Mike Germond SOC

I'm in the same boat as these fellas, wondering what I can use until a Titan or CamWave is within reach. I found some stuff on B&H that interests me, but I'm left wondering what will happen when I start moving around! http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5091..._Microwave.html

Sent you an email...I'm very interested in this thing!

yea it kinda sucks that wireless is a luxury around here.. out of curiousity, what system do you use most commonly? can it carry all of the functions of triax (intercom, tally, return, ect..)? Do you have focus pulled wirelessly too?

Rob, I've always been interested in custom fabbing a small monitor with tally to have on hand with my rig. Where do you get the signal from to run the return and tally? The camera? Running additional cables? I'd assume both Triax and Fibre systems embed all those functions into one cable, but I wouldn't know where to start fabbing cables (length, connectors, ect)..

I feel your pain Matteo. Production for that concert I mentioned didn't have the budget for focus control, or return monitor either (no tally). The huge audiance monitors on the sides of the stage and around the arena were my only feedback. Like your experience, the director was not very percise with his calls on headset, nor did he know what he wanted from the Steadicam or how to cut in and out of it. Sometimes I felt like he wanted me to do some miraculous American Idol type move, that ultimately would have resulted in death by coax for the talent :P Glad to hear that your nightmare situation came out for the better..

the ideal situation would be that you use a spaghetti-sized coax from the camera to triax on your shoulder, then tape a loop for strain relief that you can either attach to your vest or your waistline. I did a concert with a company that had never used a steadicam before, so of course I got their most untrained grip to wrangle cable for me. It was to the point that I couldn't trust him to keep the cable off my feet, so I gave up and just walked over it while he pulled up the slack behind me.. wish I could afford my own wireless..

Anthony, Patti from Camera Essentials has been working with Tiffen to develop a FlyerLE rain gear set. I've been bombarding her with questions about it since the summer, and I think they have a pattern made up already. It would entail an Arm Cover, and Battery/Monitor cover I believe. I was shooting independently on a contract with the University, but from the looks of it, ESPN would have liked to have me hooked up to their truck. I'd have to shoot wirless, no questions. I move around too much when shooting football. Too many stupid fans on the sideline too..

Yea I've been shooting Football all year, but I really want to get more into the film market. The final product from one of my first jobs in that area has just come out. I'm pretty pleased with the result, and I hope it isn't just the snazzy editing that makes my stuff look good. You be the judge: http://www.digitalcribs.net/DisplayVideo.aspx?id=971382966

that must be a joke! I wouldn't even accept that rate if I was desperate!!

Here's that setup in action at Central Michigan's last home football game of the season. It was snowing heavy, but a still photo doesn't quite tell the story. Those guys on ESPN's crane were more interested in my job than theirs! I wore the vest under my jacket but over 3 other layers...The wind still cut through everything. Dave is right about the stability of the rig with the extra weight. I couldn't have put up with such a light rig throughout this whole season without it..

I constructed a weight plate of my own out of 1"x4" steel stock. I sized it such that the final product weights around 13lbs and drilled/threaded alternating 1/4-20 and 3/8-16 holes down the center and attached a Bogen/Manfrotto quick-release adaptor. This way I can quickly pull the camera off of the rig and onto a tripod without having to rebalance the package. I've been shooting College football all season long with it and it works great. I've also shot on several productions with it utilizing other small HD packages, and it's worked great. It puts most cameras right near the top of the LE's weight range..

I'll admit that I've worked for rates that are less than desired, and probably considered terrible by most. But these were student related projects, as Phillip mentioned, so I feel it was completely justified. On one production, the subject of the project was a Producer from my home town with whom I made a great connection. He has a feature film a few years down the road, and I can assure you that I will work for no less than a professional rate on a project like that.. I'm not afraid to turn down a project when the director is trying to pit me against other operators...It's already been said, but you get what you pay for..

For those who are lost on the new direction this conversation has turned, read here: http://gizmodo.com/5085242/red-unloads-mod...dslr-3d-and-28k When I saw the article, I smiled a little bit. What a huge wrench in the gears for everyone who thought they had it figured out! Things are looking up for us flyer guys :rolleyes:

And a couple more..

Well you're right about that soft touch Rob! I feel like I'm working way too hard to produce the same images that a bigger rig could do a little bit easier! But it's also a good learning process.. Peter Abraham confirms that the Flyer padding can be washed as is. Wash alone using very little soap and DO NOT dry it! Could you point me in a better direction for the Stantion Zoom/Focus kits? Is JimmyJib the only retailer? I own a VariZoom Rock-PZFI for my DVX/HVX work, because that is most common right now (up until this concert at least). I'm my biggest critic for posture, and I'm constantly adjusting the arm to make sure I'm forcing myself to stand properly and actually "fly" the rig when things get hairy. By the 3rd night, I was having a blast running around and couldn't believe it was over! I got in some really good shots too. Speaking of which, It's picture time!

