Eric Fletcher S.O.C.

If you are closer to neutral then you do not have the pendulum effect

I just did a day of insert car work and being neutral makes it SO easy, the rig never has a mind of it's own, it just stays put.

Even though I have my whole hand around the post I still have a light touch. It's all about what you get used too with the rig. I also operate with a near Infinite drop time (Neutral)

One of my points was that if newbies post their questions on a newbie forum there will be no one there to answer the question. I'm glad there was no "newbie" forum when I was a "newbie" or I might still be one.

I totally agree, but some of the newbies were getting lost in the other forums. Honestly we have a forum for everything and sometimes it might be intimidating for some one new.

The Newbies forum is great if all the "Hey I'm just starting this and how do I Balance the rig and tune the arm" (A 2 or 3 category question according to the way the forum is laid out) are here that way this forum becomes the Steadicam FAQ for beginners, that way their questions aren't scattered all over the forum.

That's all this is too be. Everyone has been screaming for a FAQ for newbies and this was an attempt to start one that was interactive.

Seems everyone is overlooking why there is a Newbies forum. This is where newbies should feel comfortable to ask ANY question and not get jumped on that it's the wrong forum etc etc.

Cool. I assume the same applies if it's in PAL mode?

yes

OK, I've found Custom Interface technologies web-site but I'm still interested in compatibility of Modulus 3000 with other manufacturer's receivers.

The Modulus works with any NTSC receiver.

every body should see Erick flrtcher's reel

 

He calls himself a PRO

Let's see your reel gus, I've only heard about it.

Just wanted to get a bit of light from anyone who would have been in contact with the new Scorpio hand unit supposely presented at CineGear...

What are the big new features? I heard rumors of a screen showing the info of the prime "LDS" style...

And possibility to have a video feed to the unit...

Anyone with a picture? or just plain explanations and some details?

 

I asked about this new toy to Service vision and they answered the new units would ship by the end of the year....

I talked to Pedro at CineGear. They were not showing the unit at that time.

Yes it will read LDS data and present a a DoF display on it's 4" monitor. Now here's where Pedor's english and my trouble with accents make things get a little tricky. According to him you will be able to have the video taps image on the screen and from what he said that will be transmitted "in the data Stream" which I find hard to believe.

It is supposed to be backwards compatible with the older Scorpios. But it will require that the older units have the new Radio's in them.

He said is that current owners would be given a price break so they could upgrade to the new hand unit.

With the new radios and the updated software you can have three hand units talking with one MDR or one hand unit with three MDR's

Pedro also told me that it would be the end of the year, maybe november when it will be out.

Excuse me but I didn't put the arm down at all I praised it as the best feeling of the cabled arms. so get your panties out of the knot they are in.

It is of course it's ONLY a cable arm, no doubt you've got something better. Most people would have used the prefix IMHO but prehaps you don't need to use the H(umble). You figured out why you might get up peoples noses yet (see Alien thread) Eric

 

Phil Balsdon

There are two types of arms, Cabled and non-cabled. a cabled arm is ALWAYS going to have more internal friction then a non-cabled arm, but then you didn't take that into account when you read my post and thought that I was putting the arm down...

The Reason I mentioned the cabled part is that Hugo's arm imo is better then the iso-elastic arms which are cabled.

The Pro Arm is not cabled and is the arm I fly.

the Pro arm uses compression springs versus stretching (the technical term is eluding me)

The Technical term is "Extension Spring" (Think garage door spring)

I'm a Pro arm Guy never have liked the Iso-elastic type arms. The Pro arm is just so friction free and slick. It just feels "Right"

Does anyone know where i can find pictures of the smartguns used in ALIENS that where modeled after the MK Series

Google is your friend....

also this is really a off-topic question.

Hugo, IMO has done wonders with the RE Arm. For a cabled arm I am Very impressed.

Yes, so they can delete the ever growing "plug" and "sell" their product and services posts in every thread but the classifieds.  If every "manufactuer" advertised and plugged their products as much as some do of recent (past couple months), there would be NO ban width left for every other topic.

There should be no deletions, with deletions come agendas.

If you don't want to read a post you see as sales then skip it. Do your own moderation.

There are plenty of supposedly on-topic post that waste bandwidth.

Plenty of Ops don't show up on this board not because of the "Sales" post but more due to content and some posters perceived importance.

The best moderator is the person writing the post, any other form of moderation is counter productive. Besides when this was an email list there was no chance of moderation.

Where are the pictures?

