Colin Donahue

Adam, you might want to check to see if they billed your credit card. I sent in 2 dionics to be recelled last march and after 6 months they admitted it was too costly to do. They had billed my credit card August. I called them and asked them to credit back my account but they never responded to my calls or emails. I finally had to file a claim with Visa to reverse the charges. Colin

Nikk, A few years ago I was able to successfully collect my money from a non-paying client. It was a little different situation than yours but it still may work for you. I shot a show with my own betacam for a small production company . The show was to air on Discovery Channel . The production company paid the first invoice, but not the second. No reason or excuses, they just ignored me. (Ironically the show was about "Repo" men who reopossses cars from non paying owners!) Someone had once told me that the footage we shoot is our property and that we have rights to it. Often in a Deal Memo there is a section that states that you are releasing your rights and the production company owns all the footage you will shoot. Just by luck I had never signed that section. I contacted Discovery Channel and got the number for their legal department. I faxed them a letter claiming my rights to the footage and said I would sue them if they broadcast it without my permission. The very next day the production company called me and said they were going to "investigate" why I had not been paid! The day after that I recieved a Fed Ex with my check. I don't know if this works with multicam or outside of California, but it is worth a try Colin Donahue

Brian, I spoke with Stanton about an hour ago and they again warned me about taking the controller apart. Did you have trouble putting it back together? There are some hex screws on the side and a couple of philips screws at the top near the connector. Which ones did you take out? colin

I have the Stanton Zoom Focus and the main cable connector on the unit is loose. I assume there is a locking nut on the inside, but I have to take it apart to get to it. I talked to Stanton and they said getting the thing back together once it is apart is pretty difficult because there is so much stuff in there. They reccomended I send it in. I have some jobs coming up and I hate to lose it for a week or so . Has anyone ever taken this thing apart and got it back together? colin

Jerry, That sound very cool. Thanks for the info. I will contact Tiffen and start bugging them to get on it! colin

Jerry, I am currently using the G-50 with the Archer. With the new "interchangable post system" I assume I could use the retrofit so that it would work with the post extensions (3" 6" 9") already being made for the G- 70 arm. The problem I forsee is that i still have the smaller archer yolk on my sled that will not take the larger post. Am I right about this? Colin

I am looking to get some arm extension posts for my G-50 arm. I was wondering if anybody knows of somone in the Los Angeles area that would make them. It is my understanding that Tiffen doesn't make them. Any help would be appreciated. Coln Donahue

I did not think I would be able to make it, so I never registered for a pass. I now plan to go tomorrow morning. Anyone know where I can pick up a pass? Colin Donahue

Eric, I am not sure what a 4 degree level is and I cannot seem to find much info about it on google. Can you explain? colin

I am looking for a spirit leve to put on my sled. I have several that I have purchased from Home Depot, but the bubble moves very fast. I am wondering if there a level out there with a more viscous liquid that will allow the bubble to react more slowly. thanks colin

Chad, I had an issue with the stage on my archer. One of the screws inside the stage was loose. I live very close to Tiffen, so I just took it over there and they fixed it on the spot. I would call them to see how to resolve it. Maybe you can do it yourself. colin

Bryan, thanks colin

Guys, Thanks for all the help. Lawrence, Rob Vuona suggested Mohawk as well, but he gave me a different part number. He gave me FL45918010 . When I did a search of this number on the web site it came up blank. I will call them in the morning and try to figure which one I need, and check out the company in Orange as well. Are these things they have laying around on a shelf, or are they custom made ? I need it soon. Thanks again to all. Colin

Just found out that the job I have on Thursday is not the Phillips 6000 with triax, but the Sony 1500 with fiber optic cable. I have not worked with this before. I am told it is much smaller than triax, but I assume it is thick enough that it will influence the camera. Do I need an adapter? Where can I get one? Production company is VER and they do not have one and didn't know where to get one. Any help or experience with fiber would be a big help. I have not done a search on the forum yet, I am pressed for time, my wife just had surgery, I got a 6 year old kid.... gotta go. Thanks, Colin

Mark, I have the G50 arm and when I first got it I found the knobs very difficult to turn even when the arm was in the "sweet spot". Over time they have been much easier to turn. Colin

