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Mark Karavite

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Everything posted by Mark Karavite

  1. As said before, our gear is so personal, that there are 100 correct answers to this question. The components from the top manufacturers are all very good, so it really comes down to personal preference. I think one thing we all can agree on is the perfect rig is one that's paid for! Mark
  2. Double net to stop the wind by 1 stop, single for a 1/2 stop! :rolleyes:
  3. Dear Andre, Eric is correct about the parts issue. I used to own a DB1 on my old rig. The worm gears for the X / Y controls are nylon. I had one strip out, and luckily I had a spare. When I contact GPI to order a new spare, George told me he could no longer get the nylon worm gears, and this was years ago. Bottom line is, if the worm gear strips, your DB1 becomes useless. Something to think about before you buy one. Mark
  4. After 20 years flying, I did my first prompter gig last month. I had successfully avoided it until now. I like the idea of a small monitor on an arm over the lens, but the Director was concerned about the eyeline, because we were going to be 4 - 5 feet away with a 20mm lens. I agreed that a mirror was the best way to insure a good eyeline. We ended up with the 9" LCD rig from PC Prompter in LA. The weight was no problem, as it was only a few pounds living on a light HD camera (Sony HDC-950) with a fiber feed that carried prompter video as well. Here's the problem. I told the vendor how I planned on powering the prompter LCD, via a spare PRO output feeding 12v from my Dionics. What the vendor didn't tell me, because he didn't know his own equipment, is that the backlight section of his LCD only operated between 11 & 13 volts DC. Of course, when I fed it 12v from my freshly charged batteries, it was receiving 14.8 volts DC. Within 1/2 hour of rehearsals, the prompter LCD crapped out. When it fried, it created a ground loop that fed back into my sled via the PRO power cable, and the loose ground found a home in my video DA mod, blowing the ground in my video DA. This effectively took my sled down, loosing the video path. Luckily, it was only a set up day, and I rented another sled to get through the next day's shooting. The moral of the story is to always ask what the operating voltage range is of ANY item that you power off your sled. I assumed that an LCD prompter monitor would have an operating range comparable to any other device designed to run off of Anton Bauer batteries. I was wrong. We ended up making a 4 pin to 4 pin power cable with a 12v regulator in line so we wouldn't blow up the spare prompter monitor or the rental sled, so the shoot went fine. I blame the manufacturer of the prompter monitor for not designing a field monitor with proper voltage range, then not notifying (or even knowing himself) us of that small operating range. It was the only time in 20 years that my sled did not make it through the day. So much for a perfect record, but we did save the shoot. Mark
  5. I bought a MK-V LCD early in 2007 in conjunction with switching from Hytron 120's to Dionics. With the LCD on board, and the lighter Dionics, I successfully lost a few pounds, and have greater battery capacity. Like Charles suggests, having the extra bottom weight being another Dionic (or whatever battery you please) is very helpful for both film and power hungry digital cameras. Only when I do a concert video where the camera is powered down the triax or fiber cable, do I loose the 3rd battery. I have a MK-V Nexus battery base. It's original design only allows the 3rd battery to mount directly under the post. This is a good position for a CRT monitor, but not ideal for an LCD. I had my machinist modify the base so I could mount the 3rd battery up front when I use the LCD, while I still maintain the below the post mounting position for a CRT. Attached is a photo of the base in the LCD mode. With this set up, my rig will spin balance perfectly with 1, 2 or 3 batteries, with either CRT or LCD mounted. Following Jerry Holway's method of spin balancing, I can put my monitor where I like it for viewing, and still achieve a very nice spin balance. Mark 3_Battery_LCD.jpg (51.79K)
  6. After reading the instructions on the link, I wonder if simply putting your batteries on the charger fulfills the requirement of "on a device"? I have 6 Dionics, and 6 charging stations, so that would require a simple change of the layout inside my battery case. My Proformers can travel as normal. I'm going to follow up after the holidays and see if my assumption is true. If the battery charger doesn't count as a device, then I'd probably opt for a small case to carry on my Dionics, and put them back in their proper home when I hit the ground. I was bummed when my cart became oversized (when it went from 100 lbs. mac to 70 lbs.). That's an inconvenience. Not being able to ship batteries as baggage is a huge pain. What's next? I'll post what I find out next week. Mark
  7. "Just when I'm sure we have it, one of the assistants discovers that the recorder is switched to colour bars which we have been recording for all our beach shots. Very frustrating for me and especially the camera assists." This should never happen. Of course, color bars need to be recorded at the head of each tape, but the camera should generate color bars, not the VTR. Color bars are a reference for post that represents the camera's colorimetry, not the VTR's. I was on a show where a less than experienced DIT came over to the A camera, and I saw her switching the VTR to bars. I sent her on her way, telling her the AC was more than capable of setting the CAMERA to bars and striping tapes. She wandered over to the B Camera, set the VTR to bars, and we shot a whole scene with B Camera in bars. Her ignorance and stupidity cost us a 4 hour reshoot later in the schedule. Just say no! Mark
  8. Somebody forgot to remind those silly operators in their BVD's: The Potato goes in the front!!
  9. Mike, On a PROII, the DA can fit right inside. There is room near the rear. Lawrence Karman has this mod on his rig. I'm not sure if Terry did his, but he knows the drill. I've found that a DA cleaned up my video signals to monitor, modulus & Archos. There is a better video picture everywhere. Personally, I think it's well worth the price. Mark
  10. Not to pick on Greg, but I have had a different experience with equipment loans. "While I agree with you on the loan vs lease interest, I have found that 90% of gear becomes obsolete after a few years." I would imagine that if you are buying a RED camera, primes, support, etc... you are expecting to get more than a few years out of it. If you have say $100,000 into an entire package, even if the camera updates, that should only cost you 10% - 15% of your initial investment to upgrade. The lenses, monitors, support, etc.. should last at least 10 years. "Also, leasing offers tax benefits loans do not. You can write off the entire loan payment each month on a lease. With a loan, you have to depreciate the gear over a 3 year period." In the US, you can write off up to around $100,000 of equipment investment in the first year, or depreciate it over 3, depending on what is better for your situation. Check with your accountant on the exact figure. I had a good year when I bought my rig, and I wrote the whole thing off. "Also with a bank loan, the bank place a lein on the entire companies assests. With a lease, the lein is only placed on the gear itself." My particular loan only liens the equipment, not my entire companies assets. This can be negotiated with the bank. Depending on your credit & borrowing history, they may require a personal guaranty. This is very common. I never worry about liens or guaranties, because I have a solid business plan, and tragedy would have to hit to default on the loan. Even so, I could always sell the gear to pay off the debt. I'd also check as to whether you own the gear at the end of the lease or not. Sometimes they do a $1 buyout at the end. The best years while owning gear are the years it's fully paid off, and still working. I'm more a fan of loans. The relationship you cultivate with your banker will do you well in future endeavors, and money is relatively cheap these days. My $.02 Mark
  11. I remember when the Olympics were in Atlanta, someone hired like 20 Steadicam Ops, requiring they worked as locals. When they all got down there, CP had donated 15 rigs, so they only offered to pay equipment rentals for 5 of the operators. I'm sure the labor rