Martin Stacey

Found the focus too shallow for my liking during the walk. Maybe it's just me but I found my eyes searching for some reference as to where the actor was heading whilst following her. Would have benn nice to get at least some glimpse as to what was in the background as I don't think the back of her head needed to be the centre of focus during the entire walk. Just my .02 Marty

And don't use a Sony V-lock plate if you are as there is too much play in them. Make sure you screw the camera directly to your dovetail plate via some form of adapter plate. There are various models from different manufacturers to choose from if you're not using one already. Cheers

Cinecity is an Indian company that copies various products and sells them off cheaply on Ebay. They also do copies of a lot of Redrock's 35mm adaptors etc. Their vest is a copy of the same vest that Progear used to sell on Ebay. Having tried the Progear vest and seen it fail I wouldn't be in to big a hurry to throw a heavy sled on it. The traditional leather reinforcement of the pads and straps has been replaced with plastic like the Progear version but unfortunately it eventually starts cracking around the stitching holes and then snaps across the width of the plastic. It might however be a viable replacement for a lighter weight rig like a Flyer or V25 etc. Cheers, Martin

There is no way I'm trying that on my handsfree. That's just insane and amazing at the same time. :o Marty

While I have been lucky enough not to go over yet I managed to dodge the bullet in a big way last year. I was on a one shot music video with my AR and we were shooting in multi-level car parking building travelling up the ramps from the 3rd to 9th rooftop level with a final sprint across the roof to a stage that was setup at the far end. This in itself while tiring wasn't the issue, it was the fact that there was a fire breather on the roof who had knocked over their bottle of kerosene onto the painted concrete. Once again not a major problem to cleanup but the fire marshall on the shoot decided it would be a good idea to just hose it down. This effectively turned the roof into one giant oil slick that I was expected to run through and we were due to shoot in 15 mins time after dusk. I was down on the 2nd floor prepping my rig when, to the director's credit he called down to me that there was a problem on the roof and he'd like my opinion. I think my exact words were "No f***ing way... Clean it up!!!!", which put the shoot an hour behind schedule as 150 extras got on their hands and knees with 200 empty pizza boxes, which was the only thing even slighty absorbent available, soaking up the kerosene and water combination on the roof. (I only wish I'd had my camera on me as it was the strangest sight). At the end of the day we got the shot and the director was happy but my point is that you shouldn't be afraid to say "no" as most directors will understand when you explain that it is not safe for either you or the equipment. Never be afraid to point out that someone is going to be responsible for your income while you spend the next few months recuperating from the potential injury caused by a fall. And as for directors that won't accept that? Ask yourself if you are you sure that they are the sort of people that you want to be working for? Cheers, Martin

Oh so you will be honouring all outstanding debts then will you. Including all judgments against you. Obviously there will be no problem if Mia prints this statement off and takes it to the creditors meeting then. Or will we suddenly find due to some IT error someone else has hacked your account in order to promote your business and it wasn't you. What? Have you only just realised that you're lies are being found out? I'd like to know the facts as to why you lied to my face Howard and therefore cost yourself the sale of 2 more complete AR's. Feel free to respond. You have my email address (or has that been lost in another IT error)

Guys, Lets not turn this into the slanging match debacle that the last AR thread became. At the end of the day we all know there have been issues (both with the design and the politics behind it) and Howard's constant refusal to deal with or even admit to them has ultimately resulted in the stunted growth and devlopment and eventual demise of what could have been the greatest addition to our industry since the invention of the wireless remote focus. I too have been bitten by the snake charmer but I at least was able to limit the damage due to the fact that I was aware of the issues thanks to this forum. I gave him a chance when I bought some used gear that I knew had issues and knew exactly what the problem was. My V2 was never AR compatible as it wasn't a V2 at all. It had the circuit board from an Evolution Dbox inside it and not the AR compatible V2 boards but when I took it to Howard he lied to my face and claimed it didn't work because someone had tampered with it. Now I know that you've also had this problem from Howard Chris and he lied to you also about it and I understand why you are now going about doing your own thing. Anyway, I tested his honesty, he failed, end of story. Now I bought an AR but not from Howard, I bought it used (or as I prefer to think of it, tried and tested) and it has always worked flawlessly as far as holding level in every circumstance I have put it in but it took a great deal of time and money to get the sled electronics to the same standard. To this day I have power issues and cameras shutting down for no reason other than the power isn't getting to them through the rig. I thought about upgrading to the V3 but waited to see what others experiences were and have extremely underwhelmed by its performance. So the question is what to do when the manufacturer of your equipment won't service his own product or even admit that there is a problem? Easy, do it yourself. I'm in the process of having complete custom electronics built for my rig which will upgrade it to HDSDI and deal with all the power issues. Plus give me a few extras that MK-V claim aren't possible. Warrantees be damned! There was never one going to be offered by MK-V anyway which also brings up the question of who will fulfill the warantee obligations to all those "new" rig owners out there now that the company whose name is on them no longer exists. Another .50 (Damn this thread is getting expensive) Marty

