ryan t jenkins

im not denying that if possible a good condition used zephyr is the better option, i am just saying that if for whatever reason you are unable to get one, the aero 30 is no slouch. If i could have gone zephyr i would have, but im not dissapointed in my aero 30.

There are no $4500 Aero 30 units for sale, unless you're talking used - then they're a LOT cheaper. New with a battery option, they are mostly $5,250 - then add shipping and maybe sales tax.

 

Here is a used Gold mount zephyr on eBay today w/low mode bracket with a Buy it Now price of $5,200.

 

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p3984.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xsteadicam+zephyr.TRS0&_nkw=steadicam+zephyr&_sacat=0

 

I assure you that any attaching you can do on an Aero 30, you can do on a Zephyr and you'll also have a more flexible rig.

There's a reason why new Aero 30s sell for about half of the price of a new Zephyr.

the aero 30 is definitely a capable rig, but the zephyr does have its benefits for sure. All of the things listed above are true, but do not count out the 30.

I have a 30 ( i needed to buy "new" as part of the contract and the zephyr new was out of the price range) and i have loved it so far. It packs very small, I have flown up to alexa on it, and I really enjoy having Ptap on the top of the sled. I also have not seen a zephyr for sale used int he 4500$ price range in a long time.

There are also a LOT of mounting points and options for DIY add ons on the aero. It would be very easy in my opinion ot hang another battery plate or anything else you might need in order to get bottom weight. I have both a Flyer LE, a used Zephyr, and an A-30 and i fly the A-30 the most. It just "feels" better, crisper, and cleaner. If i need to fly the heaviest of weight stuff that i do in my line of work, I use the Zephyr... but 90% of the time that is not necessary and i fly the aero for almost everything ( incl. reds/panasonic eva1/blackmagics/f5,f55/miniArri)

Agreed. Hmmmm.

 

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I Have been planning to use the Ptap on my second battery to make a cable that will put the two batteries in line so i can just mount a dummy V plate at the very bottom of the sled (there is a 1/4 20 down there). It could even be a makeshift V mount holder that can slide fore / aft like the stock battery mount, would just require making a DIY ptap cable.

One can buy a "T" mount for both IDX and A/B.

It allows for 2 batteries to be mounted.

It also gives you hot-swap, which is priceless.

BH Photo sells them both.

 

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the sharkfin ( i think thats what you are referencing ) is great but it would be great to have the batteries in two separate locations for dynamic balance. the default monitor is so light that it can feel pretty wonky trying to balance the heavier loads without offsetting that weight with the added weights/other stuff.

there is currently no way to attach another battery to the sled. there are multiple mounting spots to make this feasible but it would require someone with a bit more knowledge than me to chime in with how to bridge the two battery mounts together. The main benefit of it having a second battery mount at the moment (to me ) would be to add more weight to the bottom of the sled. this could be done by mounting any kind of plate on the bottom 1/4 20 post or fabricating something to use the bottom cross post.

max payload i believe is 30 pounds (28 maybe) including sled. havent had the need to push it farther than that.

my only real critique of it so far is that the thumb screw to extend/lock the post is a bit annoying to deal with, and the monitor it comes with is really quite bad.

it took me two storm cases ( the same size as the 1650 pelicans ) to fit my entire aero 30 package with batteries/charger/vest/c stand.

Fred, I asked Sam this same question, but I would like as much feedback as possible. Do you think it would easily fly a Sony fs700 with a cinema lens, matte box, ff, and an odyssey 7q? Or would it fly a RED Raven with the same setup minus the 7q? I love the idea of investing in a rig that I can use for a very long time, do you think this will fly most professional cameras in general? Thanks for your time.

i might not be as qualified as others, but i think it can very easily fly all of those things. the weight range is stated at 28 pounds i believe which gives you a ton of room. the only thing that really limits it in my opinion is that its 12v and you only have 1 ptap on the top, and you only have 1 battery mount. The clever thing to do would be to figure out how to mount another battery on the bottom 1/4 20 thread on the bottom bar, and run it in parallel with the other battery. that would solve the issue of not having a lot of options for adding weight to the bottom of the sled as well as providing better battery options.

I have flown it with the bmpc 4k camera with a full mattbox/top battery,wireless video and had plenty of room on the springs. that rig i have posted above is with a 7 pound weight plate, batteries, and the teradek and I still had the springs almost as light as possible.

