Mike McGowan SOC

I have a Petzl Navaho, I use it a lot and love it... I have a few others but the Petzl is my favorite. http://www.pksafety.com/petzl-navaho-bod-fast-full-body-harness-c710f0.html?cmp=googleproducts&kw=petzl-navaho-bod-fast-full-body-harness-c710f0&gclid=CPavv5nJ0bACFYje4AodDCLtzQ

Just found these two spots I did last month: http://youtu.be/jAx7EEL-gv4 and http://youtu.be/3EeQIfpnrP0 The shots themselves were not that difficult but trying to shoot the second half and match each frame as closely as possible to the previous days work was. Particularly tricky was trying to make the shots last the exact amount of time from beat to beat when one set was a different size and shape than the other. Shot on 35mm with HD video taps. (except for TV, I've seen a lot more 35 this year than last year).

I like the lateral movement. I also think the slightly lower seated position would work well. The smaller profile would be great as well. Down sides seem to be slow speed, inability to go over curbs, stairs, grass, etc. and the fact that it doesn't seem like anybody will be able to own or test one any time soon... Though I'd happily put my name on the list if there was one.

I like having one around most of the time but only really 'use' them when I'm going backwards.

For all the reasons above, Preston... Plus I'd add that my Preston has made me a LOT of money over the past 14 years. Not saying that the C motion is not awesome and will not make you a lot of money but there are a whole lot of operators on this forum that make their mortgage payments in part because of their Preston.

"you can fake operating but you can't fake power"!!!!!!! Awesome line bro! I'll offer a counter point to all of the very good advice given so far..... Don't get a focus unit as you can rent one from almost any rental house and half the AC's in the world. 9 times out of ten on a commercial or a music video the assistant or the DP have put a wireless unit on the camera order. The same can be said for batteries. Most cameras that you will likely be using run on gold mount or v mount batteries. It's super easy to just have the assistant add a few batteries to the order to power your sled. I agree with getting a used PRO sled. The really cool thing about a PRO is that you can upgrade it one piece at a time. I'd find a first gen PRO and make that the main cash purchase. Finally, just get a loan or use a credit card and buy a new PRO arm. You can start with just 4 springs and add the other 4 as need and budget allow. That piece of equipment will quite literally last forever. It is at this moment still the best arm ever made so you will likely never need to upgrade it. I'd argue that most of the working 'big show' operators on this forum have PRO arms and I'd also guess that most Oscar winning movies shot in the last ten years have had steadicam operators that were flying PRO arms. My point here is that it's a very important piece of equipment that will never need to be upgraded or replaced. For the vest either add that to your loan / credit card and get a new PRO vest (which will also last forever and is in the 'as good as it gets'). Or you can buy a used vest for pretty cheap and upgrade to a PRO vest when you can. My answer is not right or wrong, it's just one option. As with anything you have to figure out what the best move is for your specific situation.

Yes, it sounds like a totally kick ass monitor. And having seen both of them you are qualified to make the comparison, I'm not. I'm just saying that whether it's the best monitor ever made or the worst, it is, for somebody like me, who relies on that one piece of equipment to pay my mortgage, above and beyond up to the task. Based on years of field experience, I'm no more worried about my monitor not being good enough or not working than I am worried about my PRO arm for example. And that is a piece of equipment that I would consider as well made and purpose built as any piece of motion picture equipment that exists today. FYI, when I went to buy my new monitor, I did call Cinetronic (and was going to buy one based on your review) but they lead time on the monitor was too long. Boland had my monitor in about a week.

Just to stir the pot a bit, Boland came out with a new monitor (about a year ago?). I've had one for about 6 months and it kicks ass. Now keep in mind that I had the old Boland and loved it (the same one that tanked in the monitor shoot out). The viewing angle and reflective quality of the new Boland is about ten times better than the old one. I used it on a 3D feature that was mostly exterior locations in Miami in the summer in full sun and never had a viewing problem. In fact for balance, I actually had the monitor behind the post for some shots and still had no viewing angle or glare issues. I also just did an Amazing race with it and it handled 85,000k of rough travel and never let me down. I started with a PRO monitor and never had a TB-6 or a Cinetronic monitor. I wouldn't trade my old (sucky by comparison) Boland for anything and the new one is a billion times better than the old. I also dunked the old one in salt water (not splashed, submerged) and it never even stopped working. Cut, rinsed it off, dried it off, kept shooting. It's durable as hell. I don't know how it compares to the Cinetronic but I know it's made me lots of money and never once stopped working on me. Not that it matters but the Boland gets my stamp of approval.

It's easy to get operators to tell you how great the pro arm is and how great their service is (because its true). I'll give an additional pro for the pro arm. It is super durable. Feel free to call pro and ask them what my arm looks like when i send it in for service (once every 3 or 4 years). They will tell you that my arm looks like I use it to plow fields or lay dry wall. I beat the living shit out of my arm, smack it into stuff, submerge it in salt water, mud, sand, etc. I almost never clean it (just send it in on the rare occasion I know I have a chunk of time off). I've taken mine all over the world and in pretty much every possible condition and in has never let me down. It has worked on literally thousands of jobs and made me look like much more of a bad ass than I actually am. The pro arm is a lean mean ass kicking machine. p.s. my pro arm just finished 3 months on a 3d movie where it carried a payload that exceeded it's maximum weight (4 black springs all the way tight) by almost ten pounds. It did this every day for 3 months and never made a sound. It's currently on it's way around the world with me to a dozen or more countries in 3 weeks. It is one piece of equipment that I'm not the least bit worried about. I don't know if it's the right tool for your current situation and budget but if you want to know what the best arm is, the empirical evidence seems to lean pretty heavily toward the PRO.

^^ I actually have some spec op friends (a seal and a ranger). Both of them have put my rig on and neither wanted to wear it for more than a few minutes. Both of them thought it was insanely difficult. Obviously if they had the vest fit properly and were trained in how to wear the rig and had some time in the saddle, they both had potential to be good at it but both agreed it is a very difficult job. That being said, once you learn to wear it and you learn the basics of framing, the art of operating is the life time challenge. I've had more than one old school, ASC camera man tell me that they were good at lighting but would never be great or never be satisfied that they had 'mastered' the craft. I also think that possibly the biggest challenge in operating, particularly steadicam, is managing the set. Making a shot and a crew work together with lights and actors and directors and various equipment and personalities seems to be the thing that really taxes me the most. My 1.5 cents...

Something else you might want to try is keeping your rig balanced but making your drop time very very slow (like 5 or 6 seconds, almost neutral). This will allow you to easily tilt and still maintain balance. But, whatever gets the job done is probably ok.

I'd also flip flop the analogy. I can teach any athletic 18 year old how to run around with a rig, it's the learning to operate that takes a life time.

Not sure what you mean by long term but I've done stage shows where my sled was built for months at a time. On the show I'm doing now it regularly stays built with a 3d beam splitter rig for days at a time. What sort of issues are you worried about?

the bottom has my new super kick ass 8.4 inch boland (blows the old boland away like a bugatti veron vs a pinto). the short pro monitor arm as i don't need any extra front weight. k4 gyro and inverter (which adds necissary weight to the bottom back and provides a little stability from the giant sail of a matte box and 1/4 wave filter up front). anton bauer hc up front and 2 crazy chinese batteries on back. those 2 batteries power: both epics, the 3ality ts5 rig, the k4 gyro and a p tap splitter box powering no less than 4 other boxes and a 4 pin xlr that runs the wireless unit (which transmits the sip both ways and 2 wireless hd signals). those batteries must have some weapons grade plutonium in them becuase even with that load they run the rig (gyros and epic fans spinning at 100%) for fricken ever! the total sled weight is about 82 or 83 lbs plus the pro vest and arm which come in at around 18 lbs. the extra weight is a worth while trade off to have no frickin wires and a cute little gyro keeping me honest. im actually starting to get used to dancing around with the weight and size of this rig, i can't imagine what it will be like to fly a simple alexa with a prime lens again.

The top of the rig. 3alitys ts5 light (im not too sure about the light part). 2 epics, 2 16-42 zooms, 2 focus motors and 2 zoom motors but no iris. 3 AJA boxes, 1 wireless to hard wired preston control box, one clockit box, one sip box (how they control the 3d effect of the rig) and 2 boxes devoted to making the rig wireless. (seems like there is another box or two on there but i cant think of it at the moment).

As promised a few more pictures.

