William Demeritt
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Posts posted by William Demeritt
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Those were the days, back when Brian trusted me with his rig.
Those days are long since passed...
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I don't mean maintaining the aesthetic look of gear. I mean moreso maintaining the performance of the gear.
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I've heard a few other operators speak about what they do for regular maintenance: weekly, annually, bi-monthly, etc. Whether you're talking about cleaning your gimbal, top to bottom sled cleaning, complete battery rejuvenation/24 hour tests, do you have a checklist or calendar for maintaining your gear?
For me:
- batteries live on charge in the garage between gigs. Usually once every 3 months, I trigger the 24 hour test on the Anton Bauer chargers.
- gimbal service: at least once per year, or immediately after any job where exposed to the elements/desert.
- sled cleaning, top to bottom, once a year with canned air and paintbrush
- PRO arm: swap canisters between sections in the arm, kinda like rotating my tires. I figured it doesn't necessarily help, but it shouldn't hurt?
What else do you do for your rig/cleaning/maintenance routines?
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what an engineering joke from the guys at RED.....
RED has engineers?
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Sensing that Jim's story might just kill this thread (who can possibly beat that?), I'll do my best to keep the ball rolling:
I had the pleasure of working on Parks and Recreation "The Final Season" a few weeks ago... and holy crap, I'm envious. They were on their 7th season, and as far as I could tell, the crew was as happy and fun loving as ever. I've dayplayed on other shows in their 4-5th seasons, and the routine of a "grind" often takes over. You quickly find that your spunky new guy excitement is quickly shot down by gruff, seasons-long exhaustion and repetition.
None of that happened with Parks and Recreation. For the scene I worked on, Aubrey, Chris, and Henry were talented and amazing. Director Mike was awesome, DP Tom Magill was a delight, and everyone else was equally fun to be around. I was amazed that, in 7 seasons, this crew clearly had never let "the grind" get them down. I hope to some day land a crew and a project like that!
As far as cool locations/moments, I'd say shooting Will Smith on the rooftop of the Galen Center (basketball arena on USC campus) was an interesting "Never would have guessed I'd be doing this in my lifetime" moment.
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Assuming the arm is fine and your vest is fitted properly:
In my understanding, a few simple things can cause big problems when it comes to seeing steps of the operator in your shot. Here's the short rundown:
- hips move in a "camel back" motion rather than maintaining uniform height from ground
- excessive weight shifting while walking (left to right)
- too strip of a grip on your gimbal arm and gimbal
- shifting weight while standing still
When you're still getting used to the weight of the rig, there's a tendency for the rig to "wag the dog" or "wag the operator" a bit. You gotta be the anchor, and the rig is the "kite" that soars around your body. Further, don't think of your legs as the solid pillars on which your body rests. Imagine your core/waist is the "solid core", and your legs are the springy suspension system that keeps it all smooth. In the end, your strength will match what the weight of the rig requires, and the steps will become less obvious. Smooth operator, smooth rig.
Your lockoffs will benefit once you get a handle on your CG and weight shifting.
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They told me the same thing; due to an unforeseen engineering/design issue, the monitor they made where they thought they could incorporate recording into a software update is incompatible with the function of recording. To offer that option, they'd literally need to make a different monitor almost from the ground up.
Conspiracy time: so SmallHD offered about 3 months of discounts and rebates on the DP7 and AC7 monitors last year. I'm wondering if they're clearing inventory to make room for a new (maybe hopefully) brighter monitor?
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I think some of the guys here can recommend an existing "steadicam accessory" to deal with drones, complete with stock, scope, and training.
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Robert hit the mark on a lot. One question for you Ryan: what are you trying to figure out? I'd be curious to know why you're pursuing such an interesting subject.
Just spitballing: the value of gear is a bizarre mix of utility and reliability. Brand new gear carries the cost of brand new gear, and I can tell you that something like a PRO sled really isn't marked up that much from their total cost of manufacturing (custom parts and assembly time). I would imagine the same with XCS? Those parts leave the facility after QC, and the sled can "do the job".
If we're looking at PRO sleds, I'll say this: I bought a PRO2 SD sled used as my first rig, and I still have some original parts on it. Other operators still have their original rigs. The durability of the product has proven itself, so the sled is still probably as valuable as a brand new sled (minus the whole "bought used" aspect expecting a discount on the premium of BRAND NEW).
