Jerry Holway

Great idea. A couple of thoughts: if the gimbal is relatively tight to the post near the pan bearing, then clamping close to the pan bearing doesn't matter very much, if at all. Clamping further from the gimbal, having a long sleeve, or a tight slip fit far from the gimbal but clamped at the gimbal (all assuming a rigid gimbal housing) will hold the post better than a vertically small clamp next to to the pan bearing. Clamping well close the the pan bearing can (if poorly designed, not like the PRO), may do more harm by distorting the metal holding the bearing, causing binding and mis-alignment. Older gimbals like the Model III, without the long sleeve, also put more stress on the clamp - a gimbal with an integra housing holds the post at two points, thus reducing the local forces on the post enormously, and better maintianing post-to gimbal rigidity. Concentricity of post to gimbal is relatively unimportant, and must be, as older posts were often .005 or more inches out of round... and a gimbal that sloppy is junk. I urge anyone with a metal post to take out their calipers.... Older aluminum posts were often quite out of round and got worse with excessive clamping, and this meant the slop near the bearing had to be larger so the gimbal would slide, and a clamp nearer the bearing was probably a good idea. With the introduction of carbon fiber posts, this is much less of an issue, as tolerances can be tighter and the posts stay round. More important to gimbal functioning is how good the bearings are and how well the various axes of the bearings relate to each other ? whether they flex or shift ? and all the modern, high end gimbals (MK-V, Tiffen Ultra and Ultra2, PRO, Ultimate, Acme ? and probaly others, nothing is implied in the list or its order) work marvelously well, regardless of the clamp location. Jerry

Gentlemen- The best battery system for these high amp situations is the Powercube, made by IDX for Steadicam. They are 98Whr batts like the 90's, but they trip at 24 amps or so, love loads of ten or more amps without messing up the cells, and they don't mind being paralleled. They are totally easy to use, no fuss, no worries. They have standard IDX/V-mount connectors, chargers, etc. One alone will drive a Genesis with, yes with, the recorder, and 2 in parallel will drive a Genesis and recorder for more than one full tape in cold weather (I did some practical testing in February on the movie Empty City). Jerry

Will, I've found it's best to have your weight on your feet normally, with both feet lightly pressing down on both pedals all the time, as the steering is a rocker mechanism. You get much more control, comfort, stability, etc. It took awhile to figure this out.... As for the Segway's version two... I'm a bit worried that moving the Steadicam laterally will cause the Segway to turn, or that moving your weight to one foot (for step ons or step offs, moving blood around, etc.) might also cause the unit to turn, or that doing doing some of the tight turns might be more tricky, having to lean harder and still stay upright. However, without trying it, it's hard to say. As for a problem that did not exist... On many shots, giving up the navigation, working out the timing with a grip or grips, controlling the accelerations and the like is a real pain - and the Handsfree is just the ticket. On other shots (especially as the speed increases beyond a mild run), I appreciate not worrying about navigation. But imagine walking up a slight incline for 100 yards, nice tracking shot... or going full bore at the actor, halting within inches (a foot?) of his face, all with great precision, no bounce, and you control the speed, the acceleration curves, and the rig has no tendancy to fly out of your hands. Or working a parade... For these sorts of things, the Handsfree is a great tool. Two more thing about the Handsfree version: the limiting of turning speed vs. tracking speed - which the std. Segways do not have ? is crucial for Steadicam applications, as is the adjustable, spring-loaded support mount between your thighs... without these done right, the Segway won't work well for us. Jerry Holway handsfree enthusiast

Since this topic is going round and round and round It's actually "Steadicam®," not steadicam, Steadicam?, etc., and here and there (like in movie credits, websites, etc.) that's what we should use. Perhaps difficult and unnecessary in posts like this. Jerry

Chris, I think we are on the same page. The sled by itself isn't in dynamic balance; it always is the sled with the camera and everything attached that must spin flat. One idea behind the master series - that was abandoned for a lot of reasons before it was introduced- was that the sled (with camera) could stay in dynamic balance as one moved the monitor around... it's theoretically possible to do all that with sensors and motors and all that, but a simple mechanical means wasn't going to do it and it weighed too much and could not account for anything else one might add to the base or the changing length of the sled as one telescoped the post. I wrote the primer to try to comprehensively clarify all this, both with the math and practically, because a lot of nonsense was being put forth, misconceptions were running rampant, etc., BTW, I learned a lot and discovered some curious things in doing so. thunderstorms booming all around, must sign off. Jerry

