Tom Wills

This is a Paralinx Tomahawk SDI kit with 3 receivers and a panel. This was well used on several seasons of TV, and shows some wear, but still works well. Equivalent to a Bolt 2000 in internals. 2 of the receivers have “pass through” power plates on both sides, one has only a “female” Anton Bauer plate for powering the receiver. Includes: Transmitter 2 receivers with AB Male and Female plates 1 receiver with AB Female plate 1 panel antenna with AB plate 3 stand mount receivers 2 AC Adapters Large qty. antennas (over 10) Large qty. power cables (including D Tap, 2-pin, and 3 pin) Pelican case Asking $2400 or best offer - no reasonable offer refused! Contact me at tom.wills.soc@gmail.com if you’re interested!

This is an ARRI SXU-1 kit with an ARRI cForce Mini motor and accessories. It was personally owned, never rented out, and rarely used. Includes: SXU Handset CForce Mini Motor 32p gear, 32p wide gear, 48p gear (Panavision iris) 2 L-Bus cables 4 Sony batteries 1 Charger 3 rings Asking $4500 for the kit. Contact me at tom.wills.soc@gmail.com if you’re interested.

This is a gimbal owned by Larry McConkey. It’s a PRO gimbal, s/n 034, and it has the original gimbal clamp without a grip. However, as we all know, Larry modifies all of his gear, and this was no exception. This gimbal has been bored out to fit a 1.58” diameter post, and a .740” arm post size. So both the gimbal handle and post clamp are bored out. (See pictures) The bearing is in great shape and the gimbal was still in use through last year, so this is a great source for a gimbal bearing, yoke, and other parts. PRO even could sell you a new VZ gimbal sleeve and handle, and this would be a great new-functioning PRO gimbal. Lots of options here, happy to entertain offers! New PRO gimbals are about $7000 with all the parts, we are asking $2000 or best offer for this.

This is a personally owned Cinetape kit. It shows use, but is in good working order, and comes with an incredible quantity of accessories. Includes: Cinetape Horns (modified with 1/4” thread on base for easier mounting) Cinetape Display Unit Cinetape Remote (very handy for setting near/far distances or having readouts on both sides of the camera) LMB Eyebrow mount Horn extension tubes Small Noga arm (not pictured) Cinetape to MDR-2 cable 2x remote cables 3x horn cable (2 are loomed with other cables, one is loose) 2x 3-pin Fisher power cables 1x DTap cable 1x MovieCam power cable 1x Panavision power cable 1x 11-pin Fisher power cable Asking $2000. Contact me at tom.wills.soc@gmail.com if you’re interested!

If you do solid arm posts, which I think are a great option, I would absolutely drill out the end of them that goes “down” in the arm maybe 1-1.5” deep (I can get you a measurement off of the Hill dock at some point) so they can still be mounted on the arm hanger of a dock. None of my posts have ever bent on the bottom end where they go into the arm, it’s always either a general bend throughout the arm post or a bend right where the shaft collar is that prevents the arm post falling through the arm. Without a hole in the bottom of the arm post, especially on a PRO arm, it’d be an incredible pain to hang the arm up and likely open up the arm to damage as it swings around from whatever hacked way you’d have to hang the arm.