Being a HUGE Who fan, I just thought I'd chime in with... I'm 38 years old, the Who IS coming to town - the Hollywood Bowl (well 1/2 of the Who anyway) and I've got tickets!

Same here! We should hook up at the concert.

It is depressing to me, because the name Steadicam implies an extraordinarily high level of precision machining, design acumen and serious thought. People are buying devices like this one, thinking they are going to be operating a Steadicam.

No Peter,

The Name Steadicam is now like Xerox or Kleenex, it's a discriptor of an assemblage of key componets (Post, Gimbal, Top Stage, battery mount, monitor and arm) that isolates vibrations.

Nothing more.

I did a google search and can't find that topic.

 

May I ask how you say that video is rocket solid steady while the video camera is moving i.e. steadicam? Is there any scientific way to measure it?

Video images do not have "Gate weave" like a film camera/telecine or projector can have.

The Video Target is fixed and and does not move in relation to the lens. Therefore it is "rock Steady" (Not Rocket steady)

I think that answers your question.

Eric Fletcher

AR #3

Keith, I was offered the same job and passed as well. I'm sure they will find some asshole to do it. Maybe we all will be lucky enough to meet that person some day.

So did I...

I'm looking for a ProVid (or similiar) for sale in the UK, my max is £9k, very serious about this, and hoping to get flying soon!

Give Howard over at MK-V a shout he might have something.

His email is howard@mk-v.com

Wow... such a simple thing yet it explain so much! The one thing that being bottom heavy would cause problems with (in my mind) is whip pans. Wouldn't the bottom swing out causing an inadvertant tilt up? How do you approach this?

Jason

The Tilting up is from two things. The Rig not being in Dynamic balance and also the excess force your using to stop the whip pan.

Having talked to my prep guy at Panavision and Howard Preston who was consulted but not heard for the development of the Camera... there came up a couple of not told things:

Be wary of Rumors... I've played with the camera and am going in to do a more rigorous test of it in the next few weeks

- The Prototype runs at 50 fps and due to that fact get's so hot that fans kick in to cool it down which in return turns the Camera into a MOS Camera.

Not certain that I understand that "The Prototype runs at 50fps" comment. Yes the Pre-Production Prototype runs hot, but that's not the one that is working and slated to be the final camera. The Current camera has Active, Passive and Liquid Cooling and runs almost cold to the touch.

- It's very power hungry as of right now... 2 hours on a block? How long will our Steadi batts last? (Is that true?)

Again that is a camera that is a "Breadboard Version" the main problem is the recorder section.

- The weight that got quoted to me was heavier then a Millenium and lighter then a Platinum with conversion.

Having held it on Steadicam mode with it's recoder but no lo-mode bracket it's the same weight as a straight Millenium maybe a touch lighter.

- The camera runs on 24 Volt and the "Magazine" Deck on 12 Volt.

Now that's some really bad info. The camera and Deck run on 12 volts you only need 24V IF your going to run the Panavision FIZSAC or any other panavision 24 volt accessories.

- They never tried the Camera in Steadicam mode and there is no lowmode Bracket in existence right now. 

That's what I'm doing in the next week or so.

- I did not see a 10 pin Lemo for run on that camera (Correct me If I'm wronge), do we need a new run for that?

That is still in the design and developement stage, so is the onboard Downcoverter.

Right now this camera is a work in progress and I thank Phil Raden and Al Mayer jr for letting me test it and give input.

Until Novemeber rolls around most of the things you hear about this camera are in a state of flux and Rental Tech are probally not the best source of info.

Eric Fletcher SOC

Which leads me to Buster's question. I have always been hardwired to the truck on these "live" events. The sports guys (think Olympics/Marathon) are usually the ones transmitting. Peter might know.

I was Hardwired last night and it was with that damn Multi-mode Fiber line, Talk about stiff.... YECH. I miss the telecast Copperhead but alas you can't send power down the fiber yet....

hey guys,.

 

is there anything major about this movie that dreamworks needed guards there? was it some kind of breathaking cutting edge movie or is that how they do all new screenings out there in "hell a"?  :lol:

It was screened for the Union the day before it opened nationwide

But oddly enough now with my new Alien Revolution I have 'embraced' flying Neutral - like Lynn and Eric and this gives you another dimension altogther.

Yes it's hard to do at first but with practice it makes my life so much eaiser, now I can do any thing shot wise that I want with the rig at anytime. Plus it totally removes the acceleration pendulum effect. GREAT for vech mount stuff.