Matt Petrosky

Funny, I've been almost all film since September, including an anamorphic feature and 435/235 commercials and stuff, including time-lapse, and then some Arricam stuff. I do like the Alexa though, and agree that Arri just figured out how to make the images feel more filmic; the Alexa user interface and ergonomics are also really intuitive and user-friendly.

Spare DM-1 is SPF!

Turn-key Preston system still for sale! Spare DM-1 still for sale! Apologies to those whom I told there were sales pending, they fell through. Thanks, Matt

2nd DM1 Motor FOR SALE: I have an additional Preston DM1 motor for sale. Forgot to take a picture of it, but it looks like the other DM1 pictured above. Same story as the other DM1 (completely rebuilt: new motor and new internal gearing, only thing original is chassis housing). Motor will come with Preston 15mm spud AND Jerry Hill-style rosette and complete Hill-style PAM brackets. I have 19mm PAM arm and two reducer-collets. So you can mount each motor on 19mm Arri, 5/8" Panavision, or 15mm Arri/GPI-PRO iris rods. Lots of options. Asking price: $1,600 You can PM me via the forum, or for a faster response email me: mapcam (at) earthlink.net I'm on the westside of Los Angeles. Local meet-up fine. Shipping ok on buyer's dime. Thanks! -Matt

This is a full Preston MDR-1 steadicam setup for focus and iris, ready to go, brackets, cables, and all! A total turn-key system. I am the second owner and it has served me well for years, so well in fact that I've been hesitant to sell it--what a reliable tool! Here's what is included: MDR-1 (microwave, all possible upgrades/current boards) HU-1 (Hand Unit) HU-1 Transmitter 25+ focus marking discs (crazy I know, you can do two full sets of lenses and then some!) 2 handset batteries & charger (re-celled years ago, but usually I still get a day out of each battery) DM-1 motor (completely rebuilt: new motor and new internal gearing, only thing original is chassis housing) DM-2 motor (I bought it new and hardly ever use it, very low-miles/run-time) Both motors will come with Preston 15mm spud AND Jerry Hill-style rosette. Two complete Hill-style PAM brackets. I have 19mm PAM arms and two reducer-collets for each arm. So you can mount each motor on 19mm Arri, 5/8" Panavision, or 15mm Arri/GPI-PRO iris rods. Lots of options. 2 Motor Cables right-to-straight Run-Stop Cables: 2 Arri 24volt 3-pin RS 2 Panavision std. 10-pin 2 Arri 12volt 11-pin 1 Panavision Genesis 1 Aaton 8-pin 2 Sony Hirose 12-pin 2 Moviecam 2-pin Fischer Power Cables: 1 GPI-PRO to Preston (short steadicam jumper) Also as seen in picture: GPI-PRO Preston Dovetail Bracket (the side that mounts to the MDR) that I can include. [you'll still need the side that mounts to the donkey box] Spare Antennas: I think I have one each for MDR and HU Microforce to Hand Unit Cable (allows you to connect a Microforce to the Hand Unit, I don't have the bracket though (not that you need to zoom on Steadicam much... Asking price: $10,000 You can PM me via the forum, or for a faster response email me: mapcam (at) earthlink.net I'm on the westside of Los Angeles. Local meet-up fine. Shipping ok on buyer's dime. Thanks! -Matt

Email sent.

Alec, I'm looking at the plate right now, I've had the thing disassembled for a couple weeks for an unrelated reason... and again Mr. Jarnagin, YOU'RE A GENIUS!!! Now I just need that threaded adapter! Forgive me, but who makes/sells those simple adapters? Those are the one's with the holes NOT offset like the normal BPA right? Thanks, Matt

Yeah Alec, the current version of the Baer-Bel plate will handle the back heavy Codex-laden Alexa. see this post for more details: http://www.steadicam...indpost&p=71440 In my photos I had to screw a PRO plate under the Baer-Bel plate, because the Baer-Bel plate I had at the time was not dovetailed far enough back. The current version is dovetailed far enough, doesn't raise the camera, mounts at two points, and works well. Only drawback is that it requires having the Alexa WA-1 Wedge Adapter. The Wedge Adapter is free from the rental house, but a lot of people don't know about it so it's not always there when you show up on set. -Matt

