Peter Hoare

I loved the air hiss when he lowered it down too :-D

You will need to add a lens gear to the lens, you can get them from anywhere, Redrock make them, Zacuto etc etc. Just remember, that if its a modern lens with an infinitely rotating focus ring, then the auto calibrate function won't work, as there is nothing for the motor to detect. If its a normal slr lens with hard stops on the focus rings, the stronger motors may well damage them anyway, so it may be best to manually calibrate if possible. Just bear in mind, that these newer lenses which have infinite focus rings never behave well with remotes. It seems that the numbers in the little window turn at a different rate to the focus ring, so it looks to me like the two rings are not directly connected. If you do a fast focus move, the two rings slip away from each other, and your marks move, so it is quite difficult to repeat marks, just make sure you keep your focus moves slow, and check often because it will slip out eventually. These lenses were never designed to be focused accurately with the ring like this, they are primarily designed as auto focus lenses, but have that ring on the outside so you can adopt the 'Twist it til' its sharp' approach if you wan't to. Hope this helps, Pete. Hocus Focus

The man draw? Your motor is in with old mobile phones, batteries, radiator bleeding keys, takeaway menus, old instruction manuals and foreign currency? For more info on the Man Drawer, click here: Here

Rick, send me your FMG, Il fix it!

Crimp tools are on page 149 of the Lemo catalogue (im on holiday in NYC right now, but I always carry atleast one Lemo catalogue with me) The tool is expensive, about £400 in the UK. Each differnt pin needs a different positioner die, which are additional cost, about £40. For example, 3pin 0B male needs a different positioner to female. If the connector has more pins, they are smaller so usually use a different positioner. When crimping, the peek insulator has no pins in it, just holes. The pins come separately in a little tub. You set the wire gauge on the tool, strip about 3mm of wire back, and stick it in the top of the pin and squeeze it. You then shove the pin into the insulator and it locks in. Be careful, you only get one chance. You need a special tool (£50) to get the pin out again. After this, you just assemble the connector as usual. Its not very well suited to someone doing 1-2 cables, better if your doing lots in one run, as it costs quite a lot to tool up for each type of connector/pin number. I had 100 3pin 0B cables to assemble, so the tool made sense. It takes away a lot of faffing with solder, and its much quicker. You get into a real rhythm with it, and I did 100 cables in about 10 hours (one 10 hour stint) Crimping is great, I think people should do more crimping, much easier than soldering. Pete.

I use crimp connectors, I don't bother with solder anymore! That crimp tool thing was the best £400 I ever spent, saved me so much time soldering and thousands and thousands of pounds over paying someone else to do it...

Quite willing to take some decent white table pictures of the connector if anyone wants to do a poster of it! I have been badgering Lemo for a while now about getting hold of a socket to go with it :-D

I was given this a while ago by Lemo here in the UK, and I thought I would share some photos. This is a size six type K Lemo (water tight) with 106 contacts. I was told at the time it was made as part of a low run for some kind of control system (I think they mentioned a diagnostics system in a power station or something). I believe this is one of the only connectors this size that is not in use somewhere. Its a bit bigger than a Red Bull can, and it weighs about 1.5-2kg. Its pretty hard to take apart, as its a water tight one, it has huge seals in it that are difficult to squeeze out. Looks like an absolute nightmare to solder! I like it because the internals are an exact copy of smaller connectors, it has the same half shells and the same cable clamp collets, only scaled up.... With a 0B connector 106 pins. Cool eh?!

Tom, Yes we are working as we speak to get the Hocus Focus approved and distributed within the US. Pete.

Mmm, its designed by the same guy that does all the wireless controls for the Libra head, he seems to know what he's doing. Never heard of any problems with reliability, i'm certain its all fine. It performed fine at NAB and there were Preston systems backfiring all around us. I will know more in a few weeks, but im pretty sure its all fine for reliability. Just remember to charge up your iPhone. Pete.

Nope, no problems. The fStop system is being used on several film sets in The Real World' right now.....

I agree, it is something I considered for the Hocus Focus over a year ago, but have not done anything with just yet. May still do something, but I don't want to look like im ripping off Redrock!

Hi Everyone, Just to let you know, I am now the European dealer for the fStop iris control device. More info here. Thanks a lot, Pete.

Brian told me that the iPhone does no transmitting, and should be placed into flight mode to prevent your remote focus ringing in the middle of a take, so I think the actual hand set does the radio work and the iphone is simply a peripheral device that helps out. ...

From Mikko.

Saw the Redrock. Its interesting, will have to see what happens. The PLC Fstop is a nice unit. Watch this space.

Shot this bit of video of Garrett operating the Tango, Video Very clever system, nice to see levers and pulleys in amongst all the computer controlled gizmos. Pete.

Looks like a much needed update to the Flyer. Sounds like it has a nice new arm too... Leaving for the show in half an hour, will go and have a look.

Quick update, RED gave him a new charger (out of warranty) and the battery still works, even though the plastic is a bit distorted. The damage to the battery was not as bad as he made it sound. the plastic had just pitted in a bit around where the terminal was. Certainly looks unusual but it still works, and a new charger so I think it all ended nicely this time. Thanks, Pete.

A real life pissup in a brewery?! Im in.

Hi Tom, Well the rods are 7inches from the bridge plate, plus the 75mm of the stubs that plug into the XCS. They are certainly strong enough, I can't say if they are long enough or not, Im not sure how your setup would be arranged. Pete.

Its my first trip to Vegas so I opted to stay at the MGM grand. Was pretty cheap in the end, got it through Expedia. Im there 11-15th. Would be good to go for a drink if anyone is about.... Pete.

Here are the rods on Ricks XCS plate:

Hi All, I know this isn't really Steadicam related, but I was hoping I could draw on your experience and knowledge with this nasty situation. We hired a RED from one of my freinds to use at the BSC show, and he has just told me that a terminal on the charger and on one battery has melted. I have seen no photos so im not sure exactly what he means, but he is saying hte plastic parts around the power terminals have melted and rendered the battery and charger useless, and it needs replacing. Has anyone seen anything like this happen before? Ive not heard of or seen this problem before. Could it be a one off, or could it happen again? Im not sure what happened, I didn't see or smell any smoke, or experience any problems with any of the batteries or the charger whilst we were changing or charging the batteries. We were using the RED charger and the standard power cradle. Any help would be great. Pete.

Some better pics: