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David Hughes

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Everything posted by David Hughes

  1. If you want to put your mind at rest then take to Brian Busbee and get it inspected. Every time I see him there seems to be one of these sitting on his bench getting overhauled. He should be able to tell you if it is about to pop. Brian. 07754 722980
  2. Possible soloution. http://www.gizmag.com/trakdot-luggage-tracker/25671/ Maybe with a system like this installed insurance companies will lower their price?
  3. What you said Victor, you forgot to mention rollerblades. Not sure it will scale up very well to alexa size weight though.
  4. I have seen the AR on numerous occasions and flown it myself a few times. It is a truly remarkable thing of great engineering beauty, a lot of thought went into Howards' design and we can all thank him for that. Where does the C of G sit within the rings of an AR? From what I remember it is difficult to adjust this because of the rings. It should be easier to adjust this axis to almost perfect balance and make less work for the rotation motor. From what I remember Lyns' rig also had a motor at the rear for rotation around the lens axis and was held in place by some carbon fiber rods similar to this. I just think unfortunately for some the writing is on the wall. Open source will give us all the option to fly our sleds this way in very short time, sure It won't be applicable to all cameras and the mechanisms wont be as elegant as and AR. just because it's open sourced doesn't necessarily mean it has to be half arsed, just look at the Multi copter progress in the past few years. Dave
  5. Give it a year or 3 and this will be as cheep as chips. That's the beauty of open source. The gyro boards have been getting so good over the last few years with loads of coders all pooling resources working on improving on the software. The brushless motors have been the recent breakthrough, they are custom wound for some reason. You take a perfectly good brushless motor cheep from China, unwind it and then wind with your your custom wire to get the smoothness you need. Won't be long before someone in the Multi Rotor community gets the factory in China to pre-wind them to our specification. All you need after that is to cut your own bits of cheep Chinese carbon and a few fixtures and you will have a your own AR. Only more responsive with another axis of correction. Lyn was just dealing with the tech that he had available, things have progressed so far in such a short time it's incredible. All those copter guys with their knowledge of this method will be cleaning up with custom rigs that we can put on our sleds. No one will be able to patent this. I have been looking for the Photos I saw here of Lyn with his revolution all those years (10?) ago but I can't seem to find them. Can anyone dig out a link?
  6. Thomas. Canon EOS 1DC and a Canon EFCine Prime 24mm 1.3 (at 1.3!) and a Zeiss 18mm CP.2 for the aerial footage
  7. To quote from their website "The first unit that is being released – the M10 – supports a camera up 10 pounds with accessories. That equates to a DSLR with a lot of accessories or a bare Epic and prime lens. We’ve been using the Epic and the Canon primes and Zeiss CP.2 lenses all week on a commercial without a hitch. A future version the M20 is slated to support an Alexa or Epic package w/ zoom, price and date TBD." http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2013/04/04/movi-a-revolutionary-handheld-stabilized-system-takes-flight/ I assume that the M20 is for a 20 pound payload. I don't think that there will be a big market for this at least without an Easy rig or Klassen suspender, and I'm sure I'm not alone in hating that method.
  8. I have used my skates a few times with cameras over the years and this is exactly what you would need to do it properly. Without it horizons are all over the place. Hanging on to the back of taxis is how i used to get up hills and I can assure you in London traffic it isn't for the feint hearted. There aren't many situations where rolerblading is practical the surface must be smooth, you must have safe runoff areas if you need to bail and a slight downhill incline helps a lot. But this does open up a whole new set of possibilities where skates will be the appropriate way to do things. The way the camera is held in the rig looks similar to the original alien design by Lyn, the camera is held from underneath with the horizon servo directly behind the camera and not in rings as per the AR. This should adapt quite easily to our everyday sleds to get AR like shots at least with smaller cameras. Of course Howards ring design will probably still be needed for full body Alexas and heavier stuff. Perhaps something similar to this is what MKV has in the pipeline for the future. Its one thing to put a camera on your shoulder to go handheld but entirely different to be holding 20-30 pounds at arms length for extended periods of time take after take. You would need to have back muscles as strong as a steadicam operator anyway and biceps like Stalone. Should be perfect with a scaled down Epic. Thomas I can teach you to skate if have a few hours free. Dave.
