Ants Martin Vahur

I had my Volt attached to my Betz rig by Mr. Christian Betz himself. Works very well!

By reading the title I expected something completely different.

Did you try asking from Arri?

Cinetronic is a scam product. Gen2 was advertised as a 1500 nit monitor with having an actual outdated 1000 nit panel inside. That was probably the reason why most of them burned out.

Hi, Chris!

I have had the 8" version since October 2015.

I know, that majority of the Transvideo owners prefer the 6" version, but I'm very happy with my 8" monitor. It was bound to vibrations with the Churchill bracket (as on the picture), but lately I got the solid Transvideo mount and it works very well.

8" is also "only" 1500 nits, as opposed to the 2000 nit 6" monitor. It's sufficient for me, as it has also the "full bright" mode, which kicks all the settings to max, while still showing very decent image only with moderate blue cast (not good for lighting the scene or judging the colors).

All the best!

Ants Martin

From the image in the catalog of the rear panel, I see, that:

1 GND

2 Reserved

3 Reserved

4 10-36V

Counting counter clock wise from the top pin.

I hope this helps.

Ants Martin

Hi!

You'll find everything from this catalog, that you can download from here:
http://www.transvideo.eu/catalog-pricelist

All the best!

Ants Martin

Thanks, Janice and Alec!

So, you don't have to pay a cut to an agent from meal penalties nor vacation nor hazard pay? Do you pay from overtime?

AntsMartin

Since I've never had one- how does this agent thing work?

Does he invoice the production and then he pays to you, minus his cut, or he just makes deals and contracts and you invoice the production directly or how does it go?

That's a very good piece of information.

Thanks, Marianne!

Is it possible to somehow boost a 1500 nit monitor to a 2000 nit?

Is it electronically-technically possible, or is it necessary to change the whole panel?

Some re-sellers are selling the Transvideo 8'' monitor also as a 2000 nit monitor, even though Transvideo sells only 1500 nit 8'' monitors. Could it be possible, that they somehow cranked up the nits?

Best!

Ants Martin

Hi!

Am I fine other way around? I just got my new PRO arm and it works seemingly fine with the Master vest.

I also ordered the exo-vest. Should I be worried about the tiny play or you, guys, think it's fine?

All the best!
Ants Martin

Hi!

I used American stand with 4'' wheels for 7 years. I was really happy with it, the weight was perfect, I almost never used any sandbags on the stand, for balancing I just asked someone to hold their foot on the opposite leg of a stand. The downsides were, that the riser lock on the stand got old and didn't hold very well anymore. And the hard wheels work only for smooth concrete.

Few weeks ago I purchased a new American stand with 6'' pneumatic wheels. The wheels are great for outdoors. The quality is not very good though and I'm afraid that the breaks won't last more than year or two. Otherwise I'm really happy with it. It has very good wide base and weight. For narrow indoors I can remove the wheels and have smaller base.

I've seen some operators using C-stands, but I'm a bit afraid that they are not very safe, especially outdoors. I always feel that they're gonna fall over.

My humble opinion

Ants Martin

Hi!

Good to hear, that you found a solution.

I had very similar situation few weeks ago. My Master arm started making clunky noise and the only replacement arm nearby was lllA. I quickly ordered an adaptor post from Betz. It's a 3/4 (Master) to 5/8 (lllA) arm post adaptor. Managed to use the lllA arm with great comfort with my Master sled. That adaptor should also work with PRO arm.

I wouldn't recommend using different size posts for larger gimbal hole with any other method. Gaffer tape, or similar, won't do the job. You need something really solid, because there is a lot of torque. A special arm post adaptor would be your perfect solution.

Ants Martin

Hi!

I bought a used Steadicam Master Series kit in 2008. It included everything from the whole rig system plus hard mount, cables, cases and even a Magliner. I paid €35K

I'm very happy with that purchase then, I have upgraded it quite a bit meanwhile but am planning to change the whole kit now. (wow.. 7 years..)

But I think I was lucky with the purchase and it has served me better than well. But I had operated before that for many years so I knew very well what I needed and wanted.

I hope you find your rig!

AntsMartin

I'm interested in the same thing.

Is the difference in nits (2000 for 6'' and 1500 for 8'') a relevant difference?

Interesting thing is that 8'' monitor's casing is only less than one inch wider, than 6'' monitor's, but image is a whole 2'' bigger across. 6'' has a lot of empty casing space around image area.

AntsMartin

Interesting, that they offer 8'' 2000 nits monitor, when on the Transvideo homepage the 8'' monitor is 1500 nits (6'' is 2000nits).

Hi!

