Frederic Chamberland

instructions for an electric battery warmer powered by your sled. -Buy a baby bottle warmer for the car (12v) , got one from Wal-Mart for 10$. It is simply design like a very small warming blanket, just unwrap it from the bottle by removing the vinyl shell. -Take off the 12v car adapter and put your 12v connector that fits the bottom of your sled. -Put some velcro here and there to cover the batteries and voila... -The thing is not too power hungry and it keeps my batteries and recorder very warm. -No waste from multiple hand warmers that last 1 hour... Fly safe and toasty.

Hi, What Alec said is true, you lose some voltage going thru the post, I also fly a Artemis HD: I had a cable made with bigger gage on the power line. Two solutions: 1- Get a Hytron 120 or a big Propac, that should do the trick. Any "small" battery will cry for hunger. 2- Get a cable made directly from the AB plug on the battery holder to the camera power, 100% juice directly from battery, the drawback is in the camera movements, you now have a cable in the way to do some 360 on the gimbal. Should work alright in most cases. Fly safe.

Hi all, I guess I should get onto this thread too and share my experience with my 2 months old Canatrans, 35 days of shooting, the thing is on my different cameras beaming video signals 12 to 14 hours a day. What you have read is true, and here is my review: In September , after reading the few comments from other operators in the field testing the Canatrans, I decided to go ahead and buy one, until then , I had only used one channel senders and mostly the Modulus 3000. I ordered the Canatrans with power cables to Arri 24 v, Arri IVs and PRO sled cable. I also bought a Sony Tuner from Emery at the same time, I already had the sharkfin antennas (from CIT!). Let me start by confirming this sender is the new reference in the very small world of video senders. I am presently using mine on my A camera , a 535, and the B (Arricam LT)has a Modulus 3000. We also hook it sometimes to our little 235 when going handheld and the 435 on car rigs. I have used it in many different situations here in Montreal, Canada. Freezing rain by night on Steadicam, Car mount with Wescam XR running 150 fps chasing down some Hummers in the woods with mud everywhere, at the end of a Supertechno crane over a public pool indoors where humidity was driving us nuts, inside a bunker hospital with thick cement walls, inside abandonned steel warehouse. And I have spend the last 5 days in studio on a dolly and I still have 2 more weeks to go. Here is the video village setup: CIT sharfin antennas on c-stands always 50' from set or less, hooked to the Sony tuner (TU-1041) for A camera and the CIT DX400 tuner for B camera plugged in two Sony PVM 19" reference monitors side by side. The image from the Canatrans has always been as good or superior to the Modulus in perfect conditions. In lot less perfect conditions, the loss of signal was significantly higher with the Modulus. To be able to do extensive testing, we also switched tuners to compare and also switched channels to see the differences in the signal transmission. We always got the same results, the Canatrans always came back with "as good" or "better" transmission in same setups. The features on the beast: For those of you affraid of push button menus, this one is as easy to understand as any Arri Camera status menu. it took me 2 days to breeze thru the menus and get my options right. And actually, the only two options I use now are the "power output" option and the "video gain" option. These are the key features of this new sender and , as Larry stated it in his post, I just quickly adjust the power requirements on the different sets. Takes 7 seconds , tops. And the video gain is a nice feature too, the video top in the 535 is less sensitive than the one in the Arricam and I quickly adjust the video gain higher so images are on par on the monitors. Our video assist technician , Karine, sometimes intentionnaly "forgets" to wire the A camera and goes wireless on the dolly with nobody noticing... I really think the Sharkfin antennas are still the best antennas on the market right now and the Sony tuner is a marvel. I will repeat it too, the reception end is half of the whole magic going on. You get crappy antennas and cheap LCD TV's and the experience will be difficult to endure. It really should be a whole package. Even cables for me are an issue, I only use Canare cables and connectors, nothing comes cheap here. Yes , the Canatrans is big and physicaly takes a lot of space compared to the Modulus , I really wished it to be smaller, but you won't get burned by handling it, it just becomes "hot", nothing serious compared to the Modulus "toaster wannabee" hot. Yes , the thing is VERY expensive (with cables and Sony Tuner, I got around 5k). But when you see the images and the overall quality, you will think it twice before going back to your Modulus. -The Canatrans has proven to me to be a reliable piece of equipment in harsh conditions. it is well designed and rugged. -The service I have received from Emery is exceptional (I also got a email with my screenname to make sure I was happy with the "personnalisation" of my unit before shipping it) , I have always been able to talk directly to Emery and my emails were answered in the next hours, not days. I put him on the Jim Bartell (bartech), David Hable (Cramped Attic), Curt Shaller (Sachtler) short list of professionnal and dedicated businessmen that I know are ready to go the extra mile to make everything so smooth. If you have questions, please don't hesitate has I am thrilled by my new toy. Just for the record, I have had no retribution or free stuff (not even a t-shirt) from Lentequip, I am just a happy customer. Fly safe, beam me up Scotty.

Hi Brian, welcome to this forum, Here is my story made very short: At the age of 22 (34 now), I took all my money earned as a cashier at Costco and camera trainee in the film business, and took the Malibu Workshop in LA. Took me 3000$ to fly over there and attend the 5 day workshop. A fortune for me at the time but I really wanted to know if that was an option for a future career. I was enlighted by great operators and Garrett Brown himself. I came back from there knowing all my efforts would go into steadicam. 8 years later, I had made myself a spot as a Camera assistant and took my savings and went to get a loan at the bank . I decided to buy new but simple and reliable(for instance, I started with a Bartech remote instead of a Scorpio or Preston). One thing I realized real soon was the amount of input from this forum was not only precious, but completly essential. From tips on what shoes to look for on different pavement to the latest equipment field testing. (For operators reading this, I have had a Canatrans video sender in the field for the last month and will post my review by the end of my shooting...) 3 years after my purchase i am a happy operator with good equipment and a loan half paid. I still have to do some camera assistant jobs combine to operating for now to reach the end of the month, but it should be my last year of "double occupancy" if I work hard enough this next year to pay off that loan. Every operator here has a different story to tell, but I am sure we all know very well the reason we went for this crazy job. I can be positive on one point : No one here hates his job.

Hi all, I am on a feature right now working with a remote head with handwheels called the Mo-Sys Lambda head ( Mo-SYS ) and it is a marvelous piece of equipment. Comes in two Pelican cases, setup is about 15 minutes and you can record your moves on the internal memory to do some motion-control. I am very interested in the competition from service vision (makers of the Scorpio) . They have a similar head but it also adds the ability to record FIZ from the Scorpio (wich I already own) . The Mo-sys I am working with right now uses a Preston wich is not in any way linked to the head but plugged directly in the camera so recording FIZ here is not possible. My question is, has anyone tried the Service Vision mini-head ( Service Vision ) and how did it perform? The Mo-sys we have is very simple to use and has a touch screen that is very intuitive and no special learning needed to be able to record moves and adjusts limits and damping very easily. It has performed very well in harsh weather (rain by night at 10 Celcius, hey we are shooting with director Reni Harlin...) and glitched one time from excessive humidity. Thanks for any info regarding these two heads.

Hi all, I just put up some connectors on Ebay. Starting price is 0.99 cents.... Garage sale. Every connector is working fine. Connectors 1 Connectors 2 Connectors 3 thanks.

Hi all, Just got tangled in the PAG , AB war... I have Hytrons 50 (9 of them) to power my sled, and I use a AB2702 4 bay charger that handles all of my batteries. I wanted to buy a smaller charger with discharge module , a real LCd menu that I can read and I got myself a Pag Pulsar charger . I have two batches of the same Hytrons, the latest "real time" lcd wich shows hours and minutes and the other generation with a series of bars on the lcd. The latest generation (real time) will not charge on the PAG charger, a faulty message appears and the batterie resets itself. Here is the explanation from David Hardy, Pag director of development: "We believe that Anton/Bauer has now taken steps to prevent the charging of its batteries by anything other than Anton/Bauer chargers. It would appear that with the latest 'real time' displays, they have fitted hardware internally to the batteries which locks other charger manufacturers out, and at the present time there is nothing we can do to overcome this issue. The Pulsar will charge your customer's older Hytron 50s and any PAG batteries, but not the 'real time' batteries, and this will almost certainly apply to other Anton/Bauer batteries that incorporate the latest display. We will correct the information relating to this charger on our website to inform users that Anton/Bauer has imposed this limitation. Please will you inform your customer, and apologise on our behalf for any inconvenience. However, please will you make it clear that the problem is not one of our making, but is caused by the latest restriction imposed by Anton/Bauer on users of their products." So my charger is back to the dealer, and I am stuck to buy another AB charger...Be warned. Pulsar Page