This is where it all gets ridiculous. At the end of the day MK-V is one guy, Howard, and whether he operates as a sole trader or hides behind a corporate banner the debts incurred by MK-V were debts incurred by him, nobody else. And simply to say that the corporation is responsible and not him is ludicrous on his part. And for him to then be able to carry on with another name doing exactly the same thing and with no responsibity to the people that he has hurt along the way just doesn't even deserve consideration. Ultimately HE is resposible and he should be made accountable for his actions. He can blame everyone that he likes but if you've ever spent any large amount of time in his shop then you would know that there is no way that any decision that is made there is made by him as there is no way he would let any member of his staff show any semblence of initiative without coming down on them like a ton of bricks. As you say "the little guy deserves to protect himself" and yes I agree but at the end of the day all he is doing by "protecting" himself is hurting a lot of other "little" guys in the form of the various employees and the small engineering outfits that supply him. Ultimately claiming that the company is "of no use anymore" basically means that he racked up debt he can't pay and is just gonna give a big "screw you" to his creditors. My 50cents worth. (godamn inflation!!!) Marty

That's an awfully quick response from someone who claims he never visits this board. Shame his service isn't as quick when dealing with any of his "non-existent" problems.

If this forum had its own version of the Darwin Awards this guy would be right up there. Would've loved to see the look on his face if a dog ran out onto the road :o

And me too please martin @ adrenochrome.co.nz Cheers

The EX3 will output both HDSDI and Composite SD out of the same socket. There is a setting in the cameras menu to switch from one to the other. Cheers, Marty

Hi Guys, I'm looking for one of these HDSDI to Composite downconverters if anyone has one that they're no longer using. Cheers, Martin

Hi Afton, On the whole the moderators here do a great job ensuring spam is kept out and and that posts are placed in the correct sections etc. but I'm afraid there is one that is very heavy handed when it comes to censorship on this site. I have the proof and copies of many emails that he has sent numorous members of this site threatening to ban them permanently for disagreeing with him. I think you need to read the posts on the other forum to fully understand the extent that this person upsets people on various forums thoughout the web. Cheers, Martin "This will no doubt be deleted as well" Stacey

It's the same monitor that Glidecam market as their L7Pro nowadays and they send them out with the original breakout cable. Perhaps if you give them a call they may be able to supply you with just the cable. Cheers, Marty

An option which I have found works quite well is to have an RF transmitter setup sending a Program feed back to a reciever mounted on your sled which feeds your second monitor. Is a way of getting around rewiring your sled if you absolutley must have a return feed viewable on your rig. Also handy when mounting a monitor for talent etc. Cheers, Marty

The V25 can take a HD Component signal but not HD-SDI hence the three lines down the post. Cheers, Marty

LOL ... so this is what happens when you put something through an internet language translator.... gibberish. Maybe someone who can figure out what you're asking will reply.

I have to admit it seems to be a common problem here Job. Did you get a personal message from someone about being deleted whenever you disagree with a certain moderator too? Martin "This will ceratinly be deleted" Stacey

Contrary to Eric's opinion I haven't found any issues with the MK-V arm. It is very stiff being made from perforated solid bar. I have hung everything from LCD to greenscreen off of it with no noticeable vibration and no movement. It probably is quite expensive for US byers now with the falling dollar but with Howard setting up shop in the US the shipping might get cheaper. Any issues that anyone has actually had with it would be appreciated. It's always good to be forewarned. Cheers, Martin "waiting to be deleted" Stacey

Howard used to market the Chroz topstage as the deluxe model for his rigs but has just come out with as new one himself that is very similar in design with a few changes. The front rods are no longer fixed like on the Chroz but are on a mounting plate that can be moved around to get the best position being one of the differences and is a little cheaper than the Chroz. He was showing it off at BSC 2 weeks ago. Looks very solid. With him setting up shop in LA I'm sure he will have some there to check out along with the Chroz version. Cheers, Marty

I doubt this is a rebranded vest from Jan as these guys are known for copying other companies designs and putting them out as their own. The Flycam gear is remarkably like the Glidecam handheld rigs. They have a number of rod systems and matteboxes that resemble the Cavision products and Redrock has been investigating legal action as they are now marketing a 35mm adapter that is a direct copy of their M2 kitset design. On the other side of the coin, I have bought a couple of products from them in the past and their quality is surprisingly good for the price and the shipping and communication was very good. Far better than I have recieved from companies based in most Western countries to honest.) Obviuosly I haven't seen this particular vest first hand but it does resemble the Progear vest considerably which I have tried and disliked immensely. It felt stiff and uncomfortable to me but like anything in this industry personal preference has a lot to do with what you purchase and what didn't work for me may be just fine for someone else as Norbert has indicated. To be honest the things that most struck me about the Progear vest that I didn't like was that the one that I tried was almost new but the plastic that is used to replace the traditional leather on a 3A vest had started to crack on one side from the stitching and I would presume would just to work it's way across the vest over time. The particular vest had already had the bolts holding the socket block mounting plate to the spar snap under load dropping both arm and sled onto the ground, (not a pretty picture in anybodies mind). And the snap over tension clamps are extremely good at breaking fingers and biting off nipples. Ouch!!! As I said these are just my personal experiences with the Progear vest and they are all relative. If you are happy with your vest Norbert then that is great and I'd be just glad that you actually recieved it after you had paid your money but I will say this. If you ever get the chance to try a Pro, Ultra or Klassen vest then DON'T!!!! You will hate your Progear vest from that point onwards. Just my 2 cents, Martin

Looks like they have copied the Progear vest which was dodgey at best to begin with Marty

Got one thanks

Hi Guys, I'm looking to get hold of a Wevi Cam Wave system. If you have one gathering dust or know of someone that does please let me know. Cheers, Martin Stacey