These are all sold by http://www.backstageweb.com/.

Check out their catalog on their website!

Thanks, everyone, for the input!

I appreciate it! Today I felt much more assured when I said "set" :)

I worked on a Bollywood film in NY. The 1AD didn't speak English exempt for two words. "Ready, ready!" and "take take take!". I'm still not sure he knew what it meant... Neither do I...

Example we bring the cases out of the truck when suddenly "Ready, ready!". I arrive to set, DP still hasn't placed any lights. Actors are rehearsing, I hear "take take take!". *facepalm*

I thought film language is universal :)

I've had the same thing on my mind for about the last year.

What especially bothers me is when 2AC still uses the transmitter even when we change to tripod

AntsMartin

I worked once on a movie, where director said "action, action!" when the camera crew hadn't taken the camera even out of the box yet. And few times he tried to talk to someone's mobile phone like it was a walkie talkie. The movie didn't turn out very well either so I guess it didn't matter, as long as everyone got paid and have a funny story to tell.

I think so too, that it makes more sense to call it when everyone is ready, not only the frame and the focus puller with his/her hand in that awkward position to pull from horison to a close up of an actor on a 100mm.

I've had also chance to work with genius directors, who call "action" before the slate is in, or then you have these guys, who say "action" just a fraction after the stix have clapped, and the slate is still in the picture regardless how fast the 2AC is.

On the movie I'm working now, it's actually the 1AC who calls "action". Which is quite rare, cause usually it's the director and even if it would be more convenient for a 1AC to call it, then most directors still wanna do it as if they are feeling that they are losing the power.

And since we are walking down this road already, I'm eager to know, what's the common practice in the States to call the slate? I usually say "mark" (or "mark it") and then I expect the 2AC to clap the slate. Some 2AC are a bit nervous and clap it immediately when they hear Alexa doing it's trademark beep. :) But are stix camera ops call or I've misunderstood it all these years? :)

I hope people don't mind me discussing on this topic, but I think I get much better results from this forum than from any "mommyboughtmeaRedImmaDP" forums or filmmakers books.

AntsMartin "set" Vahur

Hi, all!

As I find steadicam ops to be most intelligent on most questions regarding the shooting, I throw this question out here:

WHEN should a camera operator say "set"? Should we say it only when the frame has been set, or do we call the whole shot to be clear of every props, costume, mic in position etc.?

Here, in Europe, every discipline is different. Some crews demand, that I call "set", others just call "action!" after the stix. I prefer the version with the "set".

It makes more sense to me, that we call "set" when the whole crew is ready, because sometimes the 1AD or director or who ever is calling "action" doesn't see if everyone is ready and a boom might sweep across the screen just as actors have begun.

Or does it make any sense in any other way?

Ants Martin Vahur

Estonia (I think moderators should put back the location tag to members profile)

Hi!

The original reducer that comes with the Bartech system is not 15mm-19mm. It's 19mm-"something imperial" I think. I struggled with it too and never managed to make it work.

I bought myself a proper reducer and problem solved:

http://shop.strato.de/epages/61417979.sf/en_US/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61417979/Products/%22Reducer%2019-15%22

Well, you still need to make it really tight, cause 15mm is not as strong as 19mm. I have experience only with Alexa cameras.

The dogbone doesn't make the problem go away, because it is 19mm-19mm. What you could do with it though, is to use geometry for your advantage to put the motor in an angle that it doesn't swivel out of the gear too easily, cause M-one has a lot of torque. ;)

Best regards!
Ants Martin

Hi!

I'm very happy with my Master Series arm thus far. But I'm also annoyed by the bottoming out. Especially when one joint, usually the one closer to the vest, bottoms out and then "un-bottoms" there will be a jolt in the arm movement which delegates into the shot, when dealing with slow movement.

I'm not much of a craftsman, but a dampening system would be great.

Another thing with Master arm is that it's ISO is "negative" in the sense, that on Chris's dampening chart it would go to the left to the negative pound values when lifting or descending the load.

Ants Martin

I'm in the market for a new arm and I (briefly) tested out a PRO and an Artemis arm. However, there is one thing I'm not used to and I was hoping someone could shed some light upon.

 

When the arm (either arm) reaches the bottom of it's boom range, it just stops. The stop isn't feathered out by the spring reaching the end of it's range. There is no change in the force required to push it further.

 

That isn't something I'm used to, so it's very strange to me. I'm used to an arm that pushes back at the end (even when properly set up). I'm curious about everyone's opinions on this.

 

 

Is that just something that you get used to?

Does hitting the bottom every hurt/ruin your shot?

Do any other operators share my preference resistance at the end of the boom range?