Charles Papert

That's how Kickstarter works, Janice. Gimme money and get a token in return. It's considered to be more of a donation towards "creativity" than a partnership. I put creativity in quotes because there's obviously not much creative about this rig--and if he is violating the Tiffen patents with the arm (isoelastic, huh?), he'll find out sooner or later. But hey, at least his center post is absurdly long, so he's got that going for him. There have been some amazing success stories on Kickstarter, but you don't hear about the massive majority who fail to meet their stated goal within the timeframe (you don't get any of the money if that happens--credit cards only get charged when the goal is met). I've been involved in some film projects that have gone through this.

Jeroen is a nice guy and a good cable maker, but he is busy with his primary occupation as a DIT. I had trouble getting cables made within stated deadlines (one of which was over a week). While I was enroute to an out-of-town job, I found out that Jeroen's cable wasn't going to make it in time. I called Terry at the beginning of my layover; by the time I boarded the plane an hour later, he was already heading to UPS to ship out the cable. I'm sure Jeroen would have done the same for me if he could, but he was stuck on set. Food for thought.

Bear in mind that there will be more and more shoots with F3's using outboard recorders as the S-log upgrade becomes more common. So a cable that controls the camera will not be a "one-size-fits-all".

The DUCC is not shipping yet.

Mission accomplished. Thanks Twojay.

don't really need a pic (I imagine it looks something--or exactly--like the pic I posted!!) give me a buzz 323-350-8822

Somehow I've misplaced a monitor spigot--anyone have a spare they want to get rid of? XCS, PRO or equivalent? Maybe we can swap for something. I still have a bunch of parts to get rid of...

Can you elaborate, Eric? I would think the booming ability with the Russian arm or equivalent would be a clear advantage over the limited positioning of Steadicam for that type of application. I feel like I see plenty of running footage from inches-off-ground level, or with booming in the shot. Plus the stabilized head is not prone to acceleration-based wobbles like Steadicam (we all know what happens if one is pointed perpendicularly to the direction of travel and the driver guns it or taps the brakes).

Over 10 years of experience: only drunks need apply. This explains why Baldwin is in such high demand. And Fletcher recently made it apparent to me why he has had a consistent stream of episodic work for the last few years--the gadget-hunting mentality has now been replaced by finding new and stealthier ways to get loaded on set. Something about scotch-filled chocolate balls. This coming from a guy who is gearing up to produce a series of whiskey education videos, so you can see where my head is at. While we are on the subject of monetary yardsticks, many years ago Dave Chameides and I developed a unit of currency when it came to Steadicam gear: a standard power or run cable, generally $175. "That upgrade is like 10 cables, ouch. But that bracket is only 4 cables. Not bad".

What flavor of transmission do you need, Caleb? SD, HD (and within that--zero latency or not)? FYI I have both a Dynawave (like a digital Modulus) and Camos monitor package for rental, along with outboard receivers as needed. Also a Boxx Meridian system.

Got one--but not parting with it! Are you having trouble ordering it from O'Connor? Nick, I imagine you are already sold on the utility of the handle if you are looking for one but I've personally never seen one in use on sets other than ones I was on, so in an effort to inspire others to give it a try: I endured a lot of teasing from AC's over the years (favorite title for it: "sissy bar") but to me it made absolute sense; we tend to rest our left hand on the side of the head where it is doing pretty much nothing while the right hand does all the work of operating. With a heavy lens (11 or 12 to 1, for instance), it's a lot of leverage and when one has to start or stop on a dime, there's plenty of inertia to manage. Using the front handle spreads the work between the hands and in my opinion, results in more accurate operating. Naturally we all like to believe that our operating couldn't possibly be improved but sometimes it pays off to have an open mind about these things. Incidentally, before getting the official handle I used to "steal" the handle off the other head and mount it on the left rosette with the handle facing forward, which has a similar result although it requires you to sit further forward. It's a good way to audition the concept before committing to the right-angle handle.

Don't know which thread you are referring to. The monitor shootout I organized two years ago was in bright sunlight, with all monitors mounted at typical operating height and rotatable in unison between horizontal and vertical. It should be blatantly obvious why manufacturers of Steadicam-specific display can't make them for the same price as a mass-produced computer monitor: Volume. R&D costs. Size of operation.

One thing we learned at the Monitor Shootout a couple years ago is that everyone has a different concept of what "daylight viewable" means. Beforehand, there were those who swore by certain monitors that, in comparison to others on the day, performed terribly. Chances are they had arrived at their decision based on whatever monitor that had before; when given something that performed better, they felt it was the be-all and end-all. The Marshall transflective was a decent performer at the shootout, particularly for the money, but it wasn't the best against some of the other offerings even back then. And it was mutually agreed that the green screens we had onboard as a comparison were far more viewable. We are lurching towards putting the Great Transmitter Debacle together and I plan to have a very limited version of the monitor shootout incorporated into that--at the very least, a Cinetronic and TB6 adjacent to each other.

