James Takata

I just bought some HCs for $330 each and a TM4 for $1159 from B&H! No sales tax!!! - insert incredulous GIF here -

Is the HU2 compatible with an MDR2 with G3 board? Does Preston sell G3 boards? My problem is that I have an MDR1 which won't talk to the single channel handset.

My DP loves to use the remote iris, and I'm hoping I can just upgrade my MDR.

looking to buy 2 blue PRO spring canisters - new or used

I had a minor issue last week and Chris fixed the problem as transpo waited to bring my Gen I back to set. Very responsive and helpful - top notch customer service. I love my Cinetronic and am anxiously awaiting my Gen 2!

It works! How to convert your Pro 1 battery cage to marvelous Pro 1.5: - Two Anton Bauer Compact Gold Mounts wired to Aux and Cam. - Chocolate bars power your monitor and can be used with the ABs to hot swap or give you extra juice. That's right, you can use 1-3 chocolate bars simultaneously with ABs. - Diodes installed to keep the AB and Chocolate Bars from messing each other up. This is my rig set up to fly Alexa with Camwave, Preston, & modulus. No issues. No more worrying about amps, power, etc. Thanks to Matthew Pearce, Justin Browne, and Jack at Panavision Hollywood for their advice and help.

SOLD! (cranberry sauce not included)

Perfect for serving Thanksgiving dinner! Will hold 2 turkeys, all the trimmings and a Lambda head!

$1800 obo (was $2400 +tax) A great gift for your favorite camera assistant! includes: Dual Tripod Holder & 5/8" spud, dovetail mount, (2) mitchell mounts 48" Utility Box, Canvas Cart Umbrella w/offset pole & umbrella holder mount Located in Los Angeles, local pickup preferred email offers & inquiries to jamestakata@gmail.com

SOLD!!!

I've owned this unit since working with Adam Ward on Ghost Whisperer 6 years ago and have used it on every job as a 1st since then. An amazing tool for focus pullers, especially B-camera long lens work. The Sniper is also a good rental item. I'm selling mine because I'm leaving assisting behind for good. What you get: Sniper Mark II (laser and display) Pelican 1500 case w/custom foam brackets: Noga arm Sniper pana lens light to 15mm post bracket Manfrotto 482 ball mount, 3" 15mm rod, 15mm dogbone adapter (for mounting in steadicam mode) cables: 3 Panavison power cables 2 Arri 3-pin lemo power cables 1 Arri 11-pin Fischer power cable 3 Sniper display cables original instruction manual $8,500 obo Thanks for your interest! email inquiries/offers to jamestakata@gmail.com

Flew an Arri 3 with high speed base on Friday on my Pro I. Picture was fine through rehearsal, but once the camera rolled the video became completely scrambled. (Remember when the cable company would scramble the channels that you didn't buy? My friend's dad used to call it Picasso Playboy, but I digress . . .) The camera was powered via one cable from camera port to the body and one from aux to the hs base. The video tap (CCI or CCR IV?) on the camera was powered via 3-pin fisher on the camera to 4 pin XLR on the video tap. The other option on the tap was a 6 pin female hirose. Tried changing batteries & cables with no luck. Took off the mag and rolled camera and the picture was fine. Yay! Put the mag back on and picture went bad again. Awwww! Called GPI and George explained that it was a grounding issue and the tap needed to be powered separately from the camera. Then called Charles Papert, hoping to borrow the proper cable, and he awesomely talked me thru the problem on the phone and came up with the solution of unplugging the high speed base and powering the video tap with that cable (fine as long as we didn't need to go high speed, which we didn't). Apparently this was an old problem with the Arri 3 video which most veteran operators would be familiar with. Thanks to a lot of help from my friends, we got the problem fixed and got the shot.

Hey Chris! You're right I was using the Y cable from aux and camera, J-box set to 12V and "separate." I have 11 bars that were re-celled before I purchased them. I think thru Pro. We were pulling 2 batts off when they got down near 12.0V under load. I guess it was around 20-30 minutes elapsed while everything was on and/or recording. We would pull the breakers while changing lenses or changing setups, and I would turn off my monitor whenever possible. Only lost power to the camera once. I don't really know so much about batteries and electricity in general, but the explanation I got from the previous owner was that they are "stronger than the regular C's that were in the battery at birth." I know, really technical. That is also why I was nervous before flying Genesis for the first time. Not sure about amp hours - how can I measure that?

Sorry if this should've posted in the battery section . . . but don't know how to move it :unsure:

So, although I'm a relatively new operator I've got an old school rig: Pro I with the chocolate bar batteries. I really love the slim profile, and ability to set down the rig on the flat bottom. The batts have been upgraded to C+, but I had yet to test them on the Genesis. At the prep, Dominic at Panavision Woodland Hills stopped in his tracks on the prep floor and said he was surprised my rig was handling the camera as they have had so many issues in the past. Jack at GPI said, "well . . . you should be ok. Let me know how it goes." I was already nervous about power issues, and that didn't really inspire confidence. The test came last week. Night shoot deep in the Santa Clarita mountains. Probably 40 degrees. We did 6+ hours covering one scene completely on steadicam. No problem. My 1st AC, Carter Smith, did a great job managing the charging and saving power whenever possible. We used the SSR, so that surely helped. I was also loving my green screen Pro II monitor, as the light levels were really low. Big sigh of relief that I don't have to change my battery system. I'm gonna keep representing old school style, as long as I can! B)