Emre, I have owned an Archer for almost three years. It has worked well with every video camera I have tried, Beta SP, Digibeta, XD, Varicam, as well as studio triax setups. As you have seen in other posts, it is not possible to dynamic balance a large camera without adding weight to the bottom. I have several custom weights that slip over the rods. I also have a AB plate that slides over the rods so I can use a Hytron 140 under the post. If you search Lars Erik's posts, he was using a very similar setup to mine and I think has pictures of what he did. He has since modified his system through a company called Hofmann of Sweden. He has posted several pictures. If I use a Dionic 90 on the sled battery mount, then I add weight to the rods, or I use a dionic 90 on the sled and a hytron 140 under the post on my custom AB plate. I have not used Dionic 160's yet. I travel a lot so I have a pelican case for that holds the arm and vest. I would get a case if I were you. I do not have a special cart. I only know of the filmtools version. One of widgets I had made was a battery plate off an old battery with a lemo connector running to the sled. It snaps on to the back of the camera and keeps the weight on top down so I don't have to add so much to the bottom. You can buy one of these from Anton Bauer, it is a called the SO XLR. The Archer is great but.... The vest that came with it has very little padding and is quite rigid and uncomfortable. I am used to it now, and I have replaced the padding with thicker foam. The base of the sled is fixed. You cannot move the monitor forward or back.... not the end of the world, but I sometimes wish I could move it in to make a smaller foot print in tight spaces. In my opinion, the battery mount for the sled is in the wrong place. It is too far behind the post. Because the monitor is so light, there is never a reason to slide the battery out. I always use it pushed all the way in as close to the post as possible. Whenever I add weight, it is always under the post. This is where it needs to be to dynamic balance the rig. For my purposes and the cameras I use the battery adjustment is pretty useless. Despite all this I think I made a good purchase. I am always able to DB the sled using the weights. I wanted an EFP but could not find one at the time. I considered the Clipper, but it was 10K more and did not seem worth the extra $$ for my needs. Since seeing Lars Erik's posts, I have decided to order the Hofmann modification and am supposed to get it on Monday. I will let you know how it works. Good luck, Colin Donahue

Rob, if you want to call something a "toy" just take a look at that car in your garage! just my two cents colin donahue

colin If you send it priority overnight so it gets here Tuesday morning, you will have it back on Wednesday. Not quite one hour, but it should do. Jim "60 minute man" Bartell Jim called me tuesday morning to tell me he had already fixed and shipped my unit. It went bad because I plugged the power cable from my sled into the data input instead of the power input on the receiver. It was operator error. I failed the unit, It did not fail me. Jim put a rubber plug in the data input so I will not make that mistake again. I will also make sure I don't put my rig together in the dark anymore! Thanks for the great customer service Colin "need glasses" Donahue

If you send it priority overnight so it gets here Tuesday morning, you will have it back on Wednesday. Not quite one hour, but it should do. Jim "60 minute man" Bartell Jim, You will have it first thing Tuesday morning. colin

I just wanted to thank all the guys that tried to help me out last night. Trying to find a bartech at 6pm on a Friday night with 10 inches of snow falling from the sky was not easy. I ended up borrowing the bartech off the Jib and everything worked out. I am sending my unit in on Monday, and I will need it on Friday, so I may need to use the contact numbers that all you guys sent. This forum is great resource. thank again, colin

I am shooting in Waltham, Mass about 30 minutes outside boston. My bartech reciever went on the fritz and I need to shoot at 6:15 am tomorrow. I called a rental house in boston, but they were closing in 20 minutes and pretty much blew me off. Is there anybody out there that has one I can rent for the day? It is all interior stuff, so it will not be ruined by the snow storm. Please call me at 818 519 2504. I can pick it up tonight. Thanks, Colin Donahue 818 519 2504

Tony, I have owned an archer for a couple of years now. Because it is only 12 volt, I assume you will be doing mostly video. One of the first things I got was some custom weights for the base of the sled. It is very difficult to balance the sled with a full size camera. You need at least a a hytron 140 at the base, you have to invert the battery holder and it will not dynamic balance. I had several custom weights made that slip over the rods on the battery mount. I found this was the only way I could dynamically balance the sled. Good luck. colin

Jim, I am currently using a Hytron 14 in parell wit a dionics 90 for a 12 volt camera. the guys at AB told me that this is not the most efficient system as the dionic will try to charge itself off the hytron. But it does work. It is important for me to keep the bottom of the sled heavy, so I have both bats at the bottom of the sled and the camera is powered at the lemo at the stage . If I wire them in series, can the video cameras handle 24 volts? I did some research and I am not finding 24 volt video camera. does any body know if this can be done thanks, colin

Thanks to all for the helpful information. I got busy and forgot to post. I think it was a case of the XD camera interpreting the voltage at a lower rate. On one of the b-roll shoot days, I just left the battery on when it got below 13 volts and just waited for it to die. It hung in there for another 40 minutes or so. Colin Donahue

Dan, I just bought one about three weeks ago. You can borrow it if you like. Call me at 818 519 2504. I will be shooting tomorrow in Los Feliz until about 2 pm. Colin