Frederic Chamberland

I started without a digital level and got away with it pretty good until I had money to buy one. I first bought one of the very few FBX made from the infamous UnitCine company at the time and was very happy with it until I got stolen and then bought a Marell this time with the same results: I could live without it but I find it a very useful add-on while operating, a quick glimpse at the level will reassure me on how things are going but I look at it only once in a while. I'll go with the others and say it is a very personal matter when it comes to digital levels . Fly safe and leveled

I have no clue. Ad says "PRESET U.S CHANNELS" It is for sure NTSC as I use it with my NTSC canatrans, I wonder if they offer a PAL version. Worth an email to them.

The Sony Tuner Tu-1041 is a safe bet but it is very expensive and big. There is always Ebay where sometimes you can find one for about 200$ if you are lucky. Lentequip had them stocked for a while and sold them along the canatrans when the first units shipped. I have bought the HPVDO portable tuner and have had great results with it. It is a diversity tuner with two antennas for about 700$. simple design and easy to use. I always use a shark fin antenna to achieve best results. A canatrans will get you great results as long as you have a good receiver at the other end.

Hi Ron, Arri makes one , see the last page of this PDF (page 4). It is sturdy and accommodates sony style mounts. Arri video aks PDF Hope that helps.

You can read about it and see the picture gallery at : transit connect article This one looks like a real contender for the "ultimate Steaditruck" in North America. At last, they bring in America one of the many trucks I drool over when I go to Europe. I'll watch this one for sure when it arrives.

Hi Brant and Mike, Quick question as I too am in the market for a HD monitor: Is the Boland a bit big at 8.4" ? Wondering because the 6.5" has a 50$ difference with the 8.4"... So I would probably go for the 8.4 for 50$ more... Thanks for your input .

Hi Mike, glad you like it, About how quickly, please contact David as he sometimes tells me when to send in stuff depending on the workflow at it's place. Took about a week for mine. Price wise: I paid 300$ for this but remind you this was a special request. I would strongly advice to phone him to make sure you could get this done in the same price range. And I have spent lots at his place since my rig was stolen so I might have had a "Costco" price. Mind you it can't be twice has much and I was ready to spend it to have this kind of mod done. Also, this LED configuration is optimized for the "3 batteries" configuration on the sled's power distribution block. (the one splitting power between the 3 bays, monitor, camera and auxiliary) . This block is the one I use 100% of the time but the LED's will work with the other two blocks and will show voltage according to the different battery setup. Cheers,

Hi all, Just received my PRO bottom sled back from David Hable's attic in Vancouver . This is one nice battery meter and the placement of the LED'S refers to the physical battery positions viewed sideways. 4 LEDS for each battery, 14 and 13 volts are green,12 yellow and 11 volts red. Idiot proof, the design is copied directly from the Sachtler Artemis that has this standard on the Cine HD sled. I missed this option so much on my PRO I asked David to make something similar and he came up with that. Thanks to the stellar customer service , David is in a very sensible category: "Best steadicam related items and services" . Fly safe. BTW. I received my FFV recorder pictured on the sled and I will post soon as I test it under harsh conditions. First look seems promising but I will come back with more info soon.

Speaking of Mr.Brown, While I was doing my workshop in Malibu with Garret as one of the instructors, we were using betacams on the sleds and the last day of the workshop, we were able to fly a Panavision Platinum on one of the sleds . I made a comment about how nicer were the stops and go with such a heavy rig and I will always remember his answer to me: "It's like moving a cathedral." And yes, for having flown a flyer for a friend and very small cameras on my PRO rig, there is quite a difference in the way you start and finish a move depending on the camera and rig used. And I too, don't know any operator who has not attended a workshop. Since the workshops are given mostly by operators, you might be able to fly a bigger rig at your workshop (let's say the flyer workshop) if the instructors have their own big rig and can then compare on site with professionals. Fly safe

I live in Canada, our dollar is at parity with the US dollar right now. At the time I bought the Artemis (2001), it was worth 63 cents... So my decision was based purely on the dollar value at the time and again in 2007 . I received (still) great service from Curt at Sachtler and got the same A1 service from GPI. There are plus and minuses on both sleds and would recommend both for high end results. You just reminded me I have to post about the end of my story with my sled stolen...(thieves were caught, insurance is screwing me...) I will post soon , get the pop-corn ready.

Hi Andre, You will find a lot of info about the Cine-Hd by typing " Artemis " in the search engine. I have flown a Cine-hd for 5 years and you can see one of my reviews in the 2003 forum. The forum search options seem to stop in 2004. Just go down the right bottom of the page and select 2003 Forum from the scroll down menu and do the same "artemis " search in the 2003 forum. The Cine-Hd has been an excellent rig for me and I now have a PRO sled. Top stage is rock solid and I beat it a couple of times with no worries. I onced smashed a wall with a 535B and not only did the camera stay on the sled, the top stage was ok and I was able to continue to shoot. Gimbal is smoother on the PRO, haven't tried the XCS . Vest is nice but I have not tried the new one. The arm I just sent in after 5 years for a complete re haul and I should received the new "on set replaceable" option with the arm. don't know what to expect and I will post on the new option as soon as I test it out. My PRO sled is a dream to fly but I missed the battery level LED's of the Artemis so much that I sent my PRO to David Hable in Vancouver to get the mod done on the PRO. I also miss the battery holder with a variable position rosette to place the batteries higher or lower at the back. The man behind the Artemis products line is Curt Shaller in Germany, he also is an operator. you can reach him at Curt. Fly safe.

