Charles Papert

Not to sidetrack too far from the issue at hand, and certainly not to detract from all of Peter's sound advice: I wish I could say otherwise, but I have on a few occasions found running in the "linear tracking position", even in the comfy rig-facing-left position, to actually be quite dangerous in that all of the rig is in front of the body, and if one is to stumble the slightest bit during a fast run, it will be harder to draw it back in than in a standard or Don Juan situation where the weight can be jerked back to alongisde the body. Even though there is no closer you can get the rig to your body in rest position than that flattened sideways position, it's a whole other animal when you are bent forward in a tipped and flailing pre-fall. This is based on experience, sadly; I have gone down twice in this fashion (once due to an aptly named "chuckhole" in the grass, another on a slippery wet manhole cover). After the second fall I vowed to always use a spotter with this sort of running shot and haven't dumped the rig since (about 7 years, knock on wood).

ckf: Before someone else gets around to it, I'll pass on the ground rule that real names are preferred around these parts--mostly because "ckf" is hard to pronounce without spitting unintentionally...! I flew the Flyer (hmm) at Cinegear last weekend and they had to sedate me to get me to take it off, I loved it so. Never felt that way about the "little" rigs before. The only issues I saw were in the vest, and I have been assured that they will be addressed by the production model. (If you are still in a reel-watching mood, you can peek at mine here. Alec, your reel is looking great! Nice work indeed!)

Yes, the Flyer is a bit more than that, but assuming your camera is within its weight range (4-15 lbs), it's the way to go. The arm performs as well as ones out there at any price, certainly far beyond the competition, and the LCD monitor is impressive in sunlight. Please insert the usual "I don't work for them" disclaimer here.

Peter, thanks for posting that. I had a feeling that sad anniversary was coming up, I couldn't remember the exact day. TC is gone but certainly not forgotten. Does anyone--ANYONE?--have a copy of that "Day in the Life" video? It needs to be up on the web, doesn't it. Once I remembered who shot it, no longer (I have a feeling it was the same gent who did the handheld vs Model 1 run-up-the-stairs demo in that National Geographic documentary; Garrett, can you identify?) It's times like these that I can almost smell that pipe tobacco...

I took a few shots for the interest of some non-Steadicam folk. At at least they were pictures of the gear. I gave up after Denis Moran insisted on hunting me down and handing me seemingly dozens of Stella Artois each afternoon.

Viewfinder still exhibits nasty strobing, although sharp and in color. Chris Haarhoff pointed out that the time-honored tradition of having the connectors on the New York side of the camera has been upheld, sadly for us (or at least the majority of us who operate with the rig on the left side of the body, thus inviting the side-protruding cables to float around our head). Eric and/or Dan, if you too consider this a design flaw, please make a case to have them moved to the back/somewhere less annoying.

Will, as I recall you are somewhere north of 6' 37"...how tall are you again??! That might have something to do with your "not missing" the newly-lowered high mode...?

I'd actually amend that number to three, considering a movie that is in production there as we speak.

I got you beat Doc, according to that online roster status I took my "A" class on New Years Day, 1900. I remember it well, rode my new penny-farthing over to Glendale that day.

Thanks to Anthony and Jamie for posting about this. I was in a similar situation as Anthony, having to fulfill the operator classes on a DP classification. A call to Tim Wade took care of what needed to be done.

Dave, sorry to hear about the theft. I was always very attached to your toolbox, let alone the contents. I for one will miss it. Seriously, the Nebtek was around $300 for the monitor, $550 if it had their breakout box on the back. I think it was my old one, right? So it didn't have the breakout. Then again--insurance claim--I just remembered that it was a top-of-the-line Transvideo, right? Yeah, that's it. Having things stolen on set is the worst. We can't possibly protect all of our goodies; what are you going to do, hire a private security guard to protect your cart at lunch?? Years ago I had an 8mm clamshell stolen off the camera carts on an interior location that was closed to the public. The UPM told me I was careless to leave it "lying around in plain view". I thought he was the biggest prick in town, until 2 months later, well after the show had wrapped and vaporized, I finally got a guy from the studio to explain to me that there was no way they would pay a claim on the unit, and if I didn't like it I could sue them for the $1000. Nice. Lovely business we are in. Dave, good luck with the process, hope it comes out in your favor for all the time and effort it will take. --Chas

I think that even though various of us have been called to fly DV cameras in recent times, in general most of these class of rigs are going to folks who generally call themselves cameramen or DP's or videographers, i.e. not so much Steadicam specialists., where they have just added that capacity to their skillset and equipment package, much like a small jib. The advantage of taking the course is that you will likely emerge having made the decisions you are pondering now. However, you will probably get more out of it if you have had the opportunity to spend some time in the rig. There's an amazing amount of information thrown at you, and it might "stick" easier if you can connect it to your experiences. For the range of cameras you are talking about, I would recommend waiting until the Tiffen Flyer becomes available (it was just rolled out at NAB). It has the best arm of any stabilizer in its class. Good luck!

