Benjamin Treplin

Robin,

why not parallel Ni-Ca and Ni-MH? The PAG "power modul"/"power plate" is doing this or am I wrong? Or did I misunderstood this completely?

Best

Phone Booth - Dan Kneece, Resident Evil - Jörg Widmer

Hi Sebastian,

A few months ago I had the opportunity to test swit Li-Ion batteries with a 435. The German dealer lent me two 126Wh batts. Fully charged it was no problem to get to 150 fps, I rehearsed the start up about 10 time for a duration of 10 seconds. I had no stock to test the 435 with so I blocked the takeup core with one hand. The highest power demand is between 120 and 150 fps. The Voltage dropped from 32V to 25V during acceleration. Just before the 435 reached 150 fps it dropped to 25V, on speed it reached 28 to 28.5V again. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to discharge the batteries and test them at 70% or 50%. But for me this was enough proof. IMHO these batteries can handle most situations we encounter.

Last week I got my new Li-Ion batteries from swit and they rock. I have two sizes 88Wh and 126Wh with A/B mount. One 126Wh battery last two days of shooting and powered my green screen monitor, modulus, miniDV onboard recorder and BFD. In addition the batteries are not so wide as the Trimpacs are.

I agree, I have to keep a couple of Trimpacks for the older 435's just to deal with the amperage spike

I second that. Li-Ion chemistry has a higher internal resistance. If I'm right twice Ni-Ca has. This causes a higher voltage drop under load and therefor a higher amperage. A small set of Ni-Ca batteries is always useful.

Best

Hi Stephen,

thank you for the information. I will forward this information and maybe we'll run some tests.

Hi Rudy,

this is an interesting issue. You will run into this situation on every crane setup. Every cord has an internal resistance and as result a voltage drop. On a long extension cord it is possible to have a voltage drop up to 2V. With a 24V battery the camera will not run. If my memory serves me right the 435 needs 22V to run at all and at least 25V to run high speed up to 150 fps. A lot of sleds are equipped with to small wire gauge sizes, the in post cord is coiled and the connectors are a bit to small as well. As a result the system has high resistance / voltage drop. Maybe the batteries alone can handle the camera but not in combination with a steadicam setup. Hope this makes sense.

Stephen is right, always do a prep.

BTW Stephen do you have a pic of the lok-on 20 NiCad? There is nothing on the PAG website.

Best

Hi Stephen,

a friend also use PAG Li-Ion an NiCad Batteries on his sled.

He ran into some problems combining NiCad and Li-Ion chemistry. It caused the Li-Ion (L-75) to shut down and refuse operating until it had spent some time on the charger. I'm surprised that nothing similar happened. Do you use the L-95? What's you maximum speed on the 435 with your batteries?

Best

This transmitter looks very impressive. A lot of features a Modulus user dreams of. Is there anybody on the forum with experiences? I'm concerned about size and weight.

Question for Mr. E. Soos: Why is the unit not transparent to video standards? Good Monitors have a auto recognition, good transmitters should have it as well IMHO.

Best

P.S. How much is it?

I have never seen the old Hill LM bracket but I found this one on the Lentequip site.

Look pretty similar to Brads description.

I use the original Arri SR LM bracket it fits all SR bodies and is attached at the two rosettes. The price is ridiculous but you don't have to relay on the four tiny screws anymore holding the hand grip.

Chrosziel has a similar one for similar price.

It is in addition attached to the hand grip to reduce vibrations. Disadvantage the IVS has to be removed from the camera and attached to the bracket. To much screws for my taste.

Best

Hi all,

Stephen is right, the standard remote focus system in Europe is the Arri LCS. On 70 percent of my jobs I fly LCS on my sled which comes with the camera. I have never seen an Aladin on set or in a rental house, I can't judge its performance. I only saw a prototype back in 2000. IMHO the only system that is comparable with Preston, Arri LCS or Scorpio is the cmotion. It runs digital and analogue motors as the Aladin does. It is also possible to incorporate Preston an LCS hand units into the system. I had one my sled recently. It is a small lightweight receiver, easily mounted.

Best

Works on Mac+Safari. Not with Camino nor Explorer.

Best

P.S. how do I get the coins out of the CD drive?

Panter alternative have a lock.

Grip Factory Munich

Former Movietech engineers.

Best

Hi Nikk,

today I had the opportunity to fly a VX 2000e.

To get it balanced I used 3.5 kg metal on a long dovetail behind the camera. You can see on the picture that the gimbal is way down. When mounting the weight above the camera the c. g. of the hole system moves up and the gimbal with it. The inertia increases in tilt and horizon as well. And IMHO you want the weight to a certain degree. More mass is more inert. The set up on the picture was quite nervous.

I hope this makes sense.

Best

Benjamin

VX 2000 on Baerbel

David,

thank you. I will try it next time. At the moment I'm practicing stairs up and down in backward mode, without the rig. You get used to it. And to the odd faces of your neighbours.

Rob I do a lot of booming on stairs. I try to get as close to eye level as I can get. And most DPs are asking for it, especially preceding upstairs.

