Dave Bittner

It was a fun night, indeed, and a gentleman never names names, so unless anyone else wants to fess up your identities will remain undisclosed. I'll see you there, Charles. Looking forward to catching up on the latest.

I'll be there, arriving Sunday and heading back home Thursday afternoon. A few years back I organized a dinner at the Rio for operators, which was a lot a fun, and Tiffen has hosted informal get-togethers in the past. GB usually attends the show, and always has fun stories to share. A bunch of us went dancing one year, and even convinced a few gals to join us! Miracles do happen... Hopefully I'll see a bunch of you there, and if someone organizes an event please keep me posted. -Dave Bittner

http://www.DigitalProductionBuZZ.com/Archi...zz_05_09_01.m4a GB's the first guest here.

When I was aggressively going after steadiwork in the Balto/DC area I wouldn't go out for less than $1,200 a day for me and the rig. Except on those days when I would. And on those days I wouldn't go out for less than $900 per day. B) I usually quoted $1,500 per day for me and the rig (camera was extra and not included), expected to get around $1,200, which seemed to be the "going rate" for video steadicam in the area, for an operator using one of the smaller rigs. (I flew a Provid at the time.) The guys in town who specialized in film work got more, as expected, and they had, in general, a much larger investment in their rigs and the accessories they needed for film related work. My rock bottom price was $900 per day, which was reserved for student films, friends, or other needy people. But most of the time I got something around $1,200. That was about five years ago. I've since eased off on the steadicam work, thanks to a minor back injury that I don't want to make any worse, and the growth of the other parts of my company. If I were going out today I would ask for more money. The flipside, of course, is that it seems like you can't swing a c-stand without hitting a steadicam operator, which has eroded rates. Also, based on a lot of the work I've seen lately, there are a lot of producers who don't know (or don't care) about the difference between good and bad operating, which also tends to erode rates. The bad ops still get work, because they're willing to work cheap. Anyway, I hope I'm not being too gloomy. I love operating, I think it's the most fun, challenging and rewarding kind of shooting there is. Taking a workshop (with Erwin, and having GB, Charles, Jerry Jacob, Dave McGill, Jim McKonkey and other great ops as instructors) was the best investment I ever made in my career. I've made some really good friends from steadicam, too. There are some really great people in this biz, guys and gals who just "get it", who are willing to share and teach and help you when you need it most. Feel free to hit me with any questions you might have. -Dave Bittner Columbia, MD

Anybody heard from Jerry? He's was in New Orleans, and I'm hoping he got out of dodge.

I remember having problems like this when I owned my Provid. Some of the components were just plain under-designed, and caused headaches and frustration. The knob to lock down the fore/aft adjustment of the top stage, for example, was way too small to get enough torque to really lock the thing down and sometimes it would loosen up and take the rig out of trim. The only explanations I got were always along the lines of "well, the Provid was made to hit a certain price range, so you need to take that into consideration..." which translated to me as "well, we really don't stand behind our lower priced products..." CP had an unfortunate history of letting underengineered components to market. The original Masters arm bearings (and the replacements!), the original Provid arm bearings, the Steadicam DV (which never worked right). Seems like Tiffen got a lot of that under control with the Ultra and the new arms and vests, and hopefully they'll step up and come up with a remedy for your situation. Let us know how it all works out.

Any idea where to get more info and how much it costs? I didn't see anything on the company web site.

Overall, the EFP was a nice rig, and there are still a lot of them out there being used for all kinds of work. It's my undertanding that the original configuration of the EFP was very difficult (if not impossible) to get into dynamic balance, and that most of the ones you see working out there today have been modified, usually with an adjustable battery mount. (Isn't it correct that PRO started out of George's frustration with CP's lack of responsiveness to his modifications to his own EFP?) Overall, an EFP in good condition would make a nice "starter" rig, but if I were you I would be sure to try several of the other rigs out there, including the new line from Tiffen and the Glidecam Gold. These are much newer designs, benefitting from years of operator feedback on the older designs, and likely more reliable, too. There are many, many choices out there these days, and you owe it to youself to find the rig that feels like it "fits" you.

It's my understanding that original batch of Provid arms shipped with bearings that were too weak. Later arms shipped with stronger bearings. A few years ago I posted a detailed account of my complete disassembly, cleaning and reassembly of the Provid arm I owned at the time, showing some of the design compromises made in the arm to meet the price point Cinema Products had set for the arm. (That report is gone from my files, but I'm hoping someone here saved it. Like Erwin...he saves everything!) It's been a few years since I did the report, but I seem to remember having some issues with the selection of bearings in the various parts of the arm. I had a industrial engineer friend look at the arm, and he questioned why they went with strong bearings in someparts, and weak bearing in other parts. The bearing also seemed to gum up under load, like they were under-speced. The Provid arm never set the world on fire. You can get the shot with it, but it earned a reputation as a stiff arm, challenging to work with compared to other arms. If I were shopping today for a low-cost arm I would consider a used IIIa arm or a Glidecam Gold arm. Neither are iso-elastic, but in the Provid's case i think the iso-elasticity combines with the overall stiffness of the arm and fights you as an operator. The single-spring design of the Provid arm is one of those things that looks really good on paper, but cost considerations kept them from using high-quality bearings that would have realized the full potential of the design. (As for bearings, CP had a really bad track record with them...there were, as i recall, two revisions to the bearings used in the Masters arms. Expensive upgrades. Caused a lot of ill-will, to have your $20K arm need a $7K upgrade because it was designed wrong...) Anyway, just my opinion...your mileage will surely vary...

Got it from the Steadicam-ops pages. Nevermind... ;)

Anyone have current contact info for Jerry Jacob? I've got a shoot coming up in New Orleans that I'd like to hook up with him on. Thanks! Dave Bittner 410-381-8555

I've done a number of these sorts of things in the past, including a series of tours for retirement communities. I was using a Provid and a JVC MiniDV camera. Don't remember the camera model number, but it was the one that looks most like a little betacam, with a 500 in the model number, I think. At any rate, I had a shot coming from full sun outside to inside the lobby, with no lighting other than a camera mounted 100W tungsten to fill in the shadows. I set the camera to auto iris and auto white balance, set the lens as wide as it would go, and off I went. And you know what? The camera did an amazing job. The transition from outside to inside was seemless, which blew my mind - I was expecting some kind of white balance issue, at least, but nope, it just shifted automatically, and it was imperceptible in the final footage. Amazing. My point is that these new cameras have some pretty amazing capabilities, so before you knock yourself out with a bunch of HMIs and cables do some tests and see just how much light you need to add. As for the cable, well cables always suck, especially with a lightweight rig. Try to get a thin, flexible short bit a cable to go from your rig to the vest, and then connect to a larger cable at the vest. Also, make sure you've got a GOOD cable puller. This is critical. You want someone you trust, who knows what they are doing. Rehearse like crazy with your puller so you both know what to expect when the real shot happens. Good luck, and let us all know how it goes!

Congrats on the new rig! I agree with you that the Glidecam Gold is a major step up from the Provid-level rigs from Tiffen. The arm is much beefier and smoother, and the sled comes equipped with a lot more internal wiring, making it a much more versitile rig. I think the Glidecam Gold is one of the best values out there in terms of price/performance.

Seems like a simple issue of supply and demand, in some ways. There's been a flood of new steadicam operators, thanks in part to the easy availability of inexpensive new and used rigs. Someone with a lower equipment investment can afford to charge less and still pay the rent and make a decent living. The growth of the industry has taking the pool of steadicam operators beyond the small group of gents who all know each other by their first names, so there are plenty of operators out there hungry to make a living, prove themselves, get their foot in the door and show their stuff. And they'll take a lower rate for that opportunity. (And I dare say many of us did the same thing when we were starting out, to varying degrees!) If the producers are happy with the work of the low-cost ops, seems like there's little you can do to stop them. You could call your union, but they don't seem to really care about your plight. (Makes me wonder what you're paying those dues for!) You could try to educate the producers, but it seems like they are more concerned about the bottom line than the subtle differences in operating between a top-notch operator and one who's just okay. Let's face it - we've all seen high-profile gigs with borderline operating, and it doesn't seem to affect how much money the movie makes opening weekend (Ebert - "I was going to give this film a big thumbs up, but midway through the movie there was a steadicam shot with a floaty horizon. Thumbs down!") or how well the series does in the ratings. To many producers, steadicam is steadicam. I've been a bit extreme here to make a point, but I don't really see a practical way out of this situation. As long as there are more operators than jobs (and the union turns a blind eye) this situation will continue. Anybody can go to a steadicam workshop, walk away with a certificate (and therefore, by definition, be "certified", despite arguments to the contrary), plunk down $15K for a beat up 3A and set the world on fire. Anybody think of a good practical way to address this issue?

Congrats! And best wishes! -Dave Bittner

I've got one, and you should be able to fly it on an SK2 without issues. If you're going to have follow focus you may have to remove the viewfinder, but the '900 allows you to output the VF info through the video out, so you can get all that status info on your steadi monitor if you desire. A really nice camera, by the way. 24p stuff looks amazing.

Wow! A really informative thread going here! Good stuff, guys. I want to chime in here and point out that the original poster stated that he's using an SK, which, sadly, has no adjustments for getting the rig to hang in good trim, properly aligned with your posture. The arm/vest interface is fixed. So part of his trouble could be due to the fact that he's fighting the rig all the time. I have experienced varying degrees of right hip pain, and I think some of it comes from carelessly shifting my weight to over my right hip when I'm in a rest position. I've noticed that sometimes I really stick that right hip out in between shots, loading it up with the weight of the rig, and sometimes I'll pay for it the next day. It's easy to try to muscle it out and not dock the rig in between shots, especially when you've got a nice light setup, but try to make a point of docking it whenever possible and see if it helps your hip situation. -Dave Bittner

Gotta say it's a bit disappointing to see the Provid style arm on the 32K clipper rig. For that knd of money I'd expect a smoother arm. Perhaps I'm jumping the gun here and the arm has had significant improvements, but I'd take a 3A or Glidecam Gold arm over the Provid arm.

Looking for insight from those who might be in the know about the new Tiffen rigs. Pricing? Performance? The new mini arm looks pretty sweet!

I built a lego rig a few years ago, unaware that it had already been done years earlier. It was a lot of fun, and really gave me a new understanding of the forces at work in the arm and the amount of torque pressure on the elbow joint. I posted pictures a while back when I built it. Maybe Erwin still has them saved. (That guy saves everything!) I still have the rig here, sitting on a shelf in my office.

I'm a big fan of the Dionics, and have three of them. For everyday video work (using a new nifty Panasonic DSX-900 24p cam) they charge faster than you can drain them on the camera, so I don't ever need to pull the third batt off the charger. Did a shoot last week flying a JVC D9 cam (a beast, as far as video cams go) and having the lighter weight of the Dionic was very nice. Used a single battery to run the sled and the camera.

There are certainly fewer of them, but they are out there and, from what I've seen, are fine operators. Sheila Smith is a local operator to me, doing fine work in the DC area.

I have to say it's always been a bit perplexing to me the way the two-handed operating technique evolved. As it stands, most ops who mount the arm on the right side use the right hand for placement of the sled/arm in 3D space and the left hand for precise control of the gimbal for pan/tilt/horizon. This seems backward to me - Since most of us are right handed it strikes me that you'd want to be doing the precision work with the right hand.

It strikes me that in the "good old days" of steadicam there were far fewer operators (and even fewer good ones!) so eveybody knew everybody. There was one brand steadicam to choose from, so you didn't have any pissing matches over who had the best arm / vest / sled. Pretty much everyone operating had been through the "traditional" training program led by Garrett or Ted or one of the other original batch of ops, and as such were instilled with the acceptable style of operating, the culture of steadicam and the comradery that went along with it. Unreliable gear led to a need for as many friends in the biz as possible, since you never knew who you'd have to call to help revive a III monitor that refused to fire up. If you were a lousy operator of just an asshole word probably got around fast and, with steadicam being such a speciality, you probably didn't work much. As others have outlined, it's a far different world now. Steadicam isn't the exotic tool it used to be, lorded over by mystical operators who knew to proper incantations to coax the soothing green glow out of the little rectangular screen. It's pretty standard, the rigs are cheap, financing is readily available, and even Tiffen sells rigs that they claim require "no workshop training." In the 90's many saw steadicam as a quick way into the higher ranks of the film biz, resulting in a flood of L.A. operators, the lowering of rates and arguably the lowering of artistic and professional standards. Don't get me wrong here - The top operators still do amazing, mind-blowing work, and continue to improve and refine the craft, but these days anyone with a DV camera and a credit card can call up B&H, buy a Mini or even an SK and call themselves a Steadicam operator. (There was much hand-wringing whent the EFP first came out, yes?) So, I think the romantic "golden age" of steadicam has come and gone, but those who operated through it probably don't all look at it as being golden. Today's rigs are so much more reliable, so much easier to fly, so much more available. And I still maintain that it's the most fun camera job there is. Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

We had a multicamera video shoot last year in a hotel ballroom in Chicago last year. Chicago is a union town, to put it mildly, and it's been my experience that overall the crews are professional and hard working. On this occasion we had an early load-in into a hotel for a 7am start time, taping a medical conference. We'd hired a local guy to handle all of our union issues. A good investment, since he knows all of the local players and how best to handle unique situations. For example, we needed to use the hotel freight elevator. The union wanted us to hire two guys to handle to load-in requirements. Given that it was a Sunday morning 4am load in and we would have had to hire them for the whole day it would have ended up costing us around two grand. For elevator operators. My local guy made a deal where we made a $200 donation to the union christmas fund and suddenly the requirement for the elevator ops went away.