Krisztian Orban

The big day arrived! I finally got everything 90% done on the camera truck and today was the official roll out! Camera truck is a 6 year old Great Wall Deer pickup (Toyota Hilux copy) with custom made adjustable air suspension, removable platform in the back with saftey harness and full 12v & 220V A/C power in the rear. The camera arm is designed and built by myself and uses 6 springs on a duel wire pulley system. The sled is a used Movcam that was modified at the Movcam factory with two Kenyon Gyros at the bottom. Right now we where using a Canon 5D mk II on the arm. More to come soon!

Well just as an update. The guys at the Movcam factory agreed on a lower price and we got a semi custom used sled for about $1200. Looks nice and seems to be well built. I will post pictures of our custom arm with the sled when I get back to Shanghai.

^ Very nice! I like your thinking! :D I was just looking into using "steel wire springs" (I think that's what they are called) To make our crane's remote head stabilizer. Can you tell me more about your rig? I am fascinated since this is exactly what we have to do until we can get a Russian Head. We have a camera truck with air suspension and a Jimmy Jib crane that I modified. Solid tilt rod instead of the wire and latter some solid support rods instead of the wires. Right now we have to stabilize the head with something and I was thinking of making exactly what you have. Any advise or feedback would be great!! BTW: Our new website is not up yet. If you like I can send you pictures of the prototypes and the trucks in progress but I dont want to post the unfinished pictures. Kris@FeralCatFilms.com

Thanks for the idea! Yes I know the "Chapman vertical vibration isolator" I am building one for our crane mounted remote head. Its actually a rather simple system that can be simple made from commercially available rode slider bearings & springs. The problem is the "Chapman vertical vibration isolator" only handles X & Y or side to side vibration. Most of the vibration we are dealing with are on the Z axis or up and down. The Steadicam type arm and operator will cancel the z axis bumps and such while the gimble and gyro will cancel the X & Y axis jerks. Also with our custom Steadicam arm the operator can tilt up and down almost 3' and a full 6' side to side while the arms remove the bumps associated with a moving truck. Even with the new air suspension on the main camera truck its still a bumpy ride for a camera. We already bought two Kenyon gyros, two trucks for camera truck conversion and a full fabrication shop. This is why I cant spend too much on a gimble ;)

Will do. Right now I only have the prototype picture that was made from steel. The machinist is making the new aluminum arms this week. I home to have the actual arm done by next Monday. I will upload pictures then!

We are using a custom arm that was designed by myself. Its basically a 6 spring per arm setup made from solid aluminum. Its similer to an older Steadicam but twice the size. I think you may understand what we are trying to do. Its not really a "sled" that we need. More like what you said "a camera on the arm". I really would just like to keep it simple and mount the camera onto a plate and gimble with the gyros on the top or bottom. I guess if this is impossible then I will design a gimble and have the machinist make it. At least we have a good selection of bearings and aluminum here.

Hi Our custom made camera truck Steadicam arm will be ready next week but the guy that was promising us a used Steadicam sled flaked in the last moment. I need to find an inexpensive bare sled to hold larger cameras and two Kenyon gyros. The system will always be mounted on our camera truck ONLY so weight and size is not an issue. I am looking for any suggestions on who to get a bare bone simple & affordable sled from? I really want to spend less then $1000 USD for the sled. It can be used and it does not have to be ultra smooth since its on a truck not on a vest. Also we dont need batteries, cables, battery mount or any of that stuff since the truck already has that. I was looking as Basson. I know people say they are not that great but I really only care about the gimble not the rest of the system. If that's okay the rest we can modify to make it work. We have a full workshop where we build the trucks and gear but its a huge hassle to build a one-off gimble and adjustable camera plate. Thanks!