Keith Wood

I'm with Jerry. If you're a professional shooter, you will often wish that you could be completely INVISIBLE. As a Steadicam op, you will already be attracting the eye because you are moving. Remember also that every color that you wear may reflect light, making the gaffer's job that much more interesting. Shooting TV news, I learned early that one sign of professionalism was to never be the story: "Those who know, don't show. Those who show, don't know." Don't be the guy who's buried under patches, stickers, and lanyard with 48 out-of-date access passes.

Glad this is singing to you! Starting young will work out well if you make this a career.

Jacob, what did you finally do, and how is it working out for you? For the next potential operator who reads this thread: FIRST, before you spend a PENNY on equipment, get some practice, either at a workshop, using someone's rig, or even RENTING one for a test drive. Until you have spent some time working with it, you really don't know that you want to go beyond that one experience. THEN, if this still sings to you, DON'T BUY JUNK. There are good used rigs available at reasonable prices. Spread the word that you're looking for something to start with, and check the ads daily, including craigslist and ebay. You may find a part here and a part there at good prices, but DON'T buy unless they are part of the system that you have decided to build, to support the camera that you intend to fly. For that matter, it may be better to RENT when you need a rig, while you keep your eyes open for the one that's right for you. If you buy junk, you will end up with stuff that you can't sell, can't use, and which has taught you badly. You will have to get rid of everything (including your "skills") and start all over. Don't buy more rig than you think you will need in three years, unless it is close to (or below) the price of the one that you will need. As newer models come out, you may discover that the perfect rig hits the market a year or two from today. If you have bought a rig that's a tier or two above your actual needs, you may be too heavily invested in that platform to be able to make the move, and discover that it's slipped in value far enough that it's more cost effective to keep that instead of moving up to the one that would be best for you.

The only clinkers that I saw were at 3:28 and 3:33, and both were so minor that if I hadn't been watching to see technique I wouldn't have noticed. I would call this a TEXTBOOK example of how to work.

Grab some friends and go do some tests, outside, indoors, through halls of an office building, etc. Try Missionary, Don Juan, Goofy Foot, plain vanilla, ambush, stationary, close, far, low, high, ZZ Top, flyby, whatever you can think of . . .and you will start seeing where you are getting the shots that you want. Have fun doing this, and you may discover some trick that will come back when you need it later. Remember that YOU are the one getting the shot. What you are told by even the most expert operator here is ADVICE, not DIRECTIVE. Everyone has their preferences, and if yours turn out to be exactly like those of Lisa or Jerry, that is merely coincidence. And the only way to know what your preferences are is to drill, and drill, then drill again.

You're moving too much and too fast. The only time that the lens should move is when you have a REASON to do so. What you're doing here is using the shot to show how nimble your stabilizer is, instead of using the stabilizer to get your shot. As Musashi said, "Do nothing which is of no use." You're doing an art video, not the Rebel attack on the Death Star. Go look at the shot of the leaf. You start drawing back, good, nice, but this is when you should change the angle, even if only by the slightest amount, and you should do so smoothly. To go beyond that, reimagine the shot, you pull back, then smoothly use the leaf as the center of a pivot, so you go from looking at the leaf to having the leaf FG as you look at what the leaf "sees" as it hangs there. This is a shot that can't be done in a hurry. When you can make that look like a dolly shot, you'll really be in control.

It looks interesting, but the more I see, the more it looks like a pro get-together, above my operating level. I'm on the fence about making the trip (650 miles each way, about $250 - 300 expenses). Can someone tell me if I would get much out of it as a Steadicam newbie who runs a Pilot? Or would I be better off to wait a year, when I'll have experience and maybe fit in more?

NOBODY has a brand preference for tape???

I worked for a network affiliate which was being used as a test site for digital, so we got a lot of visiting bigwigs. Bigwigs like to show off by telling underlings what to do. They like to add urgency to the situation. After one such incident, I pointed out to my station manager that the military solved this problem a long time ago. Generals don't give orders to privates, they go through the chain of command -- there is no doubt that A), the order is to be followed, and B), the person giving the order knows what will be needed to comply. "Grab just what you need" = "load the truck" unless you know EXACTLY what and where the shot will be, how long it will take, and that anything you leave behind has been determined unnecessary by the person in authority.

That's about as useful a description as trying to explain the taste of salt in text messages. "Lots" as in how many? How long, how big? Are you talking about carrying them from place to place during a shoot, or hauling them from home to location, setting the carrier down and coming back to it when needed? Little ones? Try nylon binders, like loose-leaf organizers and notebooks go into, Bigger, or more of them? Briefcase. A lot or big ones? Luggage. Hit the swap meet or thrift shops, and you can set up your outfit on the tightest budget. Hang the cables inside the case with Velcro straps. A good source for these straps is also at thrift shops -- leg and ankle braces with Velcro closures. Carefully cut the threads holding them on, and you can find yourself with plenty of 2" x 20" straps for pennies each. Bind the cables with the straps, then hang the straps in the case or just lay them loose inside.

There is no shortage of good Sony ENG digital camcorders, CHEAP. Check Craigslist. Since you're practicing with it, you can get the DSR300 and be happy. I don't want to think about what these cost when they came out -- I've got a DSR300 on the market for $250 and a DSR500WS on the market for $500. You can probably find a similar deal in your area, walk up, talk him down, and wonder why you ever used consumer cams.

