Brad Hruboska

Usually I pitch the idea of an assistant, saying that in the mosh pit I need a spotter anyway, why not hire a guy or gal, to take care of focus, help with battery changes..... The Preston is great in this respect in that with ENG style zooms, yoou can control the zoom with the microforce on the preston unit, or rather my creative assistant can. we have small hand signals to coordinate......or we try to work to the directors need. Remember to open your hand unit and flip the switch from P to V ( positional, to velocity ) or just remember P(reston motor) V(ideo) cameras Zoom motor..... the start stop canan or Fuginon cable will also give you zoom, neat huh? Brado. B)

Yeah peter I still have a home built one... PArt of a dock you sold to me in 1991, with a mod my Dad made for it, basically a Derose copy, unanodized.....email me. we'll work something out, maybe a spare tally reader, LOL. Brad Hruboska.

Thanks Erwin this is exactly the kind of thing I was thinkingabout. ANd I'd never knock George P. he started the whole competition thing which kicked everyones ass into think about how to improve our gear and our trade. Brado. B)

Ok I know that Paddock makes an interesting gyro mount but....it flys in the face i thnk from the designs i ve seen and having spoken with and reading articles from McConkey and others about not letting the axis intersect, eg mounting the gyros in such a way as to not intersect the pan and tilt directly to avoid lock ups on whip pans. The 2 Kenyons I have just bought are mounted on a plate together intersecting at about 85 degrees. Nice but I was hoping to mount one to a dovetail adapet to moun on the lo mode bracket, and one on a AB mount to mount in the forward battery slot on the PRO 2....Does anyone make any such bracketry, PAddock makes several elaborate brackets but I'm unsure as to whether he'll work with my k-6's or insist on selling his own.... Brad Hruboska. :unsure:

Probably my weirdest shot was a film called Electra directed by Julien Grant, where my main hero shot was a scene of Shannon Tweed wearing a blood soaked T shirt screaming "Come to Momma" and doing the flip over POV of the axe head as it spun towards our hero Joe Lara. we had a light foam axe head mounted on the matte box and everything....I knew at that moment I had arrived. Brad H. :ph34r:

Some years ago I was one of three Steadicam ops working on a television series, which at the time was a great break for me. I recall one night as wrap was being called my named being called over the walkie, the Ad wanted to see me. It seemed that my harness was making too much noise and they were sorry but Sound had landed a formal complaint to production about the squeeking of my harness leather, ( this was an exterieor scene btw) and the long and short of it was , fix the squeek, or we will not have you an the roster any more. I was floored. But dutifully, I otre the harness apart, and woke a friend up who owned a leather importing business, and over the weekend rebuilt the harness from the ground up with the heaviest lkeather available, and eliminating the quick release buckles. Production phoned me on Sunday to confiurm that I had fixed the vest and i told them I had, and they were pleased with the results. I also recall years ago when the preston first came available that the AC had told production that a preston unit was mandatory for the steadiam op. He called me personally and said no preston, no job. So I had to rent one to replace my seitz. The handwriting was clear and I ordered a preston immediately, in fact it was the first upgrade to my 3A that i ever did, before the TB-6, and the pro arm, and all that. I tell young guys today, get the focus unit first, then a good transmitter and then any rig that makes a picture. just my horrible 2 cents. Brad H. BTW I own a klassen/sauve vest and I love it, its quiet, easy on the old back, but the boom guy complains cuz its a little wider. But here in Toronto, about 2/3 of the union ops use it. You know everyone has something to complain about. You could give some people a million cash and they'd bitch about the colour. I remember being mocked by crew people about my trusty old model 2 as well, and maybe that sting of that criticism has meade me the gear monster that I am, Hence the PRO 2, Back mounted vest preston, three transmitters, digi clam, etc etc etc............ My old Model 2 made great shots. It was heavy and stable and the gimbal was slick, the topstage was tight, and it didn't shake any worse than the 3A did. :lol: