Mitch Gross

Rich is completely correct. A showreel clause in a contract does little to grant rights. Recorded music has both authorship (aka ownership) rights as well as performance rights, even if it is an instrumental. Even if your contract somehow granted you use of the authorship rights it certainly does not grant performance rights. I so happened to do a job at ASCAP headquarters in NYC a few weeks ago in a room lined with plques, framed newspapers and printed court documents that went into great detail how this type of copyright issue went all the way to the US Supreme Court and was won in favor of the rights holder. That would mean that it would be against your use in a showreel, even if you gave them away for free (thereby "diluting" the value of the copyrighted material), and also the free argument is negated because you will get "eventual or tangential" value from the reels. The original court decision was against restaurants that had "free" live performances of musical numbers from famous Broadway shows, but the idea still holds true. One can see that I had a lot of waiting time once I set up for this shoot. All this said, I really don't think anyone cares and I certainly have music on my reel and expect that everyone else does as well.

Two ways of looking at it. If you want to go with the best batts for matching to the industry standard (at least in the US), then Anton Bauer is the way to go. Pretty much any real industrial camera from betacam on up will likely have an AB mount or a plate adapter for AB. But if you are using the rig primarilly for your XL2 and inhouse work (meaning that you are unlikely to stick a rental camera on it), then NP1 batteries are available at a much cheaper price per watt. You can get NP1 bricks in NiMh or LiIon for around a third of the price as the equivalent AB brick.

You know, for the right amount of cash I could buy my very own Formula One race car. But the car doesn't automatically make me Mario Andretti.

Steve, Beyond all other issues, last year we went back and forth on the question of John's sled and you stated that in the interest of fairness, good business and general hatchet burying, you would return the sled to him. There was even a time & date set. But you did not do this and never offered a reason why. So setting aside all other differences, it has become rather difficult for anyone on this forum to trust you. I for one had thought "Hey, the guy is trying to clear the air here--maybe thi is not all so bad," but then the sled was not returned. I'm not going to get into the argument as to whether you owe John the sled or he owes you money. I'm just noting that at one point you said that you would give it back and then you did not. Please respond to this and perhaps there is a chance of moving forward.

The Varicam can invert the image because it has a framestore within its DSP. The F900 cannot unless you have a Mark-3 model or one with an add-on board. Flipping the image in the F900 will also add a very slight delay in the audio. Not saying don't do it; just letting people know the facts.

The battery issue is with LiIon technology, not NiMh. That's Dionic not Hytron in Anton Bauer. Your Hytrons are fine.

If you want to be able to somewhat clearly see the image, you will need to have a somewhat 2-dimensional surface to project onto. I would suggest using dry ice and having the steam fall rather than rise. You can take a pipe, lie it horizontally and pop a series of holes in it and let gravity do the work. Either that or try sandwiching your steam between two sheets of glass to contain it.

Obviously the amount of time it took to set up has little to do with this guy not paying. Having been screwed enough in the past, there are clients from whom I require a downpayment in advance. I usually ask for at least half my money in advance when I get that queasy feeling beforehand.

So I'm watching This Old House the other night (American home improvement show for those outside the US) and they're doing a tour of a decked-out home entertainment system. In with all the Plasma screens and multi-function remotes they breeze past a "wireless TV." And when I say wireless I mean COMPLETELY wireless. There was no power cord, so video cable, no antenna, nothing. It looked like a standard Sharp 13" LCD on its stand but I didn't notice any special box or any similar thing stuck to the back. My assumption is that they're using some form of wireless internet downstreaming with MPEG compression of some sort, but who knows? Perhaps the unit was powered by batteries, but that would seem a bit disingenous to what the guy on TV was saying. There's no way I could really see the image quality, but it seemed like a nice picture. So how wonderful would this be as a wireless transmitter system for Steadicam or tap monitoring in general? Anyone know anything about it?

The pin configuration Fred replied with is for modern Ang. video lenses--they have nothing to do with film style lenses old or new. The Eclair as originally designed (back in the early 70s) had no power ports or accessory mounts of any kind, save for a couple of 3/8"x16 holes on the top & bottom. Some aftermarket companies such as Visual Products in Ohio and Les Bocher in the UK have made frontrod mounts for it and retrofitted PL lens mounts. The old lenses described are most likely c-mount, which as noted can rotate within their mounts given enough pressure. Also those old lenses will have no gearing in which to engage a follow focus device. Gears can be added to any lens from an aftermarket company such as Focus Optics for around $100/lens. Since the lenses mentioned aren't worth much more than that I question the value of the commitment. I also question the value of the entire endevor, as a BFD system with motor and a couple of cables will likely be worth more than this camera and its lenses. Hope this helps. Jim, if you want more info I am intimately knowledgeable about the old Eclair ACLs as I shot a few docs with them and used them quite a bit in college.

Remember that NITS is not the only measure of good screen viewability. The anti-glare coating on the screen is really what can make the difference between an image in daylight and nothing at all. The guys at Nebtek have a great demo of two identical screens with just one of them sporting Nebtek's coating. The difference is alarming. There may be some technical measurement for anti-glare efficiency but I've never heard it and it certainly isn't published with spec sheets. Mitch "NITS-picker" Gross

Not to drift off the fascinating topic, but just an aside to note that West Wing shot Super-16 for just the first six episodes of the season then returned to 35mm. Apparently once those episodes made it through post someone higher up at Warners found out and put an end to it. Mitch

Sounds like you need a distribution amp.

Abel's web address is abelcine.com.

I think a hand tremor would prove quite difficult to overcome when using a Steadicam, especially a lightweight system like the Fyler. One hand is on the gimbal handle on the end of the spring arm, controlling the physical position of the arm and therefore the camera itself. The other hand is gently holding the post, controlling the orientation of the sled. While the gimbal handle may not transmit the tremors, the contact with the post must be the lightest touch as it is very responsive. It could be very easy to transmit the tremors here, and the lighter the rig the more gentle the touch needed.

Cetainly one can flip DVCPro, it's just that the footage will need to be re-encoded and rendered if it is edited in FCP, which is something common with Panasonic's & Apple's integration work and something many people are reluctant to do. I can't recall if you can do it in camera--I know the Varicam can. Also, you can't simply remove the handle on all cameras. Some of them have wiring within for a headphone jack or tally light.

NO WAY are you getting away without telling a bit more to this story. Planning a "Girls of the camera stabilizers" spread? "Miss 2-inch post"? A specially balanced rig using a pair of silicon-filled pouches? Okay, it's late and they're getting a little thin here, but you gotta share! Mitch "Human Tripod" Gross

Sony replaced their line of 8040 monitors with the L2 series, which have 9" screens. They run AC/DC, with 12vdc via 4-pin XLR or V-lock (no more NP-1 slots). Will fit fine in the standard PortaBrace or similar bags. If you're interested in LCD screens, the Sharp Aquos models all run 12vdc and use a power supply to run AC. The connection is a standard 2.1mm collared plug, so Fred Davis or the like could easily make a cable for you. I think you can buy car adaptor cables from Radio Shack, so you could just snip off the cigarette plug and put on your own 4-pin XLR. I don't think they make the 10.8" screen anymore, but the have them available in 13", 15", 17" and upward. Certainly not as rugged or daylight-viewable as a CRT field monitor, but they're less expensive, lighter to haul around and consume less power. At one time PortaBrace made a soft case but I don't know if they still do. I don't know how sensitive the tuner in these consumer TVs are. For a good cheap tuner the Sony 1040 or 1041 is a great old standby. Again, no longer manufactured as they were companions to the discontinued 8040 monitors, but they're still around at various retailers. Someone contacted me offlist last month to discuss one of these that he found for something ridiculously cheap like $150. The store just wanted to get rid of 'em. These run AC/DC, with 12v coming from 4-pin XLR or NP-1 brick. PortaBrace makes (made?) a case for this that straps nicely to the side of their monitor case, making a nice, compact and portable kit. I have a 1041 that I opened up and swapped the flimsy F-pin antenna connector for a BNC. It only took 5 minutes because the connector is actually a barrel adaptor from an RCA plug within the casing, so it was a $2.19 solution from Markertek and no soldering involved. Stuck on a right angle BNC and a whip antenna from Wolf Seeberg and I was all set. Excellent tuner.

If you're simply looking to hire/rent a solution, then you should consider the Chrosziel rod adapter previously mentioned. I know in NYC these are available to rent for something like $25/day. Last year I had a shoot that ran long enough that I simply bought one (I think it was around $450) and rented it back to production. All the pro-style Sony cameras from the DSR-300 up to the F900 fit. I believe Panasonics require a slightly different model and I know that my old JVC DV500 needed a different model. Good for mounting followfocus, mattebox, handgrips, etc. I love sticking my Aaton handgrips onto video cameras tis way--so much more comfortable to handhold.

I guess for $1499 one can't be too picky, but not having a separate LCD monitor on the bottom of the sled is severely limiting. I mean, if Blondie in the photo flipped open the camera's onboard LCD then she couldn't even see it with the camera at her side as pictured. Add around $500 for a decent LCD with some form of mount and perhaps this could be of limited use. Is it possible to run a cable up the post and would one have to drill out some holes on the top & bottom to fish through? I'm not trying to say this is a bad device, just limited as is. But what do you expect for such a price point?

