Michael Desiderio

Has anyone bothered to convert the power on their paralinx, nyrius or similar receiver from the DC barrel jack instead to the mini-USB port? Doesn't look like a tough thing to do

Well thread derailed in a matter of hours. Thanks guys!

It's not an antenna connector. It's for internal testing.

Ah ok great. I understand the transmitter can be modified for antennas though, right? Just might be a bit unwieldy...

By the way, easy to fix the dc jack. Just don't lose the post in the process!

there seems to be a small antenna connector, but it's only one jack, and I don't know what kind of connector to use with it. Not sure what kind of improvement to get from it either. Anyone tried this yet?

Just thought that I would post up some pictures since I haven't really found any

http://imgur.com/a/flOtA#0 for the high res

I've had that problem: too much slack in the cable, and it starts to show behind the collar. It's impossible to get shrink tubing on without re-soldering. Sometimes I'll put a bit of hot glue or wrap a bit of electrical tape around the end of the cable jacket. I try to put just enough on so that the crimp can catch on the cable once again.

Yeah heat shrink tubing would be greaaaat if the lemo connector wasn't 4x the circumference of the cable going into it. So you think liquid electrical tape by itself is a bit too permanent ?

Michael, if your cables ends are fraying, you may want to do more than put some glue on them. Are your solder joints breaking?

Well, I suppose I would say it's more the ground cabling poking out of the connector rather than the actual cable itself fraying.

Just curious if anyone uses a little liquid tape to help cover up any fraying connector ends on cables and whatnot.

I have the 663 S with SDI function

I just made a short step through of some of the functions for you, including the usable frame lines and center crossmark

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK44qHXOe2c&feature=youtu.be

Really great if you get it with the transflective coating - I special ordered this one directly from the manufacturer

Great for framing in broad, direct daylight. Wouldn't count on it for color and details in direct sunlight but you can still frame well.

So what does an operator do if his equipment is sufficient for the production in question, but is otherwise lacking or less valuable than what another operator brings to the table? What of the guys who bring $30-40K worth of gear to the table compared to the guys that bring $100K+ to the table?

What line do you draw when accepting lower rates; combination of gear value plus operator skill? Same high rate for everyone (squeezing out ops with lesser but still fully capable equipment)?

Paging Kyle Fasanella to the thread

Unlikely the stainless steel pins themselves are "loose". Likely the holes made to accommodate those pins have opened slightly over time. Ignore those pins- drilling them out will make a mess and require even larger pins.

 

Find a machinist who can duplicate the pin array, without interfering with the current pins. Have fresh holes drilled, and new pins pounded into place. It'll hold for another 8 years.

 

OR, you can slice off the top and then go through the process of making and centering a new top docking dish. That's harsh, because the stage mounts to that disk. A very good machinist can center all holes and do it.

 

I just think that new pins will achieve the same end for much less hassle and cost.

 

What generation Flyer is this? Non-telescoping? Red or black handle?

 

Best to all,

 

Peter Abraham, S.O.C.

Hey Peter, this is Kyle's first gen Flyer. New development with this rocking.....

I don't suppose we could tap another larger pin straight through the existing pins instead?

When you say duplicate the pin array, you mean to have new pin holes and pins inserted to the sides of the existing ones (leaving them in place)?

Thanks!

It seems that the metal ring at the top of our Flyer has gotten loose.

http://imgur.com/a/qj2Kj

Confirmed 100% to be that portion, as we removed the sled and could manipulate just the ring itself, it is shifting up and down and left to right slightly. Enough to present massive problems with tilting and running (any camera weight shifts backwards and forwards on tilts, and running just makes it bounce around)

It seems to be held into place with just 4 small metal shims that have been hammered into opposing sides

Could these have bent or gotten loose somehow? Outward appearances are nominal.

I can't see any other way to adjust this, and I can't see any real space that can be shimmed. Perhaps dabbing gorilla glue around the edges and praying it seeps in and expands?

Any thoughts?

Looks like we just needed a new potentiomenter and to pull back a couple of inches on the wiring. Wiring was shorting out from crimps, and potentiometer was fried. New one is about as close to perfect as we could ask for.

We have one of the ones that Jim made to control the bartech from the gimbal, but it has been acting up pretty badly at the top and bottom ends (lots of shimmy and shake, and sometimes it resets itself half an inch back or so)

Is there any solid alternative that plugs into the 4 prong focus control? We've seen the G-zoom equipment but I think it might be overkill for what we want.

