Nick Billiris

Just an update, the Decimator seems to be the problem again, as I tested my rig with a different composite signal. With that said, still looking for advice on soldering that power cable and resources for upgrading my rig. Thanks again.

Tom, Thank you for your helpful reply. Over the last month I've been doing some practice with a Black Magic Ursa Mini Pro and have been making out fine powering anything I need off that camera's V-Mount battery. I'm wondering if you can point me in any direction in regards to desoldering the LEMO to D-Tap splitter I have. I've done some soldering in the past but certainly want to make sure I do this correctly. The other thing I'd like to ask about is upgrading my rig to HD-SDI. Unfortunately, I ran into another problem recently where the SDI out on my friend's Ursa Mini Pro seems to have shorted the SDI on the top stage of my rig. Apparently, the grounding on those cameras can be done poorly and is a common problem. Something about unplugging the SDI while the camera is powering up. He unfortunately has to send it in for servicing, but luckily we've still been able to practice using the front SDI on his camera and dropping a line down to another monitor. My Flyer monitor seems fine, as well as my decimator, so I assume that this is what happened. The thing is that I have had enough minor headaches since getting this rig, which all have been related to using this composite monitor, so I'm thinking that just upgrading my rig to HD-SDI will certainly be worth it, and I can just pick up another monitor. I've seen a few posts on this forum explaining the how-to, but I'm open to any advice you have to offer, as well as if you know anyone able to do this in the Philly area. Thanks again for your help, its much appreciated.

Hey all, Glad to be a part of this forum. I'm new to Steadicam and have been practicing with my Flyer for a couple months now. I use a GH4, to an Atomos H2S, to a Decimator 2 from which I have to drop the power line down to the batteries on my bottom stage. The reason for this is that when I first purchased a Decimator, I had a lemo to 4x P Tap port/splitter from Alvin's cables that I thought would come in handy in the future. Plugging that into my top stage, and then the Decimator into one of the 4 ports via DC to P Tap, i shorted the Decimator. Smoke poured, and examining the inside of the Decimator I can tell I burnt it pretty bad. So I thought for sure, that splitter must have been the problem, maybe it was the polarity. Luckily I had bought that one second hand and just bought another one new, along with the Nebtek DC to lemo from B&H made for the Decimator. Problem is, when I plugged my new Decimator into the top stage of my Flyer with this Nebtek cable, I heard a pop again and quickly unplugged the cable. Very slight smell of smoke again but I managed to save my Decimator and have been using it with no problem. For learning and practicing I don't have too much of a problem dropping that power cable, but at this point I am afraid the issue lies with my actual Steadicam and the lemo power port. I'm hesitant to plug anything else into that port until I can figure out what the issue is, and hoping someone on here can point me in the right direction. It is worth noting that I also bought the Flyer secondhand from someone on Craigslist and haven't been able to verify with them if they had any issues with the rig. Thanks in advance for any replies!