I think I can speak to the aluminum versus stainless debate, as I was the one who was selling stainless steel arm posts a couple of years ago. I have had several issues with aluminum arm posts over the years of using my PRO arm. For most people, I think the aluminum posts probably suit them fine. But, for people like me who tend to push their gear to the limit, I have found that every single hollow aluminum arm post I ever had eventually bent or cracked. Quite simply, with a long gimbal handle like an Ergo handle, or regularly flying 60+ pound sleds in low mode with an F bracket on longer arm posts (I spend a lot of time in high low mode with a 12" arm post), a 6061 aluminum arm post with 1/8" wall thickness won't hold up. I first noticed a bend in my 12", then upon checking I found that the 8" was even more bent and was beginning to crack at the bend, and after a couple more years I found that even the 6" arm post I was using had some stress cracks in the anodizing where the post met the shaft collar. I eventually switched to making my own arm posts out of 7075 solid stock, turning them to the correct size (several arm posts I purchased varied wildly in size - not good!), but I eventually decided to move to 304 stainless steel for my own arm posts. The thing I like about steel is that it doesn't tend to crack and fail spectacularly like Aluminum does, but it bends. I have put a 60+ pound sled on an 18" stainless arm post (304 with 1/8" walls) and while you can see the post bend, I am not worried that it will spontaneously crack if it is bent like an aluminum post does. For my stainless arm posts, I had a local aerospace grinding shop do a run of stainless tubing centerless ground to .621" diameter, +/- .0005" (they laughed and said that to them that was a mile wide tolerance!). I found that to be the sweet spot amongst all of my arm posts I had purchased over the years - measuring and averaging them seemed to come to that number. Some were as small as .615", some were as large as .623". Honestly, the stainless was probably overkill, but for me, it was an insurance policy against catastrophic failure, and that for me was worth it. You probably could offer solid arm posts that would do the same, or 7075 aluminum, but I know I liked the feeling of security I got from the stainless.

I have heard of good results from some of the Scotch Weld adhesives, and I have also used some adhesives from West Systems that have held up well in a post I repaired. I have also heard in some communities like high-end RC aircraft building that people have had success using J-B Weld as an adhesive for bonding aluminum ends to carbon fiber. I can’t attest to any specific adhesives though, as I don’t have any on hand that I can reference. The biggest thing is surface prep - you must get all of the old adhesive and any residues off of both the aluminum end and the inside of the carbon post, without damaging the structure of the carbon fiber tube. Also the mix and curing of the adhesive is crucial - the MK-V post I saw that had failed appeared to have not cured properly. Then addition of the safety pins is huge as well - they provide a physical “key” to ensure that the post end stays in place, and they do require some care and careful tooling choice so as not to split the post when drilling them out. I’m not sure if there’s someone who does maintenance of this sort in the Vancouver area - if you were in the east coast USA I’d offer to take a look at my shop.

The epoxy has failed on the joint, and sadly, there were no safety pins in some of these older MK-V posts. This will need to be sent to someone qualified - either MK-V or someone who has experience with carbon fiber bonding techniques. When it’s re-glued, you should ask them to add in safety pins so if the glue should ever fail in the future, the base of the rig won’t drop off. Where are you located?

This arm formerly belonged to Larry McConkey. It is a Master series arm, and it has been slightly modified from stock with some Seitz modifications - mostly upgraded trunions in the arm. It carries about 65 pounds of weight at the top end of its range, and about 37 pounds at the bottom. This arm will allow you to carry pretty much any camera build you could be asked to fly, and it does it with ease. The arm is very smooth, and quite iso-elastic. I have flown it with a relatively heavy sled and it performs as well as I’ve ever felt a Master/Ultra arm to fly. Includes a 5” .740” (Tiffen) arm post, and can be easily adapted with other arm posts to fit other sleds, including PRO/XCS/Artemis standard 5/8”. Highly prefer local buyers in the NYC/NJ/PA area, as this arm does have a bit of a learning curve for setting it up properly, and getting the most out of it. Asking $4500 plus shipping if applicable. Contact me at willsvideo@gmail.com if you're interested.

This vest formerly belonged to Larry McConkey, so as you can imagine it’s been through a lot, but it’s in quite good shape after some repairs, and ready to go out and serve an operator as a great first vest, or a backup front mount vest for a back mounted operator. This has been modified quite a bit - the upper chest plate has been bent to contact the shoulders better, the main vest spar has been bent to account for torso shapes, and the main spar of the vest has been moved to the outside so that the socket block can be mounted lower than it normally can on a Master vest. It also has a new larger upper chest pad, and I just replaced the upper shoulder buckles with new 2” Fastex buckles. It also incorporates upgraded ratchets for all the other straps - 2 ratchets for the waist and chest straps. Overall, a solid vest for a great price, and it’s pretty cool to think about what shots this vest must have done. Highly prefer NYC/NJ/PA local sales as vest fitting is an art form - happy to let any operators in that area try it on and see if they like it before committing! Asking $1500 USD, plus shipping if applicable. Contact me at willsvideo@gmail.com if you're interested.

