Brad Hruboska

just wondering if there are minutes of the presentaion available for those who could not book a short notice travel. i would have loved to attended this. Brad.

Eric, yoou look like you are flying MY rig! Its amazing you even mount the canatrans in the same spot! I see you also have my sticker obsession, have run out of real estate on the monitor. There is a D-20 ( or three) in Toronto currently with Mikael Soloman, and the feedback has been quite positive so far. Have two close friends working on that show, and they are renting two cantarans units from me. Brad. B)

Now my only beef with using shipping companies is when you return from small countries like Turks and Caicos, they sometimes screw up some element of the paperwork so my gear languished in customs both US and canada for almost 10 days, I just got the gear released in time to (a) get it fixed as it was damaged on the shoot, thanks to Tim Merkel for the spares and Willy the machinist who fixed me up, and (B) fulfill a booking obligation for the next day. As much as hate humping cases, when I fly I break the cases down to managable weights. The other bummer i have faced is the refusal of more than 4 pieces at ALL on chartered flights ( producers always book whats cheapest, right?) so there was mad scambling to get the gear on the plane. Initially the attendent was totally unhelpful guess they figure they have your money now, regardless of what the sales agent told the office staff about extra bags, but finally i got someone at the counter to help me repack the stuff into large bags ( three pelicans became one "package" and that fulfilled the airline at that time.) I remember being refused boarding a plane in Venezuela because my ticket had had an errer and the sales agent in canada had re written over it and the attendants refused to accept it. I told the smarmy little bastard to fuck himself ( a rare occurance but I was dog tired)and walked over to the AA counter and booked a flight through them, also to find that their overweight extra baggage plan at the time was cheaper. My other question is why after 15 years does every production manager/producer think I am ripping him off on the rate? Why does every booking conversation have that horrible pause when the rate gets discussed. I almost want to say yeah its a hundred for the day, all in, i bring my own lunch, cover my own gas, and I'll detail your mercedes benz at wrap......sorry dont want to get off on a rant.. :blink:

Daniel, the last time i used one was on apanavision shoot called Half Baked, with a very youg Dave Chappelle. It was standard 4 pin 12 V , and yes the aaton 2 pin start stop hermaphrodite lemo. It also uses an 8 pin lemo start stop which is the standard you get from preston if you order it. Confusing cuz the preston MDR camera port is the same lemo same pin config, so reverse the cable if it doesn't work. Brad.

me two! :rolleyes:

Peter funny years ago at the Malibu classic, you almost forced me to buy a spare model 2 arm hinge with the words " you are going to need this" and a few years later i did indeed crack the damn thing stepping off of a bit too high a riser on a dock near lake ontario. Peter, thank god you made me buy that hinge for the princely sum of 50 bucks! Since then i've sheared a gimbal ( pro / xcs hybrid) that hurt alot as the rig went down, at the top of a set of stairs......and i was in a static position at the time, ....I've also sheared the main arm male socket pin, and titanium shears all at once. I saved the rig on that one and another op bailed me out with an arm in an hour so i could finish the job, but man those sockets are costly. I sheared my 3A top stage once too, just setting up, it just broke off in my hand and the grips machined it back for me on set so i could work. Proof its better to be lucky than smart. So....go over your rigs guys, any stretched screws, worn fittings, get them serviced, oh and look into carbon steel socket blocks not titanium for rear mounted vests, thats the current recommendation from PRO. Later ...... B)

let me know, I'll be there. Is this in any association with Walter Klassen?

Its funny because that video of truth in advertising was done for a commercial awards show around '99 or so, and I was on the site shooting for the Av presentation, in Toronto, and I recall there were great laughs form Some audience members and others looking very miffed at the portrayal of their trades. I thought i found it a tad uncomfortable as i tried to stay my own laughter for fear of pissing off the worng people..... :o

Yeah the dionics just don't like the current draw with the 435 running over 60 FPS. I have had to keep some NICAD cells just for this camera, pity, cuz the dionics are really wonderful in almost every other application. They will shut themselves down to avoid a problem, as they are a SMART battery technology. ;)

You know what I did to avoid this problem was to have a 5/8" thick aluminum spacer made up for the top of the post and had a slot milled into that to allow the cables to exit. i then just used longer bolts to attach my topstage ( this was on my really frankenized model 3) . I may still have that spacer around if anyone needs it. Brad.

