David Kellermann

I guess the key to this misunderstanding is in your last sentence. "as soon as guys use it, many of these guys will list "steadicam operator" on there resume." I think it's perfectly fine to take credit, if you're doing the work. If it's good or bad, that's something completely different. My point was that by not having any good work on the resume to show, owning any kind of steadicam is useless and does not entitles you to call yourself a steadicam op. Of course, the same applies to camera owners calling themselves cinematographers. Anyway, I didn't posted here in the first place to insult you nor to get insulted myself. I wanted to clear up the intention of this group buy and ask for advice and if some of your members are willing to host paid workshops. But obviously, a normal conversation isn't possible in this thread. It's quite a pity since otherwise your forum seems to work quite well, I might even say similar to REDuser.net :)

There is an 850USD RED alternative. It's called a DSLR.

Hey, I'm the guy to blame for this group buy. I was browsing this forum to find some information about other rigs and stumbled on this thread. I do believe that most of you got this whole approach the wrong way. This group buy is supposed to give REDuser members, who can't afford to hire professional operators with rigs, the opportunity to accomplish rather stabilized shots (in contrast to hand held shots) in their own no budget projects. Think of it this way: you have a nice idea for a short film you could shoot with friends over the weekend, but other than a steadicam no camera equipment, since you normally work on jobs where these items are provided. Would you rather not shoot the clip or go with a cheap DSLR? Nobody (or at least I hope so) will call himself a steadicam operator, just because he purchased this rig. As this rig definitively has many short comings, we used the size of our group to ask for modifications of this rig. Their might be some REDuser mebers, who act sometimes rude or exhibit strong fan-boy behavior. But hey, they are not alone: