Carl Perkins

A producer/camera op who says he has done some glidecam operating wants to rent a small video rig for 1 day. He will be working at the NAM convention in Anaheim and would like to get the gear delivered to his hotel or the convention center. He is willing to cover the gear under his insurance. If anyone out there has a SK or ProVid type rig and is interested, get in touch with me and I will connect you with the producer. Carl 760-822-7510

I kan put on an anton bauwer battery and the MA-200 Shoulderlean/pad (shity english sorry) that adds about 1 - 1,5 Kg to the xl1s, do you think that will do? Rob, I can't remember exactly how much weight is needed to get the springs in the arm to start working, but I think you need for the camera and stuff at the top of the sled to be at least 10 pounds ( I don't know the kg conversion). As long as the arm springs are being stretched and the arm can sit at a near parallel to the ground it should be good. Also, have a friend help you to try different vest adjustments until it is like a part of your body and that will rtake a lot of pain out of operating. It is hard to adjust the vest yourself while wearing it, so find someone willing to tighten it as you wear it.

I started out my steadicam career with an SK rig. I mostly worked with Betacam cameras, but did work with a few XL1's on independent film projects. The XL1 camera doesn't weigh enough to activate the arm springs. If you don't already have a weight cage or other means of adding weight to the camera, it will be hard to operate properly. Also make sure your vest is adjusted for a proper, snug fit. A loose or improperly adjusted vest can add much pain to operating. The pendulum effect is when the sled base swings (like a pendulum) when you are operating. If the sled is balanced properly and operated properly the sled should stay vertical while you are operating. If you can take a class, you will learn all this much faster. You just have to keep practicing, it takes time to be a good steadicam operator.

Hi John, Maybe the sled I was using wasn't a V-16, the arm I was using had V-16 graphics on it, but the sled was unmarked. But this one didn't have any side to side adjustment and the fore/aft wasn't at the back. The sled I used only had 4 hand tightening bolts (2 on each side) that were loosened to allow the top plate to slide forward and backward within a bottom plate. The centerpost was attached to the center of the bottom plate with no options for adjustments. Maybe the sled was from a different model rig.

Congratulation Howard, Kelly and Rowan! All the best to your growing family.

I began my Steadicam career with a Steadicam SK model and now I own a professional rig, half Steadicam brand and half MK-V brand. And just recently I took a job using a rig that was not mine (first ever). The company owns a Glidecam V-16, so that is what I operated. My thoughts on the V-16 are that it is harder to operate because of the lack of adjustability for balance and performance. There is a front/back adjustment under the camera, but no side to side adjustment. The video cable to the monitor doesn't run inside the centerpost, must go old style from camera down front to monitor. It was difficult for me to get the gimbal in the right spot so tilting was easy. The arm is only a single stage of springs and a solid stage and was always too high for proper headroom framing. I had to push the arm down to get better framing, which makes smooth moves more difficult as my pressure takes away from the arms performance. Overall it is very dificult to do fine tuning with the V-16. They provide a bunch of metal washers to adjust balance at the bottom stage of the sled, which takes a lot of effort to get right. If you use the same camera all the time, you may be able to find the proper setup, but if you will be using different cameras for each job, I think you will have troubles with the proper setup for each camera. If you are able to borrow a V-16, why not try it, but if you are thinking of purchasing a rig, I would strongly suggest getting a low end Steadicam model. It will be easier for you to use and you will be a better operator and you will be on the right track to using a professional rig someday. Try to get a Flyer or SK when you buy something. I could not wait for that job to be over and get that V-16 off of me.

The Chappelle stabalizer looks so easy, even a caveman could do it! Maybe he should spend another $2.50 and buy a small buble level and a drop of glue, but that would double the cost of making the rig. Carl

Brian, When I use a light video camera I put a battery on the camera and one at ther bottom of my sled, but when using a heavy video camera like the F900 I don't use a battery on the camera. You can just have a battery or two on the bottom of the sled and a 12v 4 pin will supply power to the camera from the battery down below. The battery is still a part of the weight consideration, but it is part of the sled weight not the camera weight. When weighing the video camera for steadicam use you can weigh it without the battery on the camera. Then weigh your sled with the battery or batteries. Use this weight combination to determine if your arm, gimbal and vest are adequate for the combined weight. As Erwin said, it is always better to have a system that won't be maxed out with the camera you will be using. Carl

I have an arm that will carry up to 45 pounds and I have it set at about 30-35 pounds when I use the F900. If you are using the F900 with a video zoom lens, mattebox, HD-NTSC converter and 1 lens control motor and don't have a battery on the camera (battery on bottom of sled). To determine if the arm will carry the weight you also have to factor in the weight of the sled with the battery and monitor. It should be possible to use the Provid sled, but you may need to get a stronger arm. I don't know the details of the Provid system, but I have carried the F900 a few times. It is just a little heavier than a betacam. Carl Perkins

Are there any Handsfree Transporters being used at the World Cup? It seems like covering soccer would be a great use for the Handsfree. The hard mount would make it easy to be ready the entire game.

I had heard for a while now that Robert repaired arms, but I never knew that Robert is making his own brand new version of the 3a arm. He is making arms from scratch with his improvements for under $10,000, I think the weight range is 35-75 pounds. I went to his house and he didn't have one there at the time, but I am going to see him again and check out his arm. Like Jeff said, Robert does great work, so the arm must be nice. And thanks again Erwin for the help getting in touch with Robert Luna for my repairs. And thank you to Erwin Landau and Jon Meyers for responding to my call for help and offering their arms to a fellow operator in need.

Praise to Robert Luna for having all the cables on hand that I needed to fix my arm quick and do the job on 6/6/06. Did anyone know Robert makes and sells an arm?

I just found out that the cables attached to one of my springs have worn through the plastic sleeve and have some fray in them. I have a job on Tuesday and need to get 2 new cables for my CP black spring arm or rent an arm from someone near Culver City for Tuesday. I would love to find the cables and fix my arm....anyone know where I can buy these cables in LA Monday? If not......Anyone have an arm to rent me for Tuesday? Preferably near Culver City

I think that is what I am going to try, just at the bottom end of my centerpost. I am thinking of making the spacer with a slight flare out at the bottom. So the bottom surface will be slightly wider than the top for added stability.

Just change the post cable to add a few conductors and go with a different Lemo. Problem solved. also look to see if you have ONE spare conductor, that's all you would need Thanks for more of your knowledge and advice Eric, I will check into that option.