Chris- I remember discussing your dynamic balancing efforts with you way back when. Now it seems totally clear that your centralized mass was the start of the confusion.... What the math in the primer (based on Arnold DiGuilio's original formulas) tells you will get you really close to dynamic balance, and it tells you what do do if you change things, what's improtant, what's not... it even explains all of the "oddness" you discovered way back when. We just didn't understand all what the math was telling us, way back then. As you suggest, spin balancing is the only way to actually achieve dyanmic balance. We can't measure and weigh every component precisely, but typically we can get very very close with the math and then tweak in the real world. I never do the math on set because it's so damn easy to spin balance, and doing the math has told us all where to start our balancing. So we are always close, and a few spins later we are there. As for the donkey's parts, dynamic balance simply means that if you pan the rig, it will pan flat at any speed. If you are not in dynamic balance, it won't. The sled will tilt up or down or roll or wobble, more or less, and you must do something to correct it. You must intercede, more or less. In our early days of our ignorance, we all made the corrections, and we did it damn well, blissfully. But we all worked a lot harder than we needed to, and our operating was not as good as it might have been. So great operating can be done without it, and the great majority of what makes great operating has absolutely nothing to do with flat pans. But to the extent that you want the Steadicam to help you get a particular kind of shot - in this case a nice flat pan - then dynamic balance is important. To the extent that you want the precision bearings in the gimbal (for which we all paid a small fortune!), to help you get the nicest, flatest, and infintely smoothest pan, then you should be in dynamic balance. When that doesn't matter, then dynamic balance can be ignored (and you don't need the bearings, either, you're manhandling the rig anyway). Why you suggest that dynamic balance doesn't matter for some folks - or that maybe it shouldn't matter - confuses me immensely. Ignoring dynamic balance certainly will not make it easier for new operators. Handicapped, they will have to learn all those old tricks which, frankly, you and I both know, don't work quite as well. Jerry

Ah, the old record thing. I had my handsfree on several sets, all tricked out and ready to go, but for various reasons, never actually used it. My "first" is limited to being among the first to buy one.... And first to send cars flying off the road, dogs barking, children screaming, etc. in my neighborhood. Jerry

The 2 biggest problems with this device are that one holds it far from the center of gravity, imparting the greatest possible angular disturbance (most shakicams have at least this right, you can grab them close to the c.g....) and 2) the same muscles that are doing the heavy lifting are doing the aiming (micro ounces)... i.e., it lacks a gimbal to separate the efforts. Get a Merlin, for goodness sake. It works. Jerry

Get yourself to a workshop, any workshop, quick. Many of your questions and posts indicate a lack of basic understanding and experience - which is where we all started. Combine your enthusiasm, willingness to build your own stuff, etc. with a workshop and you'll understand so much more, learn faster, etc. BTW, You should not feel ANY back pain with a well designed vest and arm that is PROPERLY ADJUSTED to you, AND you stand and walk properly. Jerry (who last felt THAT MUSCLE back in 1983 or so because of proper training at a workshop)

We (and others) teach several women a year to do Steadicam at our workshops; it's much more about technique than brute strength. Some of the teachers we use are women with 10 to 24 years of experience flying a Steadicam, including the biggest rigs. And they about 130 pounds (more or less, my apologies.....) Stasia, a workshop will not only give you skills but inform your buying decisions. Jerry

Apart from the branding, the Power Cubes have radically different chemistry and circuit boards, so that they can continuously handle 10 amps ( from -4 to + 113 degrees F!), and handle higher loads for briefer times. I believe they trip quickly at about 24 amps, and don't mind short loads of 20 amps or so. They weigh 750 grams and charge on regular IDX chargers. And they are still IATA compliant for transport. So compared to the 10's and Dionic 90's and the like, they work better when cold and handle much much higher amp draws. Jerry

Dan, I encourage you to read the primer again. The idea you have is, alas, simply wrong. Many, many of us for years thought along the same lines (you are not alone in this). The empirical methods discussed in the Primer are the easiest and fastest way to get dynamic balance. Jerry

