Adam Smith

Hey Guys, Tom provided some much greater detail that was probably needed. Thanks Tom! Apparently these are hard to come by for some reason. I have a second unit available which seems to be stuck on Channel 38 for some reason. No problem working the unit, just has to be on Channel 38. I have a good offer in on the Variable Channel Unit on Ebay which I will probably accept soon. Anyone interested in making an offer on either or both units before I accept? I can offer up a monitor as well to make the package sweeter. Let me know, the offer in on Ebay will expire Thursday, but I will probably accept earlier than that. -Adam

I've got a bunch of Anton Bauer Accesories on Ebay. The QRC-DUAL PT is awesome and can be found here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=111200563698&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT But please see all my other AB accessories I am unloading. And as always a better deal can be had off of Ebay.

Hey Guys, Got a Modulus 5000 up on Ebay, you can check it out here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121203248127&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT Tested and in great working condition! Of course I can give you a better deal if we work it out off of Ebay.

Those are good points Eric and Osvaldo. I figured many of the Ops do not frequent the forum often. It is an interesting fact however you guys believe there to be way less than I first figured in terms of full time ops, I'm surprised Eric thinks its like 500 worldwide. That is astounding when you think about it. This project is still geared towards Ops who own "legitimate" equipment whether they are full time or not. Maybe it would be easier to find out how many rigs are in the field, as in how many rigs have been sold. The manufacturers would have to keep figures on this. Right? -Adam

Thanks for all the answers. I figured the easier question would be answered first, as to what manufactures and why. How many Ops though? Do you think this information is available through guilds? or possibly through manufactures and the list of customers they may have on file? Alec, I presume from looking at the members list that there are almost 6,000 members. If anyone is to consider themselves even remotely serious in the art and/or employment of Steadicam, do you not think they would have become a member of this forum? I find it hard to believe otherwise, considering this is THE place to come to for information regarding our craft. But really? Only 6,000 of us? I don't think so. -Adam

I know this to be a question that is probably impossible to answer, but I thought I'd ask anyway. I'm working on an idea that involves our industry and I am looking for some approximate numbers to bring to the business plan. What further complicates the question is that the project will only involve what we consider to be operators with "a legitimate company's" stabilizer (this includes small rigs such as the Merlin and obviously full sized rigs from the many great companies). I don't want to include "Steadicam Operators" who are buying the cheap knock off rigs from over seas in this project. I don't consider them to be a value to this project and frankly I believe this project offers those "rigs and their operators" no value. I guess this could be considered a two fold question....how many operators? and what manufacturers do you consider to be legitimate players in our market? Who's in and who's out and why? Any information provided would be a huge help and perhaps it would help me get this project off the ground. -Adam

I'm guessing it didn't go over well. I'm curious however...what's with the Zacuto viewfinder in the HDSLR setup? I guess it was just left on after hand held? -Adam

Awesome Tom, I will def hit you up in a bit. Thank you Ron for those name drops. That is helpful but I was offering up a morsel in lunch or dinner, not my 2nd born!! HAHA. I obviously figured there would be a bunch of Pro rigs in New York. I may wait to see if anyone else responds in the Philly area in addition to Tom, that may have PRO rigs. Perhaps I should change my post heading to be more specific if no other leads from Philly come about..... -Adam

Hello Everyone, I am now in the market for a full size rig after almost 2 years of flying the little VLB and my current Flyer LE. I've had a good amount of time in all the Tiffen rigs and am really only familiar with them. I fell in love with the Archer 2 after Garrett let me borrow his a few years ago. That is what I am currently leaning towards, but am not completely sold on it yet. I want to have a try with a few of the other companies if possible, especially Pro. I like the idea of modularity and I like the idea of not being limited by the next rig I choose to buy. After seeing pictures of Robert Starling's Cine Live rig I am very interested in seeing that in action. I know very few people own it yet so that is probably not going to happen. But the PRO rigs have me intrigued. I contacted Pro but Jack Bridges mentioned LA trip and Cinegear; and he didn't give any other options. I could wait till September for Cinegear I suppose but would rather gather information now and make a decision in the next few months so I can get this rolling. I am in the Philly suburbs, but willing to travel as far as NYC, Balitmore, Washington D.C., etc. to fly another manufacturers rig, especially Pro. Lunch or dinner on me. -Adam

Wow, now I'm paranoid. Hope nothing goes wrong on Monday. The power upgrade should have taken care of everything.... I hope. I think I spoke with the same person when I called both times. May be the only person they have working the phones? Interesting thing about these companies is that they rely on their parts suppliers to provide them with quality parts. Sounds like they may have had some faulty parts. Same thing happened to my Samsung flat panel when the capacitors went only after a few years of use. These products are only as good as the companies supplying the parts and those suppliers can change from year to year. Nothing is guaranteed these days so when I receive great customer service with a product, it helps. Your right William, that will not help when I'm on set. I'm just hoping Teradek has figured it out. It looks so far after this last update they have.

