Peter Abraham

I brought that Steadicam into Brett's former employer. There were a few folks there as I did the demo. Nobody had the single-minded drive of Brett. Was Brett good for myriad phone calls, questions, etc? You betcha. One of the best parts of teaching people how to properly operate a Steadicam is the follow-up communication.

I wish you only the best of luck. You have the right combination of assets moving into freelancing: You love Steadicam, you're upbeat, you listen, you work very hard and you've applied endless hours to raising your skill set.

Regarding the letting go of rigs. A fair range of experiences. A sled damaged by fire. That hurt... though of course that sled became Old Smokey and launched a few more careers after mine. Letting go of every single item I owned that had anything to do with Steadicam was quite difficult. That was in 2003 and when Alan Mehlbrech drove down the driveway and turned, oh man did I weep. I truly did. But hey, everything changes and 10 years later I'm happy to be holding onto the system I have- using it daily.

My thoughts on all of the emotions connected to hardware? Complex. On the one hand, it's just stuff. Insured and replaceable. On the other hand? One falls in love with a fine instrument and rues the departure of it from one's hand.

Brett, assume a slight learning curve as you settle in with whatever your next rig is. No matter which high-end rig you've gone for, every instrument requires a bit of education to the hand and head. Subtle differences will show and you'll adjust. After a short time of settling in, it will feel like second nature.

And for god's sake stay in touch !!!!

Best to all,

Peter Abraham, S.O.C.

Gimme 24 hours, I may have a colleague looking for this exact case. I'll email you ok?

Best

Peter Abraham, S.O.C.

Hi, thought I'd chime in. This is all entirely priceless information. I have no idea if my show will spend a penny to upgrade, we are still slowly working on WHY the IDX Wevi is taking hits ( firmware upgrade in place ) when others report no hits in a small xmit/ rec distance environment. Regardless of THIS outcome, please keep the information flowing. There are a lot of us out there chasing the latest, greatest, most reliable and most flexible systems.

I'll take the cover. :)

Peter

Unlikely the stainless steel pins themselves are "loose". Likely the holes made to accommodate those pins have opened slightly over time. Ignore those pins- drilling them out will make a mess and require even larger pins.

Find a machinist who can duplicate the pin array, without interfering with the current pins. Have fresh holes drilled, and new pins pounded into place. It'll hold for another 8 years.

OR, you can slice off the top and then go through the process of making and centering a new top docking dish. That's harsh, because the stage mounts to that disk. A very good machinist can center all holes and do it.

I just think that new pins will achieve the same end for much less hassle and cost.

What generation Flyer is this? Non-telescoping? Red or black handle?

Best to all,

Peter Abraham, S.O.C.

Gear is meaningless. I've never held, owned or seen a piece of gear that couldn't be replaced.

That assault- and it is an assault- which I watched 3 or 4 times now is the key issue. This fellow could have gone from no major injuries to a broken neck and paralysis / death. Take it from the guy who broke his back and for a while was unable to operate until the Exovest was invented. ( Injury not job related )

When one crosses the very bright line from amoral thoughts to amoral actions, a moral society has no choice but to take action. I wonder just how moral the Professional Football ( soccer ) league is and the team that he is contracted with is.

We will see.

Get a womb, you two.

Great answers one and all, I'm grateful that you're all taking the time to share details. Keep it coming ! I'm compiling a list based on replies to use in my upcoming meeting with Production.

Peter

Great dinner and drinks on Friday with Victor, Libor, Michael Hauer and Wei Pun. Oh, and the show was good too. :)

The faint irony is not lost on me that we are called Operators ( either of Steadicam™ or another brand ) and they are called carriers.

Reminds me of the true situation prior to the first U.S. astronauts being placed into Friendship 7. They insisted that there be a window so they could fly the ship, a joystick for control, etc. The NASA engineers regarded them as luggage, not highly skilled pilots.

We're not carriers. We are either highly skilled Operators, or working hard to become highly skilled Operators.

Therein lies the rub.

Hey Claus,

May be a particular thing with those rods? I've got some 15mm Zacuto rods I got to use on my sled. Male on one end, female on the other. You're welcome to try and see if they are the right threading.

I got them from Matt Livingston at Abelcine downtown.

Lemme know, I can get them to you early next week.

Best,

Peter Abraham, S.O.C.

I don't have a pass, but am not shooting tomorrow and can try to get in in the afternoon. Who's up for dinner and a beer after da show?

Best to all,

Peter Abraham, S.O.C.

P.S. Edited to add: Libor will be pleased to buy us beer.

:P

I got to do what few of us get to do- work 2 rigs on a live show side by side. In 2000, I worked the Super Bowl doing Halftime Show and Jeff was there doing the game.

So what do two Ops do when they start to eyeball each other's rigs? Try em on ! :)

He's absolutely gifted with his timing, play anticipation and Steadicam Operating. AND he's a truly nice fellow !!

I struggle to be successful on a daily basis with two. I cannot wrap my head around 70.

"AC-8321 is superior on its long range transmit performance over 70 feets"

 

 

Thats not really superior...

 

Agreed, this is a great upbeat thread!

Oh lordy. 27 years in. Downward slide, into pit, emerged from pit, happily Operating again.

Well articulated, Dave.

Proud to have owned # 23 ( Old Smokey ) before you. Superb provenance in that sled...

Bob taught me how to teach. His grace and professionalism and decency were inspiring. Still are.

Not mentioning which monitor I use. Because it doesn't matter.

The real community still exists. It always will. Know why?

Because nobody likes a bully.

Good morning,

I seek hard data for a proof list for a client. If you work live television and use a wireless system, I'd like to know what show and what system. I need to prepare real world information to use in a discussion that is brewing on a show I'm on. Let's keep the technology fairly current by saying if you currently shoot live or have shot live in the last 12 months, list the device and show.

Just to be VERY clear, this is shows where your live camera is cut against other cameras. If you use a wireless system for Director/ Production monitoring and your cameras is not cut against other live cameras, well, that may be a topic for another thread but it's not the info I need to gather.

If you've encountered positives, negatives, tech support notables and other issues ( reasonable power drain, immense power drain, etc ) please do articulate. But first and formost I ask posters in here to start their reply as I do below.

Many thanks !!

Best to all,

Peter Abraham, S.O.C.

----------------

Peter Abraham

2001 Primetime Emmy Awards

Wowsa Wireless System

So, this Wowsa Wireless system, it would have rocked if it did exist back when I shot the Primetime Emmy Awards in late 2001...blah blah.

--------------------------

Oh no kidding. 27 years in and what came today- rods from Jerry Hill. Some very nifty square to rounds with 1/4-20 threaded stock on the square end. Just another bit I need to solve a problem.

During that wonderful S.O.C. Steadicam Ops roundtable discussion that was recorded years ago and is available to be viewed, Chris Haarhoff said something worth recounting here. ( He said a lot of good things. This one's relevant in this moment ).

" We're problem-solvers".

Great new gear, great old gear, crappy new gear, crappy old gear- yes it surely makes a difference because as our skill set rises, our bodies in toto know what to do with extremely high-end instruments. If that is not what is beneath our fingers, the nuance of our work may suffer. But in the context of Production? Chris nailed it cold. We're not hot-shots with neato widgets. We are problem-solvers who ( hopefully ) have signed on that day to really BELIEVE in the days work.

IMHO, everything else is secondary.

Congrats on flying the Alexa. For all of the bits I've got, I don't own an Alexa plate...... hmm.... On the other hand, I've got a remarkable wireless teleprompter transmit/ display system. And some Velcro ™.... Sanjay mentioned adapters, dogbones, etc. I had the chance to look over the complete kit I had developed before my little time off from Steadicam. A fine local Op in Astoria owns it all now. For the life of me I could not identify some. Others brought back great memories.

Hey Gerard how are you? I sent a note to Tim Tyler asking him to look into it. One thing does occur to me. I've sold things along the way here. Seem to remember there is a very small, flat fee per year for the privilege of selling items here. Not sure if that rule is still in effect- perhaps it is, and you need to arrange that before posting an ad?

Just a thought. I'm sure Tim will pop in to contact you shortly !