Can't say enough good about the handle. 10x better than flying with the tiny metal post.

why would you change anything on the Flyer if you have a PRO rig as well?

If it helps you help me, we have two rigs, two operators, and like the flexibility of being able to double book and/or choose the small rig for lower budget / small camera shoots. The flyer bottom stage is at its EOL right now and we would like to replace it with something more functional; furthermore, we are very interested in the fact that the MK-V parts are interchangeable and can eventually be migrated from the flyer to the pro rig or another rig.

There might be a reason you can't find much on them.

 

I suggest that there are better places to be spending your money

Do you have any suggestions, we would like to hold onto the flyer. We already have a pro rig for bigger jobs and love having the flyer for smaller jobs.

Try talking to Karen or Ashley at MK-V they are nice people and up to date on the different products...

 

ash@mk-v.com or karen@mk-v.com

 

BR

 

flemming

I've been emailing back and forth for over a week now, they are in the UK, and the response time is pretty slow, it's been hard to make out details of the products on the description pages and from the email responses. So I was hoping someone made actual reviews with photos and in depth description :(

I'm looking for reviews on some of the MK-V upgrades, specifically the Genesis monitor arm (can't find a thing about it), the "flyer upgrade" base system (on Flyer as well as Pro system)? Not having much luck with Google or the search engine here.

Hey Michael,

 

I made it a little further in than Eric did, up to the 6 minute mark in fact.

 

if i'm being very honest I would have to agree with Eric, if you plan to make this a career for yourself at some point, i'd be very conscious about having such a cringe-worthy video online coming up in google searches next to my name.

 

I would recommend you buy yourself the Steadicam Operators handbook, take a workshop (or ideally both).

 

Take that video offline.

 

Once you have read the book at least twice and hopefully taken a workshop or gotten advice from an experienced professional operator, then I would go back to basics on the theory of steadicam, be more accurate with your balancing, it doesn't look like you've achieved proper static balance with the rig at this point which is one of the most basic fundamentals of steadicam, along with your operating this probably contributing to your skewed horizons.

Learn to FLY the rig, not push it with your hands, which is what you appeared to be doing for the most part, this in turn will enable you to not have to grip the gimbal as tightly, a common issue which i'm sure everyone (myself included) does a lot of in the beginning.

Have some purpose to your shots and your framing, what is your start frame, what is your end frame, what is the shot size etc etc.

 

I hope you take this constructively as it is intended and again I can't overstate the importance of taking a workshop and reading the book or getting some time alongside an experienced operator.

 

Good luck.

Thanks,

I haven't done a workshop yet but I've read the first six sections of the steadicam handbook twice (from what I can see, these are the sections that are most important to start), and I've also read the SOA workbook.

This is definitely not a show reel. It's just a shot showing what I've done and where I'm screwing up a lot, and only meant for criticism. I am working on balancing as best I can. I know it was statically balanced before I started the shoot, but I think there were other circumstances making it difficult, including trouble getting my vest to remain completely in place. I am training with a near 4-second drop time.

I understand that steadicam is just a tool and that I have other artistic qualities to worry about as well. I'm working on improving in both areas.

Sorry I couldn't make it past 20 seconds.

 

You need to step back and ask yourself if you should really be posting videos like this.

I am learning to use a tiffen steadicam rig and this is the newbie forum, so I figured that if there was anywhere on the internet to go to then this would be the place right? I'm not sure what you mean by the first 20 seconds, but if you mean the wobble and all-over-the-place shot then it is because I had just hit record and started bouncing around the camera to make sure everything was in place and levels were being kind to me. If you just mean that I shouldn't waste my time asking for any tips or criticism right now then let me know.

I forgot to mention, I am using a steadicam flyer rig and a canon 5D mark II

I've just started training steadicam and have gotten used to balancing my rig and flying the steadicam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwsV1JSo8Wg&feature=plcp

I'm rough in pretty much every area, and this is my first attempt at doing a video. This is my first time up and down stairs and through any tight spaces, first time outdoors, first time running. Lot of firsts.

-definitely need to work on horizontal

-need to work on head space

-stop bumping into things

Critique would be great

I'm excited to be a part of steadicamming!