Brian, That's a good point. Perhaps if Teradek was able to create a cue watch to see where your unit was in the mix... that would help with the anxiety. Or an email update as to where in the cue you were and approximate date it would be sent back. That may be the only thing I would change about their whole system right now. They are definitely trying and for me that goes a long way. It is quite possible they are not able to handle the volume, but I tend to believe them when they say they were waiting on parts. If I sent it out last Thursday (I am East Coast), they got it probably Saturday via Fedex. Maybe they would have looked at it Monday? Tuesday? I don't know. They obviously aren't going to be transparent when it comes to volume, they don't want to scare anyone if that is the case. I do know this....where can you send a unit out for upgrade for completely free (even the shipping)? They really don't have to do that. That also goes a long way showing me they back up their products. -Adam

Hello Everyone! I felt the need to post my experiences with the crew over at Teradek. Wow, these people have it together. I purchased the Bolt slightly used off the forum and decided to have it sent in for servicing because of the battery problem some people were having. Sent it in last Thursday for the free upgrade (they pay for shipping both ways!). Hadn't heard back from them so I decided to call in today and see what the status was because I picked up a last minute job in D.C. which starts on Monday. They said they were waiting on parts and that was the slight hold up. This has got to be the best communication and service I may have ever experienced on any level with anything. Not only did they move my unit to the front of the cue, but they also guaranteed delivery by Saturday. Whew, no need to find a replacement. The email confirmations and the communication over the phone was excellent, and as long as their product holds up they have a customer for life in me. Keep up the great work Teradek! -Adam

Thanks James!

Good Afternoon Everyone, I sold my trusty Pilot VLB (my first entrance into this great world of Steadicam) to a buyer in France. Everything went well but one problem. He docked the small rig via the gimbal. He said the third time he pulled it out of the dock the metal "housing" (if that is what we should call it) that hides the ball bearings from the underneath of the gimbal fell out of place. Now the rig is still operational from what he says but he is afraid that the bearings will take on dirt and what not. Is there a permanent solution to putting this piece of metal back into place so the bearings are not "out in the open." As of now that ring is just hanging above the post clamp. I had not known this piece could fall out so easily, but then again I knew not to dock the sled via the gimbal. -Adam

Jon, Any chance to check it out yet? I am in the market for a new monitor for my Flyer LE. -Adam

That's stange Pascal. I currently have the same problem right now. No high pitch hum though. I get the flicker too. However I don't think it is the monitor, I have a back up and I have the same problem with that one. -Adam

Wow, did not realize that. Thanks Eric! I'm an AB guy. I just figured all of these chargers are simultaneous. Why make them Sequential? I guess the first battery would charge faster? Interesting. -Adam

Hey everyone, I just sold my back up Steadicam Pilot. Looking over gear I noticed the IDX 2 Channel Quick Charger will only charge one battery at a time. I was thinking this may be a fuse problem? If so how the heck do I open that fuse box? If not the fuse box then what? Doesn't make sense that both sides will charge, just not simultaneously. Any suggestions would be very helpful. -Adam

Thanks Brian, I did some further research and found that this could be an MK-V upgrade of a flyer. Not sure of the model yet. Thanks for your input. This was very helpful. :D

Hello All, I'm currently looking at upgrading "SLIGHTLY" from a Pilot VLB to a Flyer but I'm having a problem identifying the model of Flyer that I am looking at. The seller is not sure of the model of Flyer either but has provided a serial number which ends in an "S" (if that means anything). 3 calls to Tiffen, no answer. Anybody have any idea if a serial number look up exists? or if there are ways to identify between the 3 or 4 different Flyers that came out? Thanks for your time, and your sharing of knowledge. This forum is amazing!