Brent Johnson

haha, I'm not familiar with this rig... but I am a goofy operator, and the arm IS put in the wrong way. lol

It's a steadicam shot, you can see the camera, and operators head.

Thanks for the awesome tips/stories. It's hard to gauge when your a newbie what's acceptable and whats not when being on set. Do you guys also bring a chair or ask to have something to sit/relax on while not shooting? Between takes or when your not needed instead of standing around all day?

How often do you use a grip or assistant to spot you during a shot? For every take? A specific move? Or only when you deem it unsafe?

thanks Aaron, I had to use it again on set because my spring was rubbing on the inside of the arm, a quick shot of tri-flow did the trick. I will check my arms balance tomorrow night on set and see whats going on with it. Also to add, I was at the top of my limit with the weight. Not sure if that makes a difference of not.

So my arm (zephyr) was squeaking today, sound department wanted a quick fix and I used Tri-Flow (teflon based) and it worked great. Is this a safe thing to used on my arm, including other parts of my rig?

How did you find out this information?

Who was the Steadicam operator on stage with Robert Downey Jr. at the Academy Awards just now?

Yupp, same with me. Only makes sense to me if you Op cameras with your right, fly goofy.

I've been trying to keep an eye out for any Steadicam Ops. Haven't seen any yet.

Hey guys, Thanks for all the responses and tips. I seriously need to get a new set up or have one built. But I shot a music video last night and I used the DP's baseplate and rod set up. And I got zero shake. It was perfect, no complaints. So, gotta save up for that! Thanks again guys. Also whats a cheaper baseplate that I can pick up? Or alternative?

How high do you want the gimble from the top of the post? Also, how do I mount the Wireless ff and battery to the top stage if I don't have rods? I'm glad I'm showing these pictures! I really need to get my ass to the training course. Sadly, this is my last post for today until 11:23pm says the forum. There's a countdown for how many posts you have per day I guess, and my limit is ten or so. I'll be on tomorrow morn!

So here's the set up with wireless FF and a V-lock batt. on top of the stage. Any problems with it? And take note of the extra weight that I'm using. There's two rubber washers with stainless washers in between them to not damage the camera/dovetail.

So if you had the RED dovetail, how would you have attached the Camera to the sled? Because I had the same problem while Oping the RED as well. @Mark I'm going to check all hex nut connections and components that shouldn't be moving at all. And I'll post up what I have been using when I get the chance. @Eric What do you mean by "ringing'? And what should I be looking for with the socket block interference? Thanks guys, I really don't want to send the rig back!

yeah weird right?? Hopefully tomorrow morning someone else could chime in with some advice. I'll keep working on it and tweaking things too see if i can make it better. -B

All right, check out this shake/wobble thing. I cranked up the iso because there is zero lighting at my place. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z73BqRjGMiE

ok, thanks. Would some shake happen if I wasn't dynamic balancing? I'm having some difficulty doing that.

The bolt doesn't wiggle while under load, no. im trying to post a vid to youtube now.

I was going through the rig just now and I noticed that the gimble's "yoke" (I don't know what else to call it, its the pin that goes into the gimble that is connected to the handle) That part is a bit loose when I have it on my stand. Would that cause the shake?

My load is around 15-17lbs I also have a 5lb weight on my rig from a weight set that I use with 7d's and 5d's. I'll throw something up to show you what I mean. Just some walking around in the apartment complex.

I've been practicing lately and I have noticed after I watch some footage that the frame gives a bit of a shake while walking. Is this a common "noob" occurrence? Is it the arm not calibrated right? I'm trying to figure this thing out with different set ups. If you have any ideas, that would be awesome.

looks like a solid gig to work on, why did they choose 5d's, it seems like it has a good budget, and was your focus fixed pretty deep or did you have a 1st?

Well, I put the 435 on the Zephyr and it's way to heavy. Bummer. Off to the 416 then.

For those curious about flying the 435 on the zephyr as well, I am doing some tests this week. I'll post about it soon.