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William Demeritt

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Everything posted by William Demeritt

  1. For only $5,699, I'll come over and tape a spirit bubble to your monitor screen, just below the image.
  2. Hi Wolfgang! Happy New Year! I'm still very happy with my CW-3. I feel like it's actually quite the steal, and they've dropped the price on the CW-3 since I posted this review a year ago. I believe it still has an issue with PsF signals, and still does not support multicast. However, despite those issues, I'm still quite happy with my CW-3. As a simple 1:1 transmitter that handles the range, offers external antennas, and locks to the transmitter quite swiftly, I'm happy with the price and the unit itself.
  3. I'm using Lite right now throughout the year, and digitally submitting receipts via upload throughout the year. I started out with the trial of the regular account, and the magic envelopes are pretty fantastic. However, I've definitely got less than 50 receipts per month, so I just went back to the Lite plan. The online service or functionality doesn't change, it's just if they give you the envelopes vs I could mail in with my own envelope.
  4. Just wanted to give a heads up to anyone who tracks receipts or expenses throughout the year, or have a big envelope full of receipts end of year that they sort out with their accountant. I started using this service, Shoeboxed.com, to upload scans of my receipts or mail them in an envelope full of receipts every month. They scan the receipts, try to categorize them, and give an online interface to let you re-categorize them, export as an Excel spreadsheet, etc. My accountant has me tracking my receipts during the year, so this gave me a simple way to scan all the receipts, have an online archive, quickly export end of year and get them into an expense report to hand over to him. I've had the service for a year now, and been pretty happy with it as an easy way to catalog receipts and make tax time easy. If you want to sign up, you can use my referral link here: http://ssqt.co/mzbMnZd Or, if you don't want to use the referral, just go to the site itself and sign up. Worked out well for me, perhaps you guys could use it too? http://www.shoeboxed.com
  5. If the sled is set to 12v power line, then the AUX power and AUX ground lines are not shared with any connection. I built a tally system for my PRO 2 sled and PRO 2 UJB/LJB. I took an old Proformer battery, wired it up to use the PTAP on the C/M battery position. When connected to the AUX battery position, it would send the signal up the centerpost to the AUX port, came out one pin to the photosensor, the return power (if light was present) came down the AUX ground line and back into the box. From there, I had two RCA style plugs with cables: 1 that connected to the connector on the Cinetronic Gen 2 tally input, and another that simply went to a bright RED LED that I velcroed to my monitor. I recently got a CineLive sled and I'm using a Media Blackout tally system, but I still have the old tally system around for my PRO 2 setup in case I have two live gigs back to back.
  6. I have not tested it in any environments aside from indoors yet. Those were all ventilated, comfortable spaces with no extreme heat whatsoever. I myself am curious to see how it works daytime exterior on a HOT day, because it gets quite hot when the brightness is way up. Further, I don't think it does any kind of active cooling, it just has copper heatsinks and space for heat to dissipate.
  7. I've got a Shogun Flame on my 2nd rig, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I need to add some weight to it, so I might buy a Shape cage for it to add some functional aluminum to it. The power input is a simple circular DC plug on a coily cable to PTAP, but it works and is already better than any of the SmallHD 70x or 50x series monitors. The monitor powers up very quickly, and it VERY bright. Reminds me of my Cinetronic Gen 1 monitor, very bright. The glare could easily be remedied with an antiglare screen protector, but it hasn't really been an issue for me yet. Brightness control is in a touchscreen menu that isn't too buried, once you learn where it is. I also bought a Transvideo clamp/spud adapter to mount it to my Sachtler Tilting Telescoping Monitor mount, but it would work on most/all PRO style spud mounts. http://www.transvideo.eu/store/Clamp-for-Slide Mounts to the bottom 1/4-20 and the 4 additional pegs keep it from spinning. The monitor accepts the SDI record flag, so on any scripted stuff I've done with it, I set the monitor to automatically record once it gets the record flag. Helps serve as a tally/confidence that the camera is rolling. The screen is pretty big, very bright, and only problem I've noticed so far is it gets HOT at full brightness, which also means it chews up batteries pretty quickly. That's fairly common among most bright monitors, though, so it's not a big deal. I do wish that the monitor input voltage could be set to stay on screen, but you can see the voltage input by tapping the power icons in the top right corner (it places the battery readings as an overlay on the screen, would be nice if it could be more discrete). All the inputs are there, I haven't tried making a cable for the REMOTE plug yet but that might be my next project. Anyway, for the price and the versatility of the monitor (and it records!), I am happy to use it on my scripted stuff.
  8. Just received my CineLive package, but I still love my old PRO vest. So I'm selling a brand new PRO vest, NEVER worn, literally still inside the cardboard box GPI shipped it to me in. Chest: 47in Waist: 38in Would love to get $5,200, and we can work out a deal where I knock down the price by the amount for a replacement chest and waist pads in the event your chest isn't as big as Gaston... sorry, your chest or waist may vary from mine? Anyway, drop me a line here, or via email: will AT w b d 3 DoT com Pictures of the box it arrived in available upon request. Buyer: I will cross out on the box MY name and instead write your name, so it says "CONGRATULATIONS **BUYER**"
  9. I just ordered a CineLive package from PRO, but I don't need a new vest (I enjoy the sweat stains and chipped paint on mine). I literally ordered the package 4 days ago, but I thought I'd start the conversation about who might want the new vest. So if you're considering buying a new PRO vest, give me a buzz and I'll set it aside for you. Once I get it, we can complete the sale. Will arrive in Los Angeles. It will literally be a BRAND NEW PRO vest, so I'd like to just sell it PRO's price: $5,200. PM or email me.
  10. How/where can you buy one of these monitors?
  11. Anyone got a Starlite HD5 they're looking to sell? Might as well take a stab, maybe someone's looking to hand theirs off.
  12. I too am interesting if the Beam can support Sony cameras yet? I'll give Andrew a buzz, maybe they have some new information?
  13. I've said no to going to Jumbo's with Baldwin. I'm still not sure that was the right decision.
  14. On Facebook, I asked for help setting up the Omega AR for the first time since it doesn't come with a setup manual or any instructions really. Erik was kind enough to write up this brief tutorial, so I'm posting here so it's archived and NOT lost in the sands of time (Facebook). ============ Ok and I assume you have the 4 stage post? The first step is getting the camera's weight as centered as you can in the rings. Which might mean using a riser plate of some sort. I've used the Ikan ELE-LBP. Its not the lightest option but it does the job very well. To zero it out take off the drive belt once the camera is mounted in the rings. This will let the rings spin freely. Now find the best riser plate height where if you roll the camera left or right 45 or 90 degrees the camera stays put. At a 45 if it drops back to level raise the plate. At a 90 if it rolls over its self and settles upside down lower the plate. It like zeroing a camera out on a jib if you've done that before. The drive motors are strong enough if you can't fully zero out the camera but the closer you can zero out the weight the better the system will work. Once the camera is good in the rings mount it to the stage. Oh and put the drive belt back on. Now its time to set up the rest of the rig. I would first say run the top stage of the post all the way up. This will give the rings clearance from the arm and your body when operating. From there its finding the best adjustment of the bottom two post stages that gives you the clearance you need from the arm. You're probably gonna end up with total rig length in the 6 1/2 to 7 foot range. You also want to move your monitor mount post clamp to right under(or as close as you can get it) your gimbal handle. Doing this keeps the monitor centered to your body when operating and not a foot or so out of your center line where you're straining to see the screen. Plus it keeps the weight of the monitor from having a negative effect on the rig when doing big low to high move shots. The thing the is a PIA with your monitor mount right there is you have to move it when adjusting your gimbal for drop time. Which brings us to drop time. Unlike normal set ups you want to have the rig in almost zero balance. Meaning if you put the post horizontal drifts ever so slowly to vertical there. Crap I'm getting ahead of myself. Before you go to do horizontal you should power up the Head. Switch rig to 24v volt. Power/Boot Button and the LEDs on side of head should light up Red. Press and hold for a few seconds Side LEDs will go Green and PWR/Boot button will highlight blue. Hopefully your camera is close to level. If do tap PWR/Boot button to set the "Level" point. The AR/Omega should be active at this point. You can test this by slightly rocking the rig side to side while in the dock. You should see the rings roll to level accordingly. If its work now put the rig in the balancing pin to set drop or in this case "near" drop time. Man I hope I'm not confusing you. Once you have that near drop time to your liking have at it. If you find the camera is out of level simply tap PWR/Boot button to deactivate system put the get the camera to level by rotating the post up or down. Once you get it level tap PWR/Boot again and presto you re-set your system's leveling point. I hope this very abridged Cliff notes version of Omega/AR helps. It really is a fun rig to operate. If you need more assistance with set up you could also reach out to Dean Lester Hall who could point you in the right direction. Good luck.
  15. Years ago, I showed up to a low budget job. Before loading into the space, the production had a letter from the stage owner that they wanted me to sign, I believe it was a waiver of liability or hold harmless for the stage. Long story short, I didn't sign it, refused to set foot on the stage, and I wound up leaving. Important part of this story: when I told them I wouldn't sign it, the person replied, "But everyone else has signed it." Safety starts with me (and you and you and you). Just because everyone else developed the same blind spot to the same potential threat or danger does NOT mean you should too. Just like in Jess' story, go speak to the person in charge so you know exactly what's going on, and don't accept "everyone else is going along with this" as a viable reason for you to participate. Also, I highly recommend learning about guns. Lots of gun owners, gun enthusiasts on this forum and in our community, and we camera people wind up around a lot of guns loaded with blanks of various types and sizes. Safety Pass program doesn't have a firearms awareness class (for some stupid reason), so just ask another gun owner to educate you about firearms. You may not overnight become an NRA member, but you will know what you're looking at when the gun wrangler shows you what they're using on set.
  16. Well, they do say that Wu Tang Clan "ain't nothin' ta fuck with".
  17. The Steadicam equivalent of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzkWTcDZFH0
  18. Right now, I've got 3 cases Case A (Pelican 1650, newer): <50lbs, carries sled, dock, monitor. Case B (Storm iM2950): 54lbs, carries vest, arm, AKS, a hammock, excess gak. Case C (Pelican 1650, OLD STYLE): 70lbs, carries batteries, power cables, BNC, chargers, etc. I'm pretty sure the old Pelican 1650 (Case C) itself is excessively heavy, probably going to swap it for another iM2950 (which seems to feel like the lightest case). Another question: so you're out of town, and sometimes you have to move cases from point A to point B, manually. Do you have them set up to roll? Does anyone travel with something like a Rock-n-Roller Maxi cart? Something that collapses down and fits inside the cases, but then can be busted out to carry the cases? I'm in Puerto Rico right now, and we traveled to a remote beach that had me pulling/carrying cases more than I prefer. It's probably a unique situation, but one that I'd love to avoid in the future.
  19. Ron: looks like they basically sold you the wheels that go on the Roadrunner stands. If the Axel is long enough, why not try getting 8" pneumatic wheels and modify the brake so it still brakes?
  20. The camera weighs 2,000lbs and makes a dolly cry. This camera has one specific purpose, and absolutely no versatility yet.
  21. Good prices, and they have the 1510 with padded dividers too. https://smile.amazon.com/b?rh=i%3Aelectronics%2Cn%3A13514595011&ie=UTF8&node=13514595011 Fyi: smile.amazon.com is to support various charities when you make certain purchases. Mine is set to Wounded Warrior Project, but you can go with what you like.
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