Stephen Vanderspek

Hehe, and that's such a hard five to come by!

I wouldn't be worth a high 5 if it was common!

Hello All,

I've been a member for some time now but this is my first post.

At the end of October I leave for a 3 week shoot on a narrative project in Cusco, Peru. Much of the project includes and is from the POV of children. (LOW-MODE) The producers tell me that anything I don't have when I come, we wont be able to find/rent out there. We are shooting with the Panasonic AG-HPX 500, and I own a Master Elite rig.

 

Has anyone flown this camera low-mode before? What bracket system did you use?

 

many thanks,

 

Joe Fitz

 

p.s. I have learned so much from this forum...thank you everyone!

You are probably best off with something like http://www.brantsfagan.com/bsfProducts.asp I did just see this camera at my school today, and (the default) handle has abit of curvature to it so a normal clamp wouldn't do the trick, mind you if the handle has been replaced with that nice one that is built for Steadicam low-mode attaching by the rental house, you're set.

science experiment attached to a prosumer camera.

heh I'm definitely going to use that line some time.

http://www.laigleparis.fr/english-home.htm

 

the arm is armony nature for small camera

I love how they went out of their way to one up the boom range of the G-70s

Rental houses offering cheap rentals speculating on future sales...

 

Newbies operating in rental rigs...

 

Newbies undercutting rates thinking they'll somehow be able to afford a serious rig and competitive kit one day...

 

Brilliant business strategy! Surely this is the recipe for success we've all been looking for.

 

Priceless!

Too few people look long term :(

That would be the single most despicable thing a rental house could do to the steadicam profession!

I would boycott that place.

Undercutting leads to more undercutting etc etc etc.

As of now they seam very much visual copies made from pictures either made on trade shows or internet. They don''t have the mechanics nor physics down as of yet... that will probably change once somebody sits down with them and explains the workings... but at that point there price will go up steep as quality costs money and we are a VERY small market for that kind of investment...

 

Tried it... not there yet.

 

So no, if you are serious of making this your sole income... stay away.

 

Sincerely,

 

Erwin

 

I tried it at Cinema Production Service in March 2008 in Moscow . Looking like copy of G50 it have some principal mistakes and so can't be isoelastic .

Be carefull !

 

Sincerely ,

 

Andrey Yazydzhi

Yea its a pretty good knock off =p

But I had the same feeling when I tried it at NAB this year, the half of a Provid arm that my school has (its a long story) flew better then the Movcam arm did.

I cant hold this info for myself. There is a new arm design, no more springs. But rubber bands, yes, " rubber" bands. :lol:

 

How das it preforms? Well, what can i say, it floats, but thats about it :P

Chris tryd it to, so i am sure he chime in. I made a picture for you to see. Gotta love it

Rubber or metal... rubber or metal... rubber or metal...

I digress, my that sled is aerodynamic looking.

Moving on, I can just see someone getting stabbed by the vest.

I'm of the same philosophy as William.....I can't wear anything like jeans or cargo shorts....because of my physique, the hip pads on my vests dig into whatever is there and cause a lot of discomfort.....nothing but gym/workout type gear for me on my regular warm weather/indoor gigs.....but if you're outside during the winter, you may have to succumb to some heavier, more cumbersome gear. But things should be fine if you have fitted your vest properly and your clothing doesn't interfere.

 

Safe flying....

 

Chris

You might want to try North Face cargo shorts (the zip off ones) they're about as heavy as gym shorts, but with pockets like cargo shorts.

for example.

http://www.thenorthface.com/catalog/sc-gea...tible-pant.html

Ideally, I would like to utilize the g-70 arm with the sled... but since I'm considering a new package the Clipper 312 only gets sold with the g-50.

 

David,

 

are you saying that Tiffen won't sell you a package deal with the 70 instead of 50?

 

 

LE

I recall hearing something to the same effect, however your best bet to check that out would be to contact Frank Rush and get an answer on that question from him. I've mused that the 324 with a G70 and Ultra 2 vest would be a nice combination.

Louis, I am also in the market for a rig. I can pass along the link I've been reading up on that shows the new models available. I'm sure the veteran operators here will also give you some great advice soon.

 

Tiffen-Steadicam

With 15,000 Euros approx equalling 30,000 USD means you'll want to be looking into used gear (at least for the rig). As I'm sure your about to learn theres more to buy then just a rig. A follow focus being the most expensive and important of these. A video transmitter is also high on the list. Not to mention power and video cables out the wazoo. I'm sure I'm forgetting some other stuff that the vets will add.