Guys just so you know, I had so many calls for sub rentals on my Canatrans 2 , I was obliged to buy a couple more and have them avaialble for rental. Call me directly if you need one for your show. I have them placed with a small rental house here in toronto, but i get a better deal on my own rental contracts..... 140.00 can/ day, three day week. Loger rental terms are negotiable. Each unit comes with pwer cables for whatever camera you need, pana, genesis (yes its different), AB, new arri /movicam, old arri, BNC, and 4 pin xlr. Emery is right here in town and special cables are usually quick to get made and delivered. In terms of mounting guys I have it velcroed to the underside of my preston MDR most of the time and I have had good range and no interference at all. B) Brad Hruboska Toronto ( thats new york time zone for you western types) 416-822-8496 steadi@sympatico.ca

Yeah I've had some experieince with horses and steadicma and somethinga about the way it moves is unsettling to them, moves toomuch like a predator the trainers tell me. you can get tot acertain distance and then they just take off. I was working with Peter Gallagher the actor on a horse on a Anne Rice mini series and the horse reared and yanked the trainers arm almost out of the socket, the horse stepped back onto gallager cracked a rib or two. the director had been run over by a buggy the previous day. I did another picture and some horses were okay with it and some were not. typiucally the problem is also that the actors are novice riders, and can't handle a horse that does something unpredictable. If you are uncomfortable, back away, these are good natured but big animals and they will kick or bite if they feel weird about something. Oh and a raised tail on a mare means shes about to pee.....just shove that boom guy out of the way he'll thank you later. :blink:

Hi guys, just got a letter to all 669 members ( thats vancouver local) from Thomas Short International President of Iatse ordering all members not to service the production Home of the Brave. Just FYI. thanks for the heads up from this forum, when the letter came in my e mail tonight I knoew it had to be about the job from Spokane Washington. Geoff, I really hope you get a reasonable settlement from production. It's too bad that these things seem to happen, perhaps it will clarify the working conditions and financial responsabilities of professional film production. We had one of these come through toronto last year and it had dodgy validation and the union shut it down effectively too. Brad ( just wanna get paid something reasonable) Hruboska B)

Brett I use that light Ari oil. Usually you can beg some off of a rental house...Use the finest oil you can or the bearing swill ( an I have found this out the hard way) will feel sticky and slow. I also used to use graphite spray lube on my arm cables to reduce wear friction there. Oh and a little grease on your gear rack for your stage helps hugely as well. Basically fast spinnign things use light oil, scrrews and gears use a light white grease... Brad Hruboska

I got into a set few years ago when Rick Raphael sold me his K-6's with an invertor. I find that for long lense work, and windy conditions they do help take the curse off many slower precision heavy shots where you dont gnereate enough momemtum in the shot to ensure stability against the wind. they are a bugger on the stops though, if they cage they sway the rig, but better than having the rig ripped out of your hand by gusty winds that shred 4 x 4 nets and the grips trying to stabilize them. I was lucky in that the set was a great preice and I was able to procure bracketry at a reasonable cost and made adapters for Pro/3A posts, ultimate, and ultra sleds. I dig them, but they are heavy with a big 35mm camera. 435/lightweight is kinda the comfortable limit. B)

Ok so heres a few tidbits I have gleaned from doing the prep for "Primal Scream" a feature being shot primarily on the Panavision HDSR Genesis camera... The camera uses HDSR tape, which runs at double speed of normal HDCAM tape.... so a cassette lasts about 25minutes in normal 23.98 record speed. the camera is a twin battery system, the main sony components all run on 14.4 volts ( thats good for us) but the amperage draw is quite large, 7 amps run, with peaks above 10 or so on start ups....... We have been using twin Dionic 90's for thetests and the test run times are pretty good, at least enough for a full tape and rehearsal etc..... The twining for the PRO 2 uses two camera 3 pin outs and a special distribution block from GPI to parallel the two rear batteries together....ther ultra does not have enough current off of its single 26.6 v battery to drive the camera... a separate power scheme was neccessary for the other steadicam ( yes there are two on the show) so I built a small plate to go on the bottom of the Ultra sled and screwed it to a an old top stage i had in the goodie box ( save all that old stuff guys), two Anton bauer clips hold the extra dionics and it has a 4 pin out, batteries paralled as in the PRO idea. The camera has two three pin lemos with a total power availability of 8 amps off the camera body. This is good but the pana- techs are still nervous about putting a preston MDR on the camera and powering it through the camera... something about power draw issues, Howard P. could you maybe clear the air on this issue? Power connector is different form both Gold/Platinum and the Millenium XL...its a 8 pin lemo, quite beefy, and the main battery with the big Block ( think car battery size) is a cable with multiple connectors and 14.4 and 24 volt discrete power lines.... all the 12 volt accessories are powered off of the 14.4 volt source, all of the 24 v accessory ports are powered from the 24 volt source..... Mostly this is for zoom etc... I am not sure the engineering reasons for needing a twin power supply of this nature but im surea its about keeping compatability with the rest ot the panavision line...... All the Jerry Hill brackets still fit ... yay! There is a new start stop cable required......Howard P. and Jim Bartell take note... its a pulse start....like an 435... new pin config, and ground is critical, ( as we found out today). Camera needs an external monitoring downconvertor, we are using the evertz, small, light enough, trying to find the ideal mounting spot.....Camera provides SDI out already with no eaxtras as well as a Y value Y PbR for black and white monitoring, ( Ultra Bright worked fine in this mode but you need to route the signal to the monitor externally.....) The "mag" whic is a tape drive mounts on top or on the back for steadi/ remote cranes etc..... Lo mode bracket clearance is tight, not a lot of room behind the plate for clearance to the record deck which sits high......soome plates may need to be shaved a bit....Howard Smiths plates fit the best.....up top, and Greg Bubb's below.... I had the whole deal up today with gyros and black springs all around on my PRO arm, and up without the gyros with a black and blue combo....I figured it was easier to swap springs for the gyros than crank and crank the adjusters.....but in normal mode the medium spring configuration was more than adequate....... feels very 535 ish when using, similar weight distribution.... and no mag weight shift to really deal with...... Will keep the bretheren informed as this deal plays out..... B)

I usually remove the top stage and spin it around and spin the monito bracket around , always on the stand, so i always do it the same way. the donkey box is much easier to flip than the lower battery section......then it goes in my 3A case perfectly, a case built to withstand bombs......... :ph34r:

I just bought a 20 lb block of steel and drilled some 5/16 holes that i tapped to 3/816 threads and a few 14 inch countersunk holes and 3/8 countersunk holes to beef the weight of these little cameras up. Was a very cost effective solution. Most big municipalities have small market steel and aluminum resellers, usually they sell by weight and do the basic cut for you right at point of sale. maybe get a 1/12 thick pice and a 1 inch thick piece similar size on the lenght and width, and that would give you a range of weight to add. Worked for me. Brad.

I think we are talking about smallc mount swotars and such here. the lens could probably have 32 pitch gear adapters made for the focus, but the throw is really small. the othe issue here is the c -mounts are a thread in lens not bayonet or p lmount, so you couould in theory spin the lens out of its mount. In fact i think i did just that in the old seitz days on a SR2 that had a b mount push and turn style lens mount. The ACL has a mount that will take certain anginue zooms and those could easlily have a lens gear machined. I bet if you went to a rental company or two, or derrick whitehouse and rummaged around you would find a ring the right size or a little small for the lens and have it machined open to the exact diameter. I know i messed around with an ACL and even build a tap arrangement for it when my father was alive and had his machine shop running, but found the optics just not up to the job of producing a usable image. I might have an angeniuex zoom with a mount stiill from that camera if the gentleman needs it. Brado.

Alec, sorry I didn't read this sooner, I'll try and swing by walters shop friday if time permits. You picked a wicked snowstorm to come to toronto, granular and cold. Brad (sipping my hot coffee, feet on the cpu to stay warm..) give me a ding, be great to meet you and your wife. Post is still wrking fine... Brad Hruboska (416) 822-8496

I slipped in the studio once on a drop of glycerine the art department had used to give the dungeon/castle set the correct slimy effect, but the floor was ostensibly dry, I managed to find the one quarter sized drop in the whole floor with my heel just as I commited my weight to a full out pursuit of two actors russhing along a hallway. I skidded out, saved the rig, wound up kind of sideways and wrenched my arm saving the then rare, Sony F-900 from the concrete floor....shot made the season finale Wrap party reel, to my eternal shame and my wife's absolute delight...sensitive girl she is........ ahem... destroyed my best wristwatch too...... But I tell you , that hard shell Sauve/Klassen vest saved my tailbone! ;) Brad Hruboska