Alan Chapman

My Pilot arm is currently with Tiffen, I am awaiting news. I must say Tiffen have been very good about this so far, I had a chat with them on the phone and a few emails, their customer support is excellent.

Thanks guys. Robin I will phone you Friday 21st May and hopefully get this creak sorted.

My new pilot is making some very annoying creaking noises, I have only used it about 5 times but on the last job I noticed some pretty bad creaking. You can clearly hear it on these shots http://www.vimeo.com/4735843 Any idea how to fix this, is it as simple as oiling the arm or using grease? I will have a good check of the arm this week (I assume it's the arm spring).

Hi Charles Thanks for the advice, it all makes perfect sense. The drop time was 2 seconds on the video but I intend to change this to 3 seconds next time just to feel the difference. I think I understand what you are saying about the headroom, we were both tempted to add some tilt but we thought doing this while moving was a no, no. I am looking forward to getting some proper training next time a workshop is near my location. I do have the Operators Handbook which I am currently reading, it's a great book. We did all the early excercises in the book such as walking the line, what a great excercise. The video is really about us getting all the fun stuff out of our system before the real work starts. ;) I have wanted a Steadicam for years and to finally get one I guess I had to let off some steadicam steam. We were out today and all we did was start and stop, start and stop and a few balance excercises. Next week I have been hired to do a walkthrough of some new Eco-offices that have been built, it also includes a complete 360 walkaround the building, so I am getting a bit practice in this weekend, on the job training, it's all good fun.

Thanks Rob, James....I think practicing with my hip movements may be a good excercise for me, trying to balance my body with the rig. James that shot at 3:48 I was tilting the sled to get the pianists fingers in shot, I moved it down just to make it easier to lift as I assumed this would be the way, thanks for the pointer, it won't happen again :) Also I am hoping Calumet do another course in Manchester or somewhere up North, I will certainly be attending.

I booked the local church for 4 hours today as it's been raining ever since I got my pilot a few days ago and so I have been pretty much unable to use it :( Anyway 2 of us took turns with the rig and had some great practice, we had the rig very close to dynamic balance. One thing thats really got me puzzled is the balance issues on wearing the rig. Are you supposed to be able to let go of the rig and it should remain still next to you? We both were able to get the rig remain still next to us but if we moved it would fly away from us. I know when operating it you have one hand on the gimbal and the other below it (very light touch) but thats about it. Also another thing we both were puzzled over was framing and headroom. We found that even when we boomed down the cam was a bit high, is this normal? I think we may have been too far away from the talent when we were practicing our 360's as there was way too much headroom. It was our first proper go in an open space with the rig so overall we were delighted with the results. Anyway here is a short version of our days practice. http://www.vimeo.com/4419359

Had a bit play around in the house with my Pilot, it's the first rig I have used and it's a very strange feeling, fun but strange and very very hard, it's going to be a long road I can see. Having just spent £8k on all my gear including camera I am pretty much out of cash for training since I live a long way from London, so until the Calumet training comes to Northern England I just have these message boards and the excellent Steadicam Operators Handbook to help me. So I have a few questions. As I will be shooting quite a few walk and talk shots how do you use the focus? Auto or Manual (I can't afford the remote focus) I find walking a problem, I keep wanting the camera infront of my body, should it be in line with my left shoulder. I am currently reading the handbook on this matter but would like any other tips on this. On setting up the pilot arms I noticed that once loaded they were both pointing slightly downwards from horizontal. I adjusted the lift as instructed but when I tried adjusting the arm nearest to me I found even on maximum lift it was just say getting level. Is there anything else I can do? My cam is just a Sony Z5 with external mic.

I should be receiving my Pilot in about 10 days and my wife just pointed out that it could cause my back problems. I have a slightly weakend back, around the right side of the pelvis where it was dislocated when I was a child.....32 years ago. If I am on my feet for about 6-8 hours my lower back aches quite badly, I won't be using the pilot anywhere near this long. What I am asking is how much extra strain would a pilot + Sony HVRZ5 put on my back, where do you feel it the most, is it your upper back, lower back, shoulders? I have never used one yet and would like a bit of an idea of where it is going to be felt, or is my kit so light that I won't even notice it? Any help appreciated.

Thank you for all the help, it's been really useful.

Thanks for the quick replys guys London is quite a long way from where I live, I am almost in Scotland :) Hopefully there will be some workshops further north in the future, I will check out that video though. As for the quick release for the sticks, I have ordered the Vinten Pro6 tripod, any idea if they do a similar quick release or will the Manfrotto work with the Vinten? With regard to the cable that comes with the Sony Z5, I really don't know until the camera arrives later this week. I can however ask the supplier to ship a better cable that would suit the sled if you would let me know exactly what I need....forgive my ignorance on this subject but I feel like I am taking a step in the dark with this new equipment :) Which is why I am here.

Hi all I am new to this forum and the world of Steadicam, although I have read numerous Pilot reviews and watched endless youtube videos. Anyway let me introduce myself. I run my own small video production business in the UK, I do stuff like corporate video, charity promotion video and more recently Documentaries. I got lucky and met a guy who has been in TV for 22 years, he gave me some valuable lessons on Documentary filming and also hired me to film a few shorts for him. I am really small time, I have been using an XM2 and various other low budget gear but I am now about to splash out on a whole new set up. I take delivery of a Sony Z5 on Friday and then the following week I hope to get my Steadicam Pilot. Now for me this is a major investment but after reading some of the posts here I can see my new gear is still very small time :) So I have a few questions that I would like some expert feedback. 1. I realise that practice makes perfect and that using a pilot takes a lot of practice, I won't insult you by asking how much as thats pretty much down to the user. I would like to know 'generally' how long an experienced user could switch from a Steadycam pilot to tripod and then back to the Steadycam pilot again. this is something that during an average shoot I may have to do. 2. Has anyone any experience using a Sony Z1 or Z5 and how easy is this camera to balance? 3. I am trying to find a training course to attend for the pilot but so far I have not found any in the UK (I just missed one) So are there any good DvD's that would help me in both operation and also about dynamic balance? 4. The Pilot I am buying is the V-mount with 2 ES-7 batteries and 5.8 LCD. Would I need any other cables to use this with the Sony z5? I plan to use the Z5 battery for the camera. Any other advice would be much appreciated, I went for the pilot because I hear Steadicam are the best, I hope it's worth the extra £ I am paying.