Sam Morgan Moore

I made one, now available to rent from the UK. http://www.shootblue.tv/products/camera-body-rig-snorricam == Tips/Recommendations? I wore it with a 5d/14mm and after a few minutes it hurts (when far enough from the body to do a full waist shot, for a bigger camera you would want something that had counter mass out back. In use.. And if you want a laugh at my expense this is me demo-in it - it got the gig :)

Is a Cotton Ball a person or a wall of some nature? In the UK it is not an established phrase, maybe it is in the US. I think he is making a general (and valid) point. Take a jib, for example, total pain to set up, if we had a silent, controllable, safe drone we'd probably use that, not a jib, because the wall to setting it up would be lower. But without that drone, you need a jib and skilled ops to use it. Wider, DR, usable high ISO, lighter cameras, more efficient lights all this stuff is 'lowering the wall' to creating the directors vision and that is, IMO, good. Where his argument falls down, however, is that Mimic seems to need two (or more) skilled ops, as opposed to one Steadicam op, it shows footsteps, having no stabilising arm, cant hold a lock off like a camera on sticks or track and must be really hard to operate don juan. So apart from maybe being more intuitive than a toy car remote control what does Mimic bring to the party? Like all gimbals it 'beats' the steadicam for a few odd shots.. car window pass out, some really tight spaces but not really much more. His argument also collapses if he thinks the director can operate, because, well, even on sticks camera operation is a deep skill, add the co-ordination of timing your moves with your 'legs' operator and, well it needs an op on the controls. I buy his sentiment, but think his argument is technically deeply flawed. I was much more impressed by the vid of Larry using the Mimic on a fluid head. That is cool to 'oldies' who a no good at Xbox/remote control cars. If it is a rig, or a remote head or filming with an iPhone, Larry can do it better than him, if he doesnt realise that he is.. a cotton ball S

Chase is not a bad chap and was a great stills photographer in his time before being consumed in multi media and being a 'blog hero' I think his comment is being mis-construed. It is true every bit of kit and suchlike does get in the way of film making.. the directors vision. Was not Steadicam invented by partly because Mr Brown was pissed off with laying track? Id take a light that put out '10k' and ran off a couple of AA batts over one that needed a genny any time All the gear does get in the way. I don't think he is stupid enough to think that creative minds and skills - which might be a fantastic dolly grip or fabulous art department have no value. Of course the Movi may of course not actually do what it is supposed to but that is a different story. S

'be warned'.. that the normal comp cable wont work (we bought that one!) 'help' Id love a link yo the HDMI to Composite converter please.. S

To go with my other thread about using the BMC4k on a Pilot - well we canned that idea as it was too slow to unbuild the A camera for the odd steadi shot. So we blagged a Gh4 - I was excited that it had composite out for the Pilot monitor.. But AFAIK the comp out only works during clip replay and is therefore useless. so.. 1) be warned 2) Id love to be corrected.

Thank you so 2.5mm plug - Im sure Ive got a load of them (same size as pilot power is it not) S

Thank you for the reply The BlackMagic boxes don't offer (AFAIK) composite and HDMI which is why the decimator seems to be the thing. Two additional questions.. Do you know if it works at both 24/5p Do you know how to power it - I guess it is Dtap to custom connector Does it have an internal battery Thanks. S

Morning all :) So I'm doing a job on a BMC 4k - 90% will be sticks or whatever but Im thinking some moving shots on my Steadicam Pilot. Anyway simply the BMC4k has SDi out and my Pilot is Component/Composite (I dont really know the difference) I have the origninal pilot monitor and also a small (analogue) Transvideo monitor - which I far prefer due to brightness. Is this what I need to see. http://www.decimator.com/Products/Decimator2/decimator2.html Also I have an HDMI SmallHD DP6 which I use with sticks - again would that work? Thanks SMM

disclaimer - im not a top level op and rarely post outside the newb section. i do shoot doco and corporate though. I think when I started I thought that Steadicam would be my key to shoot everything smoothly. I then learned that holding long static telephoto shots and the need to pull focus did not really lend itself to an affordable Steadicam and newb skills. I have found Steadicam a secondary tool on doco/corp/pop vid shoots. Now let me tell you about a shoot next week. Big office, couple of interviews (sticks), Broll of 'stuff happening' (probably sticks or handheld) and opening sequence of interviewee walking into the location.. Steadicam. Now the office is far from parking, time schedule is tight bla bla.. Well I don't think I can carry my Pilot/Vest arm combo (a big peli) - (and the sticks and maybe a light and other garbage) with my single assistant. Bottom line is even though I own a Pilot I'll use my handheld 'Blackbird Stabilizer' for the walkie shot (a cam is F3, but Ill use my FS100 on this little rig) Ive chosen the 'worse' stabiliser due to time and size constraints on the shoot. I note steadicam have launched a new small stabiliser - the Solo - I think you should consider the practicality and speed advantage to going 'vestless' in fast moving/small shoot environments I don't know the mass limits but a Solo can probably do a C100 or FS700 and of course a DSLR, the AF of the C100 looks very good - almost game changing - not for serious cinematography but for large sensor, small crew work. The Pilot is useful to me but only on more considered shoots with more crew and bodies around.. S

.. a bit of right clicking and you can download it.

