Bryan Fowler

Hi, i'm looking for a HIROSE 6pin to 6pin cable for an EFP CRT monitor. Male on one end... female on the other. Used is fine, as long as it works =) It's for my backup monitor. Thanks

Thanks David, We had the Kisslight delivered from The Camera House on friday. It's an awesome light. Our key Grip wants one now. =) Bryan

We are into day 4, flight 5, and no problems with security. I put some photos of me in there, and told the TSA agents what it is (written on the photos / paper) and all seems to be going well...most didn't even open it...at least in my presence. Only problem now...all of our luggage is missing. A tip, if you have a layover in Philadelphia, make sure it's more than a 2 hour layover. we were 1 hour late, barely made our connecting flight, only to sit on the tarmac for another 1.5 hours.. sheesh.. I'll let others know the peril of flying as this trip proceeds. Bryan

I shot once on the Gloucester Coast this week, right on the beach. I forgot how humid the air is there *hits head* What can I do to clean the rig now that it's been 24 hours, and what can I do for the next few days to make sure I don't, er.. mess anything up? Thanks for the help.

Hi Afton, I can't really answer your questions with experience, so I'll leave that to the others, but I can say welcome to the forums! I'll be in Boston next monday and tuesday. We plan to shoot at a beach near the city, (can't recall the name) and hopefully at some locations around the harbor...yet to be determined. Have fun at the workshop. I attended one, and it's well worth the money. The stuff I learned there saved me lots of stress i'm sure. The week goes by very quickly. Bryan

That's awesome. I've been looking for some coat tails myself. =) I'm getting ready for a 6 location shoot that will last over 3 weeks. Boston, Kansas City, Denver, Seattle, Hilo Hawaii, Los Angeles, Ft. Lauderdale, and Cleveland, TN. er..well, that's 8. anyway, we are trying for some landscape shots with a single person in it. Picture someone facing the camera, with the rockies behind them / OTS. Intermixed with CU of their faces, hands. Simple movement with the rig. Still not sure what we are planning. It's a feel good video put to music. I'm working on getting a new monitor for the shoot. I'm hoping it works out, because the one I have is an OLD crt. =\ Gotta run, sleep. Bryan (i'll remember to spell your name correctly.. Saade)

We have a 9 leg trip all across the US that starts on the 11th. The only way we can really do it is to fly with the rig. We think we can pack it down so that it's in 2 cases, and a battery case. I'm wondering if there are any tips or hints that people have with air travel? Are Hytron 120s allowed for air travel? I heard batts over 100WattHours were not allowed on a plane? Sounds funny, but you never know these days. I know shipping it is the preferred option, but the client can't afford it. Thanks for the help Bryan

This sounds like Saad. Things are good here, how was the production that ripped you away from your adoring workshoppers? I trust there were do electrocutions? =) Bryan

Thanks for the help Thomas. I looked at the transvideo monitor more, and realized that it didn't come with a frameline generator. I'd have to add another $1,200 USD to that price, and that was just to much. So I called Frank at Tiffen, and their LCD from the new Archer rig is only $2,900 or so.. that's with a frameline generator, and it's now up at 750NITS, and has mounting points that let it swivel around the CG. I think it will just fit on the 1/4-20 screw that I have already. I'm hoping. I have to have it by next friday for a shoot, so I'm hoping he can get it to me by then. I'll post an update on how it looks, and mounts. Bryan

I'm getting a 16/9 Rainbow 2 Superbright monitor. I need to be able to mount it to my EFP. I don't really like the way the CRT is mounted on there now. And I'd love to have an option that is like the monitors on the ultras. .. anyway Does anyone have any first hand knowledge about putting the two of them together? Thanks Bryan Oh, also I'd like to use the monitor cable on the EFP to power the lcd, and feed it video. I'll call transvideo about it, but I thought I'd mention it here. Can I make an adapter? what is that connector called, so I sound intelligent....kinda. =)

Thanks Ben, yeah...we are in the states. we were looking at the Kinoflo, and a friend was suggesting that he buy it because it was so cheap. (low cost) but I'm a little worried about the light output of it. It's supposed to be able to be powered by the camera? I think we will have a wide angle lens, so the filter-less version is a good heads up. Thanks very much. Bryan