I recall some discussion of the shot at the time. The set had flyaway walls and roof that were all brought in as the camera moved back. I know that a crane was used of course but can't recall if it was a Steadicam step-off or pure crane shot/remote head for the whole thing. I seem to recall pure crane, but it has been awhile.

If you get mileage allowance for driving your car to location does she get 10% of that as well? A kit is an expense related to goods, not a service. It is illegal (at least in the States) to attach a management/booking fee to an expense.

Since you can't tell if it really is functioning properly, I would say it's worth $500 max. But if you can take it to a camera rental house and get them to check it for you (hoork up a source and check on a receiver) then I'd bump that up to $1000 - $1200 assuming it is in very good condition.

Interesting post from the maker of the CopperHead system on the CML. We were discussing why it sucks to have big heavy cables trailing off cameras in general and especially with Steadicam. This was in reference to the new Venom box, which is a hard drive memory that mounts to the Viper. He let us know about this upcoming product from Tletest. Soon it will be the ONLY way to fly HD. Imagine a tiny camera head behind a big HD lens and then a thin little ultra-flexible fiber optic cable trailing from this. Sweet. I know that Jeff would enjoy hearing serious input from Steadicam Ops out there. "At this point, all I can tell you about CopperHead for Viper is ?no comment? (yet). But the only difference between a current CopperHead for the F900/Varicam and one for the Viper is that it would need one more HD/SDI stream from the camera to the recorder (whatever that may be) for the ?Dual Stream.? And it doesn?t require any audio back to the camera. Hmmmm. But it comes down to ROI (return on investment). How many Vipers are ?out there?? What?s the market base? If we made it, who would buy it? How many could we sell? For how much $? Viper owners and potential owners, feel free to chime in? Dalsa has their own fiber scheme? but I understand it is ?evolving.? However, I can let you know about something else we?ll be announcing ?officially? soon (we showed it at the HPA Tech Retreat in Palm Springs last week for the first time, so I guess I can talk about it)? Do you know about the T-Cam configuration for the F950? The F950 is Sony?s top-of-the-line camera (not camcorder), which puts out 4:2:2 or 4:4:4. Lucas used to shoot the latest Star Wars episode (thanks to Plus8). The ?T-cam? option allows you to remove the optical bock from the camera body and put it into a small housing. This little ?T-Cam? housing is connected to the camera body via a 26-pin ?CCZ-style? cable, allowing 4:4:4 recording at the ?village,? but with a tiny optical-block-only unit on the set (or on the steadicam). But up to now, the system was limited by the 26-pin multicore cable: it is thick, heavy, and limited to about 10 meters. It is as cumbersome as Triax! We?ll be showing something at NAB that makes it work on the same cable as the CopperHead: thin, flexible, and rugged. And it works to 15 kilometers.! That?s 9.3 miles to us ?Mericans. Pre-release code name: CopperHead JT. So imagine putting a little box on your Steadicam (with the little fiber cable) and leaving all the camera?s processing electronics behind. Image acquisition on the set, processing somewhere else. The electronics are done and working (and actually shipping to an end user who is doing their own housing!). We are still working on the mechanical interface for the ?rest of the market,? and I would love to get some CMLers? input. If you?d like to learn more (and give me input before we ?lock it in concrete?), contact me off-list and I can send you some preliminary info?. Jim ?I?ll pay Jeff K when Bravin does? Hurwitz --------------------------- Jim Hurwitz Product Manager, Camera Systems Manager, Western U.S. Telecast Fiber Systems, Inc. 415-383-5388 jhurwitz@telecast-fiber.com www.telecast-fiber.com"

With a camera that small I think it would be complicated and a big draw to pull power from its batteries. I'd suggest a little visit to Radio Shack. Get a prewired box to hold 8 AA batteries and fill it with rechargeable cells. These and their chargers are available from consumer el;ectronic stores for very little money and it will mean the maximum run time for the least weight and least wiring difficulty and least expense. Velcro the battery pack and Modulus to one another and stick them behind your little camcorder and they should still be able to balance just fine on your Steadicam JR. I had one of the very first JRs way back when. It used a kinda green screen LCD that wasn't much but worked okay for back in the day. It was later replaced with a color screen that I understand didn't really perform that much better. There is also a version available that has no screen at all, instead relying on the flip-out LCDs on most camcorders these days. You should look at the current generation of screens to see if they function well enough for you as the placement on the rig is much better than the flip-out LCD, unless you don't mind ALWAYS being goofy-foot.