Hi folks, with the slowdown in work this year I'm having to slim down my gear to just the essentials, and that means it's time for an old-fashioned yard sale. There's a lot in here I hate to sell, but my loss is your gain. I've posted a complete list of items over on my website, at https://willsvideo.com/used-equipment-for-sale/ . Please check it out there, and I will try to keep that page updated as things sell, so you know what is still available. Thanks all!

Most Steadicam rigs are not built in a way that can accept 24v batteries. The only rigs on the market that I know that can accept them are the XCS Ultimate and the Artemis 2. I think the new MK-V V5 electronics might also be able to accept them, but I am not sure. The issue you’re going to run into is that the whole rig is designed to primarily run off of 12v, since that is always present even when running the rig in 24v mode. Even the 24v mode of the rig is using one (or 2) batteries to produce the 12v and then using a second 12v battery to “boost” that 12v to 24v. So if you ran a 24v only system on a traditional rig, you’d lose all your 12v outputs, including your monitor, any P Taps or accessory ports, etc… or you’d run the risk of outputting 24v to an accessory looking for 12v! How the Ultimate accepts 24v is that it uses switching to provide 24v from one or two batteries to the 24v outputs on the rig, and you then fly an additional 12v battery to power your monitor and accessories. The Artemis 2 seems to use internal power supplies that up and down convert whatever batteries you put in to give you both 12 and 24. The Tiffen rigs are just not meant to run a 24v system, so I believe it would require some significant re-wiring and perhaps dedicating an individual battery plate as a 24v plate. You would need to bypass the 12/24v switch and feed the 24v directly from the plate into the 24v lines of the sled, and also tie the grounds of the 12 and 24v systems together (and fly a 12v battery) to ensure you didn’t have any ground loops. Overall, I think it’s probably more trouble than it’s worth.

Sold!

Both monitors now sold. Thanks!

1303 is already sold. Thanks! 702 is still available.

This is a 4 position rapid charger from Anton Bauer. Charged everything I’ve ever thrown at it, and does so quickly and reliably. Charged my Core SWX Gold batteries, Dionic HCs, and others without any complaints. Selling because I have more chargers than batteries at this point. Asking $400 or best offer. Free delivery in NYC/Philadelphia, or shipped in the USA at buyer’s cost. Contact me at willsvideo@gmail.com if you’re interested. Thank you!

SmallHD 1303 HDR (High Brightness) - used on one season of a TV show as a remote head wheels console monitor. Never been abused. Includes all of the deluxe accessories package from SmallHD. Purchased new for $3730 on March 9, 2022. Only selling because of the strike. Shows some small signs of use - a little ding on the speaker housing, and some small blemishes to the coating of the screen that are invisible when in use (see pictures). Works perfectly, freshly tested. Includes: - Monitor - Pelican Storm iM2400 case with foam - Brand new Screen Protector from Candreva USA - AB plate for monitor - Stand mount for monitor - Accessory mount block for monitor - Power supply - Sun hood - SD Card $2000 USD or best offer. Free delivery in NYC/Philadelphia, or shipped in the USA at buyer’s cost. SmallHD 702 Touch - this monitor was purchased new in May 2021 and was only used on one film as a DP’s monitor. This monitor has been upgraded with an Anton Bauer plate mount on the back, and was professionally modified to add in a 2 pin ARRI-compatible LEMO on the monitor instead of the DC plug that was previously there for power. The monitor screen is perfect and unblemished, and works like new. The only minor cosmetic defect is the missing rubber cover that goes over the SD card on top - it tears easily if the card slot is used regularly, and was removed. Includes: - Monitor - Anton Bauer plate for back (installed) - 2 pin to 2 pin LEMO power cable for on-camera use Asking $900 or best offer. Free delivery in NYC/Philadelphia, or shipped in the USA at buyer’s cost. Contact me at willsvideo@gmail.com if you’re interested. Thank you!

