GerardSava

Tiffen Steadicam vest with titanium socket block and custom rear adjustable straps (like the PRO vest) for sale. Easily fixable crack in the plastic waistband. (see pics) Very clean vest, barely used. The plastic cracked in shipping on a very cold day. I can also sell the original Mastercase it came in from Tiffen. $3000.00 for the vest. $3300.00 with the case. gfsava@gmail.com

Master/Ultra arm for sale. In great shape, brand new socket. With arm case and rain covers. $8000.00US gfsava@gmail.com

You are not allowed to use that image extension on this community. ??

Great to hear all your input, my questions regarding the CineTape were meant as an example of frequent side to side adjustments that might be frustrating with the XCS rig. The LEH question remains. Other than using all 3 batts for camera power, which, before the Alexa XT put the Codex internally, would be massively helpful, do I need the DC so elegantly massaged or can I just trust that hot batteries and big wires will keep the lights on? As for the tilting stage, in low mode it is way more comfortable and agile to be tilted up but having the camera aiming differently from the normal axis is a bit disorienting. Like operating a camera with the viewfinder prism twisted or an eyepiece much higher than the lens. But it spins better. I don't think I need the tilting stage to be adjustable either, just up, down and level. I guess I want it to be strong, reliable and good looking. Like me. HA. Can all of you guys with the newer rigs run dual link cables and hdsi to Codex or transmitters on the base? Gerard

So today begins the earnest search for a new Steadicam. After 12 years with my Ultra 1 and fabulous service from Dan and Derek at Tiffen, I think It's time. I had a good talk with Greg Bubb about his beautiful machine and have always loved the military simplicity of the PRO, MK-V's simplicity and local productions are enticing and with a week of whip pans and running around with an AR just past and a 3D project looming, a bigger post seems inevitable. To be fair to all the manufacturers, I imagine life without a tilting top stage is possible but painful. Two weeks of whip pans and running in low, low-mode make me cringe imagining what those batteries are doing around my head on a rig with no tilting ability. So herein lies the struggle. Can I get an Ultra without so much Ultra above the gimbal? How do you balance an Ultimate when the CineTape is switching sides every three minutes? And, what am I getting from the Ultimate LEH that I'd miss with PRO or MK-V? Has anyone figured a way to angle the batteries an an Ultimate? Can a DB3 or Betz unit replace the top stage on an Ultimate? Should it? Modularity claims aside, the boys at Tiffen have been fantastic for me every time I've needed them. That has to count for something. And it's got a tilt stage. Amazing how much wobble can be eliminated with a few clothespins jammed in the top stage. Love to hear from anyone about the machines. Gerard Sava

I was contacted by a fellow steadicam operator who was interested in buying my 24volt Tiffen batteries from my Ultra for his Master series broadcast rig. Has anybody any experience with upgrading a 12volt rig to 24volts? I don't know much about the Master series and would love to forward any advice about this to him. All input is appreciated. Thanks, Gerard Sava

Selling 6 Tiffen Ultra Steadicam 24volt batteries with 2 PAG chargers and cables. 6 batteries, all re-celled by Emery Soos at Lentequip in Toronto. The LED meters were removed and saved to make room for more cells. I can include the meters with the sale. The batteries all took a full charge and read between 29.3v and 29.9volts with a voltmeter. The Chargers: 1: PAG AR-301 12-30volt charger for one battery at a time. Standard equipment with new Ultras. info: http://www.bhphotovi...ger_Single.html 2: PAG AR-304 12-30volt charger for 4 batteries in sequence. info: http://www.bhphotovi...ry_Charger.html 4 charging paddles ( xlr to Steadicam adapter plates) 2 AC power cords. Mastercase hard case can hold all of the above with room to spare. The center latch is broken. I never used it anyway, two seems fine. Make an offer: gfsava@gmail.com

now on eBay! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130887586893#ht_500wt_966

This item has sold. Thanks

Selling my Kartmaster HD-500 folding hand truck. Who on God's green Earth needs two of these? If you need an excellent cart for a small Steadicam package, day-playing work when you don't want to build the ginormo Filmtools cart or the best way to get stuff through an airport, Buy this. You can add top and bottom shelves (that also fold) and the wheels are much nicer than any Magliner's, I think. What else can I say, it's a hand truck. Local pickup please. You really don't want to pay to ship it. It lives in the NY area. email me at gfsava@gmail.com

The chargers are worth $2500.00 The paddles are $150.00 each (x 4) The batteries are $600.00? each and re-celled for a few hundred more for each one. (x6) What's it worth to you? $1000.00 takes it all Gerard

Selling 6 Tiffen Ultra Steadicam 24volt batteries with 2 PAG chargers and cables. 6 batteries, all re-celled by Emery Soos at Lentequip in Toronto. The LED meters were removed and saved to make room for more cells. I can include the meters with the sale. The batteries all took a full charge and read between 29.3v and 29.9volts with a voltmeter. The Chargers: 1: PAG AR-301 12-30volt charger for one battery at a time. Standard equipment with new Ultras. info: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/181788-REG/PAG_9763_AR_301_Battery_Charger_Single.html 2: PAG AR-304 12-30volt charger for 4 batteries in sequence. info: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/181801-REG/PAG_9765_AR_304_4_Position_Battery_Charger.html 4 charging paddles ( xlr to Steadicam adapter plates) 2 AC power cords. Mastercase hard case can hold all of the above with room to spare. The center latch is broken. I never used it anyway, two seems fine. Make an offer: gfsava@gmail.com

A friendly warning to users of the excellent and durable Steadicam Ultra arm ( or whatever you guys call it.) While grabbing the rig off the stand and beginning to tighten the wing nuts on the arm, PING! Everyone heard it. At first I thought maybe the spring covers caught on something and made the sound when the arm straightened under the weight. Grabbing a flashlight, we looked over the plates where the arm bearings meet, looking for the cracks Mike O'Shea warned me about. Nothing. So I said, either it's OK, or this will be a very expensive take. No problem, but then I noticed the rig was pulling really hard to the left. Uh Oh. Park the rig, remove the arm and look at the screws. Hmm. Having no backup socket, 50mm on the Steadicam became 250mm on the dolly and a morning of phone calls. Peter Abraham, God love you, offered to lend me his socket until Tiffen Fedexed the new one. The new and improved one. I hope I can help a fellow steadicam mule in their time of need. In the meantime, if you have a titanium socket with the tool-free adjustments, seriously consider swapping to the solid steel socket. If you use a back mounted vest, there is no reason for the tool-free type. Those adjustments are redundant. Good luck, Gerard Here's the pic...

Preston Cinema Systems HU-2 with 2 batteries, charger and 12 marking rings for sale. Included is a G3 transceiver board to convert any new or used MDR to G3 transmission. Extra antennae also. Unit is in great shape, works perfectly, has been serviced and upgraded as far as possible by Preston in Santa Monica. $1500.00 email me at gfsava@gmail.com

Preston Cinema Systems F.I.Z. Hand Unit for sale. 3rd Generation (3G) Microwave transceiver with all software and firmware updates by Preston Cinema in Santa Monica, CA. Late model Hand Unit 1 with LED gragh for zoom indicator and all HU II electronics. Includes 2 batteries and charger with AC adapter cord, 12 marking rings and extra transmitter antenna. Included is a G3 board for an MDR2 (MDR not included) Never had a single problem with it. Beautiful machine. Originally priced at: FI+Z $4120.00 Charger $400.00 Batteries $350.00 each ($700.00) Marking Rings $29.00 each ($348.00) Total New $5568.00 I'll take the first offer over $2500.00 Call me at 917 468-4800

Here's the new eBay link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Preston-Cinema-FI-Z-HU-2-Hand-Unit-2-with-Batteries-and-charger-/130762953669?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e721453c5

Preston Cinema Systems F.I.Z. Hand Unit 2 for sale. 3rd Generation (3G) Microwave transceiver with all software and firmware updates by Preston Cinema in Santa Monica, CA. Includes 2 batteries and charger with AC adapter cord, 12 marking rings and extra transmitter antenna. Never had a single problem with it. Beautiful machine. Originally priced at: FI+Z $4120.00 Charger $400.00 Batteries $350.00 each ($700.00) Marking Rings $29.00 each ($348.00) Total New $5568.00 Ebay:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130762953669

Preston Cinema Systems F.I.Z. Hand Unit 2 for sale. 3rd Generation (3G) Microwave transceiver with all software and firmware updates by Preston Cinema in Santa Monica, CA. Includes 2 batteries and charger with AC adapter cord, 12 marking rings and extra transmitter antenna. Never had a single problem with it. Beautiful machine. Originally priced at: FI+Z $4120.00 Charger $400.00 Batteries $350.00 each ($700.00) Marking Rings $29.00 each ($348.00) Total New $5568.00 ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130753432682#ht_500wt_1413

Selling 6 Tiffen 24 volt Ultra batteries with (1) Pag AR304 charger and (1) Pag AR301 charger. (4) charging paddles and original Tiffen/sessions hard case. All are charged and working well. Any questions, please email or call. Gfsava@gmail.com (917) 468-4800 Make an offer, their value is up to you.

I am selling my entire inventory of 6 batteries for my Tiffen Ultra Steadicam. They were all re-celled by Emery Soos at Lentequip in Toronto and upgraded with Sanyo 5 amp hr cells with one additional cell replacing the tiffen LED battery meter. They are and have been excellent, performing way better than the original batteries. As every camera save the Panavision lightweight has a volt meter, I never miss the meter though I have them if you want to reinstall them when they need to be re-celled in the future. I expect they will provide a lot more use from them before that time comes. They come in the original hard case from Tiffen and I have: PAG AR-301 24volt charger PAG AR-304 24volt charger 4x Tiffen charger paddles/adapter plates AC cords The nominal voltage when fully charger never reaches the 30.2volts of the stock but the current capacity and total output are greatly improved. Contact me at (917) 468-4800 or gfsava@gmail.com

Hi Robin, The rig is one of the earlier Ultras. Probably built in 2000 or 2001. The receiver for the top stage controls does have a small stubby antenna coming out horizontally, pointing to the right of the rig. Any ideas? Gerard

Tiffen also tested the transmitter and it checked out OK at their shop, but I have my suspicions. Has anyone had problems with their transmitters and if so, what were the symptoms, solutions? Thanks, Gerard

After years of perfect functioning, the wireless motorized top stage stopped working. The first incident was in Belfast a few years ago when I noticed the motors were driving the camera rearwards to the stop. I would push the forward button to rebalance then as soon as I let go it would start its backward migration. I thought the button was stuck on the controller but it wasn't. The quick fix was to balance the camera then toss the controller to an assistant who left the room. After a few trips to Tiffen, they kept saying it worked fine when they disconnected the power to my Preston MDR. When I got the rig back, I tested their method and it seemed to be so. Then I plugged the Preston back in( with a new MDR-2) went through a few channels and couldn't get the problem to reoccur. Until I got the camera onto set. I tested the walkie-talkies to see if they were the problem and they weren't. So for a few months now I've kept batteries out of the unit and balanced manually. I really miss the feature and would appreciate any input. Tiffen has proven less than helpful. Thanks, Gerard .

I had 5- 24volt tiffen batteries for my Ultra and have had them all recelled by Emery Soos at Lentequip in Toronto. Five of the old ones could get a little tight in the winter but now six seems extravagant given the run time improvements of Emery's upgrade. To accomodate the upgrade the LED fuel gauge was removed but I have gotten used to checking voltage on the camera rather than at the battery. The lingering problem is with the durability of the Ultra battery case and its tendency to pull the countersunk screws through the carbon shell. Has anyone seen two Hytrons in the place of the one tiffen bat? It would seem to be a nice conversion as I could use a hytron to power my transvideo monitor. Back to Emery, he is great at what he does and with very little complaining converted all of my batteries two at a time in very little time. A note of caution: the converted batteries are considerably heavier than the originals. In for a penny, in for a pound. Gerard

Thanks Mark, I was able to figure out a pretty nice solution for mounting the monitor. Whether there is enough mass to the monitor without a battery remains to be seen. Buying an Anton -Bauer counter-balance seems a pricy way to add weight. Cheers, Gerard