Yuk Hoy Cheong

Hi! Brooks,

Had been over to the local Panavision Rental House and they had the Platinum Panaflex, Golden Panaflex GII and Pan-Arri III in the camera package for the film. Had just eye-balled the Platinum only. Looks like disaster is waiting to happen. Will be going in tomorrow to test it with my rig.

The things that I had found out on this Platinum are:-

1 ) They had just the bottom plate and no screws - I had managed to find the said screws. Will find out more about the top- low mode cage tomorrow.

2 ) They are using Canon 3-Pin XLR connector from the battery pack. Polarity of power supply is reversed (as Paul Dudek had said) Can the Platinum be powered with 32Volts? I was intending to use a Dionic 90 and a Trimpac to provide power to the camera. A combination that I had used successfully to power for ARRI cameras. Any reservations or thoughts about that.

3) They had ordered the BarTech for remote follow focus on their remote head of which I had two channels too. But where would they mount the motors from? And yes the gear for the iris would be a problem too... How and what would you use as alternative?

Any other suggestions to add? Anybody???

Thank again for all the help guys.

Happy flying

cheong

Hi! Sanjay,

Yes I am the same person that you are mentioning about. Great to hear from you.

The cameras are coming in from Hong Kong, my guess. As for accessories and other stuffs, we are at their mercy too. I have virtually no idea at all as to what is coming in but will definitely request for some form of decent stuff from the producers here. But it could be a nightmare, ha! ha!

Hear you might be flying in soon??? Give me a call when you're in. We'll catch up. Have fun.

cheong

Hello Brooks Robinson,

Many thanks for the comprehensive breakdown of what to expect of Panavision cameras. I will look out for them when I get the chance to. I do not think that the cameras are in town yet. You really have given me a better insight to the cameras. There are so many things foreign in their system compared to the Arri systems found here in Malaysia.

Thanks again. I will digest all and will come back with more questions when I have more.

Cheers

cheong

Thanks Paul for that polarity issue on the power cable. Will definitely do the test and bear that in mind. Have a great day.

cheong

Dear One and All,

I am based in Malaysia and am equipped to support most Arri Film cameras from 16mm to 535B's. I might have work to fly Panavision cameras soon. Is there any thing that I should be aware of or look out for? Cables, power supply, etc? I have DIonic 90's, Hytron 140's and Trimpac's for power, Bar-tech Follow Focus, TransVideo Transmitter/ Receiver in my Package.

Any suggestions and knowledge is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Best regards and happy flying

cheong

Hello One and All,

Wondering if any of you have a Libec ZC-9 zoom controller or a Heden M26T Zoom motor that you might have lying in your spares or wanting to part with?

Appreciate your kind attention.

Best regards

cheong

Hello James,

Many thanks for the detailed description and pointing me to Jim. I will shoot Jim a mail shortly. Do you have any pictures of your set-up? Thanks in advance.

Happy flying.

cheong

Hi! Rob,

What are we looking out for with both Fuji or Canon lenses? Is it the Gear thread size or something else? Sorry to be ignorant, what's a Stanton controller or a Zoe or even a G-Zoom for that matter?

I am more geared towards the Film end rather than HD. Appreciate your time and effort.

Best regards

cheong

Hi! Charles,

Thanks for the information. Will try the next time I lay my hands on the RED and the EX3. You are a GREAT Help.

Cheerio

cheong

Hello Everyone,

I might be flying HD cameras soon and I am wondering what gadgets I need to have, in order to vary the lens size with the Zoom. Any solutions or suggestions are highly appreciated.

Happy Flying people.

cheong

Greetings One and All,

Just a question for Updates. Have anyone come up with the cables for Stop/Start for HD cameras like the RED ONE and the SONY's EX3, rather than to turn the camera on physically on the Rig?

Thanks for being there. Best regards to all.

cheong

I also wanna to find the vertical mag....haha...but the answer from rental house is, "oh, sorry, we don't have....." I just can get a so called "steadimag" for 535B from rental house...(as seen in the first photo I attached) The rental house called it is a steadimag.

This mag is very light in weight, just about half weight as the normal mag (the second photo)

HK's and China's rental houses have many normal cameras and mags....but the accessories and special mags are hard to find out @_@...

Hi! Guys,

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I guess the suggestion of the Hill's bracket would be the way to go. My sincere thanks again.

Fly safe

cheong

In most cases if you tell the rental house you are going to do steadicam they will provide (at an additional cost) the 100% video top. It's a video tap that goes on in place of the cameras normal optic block and has a built in plate to attach steadicam plate to.

 

If that's not available, there is also a Hill bracket you can rent or buy.

 

If there are no steadi mags then the low mode bracket is irrelivent. If that's the case just fly the camera upside down and let them flip the image in post.

Hi! Mike,

Thanks for the quick response. I guess I don't have such good luck. Maybe a Hill bracket might be the answer. Any pictures of it in action? As of now, I am not brave enough to suggest flipping in post yet. Maybe on the day of shoot or when I run out of of options and help from you guys.