ALL SOLD, THANKS! -Matt

2 Anton/Bauer Proformer Batteries DEAD These cells are shot and the batts will need to be re-celled to be used. $40 for both not my picture, but they not beat-up -- they are used, but no major hits/dings/scratches ______________________________________________________________________________ The following information applies for all the above listed items: You can PM me via the forum, or for a faster response email me: mapcam (at) earthlink.net and as mentioned above: I'm on the westside of Los Angeles. Local meet-up fine. USA shipping ok on buyer's dime. Cash preferred. PayPal ok. Sorry for the crappy phone picts! Thanks and Happy New Years! -Matt

SOLD! Pelican 1650 new-style, no foam (sort of), no dividers. This case is basically brand new, got it a couple weeks ago, had it custom foamed out, and ended up tearing out the foam and using another case. So I don't need this one. The exterior has few minor scratches (never shipped) and the interior has some residual foam and adhesive which can be cleaned out with Bestine or Goof-Off. Case is so new it still has factory stickers on it, and has no labels or markings from me. I have a piece of slightly used top-foam for this case I can thrown in for free if you need/want it. I can ship on buyer's dime (FedEx Ground shouldn't be too bad), but I don't have original cardboard box, so case would ship as a case. New Pelican 1650 is $195.95 + Tax at Nalpak, which is the cheapest. selling for: $100 SOLD! listing continues in next post . . .

BOTH SOLD! 2 Jerry Hill GAD1 forks (Gorelock Auto Dock) for 1.5" posts 2 Jerry Hill GAD1 1.500" NEW (unused) docking rings 2 spare screws for docking ring clamps Both of the GAD1 forks are used, but have a long life left in them (I don't abuse my gear). One of the GAD1 forks was cut about 1/4" short on the spud that mounts it into the Hill Balancing Bracket. This brings the sled in a bit closer when docked (I did this to better secure my sled when docked on my cart. It has no effect on the spin-beam or being able to balance the rig. These are NOT complete Gorelock/Hill docking setups, the buyer would still need the Hill BalanceBracket. Also found 2 used 1.487" docking rings (Glidecam?). One is filed down for a 1.500" post, the other is not. I'll throw them in for anyone who buys one/both of these (first come first serve). I do NOT recommend using the un-filed 1.487" ring on a 1.500" post. New the GAD1 forks are $400.00. New the rings are: $85.00. Total $970.00 selling for: $250 for 1 fork + 1 ring + 1 spare screw or $450 for BOTH and everything, BOTH SOLD! listing continues in next post . . .

Just got back from a job and I need to do some spring cleaning in December. I'm on the westside of Los Angeles. Local meet-up fine. USA shipping ok on buyer's dime. Cash preferred. PayPal ok. XCS PDL s/n: 187 with PRO-standard Lemo connectors on each end Programmable Digital Level PLUS I'm sure Greg (XCS) can switch these connectors out if you need something different. A few cosmetic scratches, but like all of Greg's stuff, it works great and is built to outlast the operator. Includes: level, 6 long mounting screws (2 + 4 backups), 8 short backup chassis screws, PRO Gen.II mounting Rosette, and hard-copy manual. New price: $2875.00 plus tax, which is $3162.50 in CA. (last time I checked 2010 price?) selling for: $1500 less then half-price in CA!!! listing continues in next post . . .