Not to panic! Larry's been using the Klassen vest for several years with an Ultra arm, farily heavy rig, no problems. I believe both PRO and Tiffen recommend using steel sockets in the arm instead of the titanium when used with a back-mounted vest. George Paddock showed me (and everyone else!) a special, super strong one last year at CineGear he was making with some exotic steel. Jerry

Haven't heard from Jeff, but on a related note (i.e., arms and stress) - Garrett, Larry, and I were doing some (unrelated-to-stress) tests on Friday with the G-70 arm with both front and back-mounted vests. One thing we noticed was that the socket block position of the back mounted vest (to the rear) creates a much longer lever arm from the load (the sled) to the socket block than with front-mounted vests. Therefore, this longer lever arm puts much more stress on the upper arm segment and the socket block. This is true for all arms. Extending the arm even further (working far from the body) is also adding more stress to the upper arm and the socket block. Also, be aware that the restriction of the movement of the "shoulder" (the spring loaded joint of the socket block) in back mounted vests MAY, in some positions, add hard bumps or shocks to the socket block. Jerry

To clarify: Changing lenses and filters or even cameras (+/- any weight) will have ZERO effect on dynamic balance IF IF IF the overall length of the rig, i.e., the distance from the camera c.g. to the battery c.g., does not change AND you don't move the monitor, change accessories below the camera, etc. Just re-balance statically and you are good to go. Minor changes in the the overall length (like adding an obie light above the camera c.g., adding focus motors higher than the camera c.g, or a radical tilt with the tilt head, etc.) may shift the dynamic balance ever so slightly... sometimes making it better!! The shorter the overall length of the rig, the more sensitive the rig will be to changes in the overall length, as any change is a bigger percentage of the overall length. Jerry

A broken spring in any arm releases a lot of force, whether titanium or steel springs. The failure rate for all springs is incredibly low. There have been thousands and thousands of arms made with 6 titanium springs in each one them for about 30 years, (and different manufacturers), with only a few failures, and tons of abuse, etc. Some of the worries here border on hysteria. Every failure is spectacular, of course, as a lot of force is released. Mostly, the remaining bits remain in the arm, (and, BTW with the G-70 and G-50, even more likely to if there is a failure). Keep the arm clean and out of the sand, don't poke with a screwdriver, etc., and the springs should be fine. Usually, the major damage from a spring failure is to whatever might drop as a result, and to the bearings and pins in the arm. These should all be replaced if there is a spring failure. BTW, the design of the arms prevents the extension springs from "over stressing." They can only stretch so far as you boom up and down, regardless of the load, so a big load is not a cause for concern for the springs. With the Master Series and later arms, they see roughly the same load regardless of the weight of the sled and camera... they work at their optimum design all the time. If the sled weighs too much, the arm just won't lift it. However, the bones and other parts of the arm may not like really heavy loads, particularily with extra long arm posts and/or long gimbal handles which impart huge torqing moments. These moments are not designed for, much like the socket blocks were not designed for the new loads imparted by the back mounted vests, so suddenly there were a lot of socket block failures, in a part that had worked just fine for years. Nicking any spring will cause it to fail violently, regardless of the material. I've seen a nicked steel spring fail. Same lovely noise, very rarely heard. Jerry

I'm one of the guys doing this for 24 years properly, and teaching others proper techniques, etc. And I hang with Garrett (31+ years, and a bullet-proof back), just carried the Genesis all up (what a good workout!), etc. Our take on this. If you start with no injuries, defects, etc. to your back and use proper technique, you will gently exercise the various erector muscles of your back, and you do it with zero imact, perfect posture, and it's mildly aerobic. It's a great exercise for your back, makes your back stronger, improves your posture. It's good for your back. Short term and long term. My anecdotal encounter with a maggage therapist regarding my back was "Wow. There's nothing wrong here. No tension, nothing out of place, nothing mis-aligned, etc." ? which was totally different from what she encountered with handheld cameramen carrying an object 1/4 the weight. Think about how they carry it... with impacts, off balance, bending over, etc. vs. the way we carry the load. Almost every handheld guy I've ever met seeks out the chiropractor... but very few of us do. Done properly, Steadicam operating strengthens the muscles of the back, legs, butt, etc. equally and thereby reduces pressures on your disks, bones, etc. See Chris Fawcett's discussion on how the back works for more details. Done improperly, just like lifting a heavy case improperly, will hurt you. Chris describes several "bad" postures and the likely short and long term results. Adopting lazy or improper postures to avoid the lactic acid building up in those muscles is asking for trouble. By the logic that not exercising our backs is good for our backs, we should all be couch potatoes... and we know that's nonsense. We've evolved to move, stretch, exercise, carry things about... Warming up, stretching, and other exercises help as well. Very, very few professionals outside of operating have a real clue about the forces (especially of the instantaneous forces) acting on our muscles, or how evenly and squarely and in what good posture we carry the Steadicam. Many really whacky vests have been designed (search the patent offie files!) based on such professional advice. Many folks still believe our spines work like a stack of bricks to hold us up. It's not like that. Done right, it is GREAT for your back. Jerry (who had a back injury in college long before Steadicam, and is ever so thankful he took up Steadicam operating)

