Rich Cottrell

This is the new age of Steadicam. Thank you for posting this. I fly a two inch post, but this openness reminds me of the old Steadicam forum!

I am looking to start a conversation on Fixed Length Posts.

A few years ago I got one used [for my XCS sled] and at the time i felt it was too long. So I paid XCS to cut it down to apx 17.5 inches.

I fly the U1 but with a LCS monitor. Until recently I would use one dionic [sometimes two] on the rear of the sled, and a trim pac located under the sled. For most wired broadcast cameras this served me well. Sometimes i might use other batteries for wireless cameras, but when i was on a wired camera, the fixed post [and its new length] worked out well enough for me.

Recently I had a job and i was uncertain as to the weight of the broadcast camera so the night before the gig i went back to my sock telscoping post. While swapping from the fix post to the telescoping post is easy enough, I never like to do that sort of stuff on site unless I have too.

now the advantage of the fixed post over the telescoping post is about a pound in weight. that in not much weight, but if the gig has you in the rig for over three hours, EVERYTHING adds up.

so now I am wondering, what lengths work for other operators. I think My fixed XCS post was 22inches before i had it cut down. the weight change from 22inches to 17.5 was almost nothing; the biggest difference is in balance. If I had the U2 it might be too short. but my first rig was an CP Model 2, so even 17.5 inches is longer then what I first learned on.

anyone else out there using fixed length posts?

OCSD

?

Wow. That was fast. The batteries are now spoken for.

I have three long dead TrimPac batteries from Anton Bauer.

I do not feel like having them re-celled, but I have yet to throw them away. Cosmetically they look great.

[i know Ritter battery is able to put much larger cells in these cases then the original 14.4 Volt 45 Watt Hours]

OK who wants them for free?

As long as you pay the shipping, they are up for grabs to the community.

rich

I am sorry to say, once again i will miss this event. Huge thank you to the people who put this event together anyway.

rich cottrell

OK, did anyone see this monitor yet?

I liked watching this. Thanks for posting it.

I also hate that stupid Audit...

I always never do it untl I get the dreaded "third and final notice" on pink paper.

In the end, I always end up just putting down the previous years tax return info. I guess I am always below whatever magic number they are looking for to increase my coverage so my guess is the dreaded annual Audit is more for bigger companies with bigger cashflows then silly old me.

rich

I can not believe this has not been talked about yet...

Just shows how less people post here these days.

But man o man, like or hate the musical, FOX and the Grease Live production team just totally raised the bar on what is possible on Live Television.

After I get a chance to watch it again - solo - I will be sure to get back here with my opinions, but that was an epic production from the top down!

Rich

OK Jens, the year ended... how did they compare?

Looks like I am Going to miss this event yet another year.

Bummed.

Got to try better next year...

Rich

Going to miss this event yet another year.

Bummed

Rich

Personally, I am wondering how the Full HD picture will compare to the other "HD" transvideo monitors in terms of image quality.

The RianbowHD was 900nits so the RainbowFHD is actually 100nits brighter... so the two monitors next to each other would be a great start at viewing the differences.

[Not sure about the contrast ratio on the new monitor]

But now that Transvideo has a "Full HD" monitor, I wonder:

Do the extra pixels make up for less Nits? or do the Nits still win out?

How does a 1000 nit screen at FullHD compare to say the 2000nits of the CinemonitorHD-X-SBL with the lesser resolution?

I emailed Transvideo about this monitor a few days ago, but I have yet to hear back...

The suspense is killing me as I also see SmallHD is offering a true 1920x1080 monitor at 1000nits as well.

Did they say when these would be ready?

This is mind bending to watch having no background in any of this "technology".

Just yesterday I was showing my 7 year old son the original 1970's documentary on how they made StarWars. Pulled out the ASC book The Treasury of Visual Effects to try to show him some of the nuts and bolts.

I guess I can throw that out the window. Looks like I need to go back to school. Thanks for bringing this to the forum.

On the flip side, 10 years ago when I bought my PRO arm I was told I would probably "need" to buy a pro socket block for the model 2 vest I used.