Brooks, the plate that Bela has from Sal seems like it would do the trick for you... but here's another option: I flew the Alexa with the Codex off the back for a film this summer and I had great success with Baer-Bel's Sony V-Lock Plate. It requires the Alexa to be configured with the Arriflex WA-1 Wedge Adapter (apparently all Alexa bodies ship with one in addition to the BPA-1 Bridge Plate Adapter). In conjunction with the Baer-Bel V-Lock Plate, this setup provided a very-rigid two-point mounting solution. Here is a link to Able Cine Tech's website showing the different Alexa mounting configurations. In the photo I was using an older version of the Baer-Bel V-Lock Plate and it required me to mount one of my PRO plates to it in order to get the camera far enough forward. Baer-Bel now makes the plate with a significantly longer steadicam dovetail machined in, which would have eliminated the need for me to use the PRO plate as I could have just directly put the Baer-Bel plate into my D-Box. Like Sal's plate, the Baer-Bel plate* is rather expensive, but the Alexa is here to stay (thank goodness!), and this stuff seems way less ridiculous then some of the other camera brackets and plates that have come up over the years... cost of doing business. Speaking of doing business, I should mention that Markus (owns/runs Baer-Bel) has been easy to deal with (is in Germany) and has been honest and prompt with communication and shipping. I think Jens has actually spoken with him via phone, my communication was all via email and texts. New Baer-Bel plate in foreground, has longer steadicam dovetail machined into sides, basically eliminating need for mounting to normal steadicam plates (this photo was taken before I switched the hardware from the old plate onto the new one): I can't stress enough how much of a difference it makes mounting the Alexa at two points, fore and aft. Even using an XCS plate, the camera was a total spring board when it was only mounted at the front point, it's just too much weight off-set to the back, and no support in the front because the mounting point is actually forward of the D-Box. Mounting the Alexa in a rigid manner to the steadicam poses two main problems to the operator. One, the BPA-1 has mounting holes that are significantly off-set from the camera CG because it's made for Arri bridge plates. Sal's plate and some other single-point mounting options that people that made solve this by providing screw holes that are off-set accordingly. The second major problem is eliminating the spring-board effect of only having a sigle mounting point with a back-heavy camera. Both Sal's plate and the Baer-Bel V-Lock option solve this, also giving the operator a wide range of fore-aft adjustment. Using the WA-1 and the Baer-Bel also eliminates the side-to-side offset problem that the BPA-1 creates. Hope this is of some help/use to someone. Brooks, if you wanna check out the Baer-Bel plate I'm happy to offer it up if I'm not using it. Bela, can you please PM me Sal's info, I think his plate would be a another option worth having in the kit. Ron, you should not be drinking Scotch while trying to figure out these mounting plates... send any unconsumed scotch this way. Thanks, Matt *on Baer-Bel's website select "Online Shop" on the left, then "Dovetails" in the middle of the page that loads, the Sony V-Lock Plate should be at the top of the list

I too have been using this for over a year with zero problems. I stole the idea from Ron's brain (very scary place) right as he was getting ready to do it. Initially I thought the clamp might put undue strain on the j-box clamp/ring, but the j-box ring was actually made to be the OEM PRO docking ring, so it's designed to take the movement and weight of docking the sled. Periodically I unclamp the Gorelock ring and check to make sure that the j-box ring is properly tight (good idea to do this on for the lower ring also).

I am looking for 3 k4's, I was thinking of contacting him but I thought he probably wouldn't be into breaking up his system this early in it's sale I ended up ordering a setup directly from Kenyon Labs because I needed one before I left (mid-Sept) for this film I'm on. Kenyon was really great about taking a lot of time to answer questions and customize a couple of inverters and gyros for me. They are into supporting steadicam ops and I'm really happy with the setup I've got. Great customer support. And also great support as always from Jack at PRO -- he got me the hardware (clamps and mounts) for the gyros, but call them with enough lead-time because PRO doesn't sell the gyros directly anymore they might not have all of the parts on hand (I lucked out and they did). Also worth mentioning that these new gyros are SUPER-QUIET -- any running motor, road traffic, or typical outdoor noise pretty much masks the gyro noise. Ron, call me with more questions, too much to type here... -Matt

Hi! I'm looking to purchase a gyro setup for my PRO II: KS-4 or KS-6 Gyros (2-3) various clamps and mounts cables inverter(s) I'm in Los Angeles, but shipping here is an option if you're in the USA. If I don't hear back soon, I'm just going to build a setup from scratch, but I figured I'd put this out there first to see if anyone is looking for a quick and easy swap -- you give me gyros, I write you a check. I don't check the forum all that often, so my email is the best way to reach me: mapcam (at) earthlink (dot) net Thanks, Matt

Nice write up Pedro.