I'm in Grand Rapids/Mount Pleasant, but I won't be attending the Chicago workshop, partly because I've started to get gigs stacking up quickly. I do want to participate in an SOA workshop in the near future however. Looks like my only free time will be starting in May though! The beauty/burden of that Pilot will be the delicate touch you're required to have to keep these lighter rigs "steadi" (pun intended) ;) I just shot a 4-day concert series where a Clipper would be ideal, and I did serious work to make my Flyer look like I was shooting on a big-rig..

Rob, That is the camera. The box on the back doesn't appear to be Telemetrics, but it's about the same size. We also threw a .8x wide angle on the lens. There's no way I could fly any more weight up top without more to counterbalance on the bottom. The good news is my arm is not maxed out yet. I do have pictures of the setup. I brought the girlfriend along so she was my personal photographer. I believe she even took some videos of me operating so I may edit those together with the final product.. I did rig up strain relief with a carribeaner near my hip and a barrel mounted up on my right shoulder. I used the 75ohm belden spaghetti cable that Tiffen includes so the sled wouldn't steer itself. I could easily add another, since the only other line running to the camera was a 18ga headset cable. I saw some pictures that another operator posted that looked to be an L-bracket with 3 BNC barrels that appeared to be riveted to the shoulder of their vest. They had also rigged some XLR-to-BNC cables to manage audio through the same junction.. Speaking of vests. Mine was fairly moist after last night. I'd like to avoid carrying a wonderful scent around, so what is the washing procedure? The padding separates from the vest by Velcro. I believe that's a Peter Abraham design.. All great tips though!! To put this show's budget in perspective, they canceled the Sunday night show due to the amount of losses they suffered. I believe the lighting & sound guys actually pulled the plug on it because they were having contract issues. Good news is that my rate is covered under the contract of the Prod. Truck guys, but I still suffer one day minus pay that I could have had. Footage looks amazing and the director is sending me the line-cut asap with the promise of a final DVD down the road..

Kris, I agree with everything you are saying. While the first night was pretty rough, last night was much better. I put the rig on my stand between every number, and sometimes it as a static shot. The good news is that I have never woken up sore as of yet. Maybe it's because we're staying at a holiday inn express ;) The camera is a Hitachi Z-one C with a Telemetrics box, so all I have to deal with is a single BNC line (versus Triax or a CCU cable). I agree that the focus situation is pretty ridiculous! I've been passively shopping for a kit of my own, but am not informed enough to make a decision that will be usable for a wide variety of cameras and lenses. The reason they can't provide program feed is because they are trying to use the viewfinder multipin jack with some custom cable they've fabbed up for an LCD monitor. I could really use some more weight on the bottom of the sled. These Flyers are pretty light down there with the PowerCubes and slim LCD monitor. I have the post extended all the way and the gimbal as high as the docking bracket will allow!

Well last night I shot the first concert of a 4 day series. Up until now, I've shot primarily College Football on Steadicam. I thought that built up my endurance, but I was sorely mistaken! 4 hours later, I'm up on stage selling the shit out of my last shot of the night and trying not to make a clumsy mistake! I got many compliments on my performance once I was backstage, some from the performers even. I know there are things I screwed up and need to fix however. I didn't have a program monitor because the engineer didn't have time to rig up a longer cable for me and the director figured I could just use the huge monitors on the sides of the stage. I didn't have a tally light because they want to ISO all of the cameras, so the director figured it didn't matter. I don't and won't have focus controls for the rest of the weekend because they don't have a budget for it. The end result was that I sometimes didn't know when I was on, and I had to estimate focus using the distance markings on the lens (fuji). I had my fair share of amazing shots that made everyone gasp, but I had plenty of shots where I was adjusting something and the director punched me up. ~~~~~ I studied the other thread about operating at concerts to try and prepare myself as much as possible, especially the hydration part. What I'm wondering is if anybody can offer me some tips or tricks that could get me through the rest of this weekend without keeling over!

Charles, I know percisely what you are describing. I'm basing my assumption on my DVX w/ 15lb weight plate in low mode. I could only get the gimbal halfway between the stage and post extension, and I was putting up with much faster than a 2sec drop time. But anyways...back to the topic at hand! ;)

But with the weight of that camera and the limitations of the Flyer, I don't think I could have extended the post long enough to counterbalance. Both are effective solutions though. I've turned myself a post extension out of aluminum that works with Tiffen's D-bracket to put the camera closer to the ground in low mode anyways..

When I shot with it on my Flyer, production had rented a top handle that had 1/4-20 and 3/8-16 threads all down its length. We didn't shoot low mode, but it would have been incredibly simple! Also, the handle rose off of the camera body much farther than the Element Technica cheeseplate which would effectively put the lens closer to the ground..

Multiconductor wire discussion: Reduser.net Mouser.com: LEMO Circular Interconnects Shoot me an e-mail about the pinouts...don't want to harm anybody elses business on the forums.

Yea I have pinouts for all of the lemo connectors on the RED One. I also have the model #'s for the RED One power input and the 3-pin lemo on my flyer..

Charles, I'd also be interested to see what sort of package you come up with. I'm going to build my own power cables because I have the resources to do so and the required soldering experience, but that's the extent of my knowledge with the RED One..