So I did.

Truth be told, the pro arm worked fine on that model2 vest's socket block.

Go figure.

Rich

i am a little confused by this description, but I would love to see just what this is...

Did they have this on demo at last week's cinegear? Or stabilizergear?

I just do not understand something about this tool. The big complaint i have heard is it it too hard to see because it is not bright enough.

How hard is it to use brighter led lights?

Seems like such a simple fix.

A lesson was learned, but i have some positive news to report...

I got a letter from my bank last week.

Looks like TD Bank came through for me.

The bank issued me a credit for the full amount that I never got back from Cinetronic.

While I am happy with the outcome, the amount of time I waisted over this whole situation just stinks. I find it personally disrespectful and morally reprehensible.

I encourage any fellow operators who were put in a similar situation by Cinetronic, not to take Chris Bangma's excuses as a final say all.

We are a small, yet global community. Small companies still need to play by certain rules of business.

rich cottrell

If I bought one, I would feel guilty leaving it outside!

Looks great.

My wife wants to know if you do kitchens as well?

I agree with Janice. Here in philly the Jewish American history musium has one of Spielberg's first 8mm cameras.

I figure that was a donation, but just think about this... How much is that little camera now "worth"?

How much would the camera that shot (Insert your favorite movie here) would be worth?

Apologies aside, I can not keep my mouth shut any longer... sorry.

I am tired of this argument.

Why do you guys continue to jump all over Tiffen for calling the M1 "modular"?

I feel you are trying to add something to the meaning of "modular" that is not a fair basis of comparison.

At the basic level , the M1 is modular in design.

I think what you guys are wanting is an "Interchangeable" and more specifically an "open structure" system, and you are adding all that to what you feel "modular" should mean.

At this point, with there being so many options in good, solid, and professional sleds, the other rigs are not as interchangeable as it seems has been argued so far against Tiffen's M1.

For example, I fly the XCS Ultimate. I have had it for years. It works great! I can take it apart, swap the post; I can mail in components for upgrades without shipping the entire sled. I can buy new XCS components and swap them around as i see fit.

It is modular for sure, but far from interchangeable.

Turning back the clock a little, when XCS designed that first 2" center post sled, that design feature become a limiting factor in the center post's "interchangeability".

Until MK-V, Sachtler and BarBell jumped on the 2" center post bandwagon, the only gimbal I could put on the Ultimate with it's stock 2" post, was the XCS one.

I only wanted/needed the XCS gimbal so who cares... but the point is, [correct me if i am wrong] until the other manufactures jumped on board with 2", I could not put a different gimbal on my full XCS sled even if i wanted.

BUT that new 2" XCS gimbal could be fitted with a sleeve so it could put it on all sleds in existence at the time.

Did that fact make all non-two inch gimbals no longer modular?

NO. They were just not "interchangeable" with the new post size.

Now days, i would think anyone looking to design an "interchangeable" gimbal might need to make sure they support a 2" post if they want to ensure its "interchangeability", but as long as it is swappable within some system, it would still be modular, would it not?

Back to my sled,

Now maybe I want to put just my xcs lower electronics on a stock GPI-Pro?

[i do not think that can happen.]

While I can buy an XCS center post to be wired for a PRO sled, I can not just get something off the shelf to put XCS electronics together with the GPI-Pro donkey box and PRO electronics. It is not as simple as "Plug and Play"

Could it be done?

Sure, we have many engineers who can move the world, but I can not just make one call to GPI-Pro and one call the XCS, Inc. and have two boxes show up via FedEx within the week to make that happen.

So does that mean the GPI-Pro and XCS sleds are not modular?

NO.

They are just not interchangeable.

Is seems like people are arguing that a "modular sled" is only modular if it is interchangeable with the GPI-Pro echosystem. While MK-V and Sachtler have embraced interchange with GPI, others have not...

does any of this make sense?

or have i been missing something?

rich

P.S. Notice i did not say "standard".

P.P.S Shit, i just did

Why would anyone in their right mind do business with this company?