Iain Baird

As far as I can tell what you have described here will do nothing to change the x-axis. I own a V2 gimbal and those two bolts are for adjusting the play in the yoke bearing. The x-axis is determined by how perfectly the ring is centered in between the yoke arms, not by the extension of the yoke.

I own a Dual Mount, I've been using it for four years now. When I first started using it I would only switch to the front mount for tight spaces but now I find I switch much more often. I personally find that for longer shots with plenty of lockoffs or those that I know will require multiple takes or sizes I'm better off using the back mount as it gives me better endurance. But that being said, I also recently found that I'm better at executing delicate moves or shots that require a softer touch using the front mount. It may be all in my head but it has me switching back and forth much more often now, more like 60-40 vs. the 90-10 it used to be.

Price reduced to $3,500.00 OBO

It's covered here http://www.steadicamforum.com/index.php?sh...amp;hl=Video+DA I used exactly the same DA and I did the wiring myself.

If you don't have a video DA any additional draw on the video signal, including recorders and the Canatrans, will weaken it. I also found (before adding a DA to my PRO II) that the stronger my Canatrans was set to, the more interference I saw. One of the added bonuses to a DA is that it prevents video signal and noise from traveling the wrong way in the video line. On a PRO II all video ports are INPUTS/OUTPUTS unless you have a DA installed. Hope this helps

After sharing duty between my two gimbals for a few weeks I've changed over to the XCS full time. I switched for a few reasons, one was for the ergo handle but the other is that I operate with one finger above the gimbal. Although the MK-V V2 is a great gimbal the convex design is not as suited to my style of operating as the XCS, or other concave gimbals. This is still a great gimbal and in great condition. I've taken the grip tape off and cleaned the gimbal and bearings thoroughly. Apart from a few anodizing marks the gimbal is in perfect condition. Make an offer........

I bought a Cam~Wave this year after convincing the series I was on to rent both SSR's as well as pay me rental on the transmitter. Lucky for me they are doing both. It's great to be free of the cables at last but I can't say that the Cam~wave is perfect. It's very good but tends to cause the HD video assist guys grief as there are some frame drop outs that give the HD recorders fits. The DP has no complaints because he can't see the dropped frames but because of the way the video assist is daisy chained from DP to HD Video Assist to DIRECTOR, the director looses picture whenever Video Assist does. We have found a work around by using Final Cut Pro to record Steadicam shots as you can set Final Cut Pro to ignore dropped frames and continue recording regardless. Obviously the master recording is going onto the SSR's but the directors are now in the habit of taking home the Video Assist hard drives at the end of the night to watch dailies that it's important that the steadicam takes are recorded by video assist as well. As far as transmission quality, as long as the receiver and transmitter are within range it's generally perfect, the unit tends to perform better in empty sets than whenever we have tons of extras, lot's of bodies seem to reduce transmission strength. It has a few quirks that come up from time to time, for example fast starts tend to -glitch- the picture, as well as getting too close to the receiver will cause -glitching-. All in all I like it and never want to go back to the cabled world again so I'll take the slight problems and hopefully some sort of diversity system will be released soon that can help with the quality issues.

I'm selling my MK-V V2 2" gimbal to change over to the XCS with the ergo handle. The gimbal is 3 years old and is still as smooth as it was brand new. They sell new for $5,500 US I'm asking $4,000 OBO. I've used tennis racket grip on the grip and handle since buying the gimbal so it's in great cosmetic condition as well. You can e-mail me off forum @ iainalexanderbaird@gmail.com for more info

The "other three" are part of the Battery Display system for the Monitor, they are not needed to power the sled.

What you need is a Schottky Rectifier Diode, it prevents current from traveling in the wrong direction. Rob, I'm assuming that after a while of successful operation with my Li-ion Batts that the Diodes I'm using are sufficient. Either they have enough headroom or it's because the batts fall below 15V as soon as they are under any load. At any rate they do the trick nicely. IB

Last season on a show I work on we were experiencing interference problems that were attributed to the transmitters (modulus and canatrans) being too close to the Genesis bodies. Transmitters anywhere near the cameras were summarily banned by the DP and the problems went away. Since then I've been on other HD shows with transmitters with no issues. I've always wondered if it was another problem that had just gone away at the same time and the transmitters were not really to blame but hearing this report has me wondering.