We have a production coming up soon and I'd like to try out a ring light. We have some close ups on faces and hands that I think would work real well with the light. Anyone know where I can rent one, and possibly the price? We'd need it for 2 weeks. Thanks Bryan

Thanks Paul for the continued help. Right now I have two batteries that charge, and seem to work alright. My thought was this: Recell the two that are not working. Possible cost $300 With the next job I get, purchase another (new) dual charger, so that I can keep all 4 batts on charge at all times. I would have 2 dual chargers, and 4 ProPacks. Next job would allow me to purchase 2 HyTron 120s, and I'd sell the old ProPacks, and keep the recelled ones. (2 chargers, 2 Hytrons, 2 Recelled Propacks) Later, change out the two Propacks for two Hytrons. As for Recelling, I know it's inferior to new batteries, but financially speaking, it seems ok for a temporary fix. My batteries don't have an LCD readout. I think there is a .5Lb weight difference in the ProPacks, and Hytrons that would require me to tweak the balance when I switched, but I'd be ok living with that for a little while, until more $ rolls in. *shrugs* Does that sound like a crazy plan? if not, can you reccomend a dual charger that would charge the Hytrons and 12 year old Propacks? Thanks again Bryan

Thanks Paul I call Anton B... gave them my serial numbers. My batteries are 12 years old. I hear that's pretty old. *grin* Right now I have a dual charger, and 4 batteries. I spoke with the people at Anton Bauer, and they say to keep the batteries on the charger for the best conditioning. And that leaving them off the charger can be bad for them. I beleive them I think. Anyway, I have a few options that I need help with. Maybe I should start a new thread, but I'll try here for now. I could... 1. Buy 4 new ProPac 14s + Another dual charger 2. Buy 2 new HyTRON 120 batts, and a dual charger for them (I'm guessing that 2 new HyTRONS would be almost as good as 4 Old ProPacs?) 3. Re-cell all 4 of the old ProPacs, and start saving for when they die again. =) Any other options that you experienced people have? I'm trying to do this cheap, but professional... Bryan

Yep, countersunk the holes for the 1/4-20, but i didn't CS the holes that were holding in the 4 posts. So when I went to slide it in my EFP top stage, I had to remove the cap screws from the bottom front of the ccage, then replace them once it was on the top stage. aside from that, it worked great. I might try to drill some more holes in the top, and bottom of the cage, hopefully to reduce the weight just a tad. It's 18lbs now, and I'd like it to be 15. Thanks for the help everyone. bryan

Tomorrow I get to balance my own rig! =) oh, some more kudos for the workshop experience: Since the greenscreen CRT was not very visible in direct sunlight, and the LCD on the camera was not always visible, I was often forced to guess on the framing. I was looking at the footage today, and for the most part I got the framing. Sometimes i bumped the edge a tad to much... but I'm happy with it so far.

Hi Jason, These have been inside for overnight, and fairly stable with the tempature. Condensation is another issue that I can't check, and I guess the only way to fix that is wait? I know that one of them needs recelling, and i'm cool with that. Is there any advice for upgrading options when I recell? Any suggested companies? thanks again Bryan

I have 4 of the AB 14.4v Pro-Pac batteries, with a Dual Fast Charger. The charger doesn't have and LCD, just some LEDs to tell the status. I was on a shoot this weekend, and three of the batteries wouldn't charge. The red and green lights on the front just flashed, and according to the manual, means the charger is talking to the battery to see how it's feeling, and what best to do to it. Well it did that for over 10 hours, with no charge. One of them actually went to red after 4 or 5 minutes, then after an hour or so went to green. But didn't result in a genuine charge. (that's kind of alright, since I knew that one of the batteries was bad. I figure it's that one) These have been working fine for the past 2 months since I got the used rig, and then all of a sudden they stopped working. Any insight that anyone can give me? I can kinda afford having them recelled, but I'd like to use them as long as I can. Thanks Bryan Oh, I was also wondering if maybe the heat killed them. they were in a case out in the sun for about 3 hours. But i'm assuming that batteries are very often in the sun on a shoot or whatever. Did I possibly kill them that quickly?