Hi, I am now on the last stretch of renewing my power solutions and this is my last charger for sale: Charger Interactive 2702. MINT. Also the charging module that is very hard to get: XM-2004 AB module. MINT And finally 3 hytron 50 batteries with less than 75 cycles... 3 Hytron 50 batteries All starts at 99 cents with no reserve... Happy new year !

Cramped Attic got me a PAL version of the CAMOS last year for a European director who wanted one... I do know David had one or two on the shelves at that time and could not get them out of his attic...Maybe worth a try.

Mine are from OnsightEquipment and they have a clear plastic that remains soft under sub zero temperature. They come in three sizes. Available in Canada at Mountain Equipment Coop . I looked around on the net and could not find a US dealer. And they are not available on the MEC website (MEC Canada) The company is from Canada and have a phone number under company info...Since they advertise the price on the web ,maybe they can ship direct to you from BC...Good luck

Sachtler sled also uses PRO connectors but the inner post cable (the cine-hd model at least)

I wonder what is the difference from the VTX-100 and the VAT-25 , both from Dynawave at Crampedattic. Steadicam forum topic on the VAT-25

Hi all, Well, update in my story. Just last week (4 months later), the police caught the crack heads that stole my stuff and of course, all was gone. Their story is that they sold back what they could to a local pawn shop that sold it back to "someone" who paid cash with no ID or address to be looked for. Pawn shops here are among the scummiest kind, the law asks for them to keep the stuff they receive for 30 days in the backstore for the police to investigate on higher value items. After 30 days, if the police has not matched any serial numbers from the database with theirs, the pawn shop becomes the legal owner of the items and can safely resell them... Of course, scum-bags see a complete sled coming in with remotes and video senders and don't ask where it's from. They hide it well for a month and try to get rid of it ASAP... And that's what they did. At first, when the robbery took place, they left essential items like the arm so I knew the thieves had no idea what they stole and so I assumed the equipment was thrown into a garbage bin or into the river but I know now the stuff is still available. Since I have this info I kindly ASK EVERYONE TO BE CAREFUL WHEN OFFERED ANYTHING STEADICAM RELATED FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS... Sachtler sled, Canatrans sender, Complete Scorpio focus system, Fast forward video (FFV) recorder, Sony tuner, Sony TV 9" on a bracket, cables for all aks , Modular 51 bags... If it's to good to be true, in pristine condition and full of little mods everyone loves....Just remember there is no "christmas special" on this stuff. Every one of my suppliers like David Hable (scorpio) and Emery (Canatrans) told me the stuff takes about a year or two to come back in their hands for repairs since there is not a lot of options when it fails... And to follow up on my insurance claim, I will have a good story when all is completed ( I have not received the money yet so I can't comment right now ...) Cheers.

Luc Robida, a fellow steadicam operator in Montreal , had one for sale couple of months ago (maybe a year). I have no clue if he sold it. You will find his email in the SOA under "NON-US SEARCH" (Canada). Good luck.

Got one this week. Will try it out next week and post my review. One good thing for modulus owners : you can use your modulus cables with it, it has the same pin configuration on the hirose connector. Also sends audio. So to complete Dave's post: the sender has the Hirose connector found on Modulus and David Hable can offer the PRO cable that sends video and power thru the same cable. Model is VAT-25. Specs (from manual) RF power output : +20dBm +/- 2 dBm Spurious signals: >40 dBc Phase noise: -75 dBc/Hz at 500 KHz offset DC in: 10/36 VDC Reverse polarity protected Channel 14/69 UHF Video in: 75 ohm Composite NTSC 1 Vp-p Current dram : <350mA Frequency stability: +/- 20 PPM Audio in: Line level 200 to 250 mV RMS Operating temp: -20/+85 Celcius Weight is 130 g Aluminum housing dimensions: 7.8 X 5 X 2.5 cm 2 year warranty on parts . The up and down arrows selects channel and locks the channel if you press both buttons for 3 seconds. On/off switch at the bottom. cheers.

Title says it all, here is the link to one of the charger: Charger On Ebay Going for another power solution. All have to go. Hytrons in a couple of weeks, doing the transition right now. Thanks.

Hi all, Chiming in since I own and use daily 4 modular51 bags (AC-FIZ,battery and steadicam) and I would not go for something else. But you are right about contacting people there. They used to be Northern Textile before going for the modular51 tag (or maybe modular51 is just an intermediate) and it was also a pain to get someone on the phone at the time. And there is sometime a long wait between order and receiving the items (4 weeks for the last bags I ordered this summer) I live in Canada (where modular51 is located) and shipping is not an issue but as John experienced, I had an AC friend in France who wanted me to ship one to her , 170$ for air transport from my place, not direct from M51... Way too expensive (she actually waited to come to Montreal and took it back with her). Shipping should be more friendly at M51 (like using our own FEDEX,UPS,DHL account) That said, the wait is worth every penny, very strong, simple design and built in collaboration with the artisans. And the good thing about this "less than average customer service" is that the product is a simple bag, no electronics involved or an item you know could go wrong. It's fabric and zippers worth around 200$. You buy it, wait for it , forget about it and then it gets to you and you use it. My 2 cents.

Love ebay, 1 hour. SOLD. Thank you.

Hi all, Three potential buyers and they went Apollo 13 on me . So back on Ebay: Docking bracket on Ebay Thanks.

I tried sending a message requesting prices to both emails: contact@hpvdo and contact@hpvideo and the server rejected the address.... Anyone got lucky? thanks

Garage sale: Scorpio Cable (arri 435/535 to MDR) Fisher connectors (adapter) Thanks.