  9. I'm trying to figure out exactly what is it about this rig that would be equivalent to a steadicam in any way. http://www.bblist.co.uk/item.php?item=30916 any ideas? I suppose even just the word "Steadicam" conjures up all sorts of promises of a spectacular, magical, fluid, floating camera moves, everyone is going to want to have this trick in their bag of tricks. Especially when they are so cheep nowadays, I could have saved myself a fortune if only there had been similar "equivalents" when I bought my rig. :D
  10. Love your rickshaw George. Are you going to tell the rest of the world about it?

  11. Love your rickshaw George. Are you going to tell the rest of the world about it?

  12. Swim like a fish? no way that's so oldschool. Fly like a bird instead. Ever tried Paragliding anyone? It will keep you fit but isnt too strenuous, once you have a wing and a nice hill nearby it is basically free, Spain has good weather for it and it will cure any fear you have of heights. It's the biggest thrill to be flying along a ridge with the birds, similar to scuba in that you are in a totally alien environment into which humans rarley venture. Your first couple of flights will be sometimes scary but once you come to terms with the fact that you are flying through the air with nothing below your feet and only a piece of nylon and some strings keeping you up there, and realize that you are actually quite safe there is no better way to take your mind off stress. You will not be able to think about anything else even for hours after you have landed. People will constantly suggest to you that you should take your steadicam up with you when you fly but I would strongly advise against this as it is sure to lead to advanced symptoms of dying or at the very least loads of ugly pain. "Come fly with me lets fly lets fly away" Dave.
  13. Hi James. I have a MK-V mk1 Gimbal lying around I think that would be an upgrade in your case. It is for a 1.75 inch post diameter though, I'm not sure what the post size is on an efp but maybe you could get a sleve made up. let me know if i can be of any help. Dave.
  14. Hi Ed. Interesting question I can't help you with any answers myself but Im sure if you give the friendly people at Bickers a call they should be able to answer any questions you have. http://www.bickers.co.uk/ or maybe try the gtc forum someone there is sure to have some ideas. http://www.gtc.org.uk/ Dave.
  15. Personally I hate them and anything else but the essentials like my horizon level or maybe some battery information cropping up in my green screen because they will ultimately result in a detraction from my perception of the frame I am trying to compose. Anything apart from what i need to know just gets in the way, if you cant accurately judge half way across a 3 inch screen then you shouldn't be framing anything with any lens. They are essential for practicing giving you something to focus on as you track towards a target will cure your wobbles. Clear your screens of all but YOUR essential information that YOU need no more no less. My philosophy anyway. Keep it simple innit. Dave.
  16. Ok Jerry, well, point taken. May I retract the word "clumsy" from my last rant. I as well appreciate a true craftsman at work and never meant to imply that trade-craftsmen were clumsy people in general, only that a workshop environment is likely to be a harsher place to use this technology than for example a film set where everyone is truly careful all the time of everything that we use to make a film (if you have a good crew), where everyone on set knows these things are hideously expensive to repair or replace. Mostly I suspect because said equipment has been purchased at great expense by the end user (us) and not supplied by the boss or company with the noble intentions of saving the worker injury. I try my utmost to look after the kit I am given to use but i think we all take care of our own investments just that bit more preciously. It's just human nature. The kit we use should be and generally is tough stuff but everything has it's breaking point and things will and do fail even with the best of design intentions. I will be great to see what improvements we will be able to make in support arm technology after subjecting it to workshop stresses and finding out where the weak spots are. So Jerry. Are you in the know can you tell us if it is basically a G series or is it made from cheeper stuff and not suitable for our us? or would that be saying too much for now? Dave.
  17. I shall now indulge in a bit of conjecture as well. Why would you put cheaper springs or components in an arm that is designed to hold heavy tools with sharp blades spinning at high rpm? The last thing you would want in these circumstances would be a spring failure right? and like Job says as these arms will be subjected to workshop dirt grit and abuse by clumsy people on production lines dropping them. You would surely make them out of the best quality you could to keep your legal insurance premiums down. Sure would need a pin block obviously and a post on the top end but these are the cheeper bits compared to the rest of the engineering involved. Maybe this development will help evolve the g series to a bullet proof level of reliability and imperviousness eventually turning it into the ultimate arm for all weather and locations! Sorry Rick but everything depreciates how much will "any" arm be worth if you can buy a lovely g50 for peanuts, and (segwaying nicely into Janices' point) put a monkey behind to operate it? Janice is unfortunately so so right and it is beginning to happen already the tide is coming in and I fear there is no stopping it. I had a last minute call last week for a highly rated magic program in a prime tv slot because they couldn't find another glidecam v8 or anyone hanging around the office to operate it. The guy who was operating the v8 had never done a course and while he understood a lot and did a good job in the circumstances (only hvx200) he wasn't a proper operator by any means. It seems these days anyone can and is doing steadicam and programe makers love the savings in their budgets without caring too much about the finished product. All I can do to keep on top of the wannabees is to be a better operator and keep my good reputation in tact, then hope that producers will see the advantage of paying a premium and hiring quality people with quality gear to get them a better product. Well lets hope that sleds and vests stay expensive at least. Did I just say that. On a lighter note this video does show off the beautiful isoelasic action of the G series, I just love the way it just floats where you put it I would buy one now but they are a bit expensive at the moment like houses. :-) Dave.
