JasonMcKelvey

Where can I get a good price on a new modulus transmitter? Thanks,

Please search the archives, there is a LOT of discussion about ProVid upgrading. The jist of it is, the ProVid sled and vest are also rated up to 26 lbs., so you could upgrade the arm to a IIIA or something, but you would put strain on the vest and sled. You can get a used EFP or IIIA package for about the same price as a ProVid if you are patient. J

Please don't buy any ABC product above what you have!!! I know a guy personally that bought the CN and it's awful. Of all the bad things about it, it is NOT Steadicam/PRO/Glidecam/MK-V compatible. Get a used IIIA, EFP, ProVid 2, Glidecam Gold or whatever, just not an ABC CN. Stay standard compatible. Happy flying. J

Well, I've been reading this forum for several years now, and finally got to operate on a real shoot. I've chosen to used the term "real shoot" only when I knew it was going to broadcast (straight to video or training video would have been fine too) and not just the few minutes operating here and there I've had so far. It wasn't much, but I think starting small is just fine with me... don't want to bite off too much. I've learned enough from my operator friends to feel confident in simple short moves, so I aranged to rent a Hollywood Lite from a guy I met recently for $150 for the day. He has a full time job and does "steadicam" on the side. It's rated to hold up to 25 pounds so I was OK with my Panasonic SDX900 with Canon 9x5.2. We shot in 50mbs mode in 16x9. The subject matter was all architectual, walking down a curved walkway with columns on both sides, then some roundyrounds around several different columns pointing up at the top. I'll try to post some footage for criticing. I just wanted to encourage all the other guys hoping to get into the field. This was a very short shoot, only about 1 hour total at this location with maybe 15 to 20 minutes of flying so fatigue wasn't a factor, and very simple walks so safety wasn't a great factor. And, it only cost us $150. If my church (my job) gets hooked on the look, I'll let them send me to a workshop. Keep your eyes peeled guys for oportunities like this where you can use a light-weight rig and get some experience. Heck, for $150, even if it was just for practice we could have got it, and, we got to keep it over the weekend even. On a technical note, the Hollywood Lite rig was very difficult to operate. It had dynamic balance capability, but that was about it. The arm location is all wrong... hard to explain, but just weird. And there was no pitch ajustment on the socket block so it constanly was swinging out away from me and no amount of posture adjustment helped. I see why they went belly up. Anyway, I made it work and it will only make operating a better rig that much easier. To the vets, thanks for all the tips and information over the years. Reading this board over the years truely truely made this small step possible and fruitful. PS get in shape before you operate. Sincerely,

What about getting a couple of 4 Gig cards ($500), then dumping them to a laptop every hour or so? I would think that since it holds 2 cards, you could keep recording on 1 while the other is uploaded to a laptop. Assuming you own a laptop, you could keep reusing the cards.

Didn't see any posts on this: Fast Forward Video (FFV) Mini DVR Pro and OEM Outrider DVR dual compact flash or 2.5" hard drives 5.7x3.5x8 inches user selectable compression 4 to 20 minutes per GB NTSC/PAL composite and YC in/out 7-25VDC www.ffv.com PDF http://www.ffv.com/documents/MiniDVRProDataSheet_000.pdf

I searched the archives, but didn't see any info on this. They are selling stuff on Ebay a lot. There website stinks. Anyone seen one in action? The seem to have a full system, rig, arm and vest. Cost? Useability? Reliability? Curious, Jason

Mr. Rush, www.tiffen.com sends me to to something called "Cobalt"... not Tiffen. Even the google link sends me to it. Jason

Benjamin wrote about microforce I've found that the rotating zoom control like on the newer canon and fuji lenses is nice because you can use the stationary part of the controller as a point of reference to the rotating ring by putting your thumb half on the zoom ring and half on the handle. Doing this, once you find the speed you like, you can squeeze it hard and the speed won't change no matter what manouvers you do. With the microforce, you can't feel very well how much force you are using... it's based soley on the pressure of your thumb with no point of reference. I would image that while trying to boom down, it would be difficult to keep from applying force to your thumb. Like someone else said, I have also found the front to back lens zoom style to have iffy response. My opinions, J

It could have been live, Letterman is shot early enough to still be daylight, but the big question for me is, if it was shot live, did they have a SERIOUSLY long triax cable, or a wireless triax system like the D-Cam or Link system. I doubt they used wireless, and I doubt they would risk cables... leaning me towards pre-recorded. My opinion, Jason

Watching movies over the years, I always look for the steadicam operator in windows and shiny cars. Some of the time when I see an operator (case in point last night on a big feature movie) I see he is wearing white shoes and white tube socks... pulled up all the way at that! I've heard people on the forum rightly criticize that Basson thingy for being yellow and chrome... is there a conscience decision made on what to wear on a job? Jason PS, yes i did consider putting this in the newbie forum... but thought it would get a wider response of operators in General Discussion. Sorry if I ticked anybody off.

The broadcast standard for video sets limits to how bright the brightest whites are and how black the blacks are. NTSC standards state that the blackest you want blacks to be on a waveform is 7.5 IRE. Japan uses 0 IRE for true black. So, with DV products coming out of Japan, it's no wonder that there are standards problems. I know for a fact that the dvx100 and the pd150 have the option to set setup to 0 or 7.5 IRE. It would make sense to me that if the picture looks dark, the camera is set to 0. If some has access to one of these cameras, you could hook it up to your rig and switch it back and forth to 0 and 7.5. Also check it on playback back and forth. As a side note, this will affect your editing system and final output. It might look good on your rig, but the final product might have double setup (15 IRE) and look washed out when recorded out of the NLE to another DV deck (which might boost the black yet again by another 7.5). I don't know if this is your problem though, usually it just looks really contrasty because the blacks are too low... not necessarily the whole picture looks dark. Hope this helps. Jason

Could it be that both DV camcorders were set to 0 setup intstead if 7.5 IRE setup? Jason

every time I log in, I have to do it twice before it recognizes me. Anybody know why? Jason

Can the ProVid be dynamically balanced? If not, are there any solutions? Jason

Are you mates NTSC down there? What's a good starting price? Jason

Thanks to everyone. Jason

I freelanced camera for years and was so glad I started out saying "NO" to half days. I was good enough that I still got called. If you have the skills and the confidence to perform, don't start a bad precedent. Just say no. Jason

There is only a small handfull of wireless systems that can be used in a professional multicamera system. Most shows still use wired triax for steadicam but wireless systems have come a long way. The deal maker/breakers in the technology is quality, delay and controlability. There are only 4 systems that I know of on the market right now that have remote control of the camera functions such as shading iris, paint, etc. These are Sony, Link Research, Thomson/GVG and Gigawave's D-Cam. Of these the 2 that have the picture quality that can match a wired camera are Link Research and Thomson. (BTW: Link Research makes the wireless system Hitachi uses for there system, which only works with Hitachi cameras. Link's works with most cameras.) Sony's picture is awful. And I experienced quality problems with the Gigawave D-Cam I used last Christmas on Steadicam for a 11 camera concert I directed. Of the Thomson and the Link Research systems, the Thomson might have a few points up on the Link R system. But, we come to latency, or delay. For sports it's not as big a deal, but for lip sync or instruments shots, it's crucial. Thomson's picture was stunning, but the delay was huge. The Link system has the lowest delay on the market right now with full CCU control. But, the Link system still has between 80 miliseconds and 120 ms of delay. In other words, you hear the undelayed audio first, then a hair later, you see it happen. Even under optimal conditions with the Link system, drum shots are not useable because of the delay. At the end of this year they will have a new system with wireless return video that will also be used to genlock the camera head itself, therefore lowering the delay by at least 10 ms or maybe even 20 ms. I have used a wireless triax system with steadicam (not as an operator, but as producer/director) and have done demos in my church as well as going to NAB to research these products. If you have any questions, I probably know the answer. Jason

Wow... such a simple thing yet it explain so much! The one thing that being bottom heavy would cause problems with (in my mind) is whip pans. Wouldn't the bottom swing out causing an inadvertant tilt up? How do you approach this? Jason

The SDX900 is similar to a Ikegami camera with a BVV-5 back. Your looking at somewhere around 30 pounds with lens, battery and follow focus. You can download the user manual at the broadcast link at www.panasonic.com Jason

I have about 30 minutes total in a vest... something I hope will grow in the future... but I think that qualifies me for this corner of the website. I thought I would inaugurate this forum with a question that I'm sure is worn out... What is drop time?

It's my understanding that most everyone has a dominant eye. This eye, when presented with a different picture than the submissive eye, will be the picture chosen by the visual cortex as the brain can only process one picture. There is a simple test to figure out if you are left or right eye dominant... but I forgot it. I'm left eye dominant (left handed too, if that makes a difference) so when operating a hand-held camera, if I keep both eyes open, the image from the viewfinder in my right eye will fade out withing a few seconds as my brain starts concentrating on my left eyes picture. My point? If the video image is only in one eye with these glasses, will it fade out, or the opposite... will the ground fade out? Jason

Although I'm a very green... I can't even say operator really... but I was at NAB and flew everything there including the Basson. The Basson thing is, without question, a piece of crap. Although it doesn't hold anything over 15 pounds, the Hollywood Lite model (not the Running Rig, the other one) was accually a good value... not as good as the flyer by far, but a good value for the money and is a great example of a very usable product for the money, staying within it's limits. The Basson however is an example of a poorly designed product that isn't worth its raw material costs. My opinions, Jason

?This guy in LA also has several guys that work for him doing the Jib arm as well. But the truth of the matter is, he admits he gets MOST of his work himself because of his reputation as a Jib arm op. He sends out the other guys when he's NOT available. And rents out the other Jib arms to productions that ALREADY have camera operators on the show, who can operate the Jib, via the wheels, or that goofy video game joystick.? Very true Michael S. He has a similar operation. But, he doesn't want to operate the rig. He wants to own it. He owns several jibs and keeps them all very busy. He has several jib ops and camera ops that have the desire to learn the craft and wants to arrange a situation that is benificial for all of them. We could debate all day on which is harder to learn, jib or steadicam, but all-in-all he understands that there is a learning curve and needs to allow for time in the rig for all his potential operators and the risks involved with bringing this service to clients. ?If there are no local ops, then I'd throw out this idea to you: Since you're so interested in this, have him form a separate business plan with you. You'll go to a workshop and train as a Steadicam Op. He'll front the money for the rig. For the next "X" number of years you will split the revenue from every job 50/50. You get half as your fee and he gets half as the gear rental. At the end of the contract period you can buy him out for a given amount or dissolve the partnership.? Oh boy Mitch? I surely would if I didn?t have a full time job where I believe God wants me? this scenario will probably play out with one of his operators in particular he was telling me about? strong desire, good eye, etc. For me? I just want to use it for some of our productions! Sincerely, thank you for the concerns.. and keep them coming... does anyone have some equipment ideas as well? Sincerely, Jason