LOL, she basically beats me like a prisoner at GITMO! Lots of body weight, lots of stretching, lunges, squats, pushups, pullups, that kind of stuff. There is also a lot of abb work, lots of cardio and a fair amount of focus on lower back and legs. The workout had more heavy weight at the beginning (3 months before the job started to build size) and now it's low weight with more reps and more cardio. She also does things that work my (fast twitch???) muscles like squat jumps on to a platform. The end result is that I've gained a little size over most of my muscles, lost some weight (mostly mid section fat), gained overall body definition (I look a bit more like an underwear model now than I did when I started) and Ive gained strength, endurance and flexibility. She also tweaked my diet to pretty much totally eliminate processed sugar and reduce carbs and trans fat. I have always done pretty good with fruits and veggies but I do more of that now as well as more protein. I've also gone from 2 to 3 meals per day to 7 to 8 meals per day. I'm more hungry more often, I eat a lot more often (including 2 protein shakes per day) and I continue to loose weight. I guess my body is now working faster that it did when it only needed to process 2 meals per day. The end result is that aside from being able to hold a 100lb rig longer, I feel better and have more energy. Most days after working a 12 to 14 hour day, I go to the gym and do a 45 minute workout before I go home and sleep. I'm also sleeping longer and with better quality. I highly recommend a trainer to everybody on the forum. I have done sports my whole life including fighting mixed martial arts. I've always worked out and I've always been in pretty good shape. But having somebody who's job is to make sure that I'm constantly getting better and making sure I don't make any mistakes is worth their weight in gold........... Not to mention the trainer is a tax write off!

So I went through several variations with the ts5 lightweight. At one point I had my monitor behind the post and upside down with the image inverted to get weight in the back without adding a ton of overall weight. We tried primes and the 16-42 and ended up with the 16-42 mostly because it allows me to do more shots without taking the time to change lenses. My final build is ts-5L with 16-42's, focus and zoom but no iris motors, on 2 epics with both red touch screens coming off the back for ballast. On the bottom I'm using 3 batteries in their standard configuration with my new 8.4 Boland (much more on that later) and a K4 gyro. Basically the K4 does 2 jobs. It adds weight to the bottom and gives me a little help with the mammoth matte box and 1/4 wave filter (aka giant sail) on the front of the rig. The total shooting weight for my PRO sled, 3ality rig and 2 epics in full shooting mode is 79lbs. Add the PRO vest and arm and I'm holding just shy of 100lbs. I spent 3 months with a strength and conditioning coach getting ready for the job and it made a huge difference. I only wish I had been doing that since 1998 when I first picked up a rig, I'd be a ten times better operator today. The weight (while oppressive and mind blowing) is not really the big issue. It's the size of the 3d rig that matters. Basically you double the with of your camera and then double the overall length while putting half of that increased length about 2 inches from your post and gimbal. It greatly limits your every movement in regular mode and makes for a very interesting time to put it mildly in low mode. You know how you sometimes feel like you are walking around the camera in low mode??? 3D makes it several times more difficult. I have done a few walking low mode shots in the movie so far but for the most part if it is any way possible I hard mount to something when going low mode. I'll post some pictures and more review when I get a free minute (I had my second child last month about the same day I started prep). Thanks for all the help, advice and support from Pedro, Nick, Ozzi and Dave, 3D steadicam with a full sized rig is NOT for the faint of heart!

Nice. Get out of the first shot at the 20 second mark. Loose the second shot all together. Loose the second music video all together. Shorten the whole thing by 30 seconds. Like the painting shot and the bridge 180. Music could be a bit stronger but that's just my taste.

I've been prepping a show for a few weeks now in Miami. I call Terry when I'm driving home from the rental house, order my cables and they are there the next morning when I show up. Terry kicks ass.

Sounds like the 15-40 is a great option but they do not have the ability to filter it so for the moment I'm stuck with primes (and more batteries).

Using the carbon fiber rig now (2nd week of prep). Pictures and report to follow once I've had it on set.

Little help plz....... :P

I talked to Ashley about it but it's the old style (2 stage) so you can't easily slide the gimbal on it and it's to flexy for a big ass 3d rig. Id anybody has one (and I know lots of you do) I'd be happy to pay for the HD cable for it if you would rent it to me for a few months...