  18. Will this mean that Steadicam technology will be mass produced and we will finally be able to access economies of scale? Will the G50 be half the price in a few years time?
  19. Hey Martin :D Just a note, for $1000USD the Progear's great! I use the vest with my Master Series Broadcast + Silver Spring arm combination and it works just fine, it was the long wait to get it and the lousy service after, that sucked big time!! This thing though isn't even close to the Progear in quality! Cheers Norbert "my two cents" von der Heidt I could be wrong but isn't this just a progear vest re branded? It looks identical to me and they even have the same sales blurb. "Retire your old 3A vest and buy a new product for less than it cost to repair the old one." Is this Just Jan trying to shed his old reputation or some Indian rip off of possibly the worst vest ever made? I tried to buy one when I was in Copenhagen a few years back but I couldn't get hold of Jan to try it on before I bought it, he gave me the run around for days and I was reluctant to part with my money without trying it on. It should have been no problem I was in Denmark and so was the vest apparently. I eventually decided that it was a bit dodgy for me and left town, I think he just wanted my money in his bank account. I have tried a progear vest on and the fit was horrible but hey Norbert if it works for you then great. The socket block is on backwards but that can be easily fixed with an allen key. Laters. Dave.
  20. Thanks William. You are a life saver after a quick google I found out they even have outlets in the U.K., I have ordered 4 of them great price as well. Dave.
  21. Does anyone know anywhere online or otherwise I can get some BNC attenuators for the aerials on my modulus 3000. Which ones should I get I was thinking 3db and 6db should suffice. Thanks everyone.
  22. Hi Guys First time SR3 user here, any hints tips or knowledge anyone might wish to share would be greatly appreciated I have heard nothing but positive things about flying this camera so I am looking forward to it but if there are any little nuances anyone thinks might save me a headache then please chime in. I flew an SR2 last year using the on board ARRI batt with no hassle (except for the arri focus dying). It is a 24v camera, can I use the same fischer 24v cable that I used on a Panivised moviecam SL I used last year or would it be different? If not I will just fly with the ARRI batts but it would be nice to loose some weight for comfort I guess and in case they have me walking up and down hills all day. How many amps does it pull? My 4 1/2 year old PAG L75s are a bit long in the tooth but they handled the SL well, I presume an SR3 should draw less current and all should be peachy keen. One more thing If am flying without the camera batt will the ARRI focus still power through the camera or will I need to power it from my sled? Thanks again for your input. Dave.
  23. Hi Daniel. I have shot many projects with a Movietube over the past few years and yes the sony mounting is total shite on the MT however there could be many causes for movement as this setup is way too complex and as Lucas pionted out far to many potential sources for mis-alignment and vibration chaos. The last shoot I did with it was worse than I had ever seen the the whole camera docking alignment mechanism and HVX was bouncing around like crazy which restricted me to only gentle moves. It was because the rental house hadn't tightened some of grub screws that hold the bars in place where the docking bridge setup mounts to the main body. We managed to help it a bit by putting cable ties around the handle of the HVX and tensioning them around the bars at the front but it wasn't an ideal fix. Post-mortem with the owner revealed a few loose grub screws that need to be kept tight and had worked them selves loose. If I ever use one again I will be out with my allen keys and checking all of these screws on the bottom of the main body are tight, I would use the cable ties as well for extra security. Dodgy rental houses and poor maintenance aside I believe it will always be a bit on the flaky side vibration wise simply because of the complexity of the mechanism, but it can make some great pictures with the right set up. Dave.
  24. Me too please I have been wanting to read the whole thing for a while now. thedave82@hotmail.com Thanks very much. Dave.
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