Michael Wilson

I believe this is how it goes. Stand with your rig just like normal. Start flat on your feet. Move to your tip toes rapidly. If the arm moves up and takes the rig with it then you have too much friction in your arm. I heard about this long ago. Not sure if what I'm saying is correct though.

You should circle around your docking post and shoot the docking bracket. I had a g50 arm once and the docking bracket would bounce up and down in the frame a lot. You can also just stand there with the camera pointed at the docking bracket and push the sled away from you and back to see how much frame moves up and down. That's to rule out the arm. Their is also the tip toe test.

In August of 2014 my Bartech and motor was stolen out of my car. Coming home from an overnight thought I pulled everything out but it was in the floorboard half covered by a jacket if I remember correctly. No signs of break in. 1.5 days later I'm prepping for a shoot and I can't find my bartech anywhere. I was chatting with my mom at the time and she heard every word I knew after I realized what had happened. I had to leave town for a couple weeks on a shoot. When I got back I stopped by my local pawn shop in Echo Park. I showed them a picture of the bartech and they said a couple of shady guys tried to sell it but he thought it looked hot. Surveillance video is erased every 5 days so no pics of the bad guys.

I filed a police report. Contacted Jim Bartell to let him know it was stolen. Checked ebay, craigslist, reduser etc almost every day. Then last week I got an email from Jim and Thomas Crescenzo. Thomas found a bartech on Ebay being sold through a pawn shop in echo park and asked for the serial number. He asked Jim about the history and then they both contacted me. I called the cops. They went and picked it up and it was all there. Its now in processing and should have it back in a week or so. It was the first time I have ever left any gear in my car.

I didn't put out any alerts because I knew it would eventually have to show up online and I didn't want to scare anyone off from putting it up. Just told Jim about it. The pawn shop is supposed to give a list of the serial numbers and items it buys to the police. They did not do this for this item. Also they listed it deceptively by splitting up the package and removing identifying markers on the bartech.

This thing was on ebay for a few hours before someone from this community helped me track down my gear. If you see Thomas out and about buy him a beer or a lapdance. I will reimburse you for it. Also friends and other ops have been very generous with loaning me gear during this time. And to think these are my competitors. Its been a pretty eye opening experience for me. Of all the jerks who make money by stealing people's tools there are multitudes of honest and awesome people out there.

Thanks everyone for the help and support.

Anyone own a drill press in LA that has a few minutes to tap a hole? Or recommendations?

Got it figured out.

5736940986 thanks

Hey all,

The other day I prepped a panaflex lightweight at panavision. I couldn't get the rig to power the camera and accessories. After having a hand from several folks and troubleshooting all kinds of things for many hours we decided to test the dionic hcs on the bottom of the sled. One was bad yet displaying a full charge. It was a forehead slapping moment for everyone. Big thanks to Dominic and everyone at Panavision. Hope someone can learn from my experience down the road.

Jorge,

Do you know Julio? Anyway we can get him to talk about the shot?

Looking for a sled case to take on an airplane. Preferably something with wheels.

loosecreek@gmail.com

Totally agree, Charles.

@Chris - Didn't work on this. Here is the making of with only a couple glimpses of them shooting. https://vimeo.com/62726795

I recently had my DB2 repaired. It wasn't holding the plate securely and would slip forward during drop tests leaving it tilted forward when it came back up.

Try putting a strip of gaff on the plate where the clamp pushes against the plate. That solved the issue for me until I got a repair.

Try putting only the plate on the top stage, clamping it down and seeing if you can push it forward. Not sure if that is your issue but its worth a try.

Check it.

Nice mods. Looks very slick.

What yoke is that? What is the large black square between the side of the monitor and mount on the yoke? Some sort of spacer?

The shot worked out really well. I got some small strips of metal that weighed probably 1 or 2 ounces each. Put some velcro on them and velcro on top of the mattebox. Found the best places in the shot to put one on and it worked beautifully. The grip would gingerly place on one about every minute or so. Couldn't feel or see it at all. We had to climb a very steep hill and at that point I had the grip put 3 plates so the sled was tilted down for the climb up the hill.

My monitor is being repaired. Wondering if anyone out there has one available in LA for this weekend.

loosecreek@gmail.com

Nils thanks for the info. I got to take a look at the camera today. I became concerned when I saw how far the film travels in the back of the camera.

I was thinking about a solution for this. Adding very small weights via velcro or clips gingerly to the mattebox or under the lens on the rails in increments as we progress through the shot to combat the film weight distribution.

It looks like just under 2lbs of film will travel 6 inches in the back of the camera. So I'll have two pounds of weight added equidistant from the first core towards the front of camera. Or adding less weight as far front as possible as to not effect drop time too much.

I was thinking fishing sinkers could be clipped on to some sort of line secured to the rails. Or small weights velcroed to some structure in front.

I know it sounds convoluted but has anyone ever done this or can lend any ideas?

I'm shooting a short on steadicam with the penelope that leads two characters up a steep hiking path. I want to get the camera and rig as light as possible. This is my first time shooting 35mm.

Cam power will come from sled - 1 dionic 90 through xlr 4 pin 12 volts cable

Preston will be powered off my sled zoom and focus

Lightweight zoom hasn't been chosen. Starting around 35mm and zooming to just over 50mm. The dp wants to shoot at f11 so we can get away with an inferior lens at that stop. Something light. Any suggestions?

I noticed there is a bridge plate that has the rod inserts. Will my pro plate fit on the camera sans bridge plate and dovetail?

Any vibration issues having only one spot to attach plate? (ie alexa vibration issues)

I'm going to have to compromise on balancing the rig to make up for film movement and zoom weight transfer. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Anything I'm missing here?

Thanks everybody.

In a pinch and looking for any remote follow focus system near barrego springs area tonight.

Please call

5736940986

My plates are slipping inside my very well used DB2. I went to do a drop time test and when the camera came back up it was tilted down. So the plate slipped forward. I put some gaff on the smart side of the plate where it locks down against the clamp, which seems to be the only point of contact with plate on that side. That helped but last night even that had just a tiny bit of slippage during a prolonged take of tilting straight down.

The clamp with the 5/32 screw seems to be bound up. Whereas I used to be able to push it back and forth when loose now it doesn't move. At this point it is still very functional. And its a bit annoying having to deal with the worst case scenario, in my mind, as I try do what it do.

Hope this makes sense.

I've got a shoot coming up with a red dragon. Aside from the name does anyone have any known issues with this camera? I'm mostly thinking signal wise. I've shot Epic many times.

Glad this happened in LA. I'm flying to a remote location next week for three days. Would have been a disaster.

The original kip handle was always a little wonky. The new handle requires only a modest amount of tightening and it holds beautifully now. Fingers crossed.

Got it fixed.

I stripped the kip handle I believe. Also damaged the helicoil inside. The kip handle wouldn't even unscrew. Had to drill it out and put new helicoil in.

DP was very cool and I ran to the hardware store. I got a nut that fit on a thread or two coming out of the clamp. Then i put hose clamp above and below the gimbal so it wouldn't slip. It wasn't pretty but it did the job for the day.

I've always been a little uneasy about the kip handle lockdown system. Checking in on locking clamps like tiffen and pro make.

Stripped my kip handle that locks down my gimbal today. I have a temp fix with some hose clamp and a nut on the other side of the kip that helps lock it down.

I have a Mkv gimbal 1.5". Anyone know how I can get a fix for tmrw. Pro fastener? Tiffen?

Any individuals have anything lying around the house? I'm in Los Angeles.

Thanks

Loosecreek@gmail.com

I have the MKV with DB2 setup. Works well. I have my jbox tied into the preston mount in front of the stage. This brings the jbox closer to the post. Which makes it nearly impossible for a couple of my larger lemo connectors to go in the jbox post side. Have an adapter made to get it out a little further or get some 90 degree cables if you need.