I own one of the first Handsfree Transporters, and helped with its development for Steadicam a little bit, so here's my take on it. What I believe the Handsfree does best is replace westerns and other dollies, rickshaws, etc. under some circumstances, but clearly not all. These are the key good things ? it gives back to the operator the ability to nagivate, accelerate, slow down, etc., and gives it back with as much accuracy and finesse as normal walking. No communication problems, delays, confusions. And a lot less fatigue. It has a small form factor, fits and turns in tight spots. Turns on a dime. It goes faster and further than you can run with the rig or grips can push a dolly, and it accelerates quickly and smoothly. Up hills without tiring or loss of speed, down hills without the risk of running away. It also goes very very slowly and smoothly for the slowest and most precise of creeping shots. For running shots, shots that drive straight into a character, etc., it's amazing. Totally smooth dolly shots. With the hardmount, there's no fatigue: great for sports, parades, shows, tracking shots. Soft mounted, one can get on or off, just like on a crane. I don't have the hardmount yet (just tried it briefly at NAB) so I now feel that the softmount offers more finesse... but I think that's just a few more minutes of training. Downsides? Yes, of course. It does not go backwards very fast, so shots preceding actors going faster than walking must be done in the Don Juan. Its motor makes noise (perhaps not as much as the grip's feet ??), so it's not for quiet interiors. You shouldn't use it if the surface is slippery (actually applies to other dollies as well). And like all walking shots, part of your brain must navigate, hit marks, etc. And unlikke any other tool, it's great fun to ride it around the block, shock your neighbors. A real mood enhancer on or off set. Jerry

Alas, it's my understanding that IDX does not want to make them that way now. The dockable ones also have more advanced battery metering (which can easily be displayed on screen...) perhaps in the future. I also like the V-mount. Easy to use, doesn't wobble in the mount. And good to see you and all the other ops at NAB. Jerry

Jordan, The production batteries became available on Monday of the NAB show. Therefore, no such tests yet. But check my post on them under general discussion>genesis today and the specs on the Tiffen website. (the specs come from IDX's extensive tests, standards etc.) One bit not covered in my posts: we were shooting in cold weather; usually between 15 and 30 degrees F most of the time.. So my numbers were not generated at the standard 20 degrees C. More like 25 to 35 degrees F. If ANY battery can handle the loads, at any humanly reasonable temperature, this one will. BTW, Tiffen did some their initial tests with an "older" 435 ES camera and film at 150fps and pre-production batteries before I got to the Genesis and the first two "production" batteries. no problems. The batteries handle 10 amps continuously, up to 20 amps for short periods of time, and cut out at 24 amps. Jerry

Wow, what a lot of great work already done. My vote: save your strength and get the new topics and moderating up and running first... and see how it goes (for you and for the forum), fine tune topics, etc. Leave the archives as is for awhile, then you can decide (and you won't be moving topics twice). Great work and ideas so far; and I know what a drain this is on your time. One question. When things are going to be/are merged, how do we know where to go or whether or not to post anymore on that topic? Jerry

Erwin- "There are also rumors about an HD version (HD-SDI but still capable of NTSC and PAL) of the Cine III (Cine IV ???) which will include a HD bubble and a HD frameline generator... Can't say I saw that anywhere else." Tiffen's new Ultrabrite2 does HDSDI, HD component, and PAL/NTSC now (not vaporware) at 1400 nits... and the bubble and frameline are in the works. Jerry

