Mike Germond SOC

I use Dreamhost as well and I can attest to their quality service. Definitely a company that will be sticking around for a while!

Any willing loaners/renters in the meantime? I'm in Orlando. Can provide my FedEx number

Is it worth waiting for? I need one Friday 10/4 for an Alexa Plus shoot.

I'm hoping to find an used plate. But if not, what's your recommendation for an Alexa plate on the PRO DBIII?

When I was up in NYC, I think I briefly showed you the Sony INCAM system from VisLink that I use at NBC Sports in Orlando. It uses the Sony 2400 as a base and the swappable side panel adds 1lb to the camera. It interfaces with the standard VisLink Rx equipment and receives signal from their standard Data Tx equipment. We use it daily on a permanent installation into the facility with tally, full telemetry, no breakup, and about a 1ms delay. We don't need to delay our mics to cut it with the Fiber cameras.

It's a brilliant, sexy little piece of gear. But it does not come cheap!!

So wait, it's a whole new transmitter too? For some reason I thought it was just the receiver. Am I looking at a transmitter on the left and a receiver on the right? I see BNCs on the right. Is this an SDI model over all? Does it have loop through?

 

From what Dan has told me, it's an all new chipset, so you won't be able to pair it with Arrow as previously planned.

Perhaps explained by this?

http://www.live-production.tv/news/products/amimon-pro-continues-support-professional-camera-wireless-hd-market.html

I have the LCD70MD for a director monitor and it is surprisingly bright with an adjustable backlight. I use the LCD651STX on my sled for the transflective coating on the screen.

http://www.marshallmonitors.com/products/monitors/V-LCD651STX-3GSDI/index.html

Side by side, the coating makes it more visible than my 70MD.

But that's an $1800usd monitor so it may not be your flavor. Just something to consider..

Thank you! Many of us do not have the clout to stick our necks out like this, and I agree whole heartedly.

"Nits" could be replaced with "arm", "sled", and many more components...

If its SMPTE fiber you're using, call Suzanne Spera at Phoenix Optix 401-637-4600 for a 6ft Steadicam Jumper. It's the best price I've found, at $575, and the construction is more durable than the ones I've gotten direct from Mohawk.

I wouldn't operate tethered Steadicam without it, especially on lightweight rigs.

I use the above mentioned Tracker connector on Sony cameras when I can. Otherwise the photo sensor works just fine for quick jobs. For longer term studio work, I daisy chain the tally signal through a AutoScript TallyPlus number and into the rig for the monitor.

Gallery of wiring and bracketry:

http://orlandosteadicam.com/photos/index.php/prompter

I worked out this idea for both our Fiber 1500 and Wireless 2400 INCAM-S at NBC Sports Golf Channel. It is rigid and works brilliantly. It's all custom machined. Of course if you don't need a prompter, the mounting is overkill. There's a photo or 2 in there with Brant Fagan's low mode bracket and I firmed it up with a Viewfinder bracket. That bracket works great for mounting all sorts of stuff off the VF mount.

Just got my UPS tracking info. The Crossbow is shipping :)

From Marshall

Hi Mike,

 

The VLCD70MD and 90MD will work with the LPCM format.

 

Regards,

 

Martin Bradford

Application Engineer

Broadcast Media Division

Marshall Electronics, Inc.

That makes me and Ozzie happy for the meantime. I'm waiting on shipment of mine as well, so we'll find out for certain soon.

Regarding embedded audio, Paralinx just returned my email:

The Crossbow will pass through audio, it will be in LPCM format.

What about Ed's brushless gimbal rig for the GoPro mounted to a helmet?

http://www.steadicamforum.com/index.php?showtopic=18417

Do you have a telescoping post? There's a chance the top and bottom stages aren't aligned dead center. Or even a camera slightly twisted on the dovetail (more apparent with longer payloads). Or if your monitor bracket rotates off center on the post. I check all the possible off center items first when that happens.

Does anyone have Joe Biello's number or any of the ops at NBC?

I've got a SD post cable if you need one..

I'm headed up to NYC with my lady this Sunday and will be there thru the 31st. She has a work conference and I'll just be seeing the sights. I've never been before, so I'm looking for recommendations, tips, and tricks. We are staying in Times Square.

If any operators are free, I'd love to grab a drink. Or visit on set. Please feel free to message me or email/text.

Mike

I recently worked on a Tim McGraw music video and the Producer/Director had just done Taylor Swift's new music video. They brought in the Movi to try as substitute for Steadicam and had nothing good to say about it. They had one long walk from Taylor's dressing room to the stage that just screams Steadicam, and the Movi footage was mostly unusable. There are just certain situations where it does not make sense. I'd love to see the Movi try to track from the pit on a long lens as well. My impression from the Producer was that the Freefly guys were trying their hardest to squeeze the novelty angles out of the thing, none of which made sense for the shot.

I think we will find a lot of situations where nothing can compare to the Steadicam. These guys certainly wished they had booked a Steadi now. We will probably see the Movi stop trying to imitate the Steadicam and find its own niche (or better yet, die off completely).

Does the Matrox MXO2 Mini fit your bill? It's a capture card essentially. Can connect to your PC or Mac via ExpressCard34 or PCI Slot. Optional Thunderbolt module. It has HDMI and component I/O.

http://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/mxo2_mini/

The MXO2 LE has HD-SDI and is the more expensive version.

http://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/mxo2_le/

I hijacked my own thread so I'm okay with this :)

I looked into the AC7 as well and I sympathize with your thoughts on it Brian. The contrast ratio on the Marshall is higher at 1000:1 versus 800:1 but I don't know if that's enough to impact visibility. And the AC7 doesn't cross convert so I'd be buying that extra converter I don't want. It's just not as much of a 1 stop shop as I'd like.

On a side note, I noticed the LCD70MD is 800-nits but the LCD90MD is only 600-nits. Same contrast ratios.

Good to know about the connectors. In the pictures, it looks like you have the SDI loop through module (p/n MD-3GE) right? The only module that cross-converts appears to be the MDO-3G and it has 2 SDI outputs instead of an in/out.

Or have you purchased both modules?

Looks great. I may be hitting you up for some battery plate relocation schematics if I go that route. I'm thinking about the 9" monitor too.

Can you confirm whether that's an HDMI mini or standard on the monitor? I see conflicting information on various sites.

Thanks,

Mike

You can still upgrade to the Arrow Plus later, I believe for the purchase price difference, or not much more.

That Marshall is the same one I'm looking at for my Director's monitor setup. It seems like the perfect mixture of size, brightness, inclusion of a headphone jack, and price for what we use it for. I believe that Osvaldo Silvera has that monitor, and he likes it.

"Can you" and "should you" have been argued time and time again on here. The Flyer LE only has one power output and relatively small gauge wiring. Having said that, I've put a quad p-tap box on it and ran a RED Epic thru a Camwave, plus a Preston back when I owned that rig. It worked for a 2 day shoot, but long term it could burn up the wiring. I've pushed it on many more occasions as well, and I think I just got lucky.

The best solution would be to fly a battery on the camera, especially if its a light prosumer camera. But I don't know what camera you're talking about and what external power options it has.

So yes it's possible, probably not good long term.