JamieSilverstein

Two Thoughts. 1) The more you plug and unplug that massive lemo connector on the base of your sled and the more you thread and un-thread the mount, the greater the risk of damage . Damage means down time. Down time means no rental. No rental means no money......... 2) Sled sock, sled sock , sled sock.

Twojay, I had my bearings upgraded, mostly by accident, due to a fall on the beach that resulted in the arm going back to Tiffen and being cleaned out. The new bearings are nice, but honestly I liked the arm prior to the fall as well. Is it the best arm out there? Probably not, but do operators make wonderful shots with that arm as well as the PRO, not to mention the steadyrig arm, satchler arm, and how about the tried and true 3A? I miss any? The answer is yes. Good operators make great shots with all of the above arms, some of those shots might even be considered epic or classic. My point is that no one is happy about the bearing issue, and IMHO I think that Tiffen handled it poorly at best, not making any concessions to those who had purchased the arms in good faith, believeing that they were fully competent pieces of machinery. HOWEVER, the G50 and G70 are pretty good arms, that with the right operator can make help that operator make pretty darn good images and serve that operator for many years to come. Let's move on.

Philip; Steve Zuch can do it, but it isn't that cost effective. Hope that helps. Jamie

Even more motivated................. $5500.00. It doesn't get any better than that.

Selling my Frameline generator which is in very good shape and has seen limited use in the last several years. It is identical to the FLG If you are interested, please feel free to make me an offer. Thanks Jamie 917 796 4217

I agree. The Bartech quality and service are great. And going 2nd hand is a great way to start building your kit.... Once you have gained lots of experience, and you know exactly what is going to work for you, then you might want to purchase new gear, although much of mine is from other operators (Daniel Sauve/Klaassen vest # 19). Jamie

Ahhh Will you are just trying to make me jealous...... Hope you and the family are well too. Jamie

Still motivated........ $6000.00

Hey; I'm doing a movie starting next week with an Alexa, using the full sized Hawk lenses. DP wants to use these lense on the steadicam....... We've been through it a lot already so I have agreed. Should I just use a long silding base plate between the camera and my plate to find a good balance point, or is there a camera plate on the market that can be recommended besides Baer-Bel's plate, which will take too long to ship. Thanks for any and all suggestions. Jamie

I'm a little motivated, so lets say $6500.00 OBO.........

Hi; I'm selling my tried and true Bartech 2 channel analog system. Included are; 1 Focus Transmitter, with antenna 1 Iris transmitter, with antenna 1 Bartech F/I Bracket 2 receivers , with antennae 1 Cinewidget bracket for the receivers to connect to sled. 2 M-One motors with bushings, all of the gears, and a cable for each motor. 1 M-One dog bone with assorted length posts. Cables include: 1 Arri on/off 1 PV on/off 1 12 pin sony on/off 2 PRO power cable 1 XLR power cable 3 2 pin to 2 pin Lemo bridge cables (powering one receiver from the other). 1 Longer motor cable 3 3 pin Lemo to BNC cables (hardwire) I am asking $6500.00 Feel free to call or text me. Thanks Jamie 917 796 4217

I have a couple of dead dionics as well.

Hi Tim I have a complete system available. Feel free to give me a call at 917 796 4217 Thanks Jamie

Sounds interesting. I'm interested.

I was talking to Alec earlier, actually worked tandem steadicam job this past several days with Alec and he was touting the upgrade. Peaked my interest. Am I too late for the pre-order?

Brian; I guess my point is not really about the value of the arm. It's a tool to use for work, on to speculate on. But when you buy a product, you want a company to firmly stand behind that product. I don't believe that CP and then Tiffen did or have. In two separate instances, I have been effected by the design problems inherent in the arms made by CP and then Tiffen, so I have first hand knowledge and in the first instance paid a very handsome price to have the issue resolved. The solution is quite simple from my perspective and never addressed by Tiffen. Contact the users of the product and work with them to make sure that they are happy. Plain and simple. Admit to the flaw, correct the flaw if necessary and ultimately have customers that feel like they are being respected. EVERY CUSTOMER, not just the ones who spent their riches on a full boat rig, but those as well who have only purchased an arm. Not just the heavy hitters and hot shots, but the guys who do less high profile projects as well. It's called customer service. Just my 2¢.