The HA5 can't handle the signal out of the 5D properly (when it switches from HD to SD). I imagine it does better with the 7D and 1D, not sure about the Rebel but I imagine issues there too. Basically not really worth it as it can't accommodate the range of Canons, and you never know when you might need to use it with one of the troublesome ones. I use the Blackmagic as well as my Nanoflash for HD-SDI conversion. The Nano is obviously overkill and there's no point in using it for recording with DSLR's, but it is great that it cross converts between HD-SDI and HDMI in both directions, with both outputs active.

Just to clarify--the original Decimator is square, the 2 is rectangular. Original won't have a "1" on it (sort of obviously...!). And as Mark noted, the 2 has HDMI output, as well as other internal features like graticules. For those considering buying a 1, please note that the primary reason for the 2nd generation version was that the manufacturer of the 1st gen board went out of business, so if a used 1 seems like a good deal, consider that there are limited replacement boards available and eventually there won't be a repair path. The savings over a new 2nd gen are probably not worth it. Some who sent their gen 1's in for repair recently ended up with brand new 2's for this reason. Not to say that will continue to happen. Also for those trying to buy 2's at the moment--there is a supply issue and the shipments are crawling in slowly at present. I'm about to sell the last of mine and the other dealers in town have been out of them for a week or so. Stay tuned for the MD-DUCC about to come on the market--an up/down/cross converter that has some interesting possibilities, although probably not Steadicam-related. Unfortunately it does not convert HDMI to HD-SDI as I was hoping, as a replacement for the cantankerous Blackmagics for DSLR and now FS-100 applications. Sigh.

I use all Tokina full frame lenses: the current FX 16-28, which is a fantastic lens, and the older AT-X 28-80 and 80-200, which are OK, not quite as sharp as the Canons but they color match my ZE's well. Tokina is planning a full range of FX zooms so I imagine a refresh of those focal lengths will be forthcoming. I like them for HDSLR work because their mechanical manual focusing mode works great with remote lens controls, having hard stops.

I have used my Microforce mounted on the pan handle very successfully with my Tokina zooms on a few occasions. I sold my gimbal Microforce a while back but I'm sure that would have worked as well. The true manual focus mode on the Tokinas allow them to function more traditionally than the Canon drive-by-wires.

mmmph...thanks Henry, but that's more of a primer on how to blow your horizon during whip pans--and how to stretch a minute's worth of material into two minutes (hint: neither are desirable). Elevator worked out though.

I own a DP6 and like it very much especially for DSLR shooting--but it is pretty rough outside as are any standard LCD's. I did a comparison on the DP6 against a Marshall 5" (non transflective), you can see that here. While I had some reservations at the time about the DP6, I ended up buying and liking it and definitely prefer it to my Marshall 7".

I can handle the wooden spoons OK Ron, but I do get a little panicky around rotary beaters and turkey basters. You really emptied out the kitchen drawer on me that day.

Brian and Sydney were more than generous with their explanations. Ben, I'm going to get a little stern on you with this--you spent thousands of dollars on a Flyer and you didn't know whether it came with an HD or SD monitor? Or even how to tell which one it was from the back panel connections? Or apparently the difference between SD and SDI? I can't recommend you to any specific resources to learn more about this sort of thing but the internet is a wealth of knowledge and it's not really appropriate to prune this information out of working pros when these answers can readily be found elsewhere. For instance, I went to the Tiffen site and downloaded the Flyer manual which clearly shows the different top stages and monitor models. If you don't already have the manual, you should do the same. It would have answered your last question. Takes a lot for me to lose my patience with newbies but well, you got me with this one.

No Ben, the standard monitor on the Flyer accepts SD (aka standard def) video. The optional HD monitor accepts SDI, component and composite. Which one do you have? Does your sled have both a composite and separate HD-SDI BNC on the top stage or just the composite? If your rig is SD only, you just use the supplied AV cable with the 7D and you are good to go.

I've been using the Blackmagic since my early days with the Canons so I can't comment on the SD output from the camera. The Blackmagics are, sadly, not built to last and I've had one go down on me and I expect the other to go eventually. When I work with both of my cameras simultaneously I use the Nanoflash as the other HDMI converter--it's overkill but works solidly and reliably. Only works with the 7D and 1D though as it doesn't recognize composite SD which the 5D outputs while recording. So Sydney--what monitor are you viewing SD-SDI on (that doesn't also display HD)?

In what way are you thinking people are using Decimators with HDSLR's? Decimators don't do the HDMI to HD-SDI conversion, and while they will downconvert HD-SDI to composite video, the camera already does that.

Normally there's nothing wrong with that pose when it's performed by two consenting adults. This being Ron, most likely she was neither. And just as likely, not even a she.