Alec Jarnagin SOC

Collin, I'll be out of town (with hear) for those dates. I know a lot of us are busy right now. If I was not on an away job, I'd give you my back-up. Try Greg Bubb. Good luck.

Alessandro, Robert Luna, here in the States, can get them to you or can even overhaul the arm if you wish to send it to him. Robert Luna: 323-938-5659 Good luck,

Claus, Sent you an email about Walter P. Dolle in response to yours.

I can't believe this one has not been talked about yet, so if I missed it and this is redundant, sorry. But an AC I know told me about it yesterday and it almost had me on the floor with laughter when I saw it (be sure to check out the demo clip).... http://www.garrettcam.com/molecam.shtml Also fun, http://movies.yahoo.com/movies/feature/spiderman2qt.html

Charles, Didn't see it, but I'll guess it was Claus Stuhlweissenburg. He is on staff at CBS, but owns his own rig and works freelance from time to time as well. Done a bit of Letterman, if I recall. Nice guy and from what I've heard has the constitution of a horse when it comes to being stuck with the rig on.

I've had this fuse blow using an AJA as well. Funny thing is I asked the rental company about it before hand and they said it would never happen; they do it all the time. As soon as I plugged it in, it blew. I do regularly see the Miranda powered this way without problems though.

Brad, Yes, you have the right attitude. I don't think I'd rent an item on my own though if it were something that I felt Production should provide as part of the camera package. It sets a bad precedence - what is next, we have to rent the 100% video top? Yes, an eyepiece tap can work in a pinch. I used one on my first HD job because it was before onboard down-converters were available. Held it on with tape and rubber bands. Ugly as sin, but it worked. Don't forget to have them get an NTSC monitor too! Easy to overlook, but you need a composite NTSC monitor to receive a signal from your tuner. Of course they will want you to be umbilicaled via BNC for them to get an HD image, which is no big deal on the Panasonic as it has SDI built in. Rob, you can uses any 75ohm BNC cable for this. I have done it repeatedly with a very thin Mogami jumper cable from the camera to my vest then barreled into a standard BNC. As for shading, we disconnect that before we go, so I only have the one cable (but the look for the shot is already set). Engineer is happy; I am happy. The thin cable will not hurt your operating, but it will drive you nuts having to remember to release it after you dock! I'd still make sure they have the NTSC field monitor though incase it becomes very problematic to be tethered for a shot (if they want to see it in HD, they can check playback). Lastly, Brad, you mentioned that it was a music video so this won't apply, but while on the subject of HD. Don't forget that the audio is now on the camera. Hopefully they have a DAT as well, but often they want sound on the camera too. Make sure they have wireless mics. Enjoy.

Brad, Michael hit it on the head. Call the Producer (in this case he may not deserve the capital "P") and tell him one more time. If you show up and there is no down converter politely remind him of the conversation, ask for your fee and then leave! I just spent some time as an "A" camera Op with the Varicam. We had no extension eye-piece (I'm not sure they even make one for the Panasonic) so I used an Astro to operate with when on wheels. At times I found it liberating to not have my face buried into and eye-piece, but at other times it drove me nuts. I had a dolly move with a drastic pan in direct sun light and for complicated reasons, I could not move my body too much (I would have hit a tree - hard to explain the geography on this one). Very hard to see the image on an LCD. Obviously it worked or I would have found another way, but it made me think of all the Steadicam guys who swear by LCDs. Once again, I thought they were all crazy (sorry folks). Brad, stick to your guns - get the tools you need to do the job. Take care.

Charles, Just bought a male side from Greg Bubb. I already own two of these for my Gyros, but I needed another one for a project of my own. He sold me one (without the Gyro stud) for approx $100 (I think $125 - have not gotten the bill yet). A dead battery would work too, of course, but this was less effort.

Kes, Peter has great advice. It sounds like you found the problem - I was about to suggest this. I've been doing a lot of HD lately with the Panasonic camera (a lot lighter than the Sony) using both the CLA adapter and the Pro-35 adapter. Add a Zeiss Ultra-prime and motors and you have a very front heavy system. I've been able to balance it every time by having my plate stick forward of the Sony (Panasonic - same thing - actually using the Chrozeil on one of these jobs and it is a lot more rigid, but that is another topic). This works fine, BUT many dovetails will flex a lot in this situation causing a vibration in the image (depends on how long your top stage is, and how far your plate is overlapping the camera plate). By using the aforementioned XCS plate (Greg Bubb) this ceases to be an issue. Not sure if his plate works in a Master, but can't say enough good things about it.

Jesse, Okay, sorry I was a little too harsh (very long day in an open dirt parking lot, baking in the sun with enough humidity to swim in - all Steadicam, all day). Anyway, I suppose the name of your thread does imply that it is not Steadicam related, but perhaps the customary "(not Steadicam related)" in the topic line would be appropriate. That reminds me, don't we have a section for off-topic subjects? I guess I'm mostly venting at the lack of Steadicam topics these days. I've been on this forum since its inception and the AOL folder before that. While I'm thrilled that we have gained international membership and a very diverse crowd, we have some how digressed in our discussion. I was away from the forum for two weeks and upon my return all I found was in-fighting, personal slander, sales pitches, etc. Now, none of this has to do with you Jesse, which is why I'm apologizing. Just fed-up. Lets talk about Steadicam. As for your smart gun, good luck. Alec

"I built a handmade mechanical prototype of the arm which works *great* for the smartgun, but wouldn't work for sh!t with a camera" Then who cares? Sorry to be so harsh, but this IS a Steadicam forum....

Dave, And once again I was amazed by the brightness of a 3a screen when I saw your rig. Those monitors may be small, but man are they bright. The focus was sharp too; keep that baby going as long as you can while you save money for upgrades.

I remember once I was with a crew, scouting locations in Harlem. We, not surprisingly, were a group of white men - anyway, we walked into a Starbucks (that says something on its own) and this black guy looks up and with a smile says, "there goes the neighborhood." Hey, does anybody know of any black women operators? With the number of people jumping on the Steadi-wagon as of late, I'd think we'd have one by now. I'd still love to see more women operators out there. Dave, give me a call sometime and come by with your rig if you want. Next week is fairly light, but then things get crazy again. Alec

Jamie, This varies from little to no input to designing the whole move (and in an extreme case, lighting it - discreetly of course). It all depends on the personalities and experience of those involved. If you have a first time Director and a green DP, you may find yourself in the extreme case listed above. I find that most situations are somewhere in between. As the specialist (we are still that, despite modern trends), it is our place to offer our experience. I can't believe I'm quoting Ronald Reagan, but... "you can go far if you don't care who gets the credit." Use your judgment. These calls, along with your ability to interact with others on set, are equally as important as your horizon, etc.

Rob, Ouch, ouch, ouch. That's gotta hurt. Thinking of visiting Thailand this winter; no worries, I'd be leaving the rig at home! Good luck.

BFD? Beyond Full proof Daily..... Well, okay, nothing is perfect all the time, except for customer service, which Jim can certainly boast. I find it interesting that a MK 2 version is available (5100 as opposed to 5000) considering we never saw any 5000s in the field. The M-1 is great. Brings the Bartech to a whole new level. Compatibility with this motor is a must for any analog system, in my mind. As for hard rings on the focus unit? Jim is coming out with these - really! Also, the BUZ, etc, is deep into development, which is cool. Yes, I suppose I'm a bit bias since I now consider Jim a very close friend, but then again, we became friends because of what a great guy he is and what he has done with his products. Best, Alec

Peter, Adam, how are you guys? Sorry for the tardy response, but I've been away from the forum (vacation and then full time on a gig). Just sorting through the mess now - what a bunch of crap as of late! Adam, glad Fred could help you out. Peter, thanks again for all your help on the vest. By all means, post the pictures! For those who don't know, the last original part on my old model 1 vest (the front spar) decided to crack after a couple of days with the Panavized Sony. Made it through the final day with a splint and lots of Gaff tape, Production none the wiser. Thanks to Aaron Medick for dropping his vest off in case mine didn't make it. In the end, Tiffen graciously sold me the upper pieces to a new spar and Peter and I were able to breath yet another life into the old girl (meaning that the back mount vest will wait a little longer). Peter, it seems to work well, but ironically, I was doing mostly "A" camera on this show, so I didn't spend a lot of time in the rig. I can see why they have changed the upper spar on the newest version of the Ultra though (this one is the same as the one on the Master) as the webbing/fastech combo does not seem to be as rigid as my old vest. So far so good though.

Chad, Seems this excuse is being used for a lot of things lately. I like what you said in the AR thread about not worrying about which hand is panning, etc. Just do it - very true.

Chris, Way too tired to list all the hellish traits this camera boasts, but just survived two days with it myself (thanks Erwin and Eric for the tips). Call me tomorrow and I'll go through it with you (unless of course your job is then!).

Leigh, Who is better - Caravaggio or DaVinci? What is better, a water color or a an oil painting? Technical? Its not the gear; its the hands (and mind) of the operator it is in. Better gear makes for more reliable gear and allows us to concentrate on our jobs more. Rather simple. As for who to hire, no number system is going to come up with the personality of the operator, etc. This is very important too. Bad Steadicam can be identified by lack of horizon control, bad lock-offs (how well we keep it still is as important as how well we move it). The difference between good Steadicam and great Steadicam is often the frames between the frames - both shots might get you from place A to B, but the better one is full of interesting frames in-between.

Adam, How are you, man? Been a long time. Too bad we didn't get to work together for my wife a month or so back. Well, that settles it. Fuji cables are wired backwards in the zoom department! Fred, give Jim a call and lets set the record straight.

"The J7 cables list at $250." Yikes. Just bought two of these from Fred for less than $100/each. Some interesting notes on the J-7 though. I bought mine with a bunch of used stuff from someone awhile back. I ended up with a Fuji cable for it and used it. It worked, but zoomed backwards - not very intuitive to use. Then I leant it to Jim Bartell for BUZ testing and asked him to check the wiring in the cable as well as the unit itself. Cable checked out correctly, as did the J-7. For whatever reason though, the schematics for the J-7 don't list which wire for zoom is which direction, so my conclusion was that perhaps a previous owner had rewired the J-7 because they were goofy foot. So, I had Jim reverse the controller for me so that it would zoom correctly. Two days ago, I needed it for a job so Jim sent it back and I had Fred make up Canon cables for it as I knew I'd need them. Guess what? The J-7 now zooms backwards with the Canon cables! So, here is my conclusion: the diagrams of record for the Fuji cables are wrong (reversed on the zoom leads). A conversation with Peter Abraham has also backed up this theory, as he has had the same problem. So, I will now rewire the J-7 back to the way all others are and reverse my Fujinon cable.

Will, I've already lent my support in private, but I'll add it here. Hell of a feat is correct. Good luck! Alec

Tom, Welcome to the club. Funny running into you on the steps that day (two different shoots; one location). Give me a call the next time you are in NYC. Cheers, Alec