The scumbag probably just grabbed a target of opportunity that felt heavy enough to be valuable. Hope when he realizes how hard it will be to sell, that he just abandons it somewhere that it gets found.

My back hurts just looking at the pic. Have I mentioned lately that I LIKE my Pilot and the EX1R that rides it? ;)

Rental houses around here offer your choice. But remember, they carry what people ask for, it has nothing to do with relative quality (or videotape rental stores would have had Betacam rather than VHS). I have been using both for years. Neither has a clear advantage over the other, but AB has a certain amount of snob appeal, simply because consumer equipment never used anything that looked like it.

Is there any chance that the missing stuff will be found? If so, and if you're not in a hurry, then give it some time to see what happens. If not, but you're still not in a hurry, keep checking for replacements to show up for sale. If you're in a hurry, start over and get another complete rig. Time is the one thing that you can't buy.

Not enough of them.

I just had a fun experience -- we have winds currently 20 knots with gusts to 45, and _I_ had to dynamic balance and then shoot what might be a news segment in the near future, using an EX1R on a Pilot. I think my deadcat lost some of its fur. I felt like Mike Jittlov, when he says "Union animators the world around will wonder how we got so much MOTION!" ["The Wizard of Speed and Time" feature] None of the available windbreaks helped for balancing (I finally ducked into an airplane hangar), but if I have time later, I'll experiment to see the effects of short-sled v. long-sled in wind. On the one hand, a shorter sled has less surface for the wind to affect, while on the other hand, the longer sled is less responsive to the wind that hits it.

Nice "Making of" vid. That last couple of minutes isn't very long, except when you forget to breathe while watching!

Brooks mentioned a problem which came up when he was doing "Suicide Kings." The original gig was supposed to be several weeks, then it bounced back and forth until it finally was a three-day commitment from the production company. He set up another gig to immediately follow the three days, and everyone had heartburn over it when he left. I solved the early-go problem a few years back. When I start a time-limited project of any sort, I tell them up front that, since they are saying that I will be finished on a particular day, I will consider myself available for other work starting the day after -- then I offering the option of paying me a daily fee (and continued expenses) to hold off. They pay by the week at a time, with at least a week's notice. If they don't work me, I get a week off on partial pay. If they work me on any particular day, the fee for that day is rolled into the day's pay. If they want me onsite all day in case they need me, the fee is higher than if they just need me on call with an hour's notice, and that's higher than if I just have to check in to see if I'm needed the next day. Fees are negotiable, depending on location (if it was daily check-in someplace like Hawai'i, I'd just take room and board) and how much work was available. This makes everyone happy. They know at the outset that if they don't want to pay a "deposit," I may be unavailable for extra work. If they want flexibility, they can get it without breaking the bank. Yes, I could make more if I jumped right to the next job than if I just get the standby pay, but this depends on other factors -- I'll take the known money AND keeping the people who hire me happy. Just an idea, I dunno if it will work for anyone else but it's done fine for me for quite a while.

Nobody ever got fired for buying Pelican. However, I carry my whole Pilot rig (Sled, arm, vest, bttys n charger, knee armor, tape, tools etc) in a nothing-special rolling suitcase that cost $20 at a yard sale, doesn't weigh as much as the Pelican and looks a lot less like it's worth stealing.

Back when I was young, and dinosaurs ruled the Earth, God looked down and saw that all was good . . .except there was a need for TAPE. And not just ANY tape, it was needful that this tape have specific properties, because it was to be used for special ordinances to be performed by His anointed servants, those who OBEYED when He said "Let there be light!" And thus was created Gaffer's Tape, and it was Permacel, and it was Good. However, apostasy grew, and Permacel gave way to Shurexpensivetape, while many of the faithless arose, some crying "Lo (price), here!" and others "Lo (residue), there!" and promising the most cost effective form of Gaffer's Tape. Now, confusion reigns in the land, and this poor pilgrim traveling without scrip or purse -- or, not MUCH scrip or purse -- has a need for such a tape, but can't buy samples of every brand on the market. Does anyone have anything good or bad to say about the various brands out there?

Stabilization is all about ENERGY. You input it, and the rig has to attenuate it. One way to attenuate energy is to swamp it -- in the case of inertia, that means putting it into mass. More mass means that it takes more energy to get the same effect. In lightweight gear like you and I are using, that also means SKILL, learning to move while also putting less energy into the rig. This takes practice and a rig that is properly set up -- and lightweight rigs are more sensitive to balance and technique than one flying a 25-lb camera, just like it's harder to paint a portrait than to paint a house. Check YouTube for videos on the Pilot and the Merlin, and you'll see the difference in technique. They are subtle but definite, not a whole new song, but a "golden oldie" in a different accent. Watch Garrett Brown in this vid (flying an 8-lb cam), and compare to the technique you see in big-cam videos: Notice also that he has added weight to gain more stability, how little he had to add, and WHERE he has added that weight. This is the answer to your question. Now look at these guys. Everything they do can be done big-cam, but watching this, you can almost FEEL the feather-lightness. Kaze

I think this pretty much covers the "lack of support" question . . . ;) The couple of times I've called Tiffen, the support was above-and-beyond, even though it was for really cheap stuff.

You might get fabric or deadcat rings to go around the tires, with elastic to hold them in place. Slip on, slip off.

I want to see the vest you'd put on a Clydesdale! Seriously, it wouldn't be too hard to modify a saddle horn with a post for hard mounting.