Alec couldn't have expressed it any better. Tiffen has had bumps in the road when it comes to arms. I know, I owned a Masters, paid dearly to get it upgraded when the elbows started to show hairline cracks. Unfortunately wasn't one of the operators who had upgrades given or offered them by Tiffen. It was a problem that I had to deal with myself and sort of solved thanks to the fine work of Rob Luna. And that didn't really make the arm better, it just insured that the arm wouldn't self-destruct. The Masters arm was very difficult to balance out and often the bone next to the vest would lock. I really didn't have much fondness for the arm. Did I learn? Nah. I was cheap and opted to save several thousands on another Tiffen arm. The G70 was about $4000.00 less than the PRO when I purchased it. It was good but maybe not as good as the PRO..... But that $4000 was big..... Baby needed new shoes. My G70 is Ok. Yes I see my foot steps at times, but it's better than the Masters. Stiction????? Can't really say, but another complaint about another Tiffen arm doesn't make me feel any better. Here's the issue. When you consider the history of the Tiffen Arms, they are far far far from flawless, and now with an admitted problem with the first generation of G70s, the response by Tiffen is to put out a A NEW ARM. That to me is an admission that the G70 wasn't a complete product, but still developing. The subsequent result is a devaluation of the current G70 model, the cycle of an irksome business practice continues. All this time the PRO arm still remains the industry standard, doesn't change or morph, maintains it's value and has a company that stands firmly behind it's well thought out and executed product. If a new model comes out, it's not because the previous is flawed, it's because they have made it that much better. See any difference in philosophy?? I don't believe it's about Jerry or Garrett. It's about a business model. Buy new and then feel compelled to buy a better model when the previous one proves flawed all the while the company is silent not trying to make the original better. The other model is buy a compete product once and trust that the product has been well thought out and tested and will ultimately serve you well for a long time to come. AT THIS POINT, If I were Tiffen I would seriously think about putting profit in their back pocket and makeing sure that each and every G70 owner is as happy as any future G 70X owner, or maybe as happy as any PRO ARM owner. To make that commitment would prove to the Steadicam community that Tiffen cares about the quality of it's products and the people to whom they sell them. Peace.

Chris; Let me know if you have a 7" with mounting yolk and Pro Lemo available for purchase. call me and we can work out the details. Jamie

AND to add to Alec's observations of 4:3 vs 16:9, when putting a 16:9 image into a 4:3 monitor, the 16:9 image becomes smaller to accommodate the narrower monitor size. So unless 4:3 is the medium of choice in your neck of the woods, 16:9 seems to me to be the best way to use all of your monitor's screen size.. Just my 2¢. Jamie

Accidents can be part of the business. HAVING said that, avoiding accidents is the way to prolong ones career and success. Walk a route without the rig a number of times, until you are comfortable with how you are going to attack it. Make sure that the route isn't invaded by an errant sandbag or stand (I nearly lost it all due to a sandbag that wandered into my path as I was backing up with Danny Glover. Luckily, as I was just about to land flat on my back, possibly fracturing my skull, breaking every bone in my body and dashing my rig into a thousand pieces, my rather large and extremely strong 2nd assistant grabbed me from the clutches of near death). Finally don't let ADs or producers force you to rush through a shot just so they can make their day. Things done properly take a little time. The time taken often results in successful shots. Cut that time short and you can potentially seriously harm yourself or others, not to mention look just plain old stupid. Just my 2¢. Jamie

Thanks Chris: I'll try to get some pics. to you next week. The sled and monitor are on a show and I won't be seeing them until Monday. BTW I know that Alec was checking out a monitor of yours. Is it still on the east coast? Jamie

So I have this Hummingbird Blackbird that I am using as my backup and the screen is delaminating. Does anyone have any ideas about what to do about this problem, or where to send it besides David Hable, who kindly offered to take a look? I don't think that Imp or Lumavec are still around so I'm open to suggestions. I tried getting in touch with Lumavec but to no avail. I know the monitor is a virtual dinosaur at this point but I wanted to keep it around as a viable backup for a while. Thanks for any thought or ideas. Jamie

Rod; If you haven't already gotten in touch with him, Jay Dalton, makes, sells, and I believe rents rickshaws in the city. He has posted here so you should be able to find his contact info pretty easily. Good luck Jamie

It's 22 days later and I need my monitor news fix. Any progress? Any on the East Coast?