Agreed Jens and Joseph are correct, problem is most likely that the the old Moviecam cameras will not run properly on anything much OVER 24 volts. Your steadicam with fresh A/B Hytron batts jumped to "24" volts is actually passing around 28-30 volts to the camera, maybe more. While this is great for a 435 or Arricam, is overloads the Moviecam and causes the motors to run erratically. Otto and Clairmont used to have voltage regulator boxes/cables that keep the voltage capped at 24v as even modern block batteries tend to put out well over 24 volts as this was a common problem.

Chicken Powered Steadicam proves poultry has a future in Hollywood (video) http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/09/chicken-powered-steadicam-proves-poultry-has-a-future-in-hollywo/

Email sent and PM sent.

Apologies if my original question was misunderstood. I realize that adjusting any one canister will have the same overall effect no matter which of the four positions it is located in. My question was more about the difference in adjusting a blue or a black canister. Here is George Paddock's Reply, reprinted here with his permission: Hi Matt. The answer to your question is simple. One turn on a Blue spring has less effect than one turn on a Black spring. The lead screw mechanisms are the same for both springs (i.e they have the same thread pitch), but the springs themselves are different. The light (Blue) spring has a "rate" of 48lbs/inch, while the heavy (Black) spring has a "rate" of 60lbs/inch. Thus, changing the length of a Blue spring by 1 inch results in a change of spring force of 48 pounds, while a 1 inch change in the length of a Black spring results in a change of 60 pounds. Keep in mind that while the "spring forces" affect the weight the arm will carry, the numbers referenced above are not a direct indicator of that weight. Let me know if I can shed any more light on the subject. George

EXACTLY!!!! As far as the arm function works the two springs are one since they are in series. For example purposes let's call the blue a 50lbs/in spring and the black a 100lbs/in spring. Two blues would equal 100lbs/in two blacks 200lbs/in and a black and blue would be 150lbs/in Adjust either spring in the stack and it will have the same total effect no matter if it's the softer or the stiffer of the two springs. All that changes is the adjustment delta depending on the spring combo's used Okay, thanks guys, this makes sense. But I don't understand how it answers my original question: If I insert a t-handle allen into a black spring canister in my arm, and I rotate it 360 degrees clockwise, does that action have the same effect, more effect, or less effect then if I rotate a t-handle in a blue canister 360 degrees clockwise in the same arm? Thanks, Matt

Eric and those of you with strong physics backgrounds, please help me understand this a bit better. Let me see if I've got this straight: For simplicity's sake, let's say that the blue and the black canisters can each be adjusted to within 5 pounds of their respective lift range. For simplicity's sake, let's also say that the blue and black canisters each require 100 full turns to adjust from their respective lower limit to their respective higher limit. Then as the blue canister is turned 20 times, it's tension will increase/decrease 1 pound. And as the black canister is turned 20 times, it's tension will increase/decrease 1 pound. Right? But what throws me off is this, the blue and the black canisters do NOT require the same 100 turns (again, a round number for simplicity's sake) to adjust within their respective ranges. In fact, the black canister only requires/allows just a bit more then HALF the number of turns. So if the black canister requires 50 turns to adjust within it's 5 pound range, and the blue canister requires 100 turns, then it wouldn't it take less turns to equal the same range adjustment from a black canister? Now I am basing my simplified number of turns math on the fact that the blue canisters allow me to move the spring and it's white marker within the full (approx.) 2" adjustment window. The black canisters do not. They only allow adjustments within of a portion of the adjustment window scale before they hit their end-stops. Now I suppose that the blue and black canisters could have different pitched threads on the screws that drive the adjustments. This could make one turn on one equal one turn on the other, while the actual compression range is not 1:1, blue to black. I'll forward this to George and see if I we can get an answer about the adjustment drive screws. Thanks in advance for any clarification anyone can offer me. -Matt

Funny Mike, I do the opposite, I put the blacks in the lower top half and the upper bottom half. This way I can easily adjust the black canisters while wearing the rig. I like this because it allows me to make adjustments faster because it takes many less turns on the black canisters then the blue canisters to accomplish the same spring tension change. I think I picked this up from Andrew or Chris, but this is one of the great things about the PRO arm--it's versatility. Hope you are sunny and warm in South Florida, it's been cold and rainy on this Michigan job. -Matt