I would contact Tiffen support to see about getting either a replacement part, or sending in the vest to be serviced. From my memory (it’s been a little bit since I saw one of those in person) the entire pull-pin assembly needs to be pressed out of the hole in the plate in the vest and a new one would have to be pressed in. However, all is not lost for the moment. I forget if the holes on the spar of the vest that the pin goes into go all the way through, but if they do, run a bolt from the backside of the vest spar out through the socket block mounting plate and secure a nut on the front side. The pin is really there as a safety mechanism - the locking screw should be enough to hold the mounting plate in place, and the tension of the rig being off to one side should lock it even harder. But a bolt through the main spar would be a great replacement.

This is a rig I started as a project several years ago, and I’ve finally reached the time to let it go. I decided to build as much of a sled as I could out of the spare parts in my workshop, and I was mostly successful. However, I have some important notes on selling this rig. What I’m selling here is what I would describe as a “Steadicam-shaped assembly of parts”. This is not a cohesive, workable, modern sled. Many of these parts were salvaged from old, broken rigs. Some of these parts are obsolete and have no support. Some of these parts were hand-machined and hand-soldered. This rig is offered with no warranty, and should only be purchased by someone who has a willingness to tinker, disassemble, and re-work the rig. If you are game for that, however, this is a relatively inexpensive starter rig, and as it is, it’s a great rig to start practicing on and doing small jobs with until you can afford to upgrade it piece by piece. It’s basically how I started - buying an old rig in pieces and putting it together as I did jobs and had the money to upgrade. This would be a great place to start with a 3A or similar arm coming out of a workshop. The core of the rig is an MK-V 4 stage post and gimbal. It is a non-standard size, about 1.76” (I’ve heard this was originally designed for the AR, but was eventually changed to 2” on newer MK-V models, so this must be an early post). It will collapse relatively short, and expand into a super post. The gimbal has a standard 5/8” socket for the arm post. The electronics for the sled are MK-V V2 electronics, and are SD only. These electronics can be reworked by Stephen Siegel to carry HD and high current power, but it is a significant gut-and-rebuild. Or you can try and find HD electronics from a newer MK-V - they all should be mostly interchangeable. It has 2 AB battery plates, and can run 12 or 24v. The topstage is a PRO Donkey Box (DB) 1. This stage technically works just fine, though it has seen a lot of use over the years. I must note however that this part is obsolete, and PRO will not and cannot service it. If you break any part of this stage, or need spare parts, they do not exist, and you will need to buy a new stage. I also am not sure if this stage is perfectly vibration free with a heavy camera. This stage was fine for me to fool around in my shop with, and it’s better than a 3A style stage, but I would upgrade this part soon after buying if you plan to use this professionally. I will include with the rig the following: Docking bracket 8 pin to 8 Pin monitor cable Monitor bracket (MK-V) with 1/4”x20 mount for an LCD A selection of 19mm and 15mm rods At least 1 dovetail plate Backup parts (to be determined, and depending on what you could use!) I am asking $6000 plus shipping for this rig.

I purchase a rain coat, usually a relatively inexpensive one since I’m about to slice it up, one size larger than I usually wear. You may have to go 2 sizes up if you usually wear tighter coats. Then I take the rear arm off of my Klassen harness, put the harness and coat on, and have someone trace a line with a sharpie up the back of the aluminum mounting block on the harness. I then add soft side velcro on the outside of the jacket along that line, and slice it in half. I then add a piece of hard side velcro to one side of the interior of the coat along the cut, so that when overlapping the two sides they velcro together. The velcro allows you to tighten it around the harness arm in any position and also strengthens the coat to prevent the cut from tearing further up into the jacket (especially if it is a lightweight jacket, which I prefer since we often do rain tower work on hot summer days!) I’ve attached a photo showing how the arm of the harness juts out. This was a previous version of the jacket that I hadn’t yet applied the Velcro to, and my assistants hadn’t tucked the jacket around the arm well, but it shows the general premise. I’ve worked with this type of jacket for years, and never had any issues with getting wet underneath, even in really crazy rain tower work so hard that one of our other cameras failed!