Shame there is no pause, FF, reverse, buttons (in my browser)

Ive been working on my gopro on my steadicam for most of the summer- bloody hell it is winter and still doesn't work properly! the advantage of a gopro is that the whole gyro rig is the mass of a light camera, in fact light enough for some pretty interesting builds. I did the opening shot of a little short I shot using this combo.. You may note the first shot is a 'lock off' inside a vehicle, I then pull out through the window, boom up over the roof and then boom down to shoe height.. Here is an early build, it is a bit neater now, but not much. certainly it 'works'.

Coming from the 'low end' I find the Movi thing, I dunno, odd. Its like people have forgotten Steadicams. I have a little gopro brushless gimbal and Steadicams too. To me the first question seems should be 'why cant we do this (shot) with a Steadicam? It seems a Steadicam is just better - simply because it stabilises the XYZ axes, unlike current Movis. There are times - pass through a window, whatever, where a Steadicam wont fit, but for the rest why even consider the thing which is just missing 3 axes of stabilisation? A horrible fad!

actually the protocol for searching a specific site was useful :) Indeed there is only on GB!

.. Seriously If you can get power off the rig I'd look to getting an A/C to carry the batt and any other gack..

She wont be smiling for long.

The OP did not mention filming 'other cars', just 'road'. Of course if the scene involves 'road with other cars' then backwards filming would not work. A fine example of the requirement for linguistic accuracy when speccing a shot, 'road' being extremely simple, 'road with other traffic' far less so. I had in mind a plate shot of 'road' being similar to the famous plate shot of 'forest' where the vehicles were added in post. (GB+Empire Strikes Back)

Steadicam operators are tedious individuals constantly holding up production with their dumb requests. For example a Steadicam operator may express a desire to spend the time to recce a rubble strewn bomb site, or poolside, before walking across it backwards.. how annoying. Of course a rig needs something to show humanity/humour from such a health and safety zealot.

hang out the back and reverse the shot in post?

Hello. I am not clear about the view you want.. Do you want the bike locked in the picture - or do you want the horizon locked with the bike wibbling about. In the first instance a very hard mount will work In the second instance - well that is a big challenge A stabilised (PTR Pan Tilt Roll) head 3 axis wont know when to turn A stabilised head (PRT) 3 axis wont stabilise XYZ (not PTR) A stabilised head may break when exerted to XYZ forces - aka shake Basically it has not been done ? Not to mention other issues like gopro battery life or rigging power through a PTR head to a gopro.. S

I think the advice you need is to not bother with the 70-200 on a small rig, stick with the 16-35 on the rig and put the 70-200 on sticks.. S

If readers want to see a 'stabilised head' on a steadicam here is my 2axis gopro head mounted on a 2m pole on my Pilot arm via a home made gimbal. notes this is a non shot :) the footage has some flicker which is a post issue there is one significant bump which is me bumping the rig on a Cstand - operator error, not a computer malfunction. https://vimeo.com/69972792 PWD gyro Its it useful? - I get an incredible boom range - it is not as useful as a Tango but is significantly cheaper -my horizon is good even though I am a newb op Whats bad? No monitor Shitty camera Overall I think that.. 1) Operators who know steadicam will be the best Movi ops 2) Engineers who know steadicam will make the best Movi style devices 3) The Movi is a different but related tool 4) many shots are simplest/best done with a Steadicam even with a newb operator

Maybe one needs a good operator(s) and it is not really the tool... and of course those with a SC background done all the groundwork 10X over! As a side note my home-build (electronic) gimbal seems to have some judder issues and also loses horizon when pointed sideways and accelerated (in a car) I think these things are going to be issue ridden!

I dont know the rig. On smaller rigs many people use the manfrotto 501/577 system - a 577 attached to the top of their rig a 501 to the bottom of the camera or rails rig Richer people using small cameras go with the ArcaSwiss system which is more expensive/elegant. With larger cameras - I cant really comment as I don't do large cameras although I think you should google the phrase arri dovetail.. S

BTS of above..