I just checked and I was way off on the exchange, 15k Euro = 22,098.35 USD. So definitely used.

Louis, I am also in the market for a rig. I can pass along the link I've been reading up on that shows the new models available. I'm sure the veteran operators here will also give you some great advice soon.

 

Tiffen-Steadicam

With 15,000 Euros approx equalling 30,000 USD means you'll want to be looking into used gear (at least for the rig). As I'm sure your about to learn theres more to buy then just a rig. A follow focus being the most expensive and important of these. A video transmitter is also high on the list. Not to mention power and video cables out the wazoo. I'm sure I'm forgetting some other stuff that the vets will add.

Well, I moved the thread to "Sled" (toss up between here & "Batter/Power"). Maybe the pictures will load better now but there should be no problems from "General Discussion" either. Try emptying your cache and reloading page.

Yea I see pictures now.

For me when I click on them, it gives me the "you do not have permission to access this page" message. When I click on them and try and save them to my desktop, they will only save as html files (not as jpg or bpm)????????

Well it would be saving the html because when you say save link as, all it does is follow the link, which in this case is the failed permission page and saves that.

Am I the only one having trouble opening the links?

I haven't been able to open pictures on the general forum for awhile now.

My 2c on that would be just use the little prosumer batteries on the prosumer cameras, it'll be a lot easier and cheaper. I can't see anyone going to the extent of making different cables for all the prosumers.

 

Agree with Stephen; there's no point - all those small camera batteries weigh practically nothing. I have a V-mount plate that lets me power the Canons (http://www.creativevideo.co.uk/public/view...mber=idx_a-e2h1) but I still use this mainly to increase weight on the top of the sled.

Completely unrelated but how do you edit, I've always wondered.

Oh hey theres an edit button now! Hum must be a trigger on post count or something

Ok, an update to the testing of this monitor . . .

 

Yes I heard, Tiffen purchased a bunch of these as well . . . .

 

The monitor so far is really great "Inside" :-(

 

The anti reflective cover that was put on is soooo not anti-reflective, as a matter of fact it has some sort of purple hue to it if you look at it at just the right angle but you can still use it for a mirror. Its just looks like a piece of plexi cut to fit over the LCD and screwed into the body of the monitor. More of a protective cover than anything else

 

I tested it the other day with and without the cover, on a bright sunny day concert shoot and lets just say I put my Transvideo back on.

 

So to date there's still not a viable answer to the 7", HD/SDI/NTSC Daybright, affordable, marketable monitor. Well, . . . . .. yes there's the bullet proof Transvideo but, Sorry Noel, I'm still don't have $7k to 8k to spend on a 6.5 " monitor.

 

I will say, the TV Logic monitor, for all the bells and whistles it has, the picture quality and the price , it makes sense to have one in your kit, at least it does for my purposes.

 

Maybe someone else can figure out how to modify this monitor and get the backlight function to exceed the 400nit mark and get a real anti reflective coating put on along with an electronic level and then we'll be all good . . . .

 

More on this later

 

Sorry for the bad news on my hopefull journey to find the perfect monitor

The prototype that Tiffen had on the 324 had an electronic level. I suspect that after Tiffen is done with them they'll be putting proper AR film on it.

3) Number of batteries - one battery on the sled powers the monitor and all the 12V outputs on the sled, including the camera power on the top stage. If you have the correct cable to run from this into your camera (the steadicam should come with one to the usual XLR4 connector but think this will only fit into the Panasonic 500 of your list) then yes, just one battery powers everything. Then you just want as many batteries as you feel comfortable with so you never run out of charge. If you end up running the camera off its own battery as I said in 2) then you'll find with only the monitor being powered by the sled battery it will last for ages.

 

Is there an adapter cable for prosumer cameras available? Or is that a DIY job?

 

Cheers,

 

/Harald

My 2c on that would be just use the little prosumer batteries on the prosumer cameras, it'll be a lot easier and cheaper. I can't see anyone going to the extent of making different cables for all the prosumers.

Thanks Rob,

 

Keep us updated about this monitor, as i am in the market for one. Really want to know if the can turn up with a outdoor use model on a short notice.

 

Job

Tiffen is working on using this as a small HD monitor with waveform and vectorscope for the Clipper 324s (and I would assume the U2 if you wanted it). The 324 that we had at the Clipper workshop in Boulder this weekend had one of the prototypes (no anti-reflective coating).

Welcome! It's a great forum, You'll laugh, you'll cry...

Mostly cry :P