Jerry Holway

Please find someone to help you. "Great" is a relative term, and not seeing your footsteps is a basic skill to be learned. You should not have shoulder pain, it's an indication of doing something not quite correctly. I applaud your eagerness and determination, but really hope you don't do more before getting some help.

Please have someone help you. If it's a very light rig, you probably won't damage anything, but you will instantly learn bad habits and likely be frustrated because you don't know how to balance the sled or balance the sled to you, how to stand, walk, what hand does what, etc.... If it's a full-sized rig, you could strain some muscles - not fun at all. Go slowly. Read the Steadicam Operators Handbook. But certainly have someone who does know what they are doing help you. Good luck!

Interesting!

Tiffen is working on a rain cover - I've seen a clever prototype but I can't test it as I don't own a Volt (yet!) - I'm going to give it to an op to test soon. I'll post the results when I know more.

The docking bracket helps when using the Volt in several ways, including preventing the small possibility of injury to the cables, and preventing a much bigger possibility of injury to the Volt motors and motor electronics. Also, the dock is padded, so there is less shock on the gimbal bearings when docking. A related minor concern, but still an advantage - no little bits of anodized aluminum get ground off and potentially drop into your gimbal. The gimbal is always at the right height for docking, regardless of how long or short the sled might be. The gimbal can get closer to the stage than with a traditional dock. The primary balancing stud is low and close to the stand center, so there is very little lifting off the dock for balancing (less effort!) and nothing to move around for balancing. Nothing slides or interferes with docking. The over-centers locking lever is easy to use and it is clearly engaged or not, and there is a secondary lock on the OC lever.

Oops- forgot... with long modes (high or low), a tilt head preserves that precious lens height, and keeps the opposite end of the sled from hitting things behind you. I learned that last thing the hard way, on my very first shot with a superpost without a tilt head...

An integral tilt stage (like on the Tiffen rigs) can be used to preserve dynamic balance when the lens is pointed up or down, which, of course makes operating easier. Trimming to aim the stage up or down with a "flat" or non-tilting stage will always take the rig out of dynamic balance. The more you tilt, the more out of balance you will be. A vertical post is easier to operate with than a non-vertical one. Again, it's a matter of degree. A tilt stage is really useful in low mode, when one is often looking up – it's hard to tilt up when the arm is boomed way down. BTW, a non-integral, an add-on tilt stage may give you re-balancing problems (big c.g. shift) or create viewing problems with wide angle lenses (i.e., seeing your MDR...), as well as increase the minimum lens to gimbal distance.

Guido - The electronics need a cover; a small "skirt" overt the gimbal does the trick nicely. Low temps should not be a problem. It's been tried in pouring rain (Kentucky Derby for one).

GENERALLY: Boom a little, tilt a little, and let her drop somewhat in the frame. The move should follow, energy wise, how she is moving through the woods. If she's calm, your moves moves should be calm and not overly excited about her dropping a bit in the frame. And if she's frantic, you need to be as well. It also depends on the frame size... If you just boom, it feels unnatural, like the world is moving up. Classic Steadicam 101 stuff.

I see the XCS plate also has the Tiffen-style safety screw; see first pix. I assume there is one on the front. Gregory, are these standard on XCS or did you add them later?

Thanks, Tom. I was thinking only about the dovetail width, apologies. Brad - Tiffen plates are .400 inches high; but there is another issue using non-Tiffen plates: The safety system to keep a loose plate from sliding fully off is a couple of 4-40 socket head screws protruding from the bottom of the plate at each end. If your plates are tall enough to clear (.400 or more), you may still have to add the safety screws. It's not a big deal to add them, and it's cheaper than buying new plates. For your PRO plates that are .270 high, adding a sheet of 1/8 inch aluminum as a spacer might also be solution to keep your old plates.

Yes indeed, but depending on tolerances, you may need to adjust the tension ever so slightly; easy to do.

No! it's done with the trunnions.. one on each side. There's a procedure to test for centering, and also to center it. Not too tough but maybe better if the dealer did it? I haven't done an Archer in a long time... don't remember the exact steps, which is why I suggest your dealer do it.

Yes, but no need to do it hard. It's just a set screw to fill the space.

The 3 "thru" holes with set screws installed were for the Tango - no adjustment there. The other screws hold down the top cap/plate and should be tight. No adjustment there either. What are you trying to adjust?