Best

Benjamin

Also, the "One Hand Operating" method works well for going up or down stairs. Try it next time if you haven?t already.

David,

I never thought of one hand operating in this kind of shots. Is it speed related? What is the advantage for you having one hand free on stairs?

Best Benjamin

Hi Fred,

Thank you for your reply. Out of curiosity I opened my Modulus and found a light green wire attached to pin #4 that goes to the electronics on the lid as the white for ?video in? pin #2 does. So the pin #4 has to be good for something but for what?

I'm dealing with some cable problems regarding the Modulus.

I was wondering if anybody knows what the pin #4 ?AC Gnd? on the Modulus Hirose socket is for.

Comments are appreciated.

The Preston steadicam zoom is a modified digital microforce. The ?Chinese head? red button got it?s own housing with a clamp for the gimbal joke. It is connected via a very thin cable to the electronic housing which powers the motor and has all the buttons, speed wheel and the red LEDs. I used it once and there is definitely a learning curve with the pressure sensitive head. It takes a bit to isolate your body motion from the thumb that is zooming.

Hi all,

I?ve seen an SR3 + Zeiss Zoom + FF + 4x4 matt box MB16 just falling of the handle. If I recall it correctly the 4 screws in the handle are M2 and the threads are cut into the housing with no additional support.

Ups!

Sorry my price info is not up to date. They are about 290? here.

Still curious about the average charge/discharge cycles you get out of A/B NiCd.

Good to know the recelling works with the digital batteries as well.

For me it is a good option. Trimpacs are about 350 to 400 ? in Europe.

I don?t know if B&H Photo will ship A/B to Europe because of there dealer network.

I'm also interested in the approximate cycle live you get out of your NiCd batteries over that 2 to 4 year period.

Thank for the input.

I know that the Hytron50 are likely to give up very early. That why I went for NiCd. Longer life time, handles more load etc. How many cycles did you get out of yours?

Rich has Victory Battery a website?

I have read through the Archives and Erwin mentioned with recelling you are loosing the electronics and A/B chargers don?t charge any more.

Benjamin

Hi all,

I?m experiencing severe problems with my AntonBauer Digital Trimpac batteries.

Just before the 3 Year Warranty ended the first 3 of my 6 Trimpacs died. 1 to 2 cells gave up shortly after the ?service? sign showed up in the display. They have been replaced. The fourth battery died on me today.

Does anybody else have similar problems?

Benjamin

In any case, I'm still curious about the flex question.

 

 

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Anthony Hardwick

Venice, CA USA

Any advice here, because i would like to put one of these pins in my Pro arm.

It seems like an obvious thing to have, and these pins are available even cheaper from McMaster-Carr. (I never knew the correct size to get though, so i have yet to buy one.)

 

I still do not understand why GPI does not offer these pins, nor have they done tests with these pins to determine if flex is an issue or not.

rich

 

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Richard J Cottrell

Philadelphia, PA

Hi all,

after having the aircraft pin in my PRO arm for a few months now I like to give a little review.

There are differences between the original PRO pin and the Aircraft pin.

It is hollow but IMHO this doesn?t have any effect.

It doesn?t lock the socket block to the arm like the Pro bolt with its nuts. I?m not sure if this has any effect.

The original PRO pin is exactly 9,5 mm / 3/8 inch, this is 0,05 mm thicker than my aircraft pin. This has an effect.

This is with in production tolerances of Avibank. See link: Avibank

Due to its smaller diameter and free sliding in its guide the aircraft pin causes a little horizontal play and a vertical play in the socket block section when not under load. Under load I experienced a little flexing, very subtle. The arm is bending a bit before it is actually starting to move down. This is only noticeable when doing very small and very slow moves. In addition, and this is really annoying, the arm starts clicking (or better the pin in its guide), especially when resting your arm on the lower arm section. It is not as loud as when the screws of the arm come loose from transportation in the car and it is a higher sound. Finally, I?m not sure if the upper hole that has no steal guide is wearing out from an extended use of the aircraft pin. In the future I?m using the aircraft pin only when I?m actually forced to switch sides or it is foreseeable it could happen several times a day.

I hope this answers your question, Anthony and Rich.

Are there other Ops with experience on this modification?

Benjamin

Joe,

Only by spinning the sled you are able to tell if it is in dynamic balance or not. The centrifugal forces only occur to the sled when panning. The Mickey only ?works? in one case. The monitor c.g. and the batteries c.g. are at same distance from the cameras c.g.. This brings the cameras c.g. exactly over the center post. Now you are able to static balance the sled horizontally and achieve something like dynamic balance as well.

Search the forum 2003 or download the ?Dynamic Balance Primer? by Jerry Holway. It gives a detailed view of the subject.

My 2 cents to Mickey

Benjamin

here's the picture.

Hi folks,

Are there baer-bel rig owners who want to have a spirit level attached to there top stage?

It will be mounted at the rear of the stage (pic) where you could mount the receiver T-bracked.

I could have four pieces available in about a month, at a cost of 20? a piece.

If there are more than 4 orders the price will drop of course.

If you're interested send me a email.

Benjamin