Jim Coulter

Well the shoot went ok...not great becasue of the issues I first mentioned in my post. I was able to rig the Alexa and Zephyr to get power to everything- Alexa, Bartech and monitor. The one issue I didn't see coming was the Alexa to Dovetail connection! I didn't know the Alexa has this strange contact plate that is not flat like every other camera on the planet! I ended up having to use one screw (the long screw from the Alexa's quick release plate and some gaff tape which I wound until I had a nice fat wedge. I absolutely had nothing else available nor did the AC! It was nice and tight at first but after 30 minutes in the 100 degree Texas heat it started to get soft and I noticed the connection was not solid. I had to constantly re- balance the camera- not a fun afternoon! If they had not called me so last minute for this shoot I would have had time to find out all the issues (Believe me I did try!) but I don't think I would have figured out the Alexa plate adapter issue unless someone had mentioned it to me. At any rate I learned a lot on that job! I was really surprised and impressed with how well the Zephyr handled the Alexa. Surprised because almost every post I've read talks about how heavy it is and how it maxes out the arm. We did remove the eyepiece, handle and quick release plate but it had a Matte box, Bartech follow focus, 50 mm lens and Dionic battery and it felt about like my Red Scarlet with everything on it. I didn't max out the arm and it performed well. I've now ordered everything I will need for the next time I get a call to fly an Alexa! The Alexa adapter plate (expensive! $200) , the dual V-mount battery plate ($600!) and the Zephyr to Alexa power cable ($150) Thanks again for all your help!

Thanks Steve and Alan. Great points! I am a bit nervous but feel like I did enough research that it will work out. The shot is not too difficult nor time consuming. I am ordering the optional battery plate for my Zephyr to allay any future Alexa shoot issues. Thanks again for the help!

Thanks John, I guess my fallback on this would be to just keep their battery on the Alexa. They're using Dionics which are lighter weight bricks. Thanks for your suggestion. I'll give Terry a call.

Hi everyone! I have a client that called today (Sept 11) wants to use my Steadicam services next Monday Sept 16. So I don't have a lot of time to get this question answered and then to find, buy or rent the parts I need. I will be flying their Arri Alexa with a 40mm KOWA anamorphic lens. I already spec'd the Alexas weight at 16.9 lbs with EVF, Handle,etc. (Not including battery) The KOWA lens seems to be fairly lightweight- about 2 lbs. Here's what I need to know: Is the power cable from the Zephyr sled to the Alexa a 3 pin LEMO (Zephyr) to 2 pin Fischer (Alexa) ? If so where can I buy one quickly? Also I know the Alexa pulls 85 watts power 10.5-34v DC (My Zephyr has a V-mount single plate at the bottom) Can I buy an Anton Bauer Dionic HD battery plate adaper and will I require 2 plates for powering the Aexa? Again I really appreciate quick feedback!

Hey Victor- This looks very much like the 'jutter' I was experiencing. Have you loked at the individual frames. Mine were blurred every other frame throughout the jutter. As I posted earlier- this was NOT a camera issue rather an issue with the Zephyr itself. I had this result regardless of frame rate. I tried 23.98, 29.97 amd 59.94- same results.

In response to your recent post regarding your 'stutter' issue. My issue was not cause by the extra weight or height of the base plate on the Zephyr. In fact I recently shot a scene using my Red Scarlet, an ipad teleprompter, bartech follow focus and client monitor which was really pushing the boundaries of the Zephyr's weight capabailities. I have had no 'jutter' issues since returning the original Zephyr to B & H and getting my replacement Zephyr. The shots are smooth and silky as they should be. Please see recent steadicam video shots for one of my clients: http://movingimageinc.com/BC%20Transform.php Becasue of my own experience with this 'jutter' issue there is only one thing I am certain of... it is one of the hardest problems to resolve because of the numerous combinations or events that come into play. My advice would be to exhaust every configuration until the justter stops but do it in a 'reverse engineering' work flow. Start with everything you were using and work backwards- removing one piece at a time until you get to the bare bones. Even flying the camera with no Steadicam electronics- only camera's onboard power. Hopefully you will 'hit' the magic setup and the 'jutter' will disappear. Then you will have your answer. This is by no means a quick resolution. It took me more than a month of testing and scouring forums and trying different cameras etc. but ultimately I found the problem. Best of luck!

Thanks guys! All great responses and it makes me feel better about not having to spend the money! I really love how this forum provides me with so many things I would never have thought about or considered.

Thanks Eric. I appreciate your advice on proper technique. Please let me know if I have your answer understood correctly... Should I extend the length of the post to in effect 'raise the camera or lower it? I would have to 'offset' the weight on the bottom by adding more (if I raise the post) to keep my drop time and take away weight if I collapse the post? Is that correct? Again thanks for your help!

Thanks everyone for the information. I spoke with Derek over at Tiffen this morning and he said the same thing. The reason i wanted one is to help maintain dynamic balance. I started noticing after I had perfect dynamic balance and needed to tilt my rig up or down to accomodate a persons' height- that it was throwing my rig out of dynamic balance. There is a work around for me which I do use- i just lower the whole rig with the Iso-arm or raise it depending on the height needed. This doesn't affect my dynamic balance. I saw a video on You Tube by a well respected operator and he demonstrated how a tilt head will keep the rig in balance even when you tilt. Oh well... I guess I'll one day need to move up to a bigger rig but for now the Zephyr is an awesome piece of gear and I really have no complaints.

