Jerry Holway

handheld! seriously - you have to make the choice based on what will work best for the whole shot in that specific production situation (physical, time, space, people,etc.). Can you ride something? Walk on your knees? (ouch, but it's been done!). High low mode, low high mode... many ways to get the lens here, often with compromises in operating, or fighting with other parts of the sled not to hit something or perhaps fit through a doorway.

Jordan - I think you did exactly the right thing - go for the shot. Often others on the crew don't know what low mode means, how fast or slow you are flipping the rig, how good you are at it, etc. I would avoid the terms or discussion altogether, and concentrate on what they want the shot to look like - and ask questions like "where's the lens supposed to be, what do you really want to see?" and go from there, and you decide how you want to operate, high, low, long, on or off a dolly or other vehicle, whatever, using whatever resources of gear and the crew are available. It's a bit different - but not definitive - if the director or DP is a former Steadicam operator. Even his or her take on what to do or what can be done might be different than yours.

Jordan- If you can, try just a small bit of some padding at each of the Y chest plate, - it might give you some of the stability that you like without going all across your chest and causing problems. Everybody is a bit different and vests can always be tweaked to better fit the individual operator. I've always customized mine, more or less. Let us know how it goes. Jerry

Nice mod!

Tiffen - and CP before it - are the leaders and innovators in making Steadicams for smaller payloads, with smaller posts, so any claim that "you can play with wall thickness and material properties" – as if Tiffen hasn't actually been doing that for years - is beyond silly. A manufacturer also has to account for the power and video cables, weight, multi-post capability, connections, clamps, mounts, indexing, actually working with the carbon fiber guys, gimbal design, etc. Engineering 101 stuff is not the be all and end all. A 2" post too big for some hands, and as stated above, unnecessary with today's materials. A 1.5 inch won't work for multi-posts and the other needs, so the Tiffen engineers chose very carefully the best size, materials, and structure for what they (and clearly I) think is the best compromise of all the design needs for a big rig. There always tradeoffs making things that interact with humans, the need to be light and strong, and the like.

Iain- Tiffen determined the post size (and construction) that worked best for all the various and competing design desires for the M1 as the Tiffen engineers and inventors and designers saw them, including strength, weight, multi-post, indexing posts, clamps, mounts, multiple wires and HD cables up all the posts, innovative modular/custom connectors, gimbal pan bearing sizes, and more. Fixing on some other manufacturer's idea (formed, perhaps, many years ago) of what's an ideal diameter is not necessarily in the best interest of the product or the future. It's not that what they did then (or CP did) did not make sense then, or now, or was a bad idea. It's just not a good place to start thinking about something new. Choosing to go to a new post diameter, like choosing to make a new stage, or to innovate in any other way, sometimes means wiping the slate clean and starting over - just as everyone has done for years, including all those who changed from the original, "standard" .625 post diameter (!!), or the "1.500" diameter of the model IIIa. As a friend of mine used to say to folks who touted some tradition as the proper way to do something: "Then we must look to the future."

I don't have the exact/final specs for either one but: Tilt stage is more like 15 degrees, and has a wonderful new vernier drive Diameter of main post that holds gimbal is a bit bigger than the U2's.

The advice from everyone, repeated often, and here it is again: Take a workshop ASAP!

Once again, and sadly, Eric, you misspeak from ignorance of what "Jerry et al" do. We don't ignore side to side balance at all, as it is impossible to do so and have dynamic balance. Enough already, this is sad.

I'm in!

Having not been there, Eric, you have no idea what we teach and how it relates to the gear we get from Tiffen, and to the gear we and all teachers and students bring to the workshop. Your comment clearly stems from ignorance and arrogance, and should be appreciated in that light. The gear is not the most important thing, but operating is, and that is what we teach rather well.

Chris - There are other workshop options available, from short two and three day ones to intensive 5.5 day ones. I'm speaking of the various Tiffen sponsored ones happening all over the world. The 5.5 day workshops include (the incomparable) Garrett Brown as one of the instructors, as well as other talented operator/teachers, vetted by the head instructors. For instance, we just finished an amazing Steadicam Operators Association workshop in Chester Springs, PA (outside of Philadelphia, where both Garrett and I live), complete with vehicle work on an ATV, camera car, Steadiseg, rickshaw, and Skatedolly. We had a shot with a crane step on and off. We also had shots with the Tango, and practiced regular, goofy, high low, super high and super low mode shooting, using a motorized sgage. We had everyone experience using the Exovest, as well as several other vests (and some brought their own vests, including some from other manufacturers). Our 150 year old venue is amazing for a wide variety of visually interesting and difficult shots. We used a multiplicity of instructors and helpers, had great catered food, and presented video lectures you get nowhere else. Long exhausting and intensive days. Great fun.

Longer posts make it possible to have your hand under the gimbal at the c.g.! You don't have to reach so low... Also, the tilt head makes it so much easier as you don't have to reach even further to tilt up. Certainly it's possible to operate with the hand above the gimbal, or around the gimbal, or grabbing the rig by any part. As Janice says, grabbing it anywhere other than the c.g. creates a lever, which tends in your hands to overwhelm the rig's inertia and move the frame around inadvertently. We've all done it, and it's a skill that can and should be practiced. However, as an example, all of us older operators used to make great whip pans with the sled wildly out of dynamic balance. It was a learned skill, but it is clearly not the best or most precise way to make whip pans. The best way to control the sled in any mode is to work at the c.g., without tension in your hand or wrist, and being in good posture. Sometimes you must compromise one thing or another, and perhaps lose some precision, to get the shot.

Right now there are two versions of a 3rd battery "hanger." One has a 3 pin Lemo jack, the other (slimmer) version does not. I believe both have the p-tap.

Antlers are just another tool we can use or not as we choose, and like any other, there are compromises - in this case of weight and space. The nice thing about them is that they are simple, quiet, quick, and versatile, with a lot inertia added for a small weight wind shadow penalty. Using them also just feels like a bigger Steadicam, so there is no learning curve while operating (compared to gyros, for instance). And they are inexpensive (commercial version). The concept is so simple that homemade or on the spot versions can be made easily - all that's required is a stiff rod, a couple of lead or steel (or similar dense material) weights and some sort of clamp to the camera top or to the sled bottom in low mode. Of course, if you can get enough inertia for a particular situation by extending the post, monitor, and/or batteries, there is no need to add Antlers or gyros.

Antlers will add inertia in all axes (pan tilt and roll). And they help with inertial inequality with long sleds. If oriented fore and aft, they are very useful for strong accelerations in that axis. If oriented side to side, they help even out the difference in inertia between tilt and roll. They are typically mounted on the bottom of sleds for low-mode.

With all due respect, LOL. As I said, try it. Really. Suggest you wait to see what it is...

You should try it! Can be done easily with normal compliment of hands. LOL.

26 inches bottom of sled to top of dovetail plate. Docking on ring has same shock as docking on gimbal; new gimbal dock is different and will reduce shock. Or you can use Gorelock or other, your choice. As for why not compatible with other manufacturers (stage, posts, monitor mount, base) - there would be too many compromises and features lost, too much weight with adapters, etc.

It's also much safer, especially in long / super low modes, to have that second monitor - it keeps you looking towards the floor, or at least looking with the floor in sight. I agree that one should practice getting into low mode (and all other modes or configurations) in under two minutes or less, but also practice operating in low mode, and in the Don Juan, long modes (high and low), wrong side operating, etc., so one is quick and ready and able to do the work when the simple mechanics are dealt with.

I believe the original Master series arm had some square cuts in the "U" of the end blocks - as seen from above. By the time it was tweaked as the Ultra Cine Arm, the end blocks had a good radius in the corners and we much stronger. Check yours for a nice radius. Jerry

I'd be concerned weighting the vest and running. Besides restricting your movement, if the weight is substantial, it will impact your joints badly. One reason we can carry so much camera and sled weight for so long is because the arm absorbs our vertical movement. We don't accelerate those masses up and have them come crashing down with each step. Because the vest is solid to your body, any additional weight on it is going to directly impact your joints. If you are going to run, run free!

I was one of the earliest adopters, along with Garrett, to get an 8.4 inch monitor - and I loved being able to see more details, like the C-stand or just how many pixels of ground under the actors feet or exactly where the frame lines where - what was in and what was out. And composing in color and finding those orange cones. That said, I worked mostly in rehearsed situations, so compositions and all that were worked out before take one (hopefully) so I was free to concentrate on the details as Daniel said. I wonder, however, if in a live situation, one might want a smaller monitor (or get the big one farther away) so that it would be easier to take in the whole image at once. I still think the more visual info one can get from the monitor, the better - at least up to that 8 inch size.. Beyond that seems big to me.

Each manufacturer is slightly different, but with most systems in 24 volt mode, 12 volts is also supplied and always available. Cables and pin outs from sled to sled may not be the same, so be sure your cables are matched to your sled. Smoking issues arise when using accessories improperly, or using ones that are not designed for the voltages that come from our batteries - close to 17 volts hot off the charger in some cases, not "12." (or 34 volts, not "24.") Issues also arise when accessories, such as a transmitter, are physically sandwiched between the sled and a battery. Sandwiching like this is often conveniently and safely done on a 12 volt camera with only one battery, but it can be a disaster on a sled if the transmitter is sandwiched between the "upper" battery supplying the 12 to 24 volts, rather than between the ground to 12 volts battery. Ignorance tends to lead to problems, but a very small amount of effort can keep your gear safe.

There should be, on each manufacturer's website, recommendations for long term storage, for each type of battery. I remember reading the recommendations from AB and IDX; the AB rec's going back to NiCad's. I believe IDX recommends leaving the batts in a state of 40% discharge for long term storage, but I'm not sure how to measure that other than relying on the little LEDs. And that info might be out of date. Personally, I have a working method like Charles: I leave my PowerCubes alone and just charge them when needed or I happen to think of it.