Eric Young

The first bit was true as far as their motors are concerned but there absolutely was NO feud. It came down to the pricing. Viewfactor wanted to make it available to a larger market at an amazingly low price point. But refusing to compromise build quality or reliability, manufacturing costs were only able to be reduced to a point. Given that they have to make some profit off it, it did not make sense to sell it through RED with even the small markup for RED reselling, as that would've brought the price above Viewfactor's target pricing. This is good for the customer - the direct selling model minimises the cost for us!

Hello Did a search, but surprised not to find any posts asking or answering my specific question. Can any UK based operators recommend pro-active Film/TV/Media savvy accountant and solicitors - preferably based in or near central London? I mean pro-active in the sense that they not only do what I ask them to, but will also actively suggest ways of reducing costs, maximising revenue and claiming back tax and allowances, etc. I am currently thinking seriously about setting up a company, initially just for operating as a freelance lighting camera/Steadicam operator, but eventually also being a production company. I would like financial and legal advice & assistance for the setup of the company, and hopefully a long term mutually beneficial business relationship. Thanks for any leads! Eric

If you find a solution, please post the solution and an exact description of the problem here. Would be useful. :)

Unlikely to see the big stuff cross the pond, but some of the smaller aks might. Do you have serial numbers for the accessories too - might help.

Those kind of pawn shops are little better than fences for the scumbags that stole your kit. :( Good luck on your insurance claim.

Thank you very much Benjamin! Jess. This has just been a tentative enquiry on behalf of someone else, so not sure about where the rig is coming from or what they intend to do about the monitoring yet, but was also interested in the answer myself.

I am enquiring about the XCS Ultimate Sled power out connectors pin-outs as I can't find them on XCS's website. A shoot is coming up shortly where it's intended to mount the new Red One digital cinema camera on an XCS Ultimate Sled, and want to power the Red off the sled. Making up our own power cables as the Red One uses a non-standard LEMO power connector. Also, what is the maximum rated current output of the power outputs? Thanks for any information. Regards Eric

"Glad you are having fun with your Flyer, mind you that PAG Superpack is a bit of a lump! I am with Chris on this one, most likely cause of the pressure as described is loose chest straps allowing the front spar to drop forwards and twist the waist band into your stomach/bladder area. Loose chest straps also allow the spar to move sideways meaning that you have to use excess trim on the socket block for anything close to comfort." Hi Robin Hope you are keeping well. Actually the PAG Superpack was just right for the job. Higher capacity than the C50 Cobalts, and the extra weight compensated for the lighter Endura 10 in the second position, so that the gimbal wasn't too high up the post. Thanks for the advice - I did tighten up the chest straps, but obviously not enough - it's the first time flying a bigger camera on the Flyer, so never had occasion to really push the limits of the rig before. Will try it out next time and see if that was the problem. Thanks again. Eric

There are no audio cables down the post - just video and DC power.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of me in the HDX900 setup. It may have been something about my vest adjustment or form, but just had zero time on the shoot to troubleshoot. I only really felt the soreness after the first looong day after winding down. As a matter of interest, Chris, what is your recommended adjustment process for the Flyer vest? How tight do you make the chest straps? Cheers Eric PS to post pics, I need to host the image file somewhere else and insert a URL in my post that points to it - is that correct?

Cheers Matt. Hope you're well! :)

Well an HDX900 worked on the Flyer OK, but the vest was uncomfortable. The arm was maxed out, floating around horizontal or just below. Balanced with no real problem, and the gimbal wasn't topping out. The front of the vest dug into me at the bottom. Couldn't find an adjustment to make it more comfortable - it really needs a wider bit of metal at the bottom so that the pressure spreads across the pelvis rather than digging into the bladder area! Could improvise something I suppose, but didn't have time on the hectic shoot. I was using a heavier higher capacity PAG Superpack 13.2V battery to power the Steadicam rig instead of my usual compact PAG C50 Cobalt 14.4V, but this was balanced out by the lighter IDX Endura 10 V-mount battery I was using to power the camera in place of the usual second C50 Cobalt. A Sennheiser EW radio mic was gaffered onto the camera handle, and I had a Teletest video transmitter and Canford video distribution amplifier velcroed onto the PAG. No viewfinder, mic or battery on the camera.

The limiting factor is the internal diameter of the Flyer post, and it's only 11mm, so you won't get a 6pin firewire connector down there, and would probably be out of luck with even a 4pin firewire connector. Your only sensible option would be to run the thinnest firewire cable you could find without connectors, then wire third party connectors on afterwords. As I said you would have to strip out the internal connector block inside the bottom of the post where the battery power cable is split to feed the monitor and the power connector on the camera plate at the top of the post. It practically fills the bore of the Flyer post and probably wouldn't allow another cable to fit through. The top specified limit of camera kit that the Flyer can fly is 15lbs. But remember you can power the camera off the Flyer battery with the right connectors and cables, and the Flyer has it's own 7" 16x9 monitor. Disclaimer: any dismantling of the Flyer would void any warranty if new, and might well do serious expensive damage to your rig. Proceed at your own risk!!

Thanks Erik, thanks Chris. :)

Hey Matt Long time! How you doing? Did you break out of music vids yet? My plan is not to overload, just max it out! :P