Having always used a digital level, from a built in level on my first Master Series to an external Marell digital level on my present Franken-rig, I wouldn't want to live without one. However I've always thought that it should be mounted as close to the nodal point of the sled as possible, near the post, to eliminate as much panning inertia as you can. Levels are very sensitive to movement and it seems to me that if if the sensor is built into the monitor it would be much more susceptible to panning influences then if it were under or nearer to the post. I welcome the HD Monitor companies having a digital level system as part of the package but the sensor should be externally mountable with a small connecting cable so you can mount it wherever you want. IB

When a PRO II rig is in 24v mode the two batteries are in series and can not cross charge each other as the (+)positive of battery #1 is connected to the (-)negative of battery #2 and together they make the 24v (closer to 32v actually and 28v under load). In 12v mode it is another story though, there is nothing in the PRO II rig to prevent cross charging. One of the great things about the Pro is that there is no circuitry involved, it makes for a very rugged and easily field serviceable rig. That being said it is also very easy to add diodes to the PRO rig by placing them in the power jumpers. I have a few jumpers with different diode combinations to prevent cross charging. In order to use a 'Y' power cable for the Genesis and other power hungry cameras each of the two batteries needs to be independently protected so two diodes are required, one on each battery. The diodes I use actually have two inputs and one output so they can protect one or two batteries at once as long as only one output is required. Another one of my jumpers is wired for paralleling two batteries to power the monitor if I'm in two piece mode using a Genesis and the camera is being powered by another source. I get extra long run times on the monitor this way and I need the weight anyways so might as well have the battery powering something! Heres the diode I use, it's very low loss and just small enough to fit two inside the PRO power jumpers. diode.pdf I used to get the single bar all the time until I installed these, I never saw it again. Panavision Toronto built a great battery belt for the Genesis that can parallel 3 AB 140's using the same diodes, it works like a charm. The one diode already in the PRO II base is a voltage regulator hooked up the the recorder power output. I think it is a 9v regulator, I can't remember exactly as I've long since changed mine out for a variable voltage regulator.

The Master Series Film rig that I owned was a great rig but was NOT rock solid. For any long lens work I always had mini wedges placed in between the dovetail and topstage to prevent slight vibrations.

Is it possible to unwind the cable on the monitor post to move it farther from center? I seems to me that should add the few inches you need to fully extend.

I did five months on the Genesis last year in two piece mode and found that 1 Anton Bauer 140 mounted to the back of the camera would run the camera for 45mins -1 hour. The deck and toaster were in a scuba knapsack (well ventilated!) powered by three 140's on a belt battery that thankfully was being carried by someone other than me. The rear battery mount and belt battery were built by Panavision Toronto with diodes in the belt to prevent cross-charging. We had plenty of 140's with a few multi chargers and never ran into any power problems. Other than the cables running off the rig I personally loved the weight and feel of the camera the way it was setup. The DP wanted to record 4-4-4 so we actually had 2 cables off the rig. Thankfully this season we have switched to SSR and combined with the Camwave I feel like a free man again. IAIN

Perspective aside I would say that all POVs are not created equal, and nor should they be approached with the same frame of mind. Any character, depending on age or life experience, looks at the world a little differently and said POV should reflect such. 32mm might be what our eyes capture but what the represented character is paying attention to is equally important and this is what should be considered when thinking about any POV - what frame of mind or perspective are you trying to represent? JMHO. IAIN

Hey Keith, I'll be at Ardmore prepping starting the 8th. If you want to bring over the sled and Redbyte I might have the parts you need in my kit. Iain

I don't get any pics when I look at the products page, just the descriptions. Is the problem your site or my browser? Cheers, IAIN

It is possible to make a mini dock for the GEN 5 Archos that does both but it's not a simple mod, however the results are perfect for onboard recording. It requires removing the jack and electronics from the playback dock and putting them into the recorder dock. With a simple mod to the SLED, changing the 1PDT REC switch to a 3PDT (#1 - Video Switch, #2 Resistor switch 68k for record and 470k for playback, #3 Power Switch for Archos Charge - needed for resistor system to work ) it's possible for the unit to know what state the REC/PLAYBACK switch on your sled is in and behave accordingly. Then it's as easy as pressing record or play, very little menu work. With the thumbnails and touchscreen it's really a dream setup. The one pain is that by default the unit plays back to the onboard screen, you have to press the LCD button for it to feed to the Monitor. If you want more details you can contact me off forum.

Based on all of my searching there is no small unit that does both for the 5 series. For the older units my understanding is that it was a simpler design, not the 25 & 18 pin plugs they use now.

I had to wait three months after ordering it for all of the parts to arrive, it's not one of their common plugs.

This has both, the center co-ax is for HDSDI and the composite signal uses two of the regular pins. This is the only 3B Lemo (that I'm aware of) that has both co-ax and enough pins to carry power and video. It's a modified PRO II

Does it look something like this?

Unfortunately the UB1 does not have the Underscan feature or it would be a simple fix. I've noticed the problem on both the F35 and the Genesis, I have used the monitor with a F900 as well but wasn't aware of the problem at the time so didn't go looking for it. Next time I'm at Panavision I'll try and get a few different cameras to compare.