joe mcnally

Thomas whats wrong with the latest offering from Tiffen Ultrabrighty style ? What about the Panasonic HD 8" ishy. Ive been using Panasonics 7" for many many years and have been very happy. Yes they are rubbish but light, low power, cheap and multi use. I still carry a green screen with me for confidence but very rarely get it on the rig. Gotta say that my old mod 111 3" green screen is unbeatable in terms of green screen, bright as a button and sharp as a pin and no noise and 25 years old, thankyou David at Marell. Howard's LCD is superb has all the little things you may miss if you do not have them like tally input and light built in. Still think that the 7" Panasonic that I mentioned on this forum must be 5 years ago is still king of price and performance. Hope this all confuses you Love Joe

Hi Ben I thought I had the Flyer concession for the Lambeth area covered, drat. Yes the gimbal should be smooth in all axis and sounds like a problem. BTW the spring from my Flyer arm dropped out the other day a bit scarry to say the least but something to watch out for. At the bottom end of each spring is pin held in with a grub screw that has a bit of varnish or loctite or something to keep it in. Well one of these grub screws had worked its way out and the pins then fell apart. Not too tricky to fix after staring at the thing for an hour or so. My Flyer has gone off to the wilds of Namibia for 3 weeks so will be interesting to see how it holds up What did you think of the HDV cam ? Next time you are in the Brixton area please make sure you obtain a daily Lambeth Flyer license from our office please. Easy now joe

My Ultra has an external knob to easily adjusts the horizon. I am sure it would be a breeze to retofit to an older model. Hi to lo in seconds superb. Joe mc

Hi Job you could try Markus at Baer Bel http://www.baer-bel.de/ They have any bracket you may need Is it for the monitor or for docking or something else ? Good Luck Joe

Hi Thomas I think the nose pin would be too low for normal rigging. The full mast and bumper are great. Yes on the Junior cart there is a risk of the whole thing tipping up. I usually put all my bits and pieces, batteries etc on the cart first then build the rig. I would definitely get the bigger wheels as they are a lot more gentle on the whole set up in terms of vibration also better for getting up and down obstacles. A couple of things I do not like about the Magliner are the braking system, mine stopped working after about a week. I have modified it by inserting a large thumb screw to lock against the wheel this is slow though so would like to hear of any other solutions. Also need to modify the area where the Steadicam mast fits with the cart as if you try to lift the cart from the mast handle there is a great danger of the mast falling out. Just needs a couple of pins, ahh if only there where 25 hours in a day. Overall though I am very very happy with the whole set up

Thanks Paul I'll order some over the next few days, all predictions are for severe winter in UK, niiice. Did you get a definitive answer regarding spraying into already greased/lubricated parts. I am still not clear. joe

Blimus The two screws that hold the titanium dovetail to the back of the breast plate of Master series vests is another thing worthy of regular checks Joe McNally

Hi Paul just wondered if the ACF50 is a similar product to WD40 ? BTW I was working in North Wales last week with a young actress whose parents are your neighbours, small world ! Joe McNally

Jason believe me forget about recelling. This is what you do for a living. Ring up PAG UK get a little trade in discount and buy brand new and go out with confidence. Joe

(i also heard a few years back that tiffen was going out of business, then the started selling steadicam,,,, hmmmm has it finally happened???) Your beginning to scare me !!!! Ultra that does not work with Alien then Tiffen bite the dust, pass me the revolver joe

Hi Chris I know you wanted cold weather tips for here's one for mild weather, showers and sunshine. Be very careful when covering up a CRT with Polythene or the like as its great for keeping the rain off but when the sun comes back out be sure to take it off the CRT as it acts like a greenhouse and your monitor can get very, very hot. The original CP Master raincovers I find are too rigid. Get a range of sizes of Polythene bags, Van Diesel for the pop promos and Ted Baker for the dramas, some zip ties and away you go, custom made to fit any rig from your local high street. Joe

Hi Greg not sure if it's true that the Zoe 11 does not work on digital lens. I think you are saying it has no use on the Film style TV lens with no built on servo for zoom. My Zoe 11 works on all the digital lens I have used, Canon J11, Fuji A10 and 13. The Zoe also has a tiny centering pot for any troublesome TV lens.

That'll be a lightweight cable for the Zoe 11 then please :D

Hi Thomas have you tried Paul Edwards ? Mike Scott ? How about Andre Austin ? His work on Waking the Dead is very strong. As you know we have been doing some informal sessions/get togethers at my place with various levels of operators and there is always something to be learned or broken. How about we find a good venue and have a day with a few of us UK ops ? Have you booked the Malibu workshop ? Cheers Joe

Hi Matt I had The Rig on approval for a few weeks and I was very impressed. Lots of versatility. Very strongly made. Green screen superb as are the frame line and bubble. Give a call if you want more specific info. I am now UK rep for Baer Bel rig definitley worth considering if you are in the market for something new I have the full rig, arm, vest, accessories and sled in London so if you get a chance come over and have a look. Cheers Joe

Yes Guido I agree it is a little thick but not much diferent than the J7 and that has not been much problem to me. Also I like the idea of the cable being reasonably robust as they do get tugged occasionally. Joe

Thanks Thomas very informative. Who are the act ? Will we see the finished piece soon ? Joe

Hi Thomas did you power it off the sled ? Was it on a dimmer ? Did you take pics ? Cheers Joe Mc

I have recently bought the Zoe 11 from Bebob. Well made unbreakable plastic, they say. Zoom rate pot on the side. Return button and camera start stop, zoom centering pot, no we spell it that way in UK. Not cheap. UK £370-00. Been through 3 x J7's what can I tell you ? Joe McNally

Hi Benjamin I have a Baer Bel sled a Mod 111 and an Ultra. If you do the initial set up with the Mickey balancing the various masses fore and aft and side to side then make some educated guesses re placement of the monitor then when I put any of my rigs on I can be reasonably sure it will be pretty well balanced statically and dynamically. The point is the Mickey will help you get pretty close you can still do the spin test of course if you feel like it but for all practical purposes it is balanced. As Jerry Holway suggests if it is out of dynamic balance a quick tweak of the camera, about .75"behind post, and battery should help and this should take minutes. To quote Jerry Holway he also suggests that the monitor and battery and other masses should be lined up "all one has to do is keep the c.g.s in one vertical plane" The Mickey can help to achieve all the above recommendations from Jerry Holway. I am no expert on all this I just know from experience that the Mickey works for me. Might be worth mentioning again I have an interest in Baer Bel products Cheers Joe

Hi Jason have you seen this device called the Mickey ? http://www.baer-bel.de/Web/index2.htm After you have set the rig up with this there is generally no need to do a spin test as you can be confident the rig is in reasonable dynamic balance. If you would like a demo please give me a call. I repesent this and other Baer Bel products in the UK Up the Seasiders Joe McNally

Hi Andre and Richard the Genio Follow Focus is still quite popular in Europe and still going strong. Bar Bel do indeed sell the film and light weight video dovetails with 15mm or 19mm rods for mounting motors etc. http://www.baer-bel.de/Web/index2.htm If you want a demo of these or any other Bar Bel products in UK please give me a call Cheers now Joe McNally

Hi Marcelo If you are doing a shot where there may be a chance of falling. good thing to have in your kit is a good pair of Knee and elbow protectors like skateboarders have even wrist protectors if you can bear them. Joe McNally

Thanks Rob I thought I had downloaded everything but must of missed the pin out page. Cheers Joe

Thanks for the info James and Robin. Robin, good to see you the other night and hoped you enjoyed the Alvin Lee gig. I probably will bring it over when I get a spare moment and yes I agree the bearing thing needs expert attention. I had to do an on site repair once on the Master rig managed to get the bearing race back in again and held for a day or two then off to Robin. Anyway I would still like to take off the top cover and take a little peak to see if it may be something other than the bearings is this possible without disturbing the bearing arrangement or anything else catastrophic ? James, I do not know if it has been on its side as I have purchased the rig pre owned. There does not seem to be any evidence of any mis use or scratching or anything. One other request do you know the configuration of the 6 pin hirose monitor output ? I have been tutoring a couple of new operators and yesterday whilst adjusting the tilt of the 5" monitor it came off in one of the guys hands, had a reasonably soft landing but ripped the curly 6 pin lead clean out. I have managed to solder it all back together by copying the other end that was intact but thought it might be useful to know whats on each pin. Is this a one off with the Ultra arc or has it happened to anyone else ? Thinking of putting a little safety chain on it for the future as I cannot see any real fault apart from maybe a little too much pressure being put on it. Thanks again for previous advise. James, I liked your tribute to Mr Edmund DiGiulio Joe