Chris McKissick

So I got it and loved it! Used it on the next job as well. Both Alexa Mini with Cooke Anamorphics. Even flipped the wave on its head, attached some grips and a monitor and hung the camera from it for EasyRig handheld running shots.

Hey there, I would love to rent a wave for my next job, though I've never tried one besides at a trade show a year ago or so. Would you say if I had a look at the tutorial videos on the web and read the manual, plus use the prep day to get familiar with it I will have a smooth time with it or should I definitely consider practicing with it for a while before using it on said job? (which would not be an option, unfortunately)

Hey guys, so I ended up doing what Tore did and replaced both the HD Lemo and Hirose with BNCs and put the 7 pin Lemo from the stage on the bottom of the sled. 2 Cables, one for the old SD Monitor, one for the new HD7 plus quite a few curses whiles soldering and I completed the transformation successfully! Just had a shoot on Tuesday and it worked flawlessly. Haven't gotten the proper mounts from Transvideo yet but I'm optimistic they will be able to help me with the CG issue. Thanks again everybody for your input! Much appreciated!

Thanks Thomas, very nice weight plate you made there! I'm still not 100% sure where exactly the slide assembly goes. The bottom? Where would you add it to and attach the weight? Thanks for your patience ;) It's not so much the side to side CG I'm worried about but the up / down / tilt (if you can call it that) Up until now, I've been able to change the tilt angle of my monitor on the yoke however I wanted without it affecting the fore / aft balance of the sled. By getting the mounting parts from one of the yokes which use both mounting holes on the sides of the monitor, I would get one single mounting point on which the monitor can be freely rotated without it affecting balance, correct? That was my main concern. Tore, thanks for the info. I thought it was more complicated than that. Good to know.. Don't bother with finding pics. Thanks!

Yes I noticed that I got that (and even the brightness) mixed up... ;) That's a good idea.. I hadn't thought of that one yet. Hope they sell just the brackets without the yoke then... Has anyone had any balancing issues with the lighter monitor? There's about a 400g difference in the original Archer Monitor and the Rainbow. Also, it seems that the CG isnt completely centered left/right but that's just a guess. Tore, would you be so kind and post a pic of your monitor yoke and the "mounting hardware" that you got from Tiffen? Just to get an idea of what that looks like.. The new FHD looks very nice indeedl.. though I would suspect the price point to be quite a bit higher..? Any release date on that? I would suspect a price drop in the HD7 SBL then.. Thanks for the replies!

Ah ok I get it now. That makes sense.. thanks very much for that! ;)

Hey Tore, interesting.. since I'm not completely sold on the Transvideo yet, I had to go and compare the two.. ;) I hadn't looked at tvlogic yet.. 1500 nits seems crazy bright compared to the Rainbow's 900. Resolution-wise it's 1920x1080 vs 1024x600. Can one tell the difference in resolution I wonder? Hmm. Another plus would be that the CG seems to be on the mounting holes, no? Oh well.. back to your post. I don't understand a few things you stated.. 1. I understand why you would swap out the 7 pin lemo since a BNC connector is much easier to work with but why chance the hirose? What do you use it for? I've never used mine before. 2. On the bottom, why did you replace the right bnc with the 8 pin? What exactly is connected to what here? I was under the impression that the middle bnc on the bottom was the HD line that goes to the HD Vid port on the top? What exactly is connected to the right 8 pin female now and where does the cable that you plug in to that port go? How do you power your monitor? Please elaborate.. ;) Thanks sofar! I'll get in touch with Tiffen on the mounting issue. Thanks for the tip.

Hey folks, I'm thinking about upgrading to a Rainbow HD7 SBL on my Archer 1. The wiring seems to be in place (7 pin lemo labeled "HD VID" on stage and 3 BNC connectors on bottom by the monitor with the middle one labeled "HD") So it seems to be a question of mounting and power. As far as I can tell the Rainbow has 2 threaded mounting holes on either side, but unfortunately not at the CG. Would the slide assembly be the solution to this? http://www.transvideo.eu/store/Slide-Assembly Ideally I would find the CG, and replace the standard SD monitor with the transvideo using the standard archer yoke. I would have to add some spacers I suppose since the rainbow isn't quite as wide as the stock. Power wise, I would dissect the current SD / Video Lemo cable into 2 separate ones and attach an female xlr to the power wires. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks Chris

