Jaron Berman

Sold, thanks for all of the interest. The gentleman who purchased the kit is keeping some pieces and selling others so I will pass along his info if he's cool with it- I believe the sled and vest will be sold separately.

System is located in NYC. Since posting I have a local buyer - if payment falls through I'll contact next in line. Thanks!

Finally letting go of my rig, looking to clear some space mental and physical. Pro Arm w/ 8 working cans, spring case (4x black, 4x blue) - Missing little rubber bumpers between the bones (they slid off every warm day) Pro Vest Medium (I'm 5'7, 170) - Missing 1x small bushing on the chest strap that doesn't affect anything. Tiffen Clipper 2 Sled w/ original hi-brite SD monitor and 9" Ikan HD Monitor with a balanced yoke (non superbright). Sled was HD wired by Chris Konash at eastcoastcables. Sled has a custom dual-V mount battery plate and is ready to fly BUT it's not the fanciest most modern sled and it's got some use (including some annoying scratches from the first time I had it HD wired in LA by a "reputable" tech) so I'm pricing accordingly as a "buy the arm and vest, get a sled!" I have a crazy shoot week but will try and snap detailed photos next time in the shop when I can pull everything out. I'll post them here when I do. Buyer pays shipping and insurance anywhere in the world you wanna send it. Ready to fly, give it a good home please! $20,000

wow, here I was thinking in still images and you go and blow my mind with the idea of these moving pictures! That damn candy shell...

Suggestion - Instead of shooting photos of the screen, you may try to get a hold of a Leader scope, like the 5750 or 5330, which can frame grab picture and/or waveform? That way you can fend off any "well online it looks like A is better than B, even if you say that B is better in person." Use a hardwired signal as reference on the same waveform. leader scopes *shouldn't* lie and should make your life easier for frame grabbing??? Second request - when you're done let us do the test again in times square :).....something like monitors by the TKTS booth, transmitters on a car driving away. Not entirely the most realistic circumstance, but we have our own unexplainable RF zombies in NY, and a moving transmitter faster than typical speed in RF hell should be pretty punishing if I'm not mistaken. If it works there in that situation I'd imagine it works nearly anywhere. The sheer amount of wireless mics from TV studios, wifi, and RF "noise" from signage... could be a wringer. If there is an NY segment, I can volunteer my Camwave and my neighbor's Teradeck...?

Quick thanks to all - I have tuned out from the board for a long while working, but was just about to pull the trigger on a new Transvideo monitor till I saw all the glowing reviews of the cinetronic. Gonna try and demo this coming week in NY, but I appreciate that you guys are so on top of this stuff, definitely appreciate the legwork and research you guys do. Thanks for the insight!

Another advantage to the PRO vest - it's SUPER LIGHT! Fits like a glove. +1, VERY happy customer here (and +1 on the arm as well....love mine!)

I know quite a few and it had little to do with the weight range... Good to hear from you Erwin. Are you saying there's a design flaw or something bad about the G50 that hasn't been brought up? The G-50 is an fantastic arm. I sold mine due to the weight limit being too restrictive. However, I had a VERY tough time deciding between the G-70 and PRO. I've used the master arm, but my brain isn't big enough to really dig down and tune it to its fullest extent - one thing I always liked about the G- arms is that they are so easy to fly well. Even if you have no idea how to tune the "iso" feature, they still fly beautifully. That said, I now own a PRO arm. There are a lot of (no pun intended) pro's to each the G-70 and PRO...and not a whole lot of cons to either. The G-70 has more boom range, is lighter, and less expensive. It's also tool-free. BUT, when I tried the PRO, I fell in love with the feel of it. It is absolutely frictionless...which seems like an obvious feature to ALL good arms...but it's not. Try a G- arm next to a PRO and you'll see - they feel very different in terms of the feedback they give you. I had to essentially relearn my right-hand control skills (STEADICAM...) because I had gotten very accustomed to the way the G-50 felt and "read" back my movements to me. There is a very tiny teensy amount of friction in the movement - which 90% of the time is incredibly useful to me. But for super-creep-slow starts and stops, the PRO felt a little more accurate. That made my decision at the time. (The ability to tear-down and clean the arm, sealed bearings, etc... also didn't hurt my decision - I'm bad about covering up my arm BEFORE the dust kicks up). I am not the best op in the world, or among the elite - but the little nuances I felt were real enough to justify trying something new and different, even if it meant relearning some of my technique. Would I use a G-70? In a heartbeat! When eventually I add another system, I'll probably get a G-70. I like both. Bottom-line - FEEL IT FOR YOURSELF! I had my mind made up until I tried a lot of different arms. With my ~5 years experience, even I can feel the little characteristics of each element...and I can only assume that ops with 2-7 times the experience feel it that much more. But if you're butting up against the weight limit - there's a steep price to the upgrade but you'll find that the REAL 70lb arms perform magnificently. And the service from Tiffen or PRO are both excellent.