Hi- I've been researching the practicality and necessity of having a TITL HEAD. I want to purchase one for my Zephyr. Where can I buy one and what is the cost? I looked at Tiffen's site but I could not find one and the search engine comes back with 'no results' Last question: is it easy to attach to the post? Many thanks!

Jim, Did you step through the footage frame-by-frame? This would probably give some valuable data on the source -or at least the nature- of the problem. Were there dropped, duplicated or corrupted frames? Or actual shift/shake of the frame? Identifying or ruling out mechanical effects should have been fairly straightforward in a frame-by-frame evaluation. Glad you got a working rig in your hands, though! It's interesting that you ask. As a mattaer of fact we looked at the R3D red footage frame by frame using a Red Rocket. Every place there was jutter we saw the same phenomenon- every OTHER fram was blurred- not really out of focus but blurred. This continued until the area of the 'Jutter' was finished then the frames all looked normal.

Hi John, No issue seems more daunting or difficult to resolve than the issue you're describing. The situation I was in was about as bad as it can get. I had just bought a brand new Red Scarlet camera and a brand new 'just out of the case' Steadicam Zephyr and now after spending all that money- I have this incredibly bewildering problem of 'jutter'. It was not just in my head either- The techs at Red saw the R3D files with the issue and acknowledged it as well. I knew it wasn't the typical 24 fps stutter you see when making fast camera movements as I also did tests at 59.94 fps. In fact I exhausted ALL possibilities because I did controlled tests in the same location flying the same path but with different Red cameras and with and without power from the sled. The third party V-mount backplate did cause some of the issue but not all of it. It just seemed worse with the backplate on. The ONLY test I had not done was with a DIFFERENT Zephyr. Steadicam was willing to lend me a new Zephyr to do the test but they would not pay for the shipping- which would have been about $300 round trip from NY to Houston. I asked Red to help out since I had spent so much time and effort trouble-shooting for them- they turned me down. Ultimately I ended up calling B & H Photo where I had purchased the Zephyr and asked for an exchange. I was really very happy with B & H and how they handled the return and re-shipment of a completely new Zephyr. They did not argue or hassle me at all. They were very helpful and easy to deal with- I have bought a LOT of gear from them and now they have won my business for good! As soon as I received the new Zephyr- I popped it on and balance my Scarlet for its maiden voyage and the last final test to see if the problem was with the Red Scarlet OR the other Zephyr. Drum roll... The answer was clearly evident- it was the other Zephyr! I was overjoyed! NO STUDDER! Not anywhere in my flight! This made sense to me since I had flown 3 different Red cameras including an Epic in the tests and they all had the issue in the same locations. I knew there was no way they could be making major motion pictures on the Red cameras and NOBODY had ever had this issue- especially all the different rigs and contraptions they were putting those Red cameras on- including Steadicam! This made everything so much easier for me! I got rid of the problem Zephyr, I didn't have to pay the $300 in shipping and now I felt better about having spent so much money on the Scarlet and Zephyr. I am ready to move on and make some money off my new setup! As for the old Zephyr- I sent Steadicam the serial number to see if maybe they wanted to do some tests on it to find the issue. It wasn't- as far as I can tell a bolt loose or a plate etc. I think it was electrical but no way to know for sure. What amazes me is that of ALL the people out there buying new Zephyrs- I got the lemon! But the great thing is- I knew I had a lemon and I didn't stop till I got it resolved in my favor! The moral of the story for me is- always thoroughly check out your purchase and if you do have a problem- send it back before it's too late! And buy from a reliable source- like B & H Photo! John- I wish you luck in finding a solution. I wish I could offer you some kind of clarity in finding the answer. The only thing I can say is some issues may never be solved- a strange combination of man made / engineering error as was my case.

Hi I'm trying to connect with any Zephyr owners in Houston or surrounding area. Please contact me if you own a Zephyr or Flyer jim@movingimageinc.com Cell: 832-563-4895

Interesting findings this morning. We tested the Epic on the Zephyr and did not see any problems. The only thing different was my Scarlet had a 3rd party Switchtronix V-mount batter adapter- plugged in but no battery. So we moved the plate to the Epic- plugged it in- with no battery. Low and behold it started having the same issue! So now I've narrowed the problem down to the third party plate. Somehow even though not being used to supply power- just being plugged into the camera- it's somehow creating an 'antenna' or loop through. Our thought is as I fly past different areas- the 'antenna' picks up the radio frequencies and causes the camera to stutter. The problems seem to happen in exactly the same area and go away as you pass it. I will be flying another friends Scarlet on Monday for a definitive test but it's already looking very positive that I've found my problem. the great thing is- it's an easy fix! i'll just return the Switchtronix plate and buy the more expensive Red version.

I know the conversion to YouTube is bad- but it's definitely there. I have looked at the full high res footage on my computer and I see it plain as day. The Red techs have the original R3D files from the camera- 4K res and they can actually view it at 4K- and they see the issue.