Back from NAB, and now I can talk freely about the Genesis and specifically powering it. I'm told the camera only draws 6.5 amps at 14.4 volts, and the camera and recorder together when running draws 14 amps. I used this combo for 2.5 weeks in NYC, many many hours a day, many long takes, all shots were masters. Not as heavy as rumored. Form factor almost the same as a Millenium XL and 400ft mag (no weight shift at least!). I got in a little better shape, lost some weight. All up, it's not a great camera for Steadicam (because of the weight), and without the recorder, you have the cable issues. But the images are amazing, and it's not as heavy as some cameras we've been unfortunately been forced to use. Most of the time I used their heavy power cable to run the beast, plus HDSDI out to the village, audio in, and composite back (so I wouldn't carry a downconverter). An assistant carried the PV 12 and 24 volt heavy battery in a backpack. Not much fun. I did have with me the first two (and only two) of the new Tiffen/ IDX batteries in the USA... all hush hush, for testing for Tiffen and IDX, so I could not discuss this before. I put the two batteries in parallel and ran the set up and the entire tape: 14 amps @ 14.8 volts continuously for 52 (?? or slightly more) minutes... with plently of extra power to spare. Still had a voltqage reading of 13.9 amps. Batteries remained cool to the touch. That's like starting up the 435 at high speed for the whole hour. Another test: I was unable to run tape, but tried to simulate by running the camera alone with only one battery (6.5 amps) ... after 1.5 hours I stopped looking at the volt meter on the Genesis. If the amp draw of the camera is correct, then this exceeds the rating of the battery (as it does in the first test as well...). Another one battery test. With the battery really low at 12.9 volts, an assistant decided to check something on the Genesis and ran the full 14 amps (now more because of the low voltage) on one battery... no problem. We only ran it for 20 seconds or so, but no problems. Amazing. (I'm going to convert my old Ultra to these as soon as I can; plans are to make the "conversion kit" a standard accessory). For some shots, when it was just too crazy for the assistant to go with me, I wore a backpack, threw in the two batts and used a very flexible 12 guage speaker wire cable (Panavision NYC made it for me) with their 8 pin lemo on one end and an XLR 4 pin on the onther end, with pins one and two, and pins 3 and 4 wired together to take the amperage load. I reserved this combo (much to the assistant's dismay) for specific shots, becasue I only had two of these batteries. FYI, the Ultra 2 uses two of these batteries in parallel for nominally 29.6 volts, and a 100 watt downconverter for 14.4 volts. To run the Genesis, a third battery (1.6 pounds or so) is added to the sled base, paralleled to the downconverter, and the whole Genesis 12 and 24 volts is powered directly off the sled, with run times longer than you'd ever want to carry the thing; probably a whole tape. Also, with the new HDSDI capable monitor, you get a great, bright image with no downconverter delay. We ran the monitor at full brightness and the Moviecam SL tap each day at NAB (1.3 or so amps all the time) for about ten hours continuously, only changing the battery set once each day. Pretty cool. (About 192 watt hours for two batts). The whole battery and watt hour numbers seem confusing to me, and maybe to you too. 14.8 volts at 6AH is 88.8 watt hours; the stated 110 watt hour rating would equal 7.4 amps for an hour (which seems to agree with my tests, if my PV #'s are right) OR, more likely, 5 amps or so at one hour 12 minutes, or I'm not sure. Regardless, the fact that the batteris put out a lot of power and can handle huge amp loads is a godsend. They self cut off at 24 amps!!, then reset when all is well with the circuit. Hopefully, camera manufacturers will cut the amperage requirements of these cameras, and we'll just have to worry less about run times. Specs on the battery are, I believe, on the Tiffen web site. (click above if you wish) Jerry

Garrett and I are thinking about it... got to find the time. We'll see how this one goes. A similar one in Paris after IBC last fall went well. Thinking... Jerry

Curious about rumor that an arm was trashed.... and if so, why. I flew the Genesis all up for 2.5 weeks with a stock Ultra, zero problems with sled, arm, vest... lots of vest time, even a bunch of hard mount stuff bouncing on NYC streets. yes it was heavy, but not at the max of the arm, so we've all flown heavier beasts. Jerry