I'm in a pickle - I have a guy using my rig that doesn't have his own vest. He's gigantic, I'm tiny, and I have a PRO custom vest. See the issue??? The gig is Monday in NYC, and I need essentially ANY universal vest to rent for Monday. It's turning into a cluster already, just wanna get through this. Any leads would be helpful. Thanks! jaron@jaronberman.com 608-219-4714

Tamberelli has the WEVI HD, you may try them. Abel does as well, but for "cheap, and it may even possibly work" Tamberelli is a good bet.

Don't forget to turn off the ilink out! That also disables your monitor output! After 20 frustrating minutes I broke out the manual and discovered that little gem in small print.

Daniel - Any front mount with an adjustable chest spar should allow you to rest the weight on your hips should you choose. The Steadicam vests will be much quicker in that adjustment than the PRO, but all good FM's can vary the amount of weight on your hips vs shoulders. One advantage I like about the front mounts is that you don't HAVE to rest all the weight on your hips. Chris wrote some fantastic stuff a while back about posture, and there are many ops who can attest to how "working out" daily in the FM vest helped prevent back injuries in other situations. I know personally 2 guys whose doctors said "if your back muscles weren't so strong, you would be in MUCH worse shape after _____ accident." Feeling the weight of the rig you're flying isn't the worst thing in the world. I'm of the mindset that my body's nerves are generally there for a reason, and when they scream at me it's because they want me to know I'm approaching a limit past which damage can occur. I generally feel at the end of the day like I got a good workout, but I NEVER feel pain in my back. There is a difference between genuine pain and a little lactic acid. As for actual vest choice - my opinion is that above a certain threshold, like most things in Steadicam, it's about personal choice. I like the PRO vest now, it feels great to me and I'm glad it was suggested that I try it. But someone else may like the LX or U2 or Klassen much better. If it offers the adjustments you need to fit the way you like, rock on.

Chris Konash turned me on to these guys - Cooner Wire....somewhere in the valley, but they are a wire specialist in "limp" wires. I followed Chris' lead but with my libec zoom controller - switched it over to spaghetti thin and super flexible cable. Very nice! Their prices are reasonable if you buy in their minimum qty's....50' I think is the shortest? They do power cables for a number of rental houses, you've probably used them without knowing. Anyways, great guys and it's bizarre, but if you ever go over there, you may find yourself getting excited about wire. Bizarre but true - some of their cables are so ridiculously flexible it's fun. Also, in the process of milling a couple prototype clamps for the libec controller, we'll see how they come out.

Never had any issues with looseness with V-mounts. The issue I HAVE heard of is that if you hit the bottom of the battery hard enough on something/someone (oops), the battery CAN pop off. Depends on the brand of battery and brand of plate. actual IDX batts/plates less than off-brands. The advantage to V-mounts is that there are a lot of manufacturers making batteries and accessories for the mount - the WEVI hd transmitter as an example. And if you like PAG batteries, which are excellent, you can get them in V-mount as well. If you don't mind PAG's prices (which have come down substantially), their chargers are in my opinion the best you can get. V-mount gives you a lot more options for compatibility, from Sony to IDX to PAG batteries to Tiffen's Powercubes to the tons and tons of brands of knock-off lithium-ion V-mount batteries that seem to be everywhere. My 2c - go with what's easy to get replacements anywhere....and right now V-mount gives you that PLUS the excellent powercubes. Soon it sounds like anton will have a competitor to those but for now, V-mt all the way.

Good to hear it Jeff!

I can't walk with my hips straight if my life depended on it. That's (in my mind) the biggest difference - the way your hips and torso move. I walk with my torso upright, though I've found my hips don't necessarily follow. For me, the Klassen vest was difficult because it's dependent on the angle of the hips. When using it, my torso was still upright, but I could feel the rig diving side to side as I walked - the attitude of the socket block shifting with my hips. Obviously it takes practice to adjust, but even just walking in front of a mirror, the way my body naturally moves is far more conducive to a front-mount vest - hips wherever, torso very upright. In the great FM vs. BM vest debate, I think it's important to weigh all the factors, INCLUDING the way we walk normally without 80-100 additional lbs and also how we breathe. I tend to breathe with my abdomen, so again - the front mount works perfectly. Some people breathe with their chests, making the FM vest either way too loose and breathable or suffocatingly tight. To those people, the Klassen is a revelation and usually the first thing they say is "I love the Klassen because I can breathe!" For me, it's front mount all the way. For others maybe not. It's great that we have so many options though! But so far even completely brand new and not broken in, I am VERY very very happy with the PRO vest! I liked the Ultra 2, but for my size, the custom PRO already feels like a great improvement in comfort and finesse.

Can't forget that Rob and Steve also talked me into the Pro, thanks all! The problem is that there is quite a bit of overlap between the compact and full-size. I figured I'd have better resale down the road if I ever needed to sell the vest for a Klassen if I got the full-size. The U2 vest is a great vest, my problem was mostly with the thickness of the pads around my neck, because of whatever bizarre shape my shoulders are. From pics, I've never seen another op where the pads look quite as thick...must by MY geometry! Also, before I sold it I started to notice that the position I needed with the back pads would put the top of the spars a little high on my chest, making the bend over my shoulders a little too high and probably contributing to the annoyance (and some noise in the velcro). So yes, I'm sure the compact vest would have fit better, but it was hard at the time to get a real chance to try one, so I erred on the big side. Also, I tried getting them to make me an old-style masters waist without the "wings," but they don't really do custom work so I took the stock waist which on my tiny legs covers too far down. If you're eventually planning on getting a pro vest, I'd recommend doing it now instead of the U2 first. You'll lose money every time you buy and sell gear, so you may as well put it all towards what you really want. Initially I thought I'd switch to a Klassen, but having tried a number of them in my size, I was never able to make it feel right, definitely feel i can do better work on a front mount vest and even on a poorly-fitted vest, the Pro felt like a glove to me. If you're gonna rent your rig out with the vest, you can't beat the U2 - definitely the most comfortable adjustable vest there is, but if you'll be the only vest user you really can't beat custom. The advice in any thread on this board is always sound - try before you buy wherever you can. I'm sure Tiffen can demo the compact for you or the full-size. Pro is hit or miss if they have a demo in house, but it'll be a rental vest that's not made for you. Personally, I fell in love with the demo vest, so I can at this point only imagine how nice the custom vest will be. I'm 5'7, 160lb, waist 31-32, chest 40 if that helps figure out where I fit in the line. When my Pro arrives, if you're a similar size, you're welcome to try it.

Nice to see a vest discussion... not as "sexy" as the newest sleds or arms, but I know I've learned how important they are. I am fairly new to the game, so a lot of my equipment buying was based on the deals I got or what more seasoned ops told me. I straddle the line between Tiffen's compact and full-size vests, and for the last couple of years I've used the U2 full-size vest. Usually pretty comfortable, but for a guy of my size the pads just never fit quite right. Too thick around the neck they way they fit my shoulders, so at the end of the day I'd always have a pretty chaffed neck. Not awesome. Luckily, I found a length setting that felt right and marked it so in and out of the case I could always get back to the same setting...but some days I just couldn't get back to my ratchet settings (should have marked them). I ordered a PRO vest a couple weeks ago partly on Erwin's recommendation that I try it out... So we shall see, I'm excited to have a vest built for me, adjusted for me. A couple thousand dollar "experiment" in the exchange, but hopefully that couple thousand dollars will mean more comfort in the long run which is, as Mastercard would tell me, priceless. Now its time to relearn the feel of things in the new suit.

If you're using the "body" version, the monitor output is HDMI - make sure you have a converter to whatever standard you need on your sled! This I believe is the only real "gotcha" with the SI. Should you need to buy one, I've seen HDMI-> composite's that run off 12v for under $200, so worst comes to worst.... Very very slick little camera body and without the battery it feels quite light. You may want to fly a brick just to make it move better. But the mass is very centralized and the body itself feels short, esp. in comparison to ENG-style cameras. Also note that it has built-in mounts for 15mm video-style rods (narrow spacing) so mounting focus rods should be instantaneous. If they have the standard handle, it has a number of threads tapped-out and was designed for steadicam low-mode usage. i know there's another "ergo" handle which was not meant for this purpose. The base of the camera can take all sorts of different things, arri dovetail, panavision dovetail or I believe direct mount to your plate??? The one I was using had a built-in Sony V (which is what I used with a Clairmont bridge), so if you need to go back and forth from handheld with minimal re-alignment, the Sony plate actually felt pretty solid, though the other options would obviously be better for vibration reduction. Apparently, and I didn't know at the time - the camera can do 3 simultaneous LUT's. You could set the output to your sled to be whacked-out for brightness and contrast if you really wanted, without affecting the LUT that travels with your footage on the drive or to the onboard monitor. All-in-all I was very impressed with the design and functionality of the camera body from an operating standpoint. It seems that P+S technic has really done an excellent job with the layout and options, so the camera is very modular without being compromised. I just wish I'd weighed it!

SOLD! Thanks

SOLD! Thanks!

Sale Pending.....

A couple of pics... note that I forgot to dust the spar, so it may look "splotchy." The pads don't stink, the vest hasn't squeaked on me ever and the pads are basically as springy as new. Great shape vest for a huge discount off new.

FS: My steadicam Ultra 2 Vest, excellent shape. I am a small person but this is not the compact vest, it's the regular full-size U2 vest. Will fit anyone from munchkins like myself to large people. $3200. Thanks!

Good to see you too! You know I was thinking the same thing - I should personally bail-out the economy, starting with the Steadicam industry! After yesterday, I think Steve owns my rig. and my car...and...