Jordan Sadler

Hey Clean, I bought a 12” solid post from you a while back and drilled out about an inch deep in the bottom to hang the arm - if that was a default config for the solid arm posts I’m sure people would appreciate that convenience!

While those cables may be affordable, for guaranteed durability and quality I’d use cables from Stephen Siegel (www.sjscables.com). He also makes cables with custom size/length and connector types to fit your specific rig and needs. All of my cables are made by him and you can expect fast response time and troubleshooting as well. Highly recommend using SJS Cables.

If you aren’t using the tiffen battery plate that can switch between 12/24 then you’re just running the sled at 12v with two batteries. The amira can run at 12v and you can just change the warning in the settings but it prefers 24v and the cable in the sled wont be pushing too much through 12v.

I’ve seen it done before - I think Colin Anderson had flown one about a year or two ago. At least I saw it being prepped on a Steadicam, don’t know how well it actually worked on set though. I remember they had a mag that basically looked like a regular mag flipped 90 degrees off the back - it wasn’t feeding/taking from the side of the camera so they probably had a special mag throat or a body specifically for steadi. Hope this helps. I’m a prep tech at Panavision so not entirely sure how it was done in the field but I’ve seen it rigged up for it. Best of luck. Jordan

I’d go with the Zephyr as you’ll have more power options (if you get the aux battery bracket) and more adjustability with balancing due to the monitor and batteries being on different planes. I have a Zephyr and was able to fly a Panavised Mini LF fine, though it was admittedly a bit too heavy for the Zephyr (we were using Primo Artistes on it). With just the lens, some cage bits, teradek/wireless and remote focus you should be fine for the Zephyr’s capacity. Of course it all depends on how much the camera is rigged out so bear that in mind. I don’t plan on selling it right now unfortunately but check both the marketplace here and on facebook to see if anyone is selling at the moment. Best of luck, Jordan

No worries! I didn’t run video wirelessly - my camera and monitor were HDMI so i just wrapped a long enough cable around the post and tried not to get it in the way of the gimbal handle as you can see in the attached photo. Don’t know about opening the post/top stage up - I thought about doing that but didn’t want to risk breaking a clamp or component. Best of luck though! P.S. Here’s a video I shot using this exact setup. The Solo is a great first rig for prosumer cameras/camcorders. Even though there’s no power/video it can still get the job done with those types of cameras if you know how to set things up in your favor.

Hi Helmer, I started with a Solo as well, and I bought a Wooden Camera ultralight-looking arm (see link). https://www.adorama.com/wc233200.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiAwP3yBRCkARIsAABGiPoAm9MkV-G9dHmiheVEaMK56GafHVKk2GDJnr5IBC79j3-vwYrswocaAqwdEALw_wcB&utm_source=adl-gbase#close I used the 1/4-20 stud thing that came with the Solo’s weights to tie down the ultralight arm on the “balancing wings” that fold down. You could also just use a 1/4-20 nut. As for monitors I would recommend anything cheap like iKan 7” monitors or anything light and that is affordable. I had an Atomos Ninja Flame that I used as my monitor and it worked well because it was bright enough and could record at a higher bitrate/codec than my camera could. Will show pictures later. Cheers and good luck! The Solo is a pretty good rig but once you start adding monitors and the requisite weights on the other side to balance the monitor, you’d need the vest and arm as well unless you’ve got pretty sturdy wrists.