Scott Monk

85mm Lens is Sold.

PL Mount. All lenses in Pristine Condition. No Scratches. No Dust. No Fungus. No Cleaning Marks. CPs - $1,500 each. Schneider - $2,000. PayPal - buyer pays shipping + fees. PM me for more pics.

Dan, Selling my Zephyr. It has beefier power & video lines/connectors upgraded by Terry West, extra battery hanger, more extras. Sent you a PM Regards, Scott

There are no $4500 Aero 30 units for sale, unless you're talking used - then they're a LOT cheaper. New with a battery option, they are mostly $5,250 - then add shipping and maybe sales tax. Here is a used Gold mount zephyr on eBay today w/low mode bracket with a Buy it Now price of $5,200. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p3984.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xsteadicam+zephyr.TRS0&_nkw=steadicam+zephyr&_sacat=0 I assure you that any attaching you can do on an Aero 30, you can do on a Zephyr and you'll also have a more flexible rig. There's a reason why new Aero 30s sell for about half of the price of a new Zephyr.

Francisco is right. Also, the Aero 30 may spec-out at 20 lb payload, but when you actually try to fly that weight, you will find your post needs to be fully-extended and it will vibrate. The Zephyr will vibrate also when the post is fully extended flying heavy loads. But with the Zephyrs extra battery plate option, you can add more weight to the bottom of the sled so you can shorten the post. I've posted recently how I had mounted a two-into-one hot-swap battery plate to my Zephyr's add-on battery plate and flown the rig with two big V-Mounts (240 WH) on it. That allowed me to fully shorten the post when flying a Red One camera build with several add-ons and a 5-lb Cine Xenar lens. In one case, I actually mounted a Red hard drive to one side of the hot-swap plate to get more weight off the top stage and onto the bottom, and used a 6-ft drive cable bongo-tied to the post. It worked great; no vibration and my post was only extended about one inch. For the same money (or less) as an Aero 30, you can get a used Zephyr that is much more flexible to configure. Not to mention, it's max payload is about 3 lbs higher. That 3 lbs doesn't sound like much, but it can make a big difference.

I use the Marshall V-LCD70XP-3GSDI, as I stated in a thread above. It's not too expensive, you can find them on eBay fairly frequently and they can be used with the Sturm CG Yoke (see above). If you go that route, be sure you buy a Marshall with the mounting blocks on the side of the case. Good Luck, Scott

Sander, Before you spend a lot of money on this, purchase a few small, cheap weight plates from the local sporting goods store. Try tying them (one at a time, and firmly- so they don't move) to the sled with bongos or gaff tape. Try small plates in the 1 - 2 kilo range to see if it helps. For maximum effect, mount them as low on the bottom of the sled as you can. Regards, Scott

Sander, At 9 kilos, you're flying close to the specified max of the Aero 30. Is your sled fully extended? My experience with the Zephyr is that if you fully extend the small-post-diameter sleds (standard procedure if you're flying big weight), your going to frequently get vibration like that. You can easily check if it's your camera plate. Try jiggling it with your fingers. If it doesn't move, it's not the plate. Do the same with other components on the top stage. If they don't move, they are not the problem. if you suspect your post is vibrating due to being fully extended, shorten it for this load by adding more weight to the bottom. Bongo-tie or gaff tape some weight to the bottom where the sled is still in static/dynamic balance, but the sled is not extended at all, or only slightly extended. I got around the problem on my V-mount Zephyr by adding a 2-into-1 battery plate (aka, hot-swap plate), so I could add 2 batteries, adding more weight to the bottom of the sled. I then used two large (240 wh) V-mounts with the plate. That enabled me to fly a fully-built Red ONE camera without the sled extended at all. My vibration problem went away.

I keep spares of all stage hardware, and check the stage frequently - especially when flying heavier builds on the Zephyr. Never had a problem (yet). Although, I don't really fly the Zephyr much anymore unless it's small camera jobs.

Dominik, I've literally flown a 29-lb camera package on my Zephyr, with enough counter-weight on the bottom of the sled to only extend the post 1 inch, and the Zephyr arm did not bottom out (but it was close). I know the Tiffen people all say not to do that, but it works. On my Zephyr arm, anyway. Would I do it as a common practice? No. When I stepped up to flying bigger camera builds more often, I went to the Ultra 2.

Here is a photo of the CG monitor yolk on the rig. Mine was made by Frederick Sturm. here's his post talking about it. You can contact him. http://www.steadicamforum.com/index.php?showtopic=20074

Dominik, If the Zephyr has the Marshall V-LCD70XP-3GSDI, that's a good monitor, in my opinion. I have a Zephyr with that monitor and, although I don't really use it anymore, I've flown Alexa Studios, Minis, even a 29-lb Red One build with no problems. That Optimo should not be a problem, but it depends on what else you're hanging on your camera build. Zooming will affect your trim, but you'll have the same problem in any rig you fly, regardless of cost. Lisa's right - it's your technique that will keep the shot level if balance changes a little, not the rig you are flying. Also, like she said, you really should get the CG monitor yolk for the Zephyr. I have one, and it makes tilting the monitor a breeze - no re-balancing. One thing you want to do with the Zephyr, though - get the add-on battery hanger plate. It allows you to add more weight to the bottom of the sled and avoid extending the post - as well as providing more power for bigger cameras. The Zephyr will vibrate if you fly a heavy build and try to balance it by extending the post a lot. I added a 2-into-1 battery adapter plate (aka, hot swap plate) to my add-on battery hanger, and flew the Zephyr with 2 batteries on the expansion, as well as the one battery on the stock battery plate. That weight makes a big difference when flying heavy builds. Avoid extending the post much, if at all possible. BTW...I'm willing to sell my Zephyr if you're interested. The power wiring has been upgraded by Terry West to handle the bigger cameras without killing your sled batteries. It also has multiple HD video lines added. Good Luck, Scott

Actually, my plate didn't have the diode mod; I had to add it myself. But Chris is right - you'll have to add a rectifier diode to prevent back-charging. I noticed I didn't have it when the charging LEDs would light up on one of my Red Bricks when I had one mounted with other batteries. The info on DIY-ing the mod is somewhere here on the forum.

I use one. As you probably know, the Lemo pigtail on the 2nd plate plugs into the connector at the bottom of the sled so it can pair up with the standard battery holder. The switch on the plate puts the two batteries in parallel or serial. If you get the pin-outs straight on the Lemo, and recreate the switch pole wiring, you could make your own with the parts you have.

Joseph, I've been using BCB V-mount batteries exclusively for 5 years. I've got 8 of them in all power capacities. They're great and I've never had a problem with them, and they even have versions for the RED cameras that report battery condition on the monitor. I recommend the higher watt-hour models for their higher discharge capacity and extra weight on the rig to help balance bigger camera builds. Regards, Scott