Best as always,

Peter

p.s. as an end-run, send me the photo of what you wish to post, I'll post it after you put up the text?

Don Juan Is Your Friend.

Sorry, Charles. Love you anyway.

:)

Best to all,

Peter Abraham, S.O.C.

In a case with partitions between each battery, with terminals " face down " against the foam rubber bottom should satisfy this need.

Ill take it.

Will PM you to arrange.

Best

Peter Abarahm, S.O.C.

Zach, thank you for the info. I will likely rent a set of batteries if I get the gig, which may be in Italy. I use V Mount, which I am sure I can find. Also own AB/ V adapter plates so no worries there.

Oh, a Carnet is in the works. Last time I got one, it was good for 5 years I think and could be applied to travel anywhere ( except a few countries ). Every time I get a Carnet, I up my insurance value !

Rob, having dividers in my case is something I'd not considered. Right now they're padded from one another with foam, but real dividers are quite easy to put in there. Good idea, thank you !

Thank you, Mitch- and everyone else who is enjoying the handle. Makes me feel great to know folks are getting the most out of their rigs.

More Zalex stuff? Well, there's the Tally Light system for live broadcast work that is in stock and shipping out every week or so to another Operator somewhere on the planet, and a few other irons in the fire...

Best to all,

Peter

I've got 12 batteries, all LiIon. Haven't flown internationally for a very long time. I may be doing so.

They're in a case with chargers and cables and such. How do Americans handle flying to Europe and back with such a case? Are there issues with having too many batteries in one case? Do I need to spread them out? Is that case handled in a different manner?

Best,

Peter Abraham, S.O.C.

Dude, it rocks...

( that's for Sanjay :D )

Yes, read the thread. Here are my personal interactions with the Exovest. ( Some of this may be in the other thread already )

First of all, I've worn just about all of the vests out there. The area of pressure in the upper back is handled quite well with a combination of foams in the pad- including memory foam. I can adjust the 4 waist pads as I wish, and did so when I first got the vest. This allowed me to place them exactly at the pivot points of MY Pelvis. It is reasonable to say that people's girth, height, width and depth of pelvic saddle and so on are somewhat unique. Since I can adjust the placement of the pads, I can have them resting on the 4 points of my pelvic saddle. Everyone can.

The tools-free latches for the front and rear rods allows a user to adjust the length while wearing the vest- a great improvement over the prototype knobs that were used. One can unlock all rods and raise or lower, then lock the rods and try flying the rig and see if it sits better or not. ( One does NOT unlock the rods when wearing the arm and sled :o )

The ability to raise or lower the arm bridge is a real treat- it gives me a secret 4-5 inches of lens height with the turn of 2 knobs. Useful ! Additionally, we all like our arm bridge in a slightly different spot. This design allows for tools-free fine-tuning.

The lack of lower lumbar compression is the biggest positive to me. Again, the rotational force has to go somewhere and - like the backmounted Klaussen or Sauvé vest, the rotational force is moved higher up on the back of the torso. As is the case with the backmounted, use of high end modern foam padding helps.

I wear this vest for hours at a time doing live t.v. I can sit comfortably in it. Since the major comfort benefit with Exovest is that the four pivot points shift with the rolling of my hips and clavicle/ shoulderblades, I can both stand still and walk with better comfort and less torso stress than previously.

Reduction in pad-to-body surface area means less sweating from foam rubber pressing against me everywhere. I don't find I sweat around the waist pads, but yeah I sure do sweat against the main upper back pad. It washes as well as any other professionally made pads. My process? Leave it to dry in sunlight when I can. Wash in Cold water with a cap-ful of Woolite. No harsh soaps, no OxyClean, certainly no fabric softener. The pads seem like the day I got.

I won't be leaving this vest, it works for me. Find a way to try one, get instructions on how to adjust and fit it, and use it for a few days on a job. Every change of vest is a significant change for any Operator- no matter what brand or how well made it is, it's something NEW. For my part, I've owned and worn a Model I, Model II, Master Series, Custom made carbon fiber, Flyer and now Exovest.

This one wins the day.

Hope this is helpful.

Best to all,

Peter Abraham, S.O.C.