finally died I got a set of HC's, which are now at least 5 years old. Apres-Steadicam, I use them even more infrequently, and when I do the displays tend to be completely dead and they go into rejuvenate mode on the chargers. They all still work fine once they come back up, I haven't noticed any issues with run time etc. Yes, I'm a complete dick to my batteries and they don't seem to care. YMMV of course.

Yes, that is the current model. However they replace the analog-type pots with a different kind of pot. I can try to post a picture on Monday when I'm back at work, but basically imagine a dial that goes from 1 to 10.

For what it's worth, I recently had Preston replace my old pot with the new one and I'm glad I did. It's a simple single turn knob, similar to the Panavision zoom stick, much faster to set than the multi-rotation original item.

Jan: I too was concerned with the arm out the side when I saw pictures. Logically, it seems like it should just fall over, doesn't it? Yesterday at one point Bernard (the driver, and designer of the system) stepped away and the operators remained, both on one side as seen in the pictures. I guess the low center of gravity and the weight of the batteries makes it all work. I can't speak to what happens when taking fast corners or working on sideways inclines etc. I know that the various generations of this have been used for years overseas and Bernard described some fast moving shots he had done with the arm swinging around, so it seems well tested.

After seeing the Steadicar at the Stabilizer Expo some weeks ago, I was impressed enough to order it for a scene we shot today on "Key & Peele". It turned out to be the maiden voyage of this piece of gear in Los Angeles. Everything went very well. While the Griptrix offers more flexibility in mounting options (especially for outboard gear such as lights), swapping sides for different shooting directions as well as height is so much faster with the Steadicar that it reminds me of the paradigm Teddy came up with when the first Donkey Box emerged--something like "I'm saving time I didn't realize I was wasting". For more specifics from an operator standpoint, perhaps Rich Davis can chime in further. Thanks due to Ozzie Silvera for forwarding awareness of the setup and helping facilitate the process.

Sent you an email, Nick

Decimator Designs is working on a Mac compatible version of their control panel software, hopefully it emerges soon.

If you have a Decimator 2, you can convert the PSF signal to the HDMI output via the Decimator control panel software (currently only on PC platform), it will still be HD.

I have an O'Connor O-box, but it is a tad on the heavy side for it's functionality. I have heard some good things about the Bright Tangerine products: http://www.brighttangerine.com/category/matte-box/2

Also Abad, I don't know who the DP's you are working for that you are having to explain how shadows and reflections work (whatever that actually means), but clearly you are splashing around in a fairly small birdbath if that is the case. Remember that there are operators here who are working alongside the top DP's in the business, or barring that, just plain competent DP's.

Please refer to the website, http://www.charlespapert.net/gearsale/splash.html for specifics, pricing etc. Also, please email me at sale@charlespapert.com rather than PM'ing through the Forum. Thanks!

Most of this stuff is still for sale. Here is the link again for pictures and prices on all items still available. I will consider any offer. http://www.charlespapert.net/gearsale/splash.html

This one was my final Steadicam logo--I had done a few prior to that with the street sign/universal theme like the ones above. Some years ago I made up a microsite with the old ads, for fun: http://www.charlespapert.net/Archive/Home.html