I think rigs only lose their value when they don't necessarily facilitate the needs of a modern operator, such as buying a used EFP rig when you know you need/want an HD sled, maybe with 2 HD lines? However, amazing shots are still achieved every day with an old EFP rig, or a PRO 1, or a Tiffen Ultra. I believe that's why the Steadicam community often tells new operators to buy used; the fact you're getting a "discount" on a rig that "Does the job" is a leg up for making that initial investment.
PRO Arms used to sell used VERY fast, and I think they do still sell VERY FAST. However, I believe the used sale price dropped on the arms recently because PRO dropped the pricing on new arms.
I would imagine the cost increase goes from low cost to higher cost as follows:
Low cost used: "old" sleds, sleds by defunct manufacturers, sleds with QC issues, or sleds from questionable companies (or became questionable).
Moderate cost used: "previous generation" by the manufacturer sleds, sleds a generation behind the current offering by that manufacturer, etc.
High cost used: "recent" or "current" generation by manufacturer sleds, sleds still actively being serviced by the manufacturer.
When a manufacturer introduces a new sled, or someone introduces a new technology that is embraced, or someone introduces a cheaper iteration of new or current technology, the price drops very quickly. Like Robert said, the TB-6 used was once within 70-80% of the "brand new" price. Now, they sell at a fraction. PRO arms still sell instantly, but the price reflects the "used" percentage modifier on the "new" price.
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Congratulations to the new owner! Also: I think you just set a speed record for sale of a rig!
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I just have dreams where I'm late to work, or I've overslept and still need to load my car with gear. Anxiety dreams. Oh well!
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I was going to buy another 1650, but got up to eat lunch with the family first. Came back, and it's sold out. Damn it guys!
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Merry Christmas everyone! In 2015, may your days end early, your checks arrive on time, and your commute never make you late.
"I would rather be with the people of this community than with the finest people in the world." -"Roxanne"
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As someone who did some modification to my UJB and LJB in attempts to do what sounds like the same thing, I'll just say this: dude, just pay for the HD upgrade and sell off the parts. I did a number of attempts at the mods, and in the end, I just did the HD upgrade anyway.
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I've just covered the "wiggler" in the elbow and the part next to the socket with 2" velcro, soft side. The adhesive lasts forever, it's "padded" so it offers a small buffer, and we've always got lots of it laying around on set so you can replace it. Also, should you work on a show and need to be *GASP* tethered, you can run the BNC up the arm and use hard side velcro to pin the BNC cable in place.
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I've been very happy with Alan's cables, he's become my go to guy.
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I've got one on my desk. I was born a poor, black child...
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Wordpress, huh? Cool cool... awright, see ya later!
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Mike, I gotta say I really appreciate your decorum when you post on the forum. You have an fantastic sense of customer service, and make me want to be a customer. I haven't gone the Teradek owner route just yet, but I gotta say, you are quickly becoming a factor in my purchasing decisions.
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I don't own a Teradek Bolt, but I've thought that if I did buy one, I'd probably mod the chassis with something like this:
Stick to the chassis using thermal tape and maybe stronger glue in the corners (thermal tape isn't incredibly strong, if someone bumps it). The Teradek's chassis probably does well to keep the heat off the PCB, but it doesn't have far to goo. Also, in this California heat or direct sunlight, doesn't seem like a total solution to heat dissipation. Even the Modulus and Canatrans had heatsinks on them (I believe the Modulus 2000 had chassis heat sinks, and the Modulus 3000 had heat sinks that actually connected directly to the video modulators?)
Anyway, for $20, buy a set and stick em on your Teradek. If anything, it'll prevent you from touching the chassis directly.
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Does anyone have a price list or rough estimate of what an Arri WCU-4 and system will cost? I could find the handset on AbelCine.com, but not much else.
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Just curious, has anyone noticed any correlation between changing formats or anything with the camera when the SDI signal doesn't show? What cameras have everyone noticed this issue with?
I only ask because I have seen situations where (and I'll be nonspecific) a RED Epic Dragon switched from 6K HD to 5K HD (or another resolution) and the monitor loses signal. I think in those situations, I had to reboot the monitor (slower) or just disconnect the SDI feed and reconnect it. Just putting ideas out there. I also don't think my monitor is on the newest newest version of the firmware (maybe still on the 2.xx versions).
I'll verify my firmware tomorrow and post it here. Maybe we can track the issue down to the firmware version, and create a blacklist of firmware versions where this issue is known to occur?
What's the hot thin, flexible HDSDI cable?
in General Discussion
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I've bought cables from Andrew Ansnick, but I would also be confident with anything from Alan Rencher. I've got a bunch of his cables now, and he's knocking it out of the park!