Hi all, I am the proud owner of a Scorpio for a year now and was a proud owner of a BFD before. I say before because I had to sell it to get the money for the Scorpio. This is a piece of gear (BFD) I WILL buy again when the money is there for a backup. Both units have their value points depending on the job to be done. In my case, I was happy when I begun in the business to have a complete focus remote for 5K, the best value for the money at the time, but I also don't regret a minute the 20K invested in my Scorpio. I also have to add both persons I have dealt with in my purchase of the Bartech (Jim Bartell) and my Scorpio (David Hable) are among the best players in this business. My 20 000 - 5000 cents,

Hi, the Anamorphic format will be very hard to unsqueeze without proper device, the 16:9 /4:3 switch on regular monitors like the Teletest and Panasonic are not enough to give you a frame you can work with. The Transvideo device works well and if you plug it before your sender, you can actually transmit a de-anamorphised image to video village. The box itself is a bit big and bulky but I would do exactly the same with my next anamorphic job. Equipement used that day: -Arri 435 ES with Panavision lenses( anamorphic C series). -Transvideo frame converter Hope that helps.

Hi Manuel, I have been using the Sachtler gimbal for 3 years now and it never failed me. It is designed for 1.5" posts and has the thickness of a 2" so you don't need an extra "layer" to beef it up, I would compare the overall feeling of it with the PRO gimbal. As for the square design, it is just a matter of getting used to the hold of it as I am with every new gimbal I come across. After 3 years of use and abuse (I regularly fly 535's and heavy 35mm cameras) there is still no lagging in the bearings, the smoothness is still fantastic and maintenance is easy. It also comes with the "no tools" clamp or the good old 4mm lock screw. I will try to post some pictures of the gimbal itself later this week on my site. Cheers,

Hi there, Talking about recelling AB, I sent one of my old Hytron 50 that would not charge anymore to Rathbone and I am waiting for it to come back and see how it compares with my new set of Hytron 50. I will come back to you on their service and recelling products as soon as I have the battery in hands. Has anyone tried them yet? I can't seem to find a thread on this site.

This is from the Chasecam website...Prototype picture of the PDR100... Prototype

Hi there, I also made mine because I could not find anything already made and it was cheaper to do it by myself. You can start by getting a seat like a racing seat, here is what I got: Summit racing Type part number : SUM-G1100 This seat is cheap, and all plastics, so it can be handled roughly. you can check pictures of my car mount on my web site: My Webpage click on "equipment" This works for me, but as Bob Gilles mentions, I think they are a bit dangerous, you really need a precision driver you can trust before getting on a rig like this. Cheers,

Hello, Big U2 fan, just bought some tickets for their Montreal stop, and going thru U2.com, caught some nice footage of a Steadicam operator strapped to a 4 wheel drive ATV with the vest on, no hard mount. Wow. You can clearly see a 3A sled. You just can't see the operator's face....Is it anyone on this board? Go to: U2 Vertigo making of... The video is great, nice job. And lucky bastard to have worked with Bono and his band. If this guy can share his story, I would be very interested. thanks.

Hi Jake, I own one Artemis and use Hytron 50's . Yes you get 31-32 volts out of the sled but it never caused me problems with either the 435 or SR3. The only camera I would be carefull is the Moviecam , the fuse blows around 32-33 volts. But, this 32-31 volts will last only a few minutes and as soon as all the AKS are on (follow focus, video sender...) You will surely get more like 29-30 volts under load. The video tap problem I have never encountered (And I use the IV-S and the older CEI) on the SR3. Yes every port for AKS will supply 12v even in 24V mode. That is simply because most AKS run on 12v and today, most senders and Follow focus like Scorpio run on both 12 to 30 volts. And for the second power out, very useful in 12v mode to power an HD camera and down converter. I have had some amp problems but took care of them by putting one Hytron 120 at the bottom of the sled. Weight and power enough for the HDW900 and downconverter. One problem I had was to start a 435 with two Hytron 50. Problem is solved , I now use 4 Hytron 50 (2+2 in series) . This gives me just enough weight at the bottom of the sled and can run a 435 at 150FPS with no problem. And at regular speed, I will change batteries once a day. That is one modification I am very happy about. I will post pictures of the modification soon on my web site if anyone else is interested . I am waiting for a part from my machinist to take the pictures. Fly safe

Hi, Getting rid of back-up cables lying around.... As we all know, connectors can be VERY expensive sometimes.... Here are a couple of my cables for sale. Cable 1 Cable 2 Cable 3 Happy bidding!