Lite--air bladder--confirmed.

Fred, are you confirming this? How come this is the first time I have heard this nugget of wisdom (then again, I'm ignorant about many things--where are my housekeys again)? If this is the case, I must be down to a near-homeopathic level of signal after 7 years of live knob-twiddling...

Here's a specific thought about your potential purchase, "skunker"; the Flyer is a great lightweight rig, but by its very nature will require MORE skill to truly emulate a dolly shot than the larger rigs. This is because you have that much less mass and subsquently less inertia, and so it will be more prone to wind interference and acceleration effects and all of the goodies that conspire to make Steadicam shots look un-dolly-like. To specifically answer your question; yes, these days many shots that SHOULD be on the dolly are shunted over to Steadicam for reasons of "efficiency", sometimes bona fide, sometimes arbitrary, but the success of this conceit is entirely based on the individual operator being able to pull off the task. It's a bit of a catch-22; the more you have honed your skill in this thing, the more likely you are able to imitate a tripod or dolly--and the less you want to be doing just that! The hallmark of a great Steadicam operator is that many of your shots are undetectable from the dolly in the final analysis, under the highest level of scrutiny (specifically, other Steadicam operators!) However, if the expectations of accuracy are not so unyielding, it is a reasonable substitute for a dolly. You may want to ask yourself if standing perfectly still while a talking head drones on for ten minutes before ambling 4 feet to the left, thus justifying your existence, is something you want to inflict on yourself--certainly a lightweight setup as one would surely be using with a Flyer would eliminate some of the physical downside to all this. Just be aware that the learning curve to make a super-slow walking shot that appears dolly-like is a fairly long one, and requires many hours of practice. My advice would be to spend some time in a rig (if you haven't already done so) and get a feel for the task ahead of you, or better yet, take a workshop. That will give you enough information to decide if you are prepared to spend the time and energy in learning the skillset necessary to become the "dolly that bleeds".

Anthony: Met with these guys to discuss a lighter-weight packaging with some added features for our use (geared dimmer control to mate with iris motor, that sort of thing). It also has "just enough" photometrics, could stand to be a bit bigger/brighter if the case wasn't metal. I'll get back with them to see if they have made any advancements.

Great story Michael. Truly baffling. Perhaps you should have suggested that in return, you would like to come over to her house and watch her make phone calls, maybe help yourself to the contents of her fridge etc.

The immediate application seemed all too perfect, until I read "small combustion engine"...yikes! Really interesting stuff though, thanks for posting.

24v. Not all Panaflexes have same connector; the large 3-pin Lemo does the Lightweight, Golds, Platinum, Millenium while the small two pin is used by the Millenium XL and the Elaine. Don't know what rig you have, but the Gold, especially with anamorphics or Primos, will max out certain arms. Eat your Wheaties.

Michael, you're killing me! Check out the date on the first post in this thread...bummer we couldn't have made this happen for both of our benefits!

This case is still available, and still brand new in the box. It's just taking up room and I wanna get rid of it. Someone make an offer on the damn thing. Such a nice case. Come get it the *@# out of my garage!

Hey LA folks: I'm heading out of town for a while & my gear will be idle, wouldn't mind getting it working in the meantime. If you are going on a show and want to subrent some gear, let me know. Here's what's available: PRO 1 rig w/ PRO arm & vest Preston FI+Z with Microforce, Gimbal Microforce, F/X unit. Hot Gears with Arri/Pana motors O'Connor 2575 head Let me know at 323-665-9151. I'll be leaving in a week but I'll have arrangements to make the gear accessible as needed. Charles

Hello gang, I am trying to help out someone who is buying a DV-sized rig; they were all set to buy a C-stand and I naturally suggested they look for a rolling stand instead. Outside of the American stand, which runs around $400 with the wheels (they are in Canada so no luck with the LA pickup discount), does anyone know of a cheaper alternative that probably doesn't have to be so heavy-duty due to lesser sled weight? You Canadian chaps, are there any stands made up there that fit the bill? Let's not delve into Magliner and cart-type stands, remember we are looking for economic competitors to c-stands. Thanks, Chas

I would second TJ's remarks. I have had a similar experience, and Walter and his crew have been astonishingly helpful and willing to do anything to make things right.

Hardly highbrow, but a bit of fun. http://www.updater.co.uk/ Send the kids out of the room.