Bob Woodhead

Silly? HECK NO! lol... just got my FlyerLE last week, and every day I go out for 1.5 hour "fly", with about 18 lbs on the sled. Come back in totally exhausted & drenched in sweat (Atlanta here). Found out why weightlifting gloves are so useful - my hand was slipping off the gimbal handle from the sweat running down my arm. HUGE respect now for those ops flying 30-50 lbs! As for advice, I'm the wrong guy to give any at this point, except that I had no idea how amazingly helpful having a Steadicam JR has been! Once the rig is on, a lot of the operating "feel" is very much the same. Soft touch on the post, smoothing the elevation of the right hand as you walk, the "walk" itself, the Switch, missionary & Don Juan.... it's all extremely similar when using the JR. So, if you can borrow a JR until your Flyer shows up, DO IT! Oh yeah, fast-dry tennis shirts are nice. :P

My Flyer arrives Monday... yeaaaa. Anyway, call Steadicam & ask - I did... I'm 5'8, 195 and they suggested the regular, as the compact is designed for small-framed bodies, especially women.

Just ordered a FlyerLE. Been in video for 25 years, and have always wanted to own something more than my little JR. Now that there's a Steadicam that can hold my HPX500 for something less than the price of a good car, I dropped the bills for a new FlyerLE. Comes on Monday... can't WAIT! (BTW, been an editor & studio guy for most of those 25 years, only been in soup-to-nuts for the past 5.) Need to sign up for the July workshop here in Georgia.

Thanks Charles.

Thanks for the fine advice R & R... did indeed forget the %$%# plate. And on double-checking, looks like VF isn't part of the body weight. So there's 19 lbs. (Figure 3 lbs for VF & plate) Of course, running sans VF is an option. What I should have prefaced my post with is my intended usage of the FlyerLE - for the most part, as an add-on to our soup-to-nuts production services. Flying our own cameras (HPX500, XL1, probably the not-yet-released HPX170). Only intend to hire out as an operator on lower-budget jobs, using mid-range lightweight cams (HPX200, EX1, etc), or our 500. If approached for a larger production, I'd be honest & tell 'em "I'm not your guy... check out the SOA website". Now, after some years of experience, perhaps that'll change... ;) Better to pass on a job than be remembered as the guy who "bolluxed it up". So is it safe to assume that other than "it'd be nicer", a HD monitor isn't a huge operating difference to SD, way down there on the sled? Trying to save some $. Camera being out of the equation, as the primary cam for this rig has both HDSDI & composite output. VERY excited, after 20 years of wanting, to finally being getting a Steadicam.

I was about to question SD/HD monitor choice in the FLyer LE I'm about to buy, but that seemed to be answered in the thread above (no one seemed overly concerned about lack of HD monitoring). But your comment Robert got me a bit concerned; I'm planning on flying a Panny HPX500 on the (new) Flyer LE. Of course the 500 is an ENG style HD cam. So here's my list of what'd be flown: 8.2 body 3.5 lens mattebox = 1lb 3oz 1 4x4 filter = 4 oz AT1800 (audio) 10.3 oz Bartech 11oz M-One focus motor 11 oz rails 7oz rods + plate 2.5 oz= 9.5 oz Modulus 3000 7 oz Ultralight2 = 12 oz cables = 6 oz (?) TOTAL FLOWN = 16.12 Have I forgotten anything? Weights are lifted from OEM docs. Seems like there's plenty of room to spare on the LE, rated at 19 lbs. Which is why I was so excited when they announced the LE upgrade from 15, as I knew that would be at the hairy edge. WAIT.... is the battery on the sled considered part of load?? A Dionic90 works (1.7 lb), but the ProPac14 (5 lbs) is right out. And would a Dionic be enough counterbalance mass for 16 lbs on the stage?

Thanks for the superb replies all! After reading the comments, I see that slow sweet moves are the domain of good pros, and we won't have the budget to keep a truly seasoned vet with lots of slow experience on call every day. So I'm thinking it'd be best to try to have a smaller stab rig to fly a HVX200 when needed (the 200 matches the 500 well), and pull off the majority of the work the traditional way.

We've got a dramatic shoot coming up (sort of a "Hallmark Movie" thing), and I'm debating about using a stabilized rig versus a dolly (with jib). Low budget, so time is critical. Interiors & exteriors. Interior will be an old house (might be tight for dolly, etc). Question: is it reasonable to expect to use a stabilized rig in place of a dolly/jib during a 7-10 day shoot and work faster? Keep in mind the movie's a tear-jerker, not action, etc, so it's about people & emotions. Or am I totally missing the boat on my question? FWIW, 15 lb. HD camera (HPX500 w/o VF mounted (also has LCD)).