Thanks again.

regards

cheong

Greetings One and All,

Could anyone please enlighten me with present technique of supporting the ARRI 435 camera in Low Mode? Is it done with brackets or cage? I believe that this camera is flown quite often.

Any pictures of the brackets or cage would be great. What would be the best alternative if the worst case scenario is that there is no Steadi-mags available but the normal magazines?

Any help and suggestions is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Happy flying

cheong

Hi! Jon,

Thanks for chipping in. So glad to know that I am not alone. Do forward me the email when you have some time. Brian just mentioned it is an 21 AWG cable and he's on the verge of upgrading the wiring system. Hopefully that would solve these problems.

I am going to try Mike's suggestion of turning on the 435 at 25fps and then switching to what-ever frame rate required, sounds workable. Will keep you guys informed.

Have fun flying.

cheong

Hi! Eric,

Many thanks for the post. Didn't know about this at all. The information was really an eye opener. Glad you chipped in.

Brian of ActionCam said it is 21 AWG (could have been a typing error) and he's going to have an upgrade wiring system soon to accommodate the RED too.

Cheerio

cheong

Hi! Imran,

I will check the next time I power up my rig. So what can one do if there's a voltage drop, what steps can one take to rectify the problem?

Thanks again for the interest shown.

Cheerio

cheong

Hello Imran,

All the AB batteries and the two dual chargers are new, about five months old and since I had seven batteries and two dual chargers, they sit on the chargers every other day when not in used.

Thanks for what-ever light you can shed on this.

Regards

cheong

Hi! Guys,

Sorry for the late reply, was on a job flying with the 535B. This time no problems running at 24fps with the same combination of Trimpac and Dionic 90 powering it.

I am not as lucky as you bigger boys as to having the PRO 2's and the likes of it and also enough of work to go by. Where I come from there's hardly enough work for any of those high end investment for Steadicams. There is hardly any returns, there is still so much work to be done to educate the local producers as to put aside an amount for Steadicam to be included in their equipment package. I am having the ActionCam - Zero-G at the moment.

As for the gauge of the cable, I do not know but I am finding out. Yeah, that could also be the case but I am sure Brian (ActionCam) is professional enough to put in a decent cable.

Will hit the rental house next week to try out all you guys' suggestions. Thanks for all the help and suggestions. Have a great weekend ahead.

Cheers

cheong

Hi! Alec,

I was dumb founded when it happened. I had thought that I had all my bases covered when I decided to have the combinations of battery set-up. Looks like I still need more research on this. I wonder if Paul Dudeck could enlighten us here.

Thanks for the tip on the menu set-up in the 435 Advance and Extreme. Will surely work on that one.

Would the temperature and humidity affect the Batteries? It is definitely hot and humid where I live.

Many thanks for your tips

Cheers

cheong

Hello Mike,

Yes! I'm having problems when going higher frame rates. I will definitely try your suggestion of using the Hytron 140 with either the Dionic 90 or the Trimpac combination to power the 435. And as a fall back plan, starting the 435 at 25fps and then switching to the higher frame rates.

Are you using just the Hytron 50's, or any other combinations for your battery power set-up?

Thanks for your help. Appreciate it very much.

Cheerio

cheong

Warmest regards one and all,

I hope some one can help me trouble shoot. I have a three batteries system for my set up. I went with Anton Bauer and own 2 units Hytron 140's, 2 units Dionic 90's and 3 units Trimpacs for my initial start, hoping that they will help me power up 435 film cameras.

I did a day's work successfully a month ago with no problems at all powering a 435 ES film camera running @ 25fps only.

Yesterday, my problems started. We were running the 435 ES @ 50fps. I had the combination set up - Hytron 140 for Accessories / Trimpac and Dionic 90 providing 30V to power the 435. Did about three takes of approx. 25 secs each and the camera stops showing LOW BATT. After changing the Trimpac, again we could do another three takes or so. I have tried the combination of 2 Dionic 90's to power the 435 but that failed. I had to revert back to having a crew to tag along behind me with the Rental house's 30V battery. Very embarrassing. Not a good sight.

Does anyone experienced anything like this? Hope you guys could share your thoughts or a light on this.

Cheers

cheong

Hi! Alan,

I hope that I am not too late. Could I also have a copy. Thanks for sharing.:P

cheong

dpcheong@gmail.com

Hello Alec,

Yeah, Thank you all for chipping in and sharing. I sincerely appreciate it very much.

I guess Dionic 90's and Trimpac (since Proformer is no longer in Production) would be my way to go then. I'll also try and look into Power Cubes as suggested by Mike and Mark.

I am going to try but just in case I fail again, how do we run a search on this forum on Greg Bubb's test that compares different battery chemistries. I am still new at this.

Thanks again guys

Have fun

cheong

Hi! Alfeo,

Thanks for the link. Will find out more on the Power Cubes.

Cheerio

cheong