We started at 8am at the Great Smokey Mtn Flea Market in Sieverville TN. My job was to collect footage for a behind the scenes video of the Turner South show Junkin' with Val and Dave. For those that haven't seen the show, (probably most of you) Val and Dave drive all over the south east going to yard sales and flea markets buying junk, talking to the country folk selling the junk, and seeing the people who usually attend those places. The easiest part of the day was changing tapes or batteries. The rest was about 8 hours of fast paced here-to-there type back and forth, with 10-20min sections of dave and val talking to others. Dave and Val were the stars of the show, but there were 10 other people (crew, family etc) that I was covering as well...wherever the action was. 80% of it was in the sun, 88-90degrees, and not much wind. I looked for the shade as much as I could, and kept water in me. =) I had built my own weight cage in preperation for the shoot. We were shooting on DVX-100s, and I found out the I built the cage a little to skinny. The DVX barely fit inside the cage, and when it did, it didn't have room for the extra mic that they use. So it got taped on...It worked. I have 4 Anton Bricks, and for some reason, they wouldn't charge. So I ended up using the LCD on the camera 75% of the time. I had one battery that was already charged, so I ended up using it to power the CRT, which ended up being ok for the day. It was my first run&gun shoot with the rig, and the DVX, and I think everything went alright. I was running manual iris, and focus, so the right hand (i'm goofy) sometimes was holding a little tight while I adjusted the ND filter, or the focus. But it seemed to be an alright alternative to really porly exposed footage. I realized that the old CRT that I have on the EFP is really hard to see in direct sunlight, so I'm looking into a new LCD. . . again. The previous owner used it for 8 years, so maybe i'm to picky. =\ Either way...i couldn't see it without constantly adjusting the shade. My wife was my assistant, and did a great job running batteries, and helping out with everything. I'll hire her again. =) After spending more time in the rig (at least I imagine that it was more rig time than on a planned production) on this shoot, I expected to be very sore today. But I don't feel that bad at all. Thanks to all the instructors in the workshop I attended for helping with posture. Although a few of the still shots that I saw made me think I was a little to far forward, It seemed to keep me comfortable during the day, and the day after. Bryan Fowler Chattanooga, TN

Hi Charles, Yes, that helps. I didn't seem to pay attention to the weight cages that we used at the workshop enough to remember. So i was using photos online, and it looked like the holes were all tapped. So, good to know. I'll run out now and get a 1/4in bit and "remove" the threads on the holes I have already. =) one more question, 1/4in i know is for the DV cameras, and ones like that, but what would / will I use the 3/8in (un tapped) holes for? Thanks again! Bryan

I've basically built my own Practice cage, but got stuck wondering what needs to be tapped (threaded) and what is just a hole. I figured that the 3/8 - 16 holes that will keep the doveplate need to be tapped. I was assuming that the 1/4 - 20 holes are to be tapped too...but when I did that, and have the DV camera on the other side, I can't tighten the camera to the bottom plate. Should it be a straight hole, and if so, what size bit do I need? I have a shoot tomorrow, so I'm needing ti fix this up in a hurry. =) Thanks for the help.

Where are you located?

Hi Mr Goonie, Welcome to the forums. I would say the best place to get a deal on the flyer would be through tiffen. The prices are already pretty good for what you get. I'm not sure what support you would have through B&H, but i know that tiffen would take care of you pretty well. You could try looking for a used one if it was still to much. Hope that helps. Bryan

yep, all is well so far. I'm practicing almost daily...walking the line on my front porch...making the neighbors stare. Tryin' to give myself away to someone just so I can add more to my reel. =) BTW, the workshop was great. I'm looking forward to coming back to one in the future. Check out some photos of the workshop.

Sweet, That's what I'll do. Now that I've used an ultra vest, this one just doesn't seem to be the same. =) I'll have to order some of those today, and post back the details from tiffen for the others to see what the new people have learned. *grin*