Here’s the pinout from the sled side, I’d guess it’s the same on the monitor side. Should take 12 or 24v on the noted pins.

This is a question I find very interesting! I’ve really tried to build my career on my Steadicam work blending seamlessly into a film or show, and my work being visually indistinguishable from dolly or crane work. (And on good days, I even go so far as to achieve this goal!) I would say that a professional, seasoned Steadicam operator should be able to perform shots that are elegant, simple, and are small movements, rather than just big tracking shots. And I agree that the Steadicam is often a very elegant way of executing simple shots, often much more efficiently than other methods. However, the big caution here is that doing small movements and slow moves is often the hardest thing for a Steadicam operator to do. So, how well the Steadicam can execute dolly-like movements will depend entirely upon the skill level of your operator. A newbie operator can often pull off a walk and talk on a reasonably wide lens, but pulling off delicate closeups on an 85 will often be nigh impossible. And different operators will have different skill sets that may play in here. For instance, I am the type of operator who loves gentle, elegant work, but I’m not a fan of running or stunt-y work, and I know many operators who are the opposite. This is something you should be screening for as you interview operators, and it may cost you quite a bit to get an operator of the appropriate skill level. I will also say this, having been on indie films where they did cut the dolly budget upon having me on - I would under no circumstances think of replacing a dolly with a Steadicam. Doing locked off still work on a Steadicam is not only painful physically, it can be infuriating. Every moment the operator is in the rig is stress being put on their joints and muscles, and you’re decreasing their performance for the rest of the day, when you really might need them to be in top form. The way a Steadicam tilts and pans also isn’t always conducive to how a shot needs to move. The dolly is such a fundamental tool that I can’t imagine not using one at all, unless the film is specifically choreographed with that in mind. Even on a very Steadicam heavy film, being able to do a lockoff, a very long lens shot, or even a wide establishing shot is dolly work, and being able to easily adjust the camera position and height on a dolly (instead of going to a tripod) saves an incredible amount of time on set. I also would let your operator have input on which camera platforms you are looking to use per shot. A good operator who is invested in your aesthetic will understand when you will gain something from using the Steadicam, and when the look will be identical or worse on Steadicam, and you will want to use a dolly instead. In an ideal world, the tool should be chosen to serve the shot, rather than an edict before production. Now as for stamina, I would expect that your camera will be far heavier than 3 Kg once fully loaded! The cameras I’m used to using are in the 25-30 lb range, and even a small camera like a Komodo or similar will end up being at least 15 pounds with wireless video, lens control, and other accessories. With that in mind, I would expect that an experienced operator should be able to work without issue for a normal day of shooting, assuming you’re doing reasonable amounts of takes (no 10+ take monsters) and normal amounts of setups with breaks for lighting, rehearsals, etc... Working 14+ hour days or extreme heat or other things may necessitate more breaks or cooldown periods between shots. It also helps a lot to have a dolly grip or AC prepared at the end of the shot to take the rig from the operator and bring it back to their stand or to the start of the shot, so energy isn’t being wasted when the camera isn’t rolling. That kind of small touch often can add to more stamina and more energy towards the end of the day. I hope this helps, and I wish you the best of luck with your film!

This appears to be the link to Marcus’s new website - he appears to have dropped the “Baer-Bel” name and is now working under the company title of Catgriller (the name of his tripod adapter plate). His website could use some work, but at least it looks like its easy to purchase online now. http://magento2.p599278.webspaceconfig.de/de/sony-v-mount-schnapp-platte.html His email is also Baer-bel@gmx.net .

I remember when you told me this - so strange for someone to try to impersonate me! I’m far too easy to find and corroborate stories with for that to work!

Hi Damien, I know it’s been over a year, but is there any chance you still have the UAP-2 for sale? Thank you!