Hey Sebastian, I changed over to a used Baer-Bel gimbal with a 1.5 post reduction. Looks a bit funny but works great! ;)

Hey Lisa, sorry for the long wait.. It wasn't that difficult after all. You need some time, a bunch of different allen keys in all different sizes down to extremely small ones plus a small philips screw driver and then work your way up the stage form the post. Keep the different screws in dedicated places and note where what came from. Once you separated the Stage from the Post you go and unscrew the 16 screws that hold the locking (dovetail) mechanism to the stage and can then access the electronics from the top after taking off the top plate. Then you'll want to take a pic of where what cable went and detach them carefully. Voila. Reassemble everything the way you took it apart and hope there are no left over screws when you're done ;) Of course.. I can't guarantee that this is something that will work for you without a hitch but it did for me.. so I'm happy! ;) Have a good one! Chris

Nevermind, I figured it out..

Looking for a 1,5 inch docking Ring for my Archer 1. Thanks!

Hi there, has anyone here taken off the Topstage of the Archer 1 before? I'm swapping out the original Gimbal. I remember it not being obvious how to reach and disconnect the cables, that go into it.. Thanks for any pointers! Cheers

So to tie this up, here's what ended up being the problem (or at least most of it) There was minimal play in the yoke bearing axis between the gimbal and the yoke fork. The gimbal slid back and forth on this axis ever so slightly, making the rig go off balance once tilted past a certain angle and back again. This, and a general misalignment that resulted in the play took the gimbal off center. I was sent very thin shims from Tiffen and with the Ultra gimbal centering manual and the centering procedure described there, was able to add them to the appropriate side of the yoke to fill the gap between yoke and gimbal. (Though I had to add multiple shims on both sides). It took quite a while of trying different size shims but I got it to where it is now acceptable. Not perfect but ok. I would definitely recommend sending the rig in though if you have the option. I consider this to be a quick fix but not the end solution.

Thanks Matthew, I did that and we had a chat about the problem. I'm now waiting on some shims and will hopefully be able to fix it myself.

Hi Gregory, thanks for your quick reply. Unfortunately not quite quick enough! ;) Already found one! Thanks though! Best, Chris

Looking to buy a decimator 2 downconverter. Cheers

Yes, sofar there hasn't been a reply from the factory though and since my next job is coming up tomorrow I thought I'd try every way possible..

If I tilt up and down along the yoke-bearing axis (handle 90 degrees to the stage) I get a clicking sound. At first I thought it might be the stage itself. Then I thought there might be some play on the handle-axis. As it turns out it's coming from a small gap between the yoke fork and the gimbal. When the weight shifts back and forth (when tilting), at some point the gap moves from one side of the fork to the other, causing a minimal shift in fore / aft position, thus causing the rig to go off center. Or at least that's what I think is happening. Maybe the solution is to put some thicker washers between the yoke forks and the gimbal to eliminate the play? Looking forward to any thoughts!

Before anyone posts links to other "centering threads", I've been through them.. I've checked both the U2 Gimbal Centering Guide, Archer 2 Centering guide.. read about shims in the EFP gimbal (which I cant find any of inside mine) and read through any other thread regarding gimbals ;)

Hey there, Since I didn't want to crash the Ultra 2 centering party thread, I thought I'd start my own and hope people can help me over here as well. I have the Archer 1 which has for some reason decided it wants to go off level both in tilt and in roll after I static balance and then rotate through 90, 180 and 270 degrees. Since there are no adjusting screws on the yoke like on the Archer 2 or U2 gimbal, the UK factory is too far away for a quick fixing and my steadicam repair guy's workshop is currently closed, I'm a bit clueless as to what I could do until my next shoot tomorrow evening. Any ideas anyone? Thanks a bunch!

Hey there, would you consider the setup with a fully loaded Alexa to be safe for (upside down) low mode? In other words.. Is there any chance of the washer sliding out of the back part even if fully tightened? Thanks! Can't wait for the plate to arrive! ;)

Bump! Still haven't found one! Euromount or speed rail configuration!

.. still looking for one!

Hi threre, looking for a used hardmount to go with my G-50. Cheers, Chris