I wanted my camera as close as possible to the gimbal. With the limited weight addition i had with me i needed to make the bottom post as short as possible. I already was adding all of the included weights and an additional 6 pound weight plate, the camera was just feather light. If i inverted the battery it made the weight much "longer" and then forced me to raise the camera even further away from the gimbal. we really needed rock solid horizon ( or as best as it could be ), so i ended up flipping it like this because i felt more comfortable with the camera lower.

here is my aero30 with home made weight plate and additional weights that i just did a live dance / multimedia touring show with in Minneapolis and chicago. There is a quarter20 on the bottom of the sled as well, so there is really a good possibility you could make a slick secondary battery hangar down there.

gold mount seems to be the standard, but plenty of people roll V mount as well. I am sure people will correct me if I am wrong, but i thought it was kinda an east coast/west coast thing? A lot of people have substantial investment into V mount with sony/other cameras and so while gold mount seems to vibrate less and be a more ideal connection, they stick with what they got. I know I went V mount on my sled for that reason alone, otherwise I would have gone AB.

Joe and Elizabeth bailed me out of a broken part on set last week. within 24 hours I had a replacement in my hands. They were incredibly patient and helpful and turned a scary situation into something manageable.

as for the sway, what is your drop time?

I know there is a NYC meetup happening this weekend, might be a good place to get started since you are in brooklyn.

i ended up investing in a rig which was V-Mount since that was the battery investment I already had. I have heard good things about them though, and would buy them without concern if it was me. Maybe wait for some more responses here, but I think as far as what you are looking for they are a pretty safe bet.

When I was looking a lot of people suggested these:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&kw=IDAAB2E&is=REG&Q=&O=productlist&sku=230276

i made my own recently as well. same concept but only 7 pound because i fly an aero !

Hello all,

I am thinking of ordering one of these for my recently ordered aero A-30, https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/569088-REG/Hardigg_Storm_Case_IM2950_00001_iM2950_Storm_Trak_Case.html

does anyone already in possession of one have experience packing it in a pelician and can confirm if this is big enough or not? I am thinking of getting two, one for the sled/arm/cables and one for my best/stand/batteries.

any help appreciated, thanks !

let me know if you want photos. It isn't very pretty and at extreme edges of the side to side balancing things can get a little tight, but it is such a cheap fix that if it gets shredded eventually i keep a spare with me to re run.

i was able to thread a generous sized SDI cable through the post and top plate without having to take everything apart... your mileage may vary, but I don't think a complete disassemble is really necessary. I did not re wire the analog BnC on the back of the top box, i just left a roughly 10 inch section of the SDI available out the top.

any chance you went through with this ? I have an A-30 on the way and need to get it into flight ready cases within the next 2 months. Would love to see it packed in a 1650 and get your feedback on how it feels.

Find a chair with wheels to go lower as you can:

 

http://film-stuff.com/butt-dolly.html

 

Just my 2 cent

 

Gus

i would love to, but the shot is live dance, projected live onto a scrim. I have to wear full costume and decorate my rig, they definitely will not want a seat :(

thanks a lot for the ideas everyone ! Will try to let you know how it works out ! Operating further away from the gimbal definitely seems to help a bit.

Hello all ! Long time lurker and reader but infrequent poster.

I have been operating about once every 2 months or so for about 6 years now, and this is the first time I have had to handle the situation. I am doing an experimental dance work that requires a single take 23 minute shot with 6 dancers. Halfway through the take there is a "tumbling" and the director wants to switch the camera into lowmode ( and maintain the inverted footage ) for roughly 1 minute of the take. After that minute, we slowly roll back up into standard operation.

is there anything besides a LARGE drop time that anyone can think of that would help me to maintain proper operation and steady shots when rotating into this fake low mode? ( not using the low mode bracket simply inverting the sled). When i switch to this fake low mode operation becomes very difficult due to the balance and keeping horizon and wobble to a minimum is hard to say the least.

any help would be great, thanks !

hey all, just adding to this thread in case other newbies with similar problems/setup stumble upon it and can be helped.

I have made a lot of progress by shooting every day, and found that my major problem really was my dynamic balance. A lot of my sailboat rolling problems were from me going to slightly pan and then introducing wobble through that. I thought it was my handwork, but after really analyzing my dynamic balance i think most of the wobble in the rig is introduced from that rather than from my hands.

I do find that dynamic balance is a bit of a challenge on the flyer though because of the limitations on the battery placement, I can pitch it up and down but no real forward / back movement.

is this for the lars jan piece at sundance? I worked with them here in troy NY at EMPAC when they were here. Another piece by Brent Green I fabricated will be at sundance as well so I will be there the whole time. Would love to see those guys again !