Hi to all, The gloves I use are the Marmot Windstopper Power Stretch, about 25$US a pair, they are great and I also have what I call "stand bye" mitains, those big ski doo mits that I just slip over my hands when the shot is over. About the Orange commercial, I can't say who produced it, I know the service company here was Traffik international ( Traffik ) Client was Latcho Drom from Belgium. If you go on Traffik, you can screen the commercial by going on the "productions services" tab and then "Orange". BTW, the picture on my website of this Orange commercial is one of me as a camera assistant (focus puller) and the Steadicam I am trying to clean is the Master Series of operator Yvan Bourdage, from Montreal too. We are a very small community of operators in Montreal (about 10 max)and began being interested in Steadicam while assisting many operators in Montreal. Thanks for the comments.

Hi all, I just put online my new website, I was able to build this website in just over 4 hours with no understanding on how to build one. I first looked at Eric Fletcher's web site to see it's MK-V conversion pictures and clicked at the bottom of the screen on the " created with .mac" and my world changed. In just a few minutes , I was registered on .mac and created this simple and efficient web site. Simple enough for most of us to show a reel or pictures and get your resume out there. Subscription is 100$ for a year and I registered my domain name for 10 years for 200$. frederic.ca Don't hesitate to send me comments , a demo reel will be on soon enough. thanks, fly safe

Hi there, As soon they offer you more money for you to send back some of it, it is a SCAM. One thing you will learn very quickly about dealing on the internet , is that when a deal is too good, there is something wrong... Be very suspicious. I don't know if some members here have been scammed by such "deals" .... Hopefully not. Hope that helps, Fly safe.

Hi, Just wanted to share my story with this device, the one you see velcroed to the top of the camera... I shot a music video last week and we were shooting with a "Panavised" Arri 435 with Anamorphic "C" Series from Panavision. At first, the Transvideo FC was to go on the clients monitor to unsqueeze the image from video assist. A quick look to the unit and I hooked it up directly to my sled and was able to see and transmit a beautiful image. This of course, is for everyone with a monitor where you don't have the ability to unsqueeze an image. Of course , the "strech" option on many LCD's will help, but is far from a real converter like this one. So there it is on Ebay, I got mine from the rental house but maybee someone here has 500$ to burn on this one and really have it all... *Just want to make clear I don't know the seller of this unit. Just shared my story with a similar unit. Link: Ebay Transvideo

Hi, Call me chicken, I always wear kneepads on rough terrain and as soon as I get to go a bit faster. I do remember the picture of a shattered kneecap posted from an operator a while back... Kneepads are to my operating what my seatbelt is to driving. Forget about the cheap 20$ rollerblade ones, get to a skateboard or mountain bike shop and get what the pro skateboarders use: they are wide, comfortable, thick and most important, they are designed with freedom of movement in mind. Check those out, My kneepads, that is 50$ well invested. I do not use elbow pads either. Use protection and fly safe.

I am not good sending pictures, here is the item number, just type it in on the search area in Ebay... 3859910980

Check Ebay frequently by typing "pelsue", I just got a Pelsue 6' pop-up for 400$ Including shipping on Ebay, a bit dirty but fully functionnal.... It is the best size since nobody else will want to jump in and is very portable. The 8' is a cadillac but people WILL share unless you have 3 magliners in it... I am having mine modified with a zipper at the back of the tent so I can use it at the back of my truck with the gate open. A very nice investment since I was tired of always asking production to get one with the answer everybody knows... Fly safe and rest protected from the elements....

Hi all, I had the opportunity to use the Alladin in Canada (as a focus puller) with Dutch operator Francois Perrier (who's actually Canadian but lives and works mostly in Holland). He has one of the first Alladin on the market (I used his in 2001) and used it with Scorpio digital motors. And Eric is right when talking about frequency's problems. We had a couple of "transmission lost in space" and motor not responding , also some self resetting driver unit... Not a perfect unit, but as Eric says, maybee the frequencies are not suited for America. I do remember a good design and simple operation with long batterie life on the remote. But as always, the response and connectivity between handset and driver is most important and in that case, did not pass the test. As for the frequency thing, I own a Scorpio and there is a frequency selector when you travel in different parts of the world. And the price tag was definitly below a Preston or Scorpio but way much than a Bartech. And, if my memory is good, you have to choose when buying the unit , if you are going to drive digital motors like Scorpio or Preston or other ones like Heden: you can choose only one type of motors and they supply the matching driver unit. My 2 cents

Around 1300$US with cables to sled and monitor. Price will vary depending on the cable configurations . But I recall getting a quote of about 2400$ from XCS regarding the PDL about 6 months ago... Thanks to this forum, I knew Unitcine was coming up with something else and prayed while waiting patiently... My patience was rewarded. :rolleyes: