Ed Moore

Camera prep went fine. Just want to make sure that my power cable is wired correctly: 4pin xlr- pin 1 is ground pin 2,3 nothing, and pin 4 is 12volt? If anyone can confirm that would be great.

 

Thanks,

Brandon

It seems to be that the vast majority of the time, but sometimes +12 is on pin 2. Don't think I've ever come across any other combinations.

Canford audio have a guide here: www.canford.co.uk/Techzone/XLR4-pinWiring.pdf

I'm sure I'm the last person on this forum to encounter this, but it's fun anyway. Did a shot involving travelling in an elevator for the first time yesterday, and discovered first hand the effect of near frictionless bearings and the inertia of a large mass which wants to continue travelling upwards :)

Obvious when I thought about it for 1/2 a second afterwards, but was a bit of a shock to see the sled happily continuing its journey upwards as the elevator reached the next floor.

It's not having a reference to your surroundings that gets you. I expect it must be fun shooting inside a big ship with no view of the horizon...

Ed

Walter Klassen vehicle mount arrived - it's awesome. You could probably demolish a building with this thing. Looking forward to its maiden voyage!

Ordered WK hardmount, from Betz Tools (thanks guys!). Thanks for advice!

Ed

Hi y'all,

We built the camera with the 'red cradle' (which holds the drive and battery) on top because of some issue with having the right number of accessory mounting adaptors. I was also interested to see how short I could make the rig - being a bit bored with the 3 mile long HDCAM/Varicam + pro35 combination...

We didn't have much time or I would have tried it with the drive at the back.

In the end, I've ordered a Red power cable from Tiffen. With the sled powering the camera and a lightweight matte box, the Red with the Archer is very pleasantly light, as well as being easily DB-able on the Archer without needing all those mods.

Other questions I was asked: yes, as someone pointed out I used the Red LCD on the rods because there's no built in downconverter. However, as well as the usual downconverters there is now available a box that permanently bolts on to change the horrible mini-BNC connectors to full size, and also contains a downconverter. Worth looking out for.

A big benefit to using the RED is that it shows you (on the preview outputs) a large border outside what is actually recorded so you do get some warning if booms etc are about to intrude - i.e. same as an optical viewfinder.

For low mode you can can a special cheeseplate from Element Technica that wedges very firmly between the top bars and looks pretty good. Otherwise you can use two of the Red 'universal adaptors' mounted to the top bars and get two screws into your steadicam plate that way. I'm sure Brant's VLS would work a treat as well.

Cheers,

Ed

Aha, sorry misunderstood that you used the cheeseplate to solve the problem in the end.

I believe a lot of Red users are switching to the Element Technica dovetails (http://www.elementtechnica.com/products/) which match up better with tripods.

There's a video at

Ed

Hi Lars,

I had the RED on my archer the other day and didn't seem to experience that issue. We had the 19mm baseplate on, and then the RED cheeseplate (the pretty thick one) under that. Seemed pretty solid - would be interested to know where we are differing in the rigging.

Attached a pic, but there's some more at http://www.flickr.com/photos/offsetcarrier...57604263189795/ (towards the end)

On another note, how's that AT-AT mod working out? I can't really afford it right now, but was wondering how well the simpler "battery mount on the rods" system worked as a way of DBing larger cameras?

Cheers,

Ed

Hi All,

Im a camera operator/jib operator in Sydney and have just done a 5 day steadicam workshop which I loved and want to get into a lot more, what I need now is a lot of practice. Im thinking of buying a rig but not sure which way to go. I only want to spend $20 K or so. Should I go the second hand Master Series or an Archer???

I mostly do television stuff, both betacam etc. and OB's and may want to fly a RED soon. But cant see myself running any heavy film cameras any time soon.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Shep.

Hi Peter,

I had exactly the same quandary. In the end, our steadicam was part of a big cap ex package being financed by a third party so buying second hand kit wasn't an option. If I had just had a big pile of cash to use instead, I would probably have gone for a second hand master series.

You'll end up getting a much-loved rig with a whole load of really useful extras "thrown in", and the rig itself will be more flexible. You won't get the benefit of the awesome G-50 arm the Archer comes with, but I would say that's a worthwhile trade off.

Cheers,

Ed

Hi Emre,

I've owned an Archer for the past six months. My review of it to interested crew members is usually "the arm is fantastic, but the sled is pretty basic". As other commenters have mentioned, you will frequently find yourself coming up with sometimes-bodgy solutions in order to DB larger cameras (I find anything Digi/HDCAM/Varicam sized and up needs weight added under the post).

Having said that, for the price of the Archer package I think it represents a pretty sound offering from Tiffen - it's nicely positioned in terms of 'features' between the Flyer and Clipper. If you need to be able to configure things quickly and efficiently I would save up for the Clipper or above. For example, I mostly shoot for my own production company and other DPs I know pretty well - if I was going properly freelance as a steadicam operator and turning up on sets with limited time and the need to make a good first impression, I wouldn't want to be cable-tying extra weight onto the battery rods.

The Hofmann mod (AT-AT) for the Archer looks excellent, though. However if you're buying for the first time, it's only another $5,000 or so on top of the Archer + Hofmann price to get the Clipper 2 package. You might prefer to spend that on a Bartech plus M one though.

I have had no problems with the fabric standard vest bag... but then my kit always travels in my own vehicle. If I had to freight it then obviously I would need a hard case.

Don't forget to budget for extras like low mode bracket, J bracket, hard mount and all the various power cables. (Archers are a good match for the RED camera so you might want to invest in the Steadicam > RED power cable, Tiffen code 802-0106 for about $250-300 - the RED is a little awkward on the Archer if you have to power the camera from batteries mounted to the camera itself, rather than your 'sled' power). I did a test day with the RED recently on my Archer - pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/offsetcarrier...57604263189795/ if you're interested. Towards the end.

All in all, you'll love it. Massive jump up from the Flyer!

Cheers,

Ed

Thanks Chris, will do.

Hiya,

Looking for a complete garfield mount with socket block (for my G50) ready to be bolted onto scaffolding.

Anyone got a dusty spare they'd like some cash for?

Cheers,

Ed

That looks fantastic - what's the actual price though?

Ed

We all seem to be shy about talking about this, but since you ask a direct question, I think you should not quote less then £1,000 with assistant. I'm interested to hear what the rest of you think.

Hi Chris,

Really appreciate your response (and thanks to you or whichever admin moved this to the correct forum - I hadn't actually scrolled down far enough to spot the Business Practices one).

£1000 sounds like a promising start - any other takers?

Thanks again for allowing me the courtesy of stomping in here with my 3 posts and being all rude at you!

Ed

Hi guys,

Apologies up front if I'm out of line, but I was hoping to garner some advice on what an appropriate rate to charge for a standard Archer doing middleweight corporate and broadcast video work would be. Obviously including operator!

I'm keen to ensure we don't underprice and potentially screw the community in general, but I'm also painfully aware that we're new to steadicam and don't have a lot of the accessories and hard won experience that the rest of you possess! It clearly isn't appropriate to charge £1500 a day, for example - but is maybe £500-600 too low?

We're not looking to actively pursue steadicam-only jobs - we're a production company - but I want a rate to go on budgets to clients that reflects a suitable industry norm for the level of equipment. I should also say that we're 95% of the time limited to the Midlands - there's no way we're going to go try to 'break' the South East :)

Many thanks for any advice you feel happy to give and feel free to rip into me if I'm causing offense!

Ed Moore

Fullrange Media

Long time reader first time poster... I felt the following link was well worth the time to register and show you guys... Apologies if it's already been posted somewhere.

The amount of stuff that had to go right for this to work is simply staggering!

http://www.freshdv.com/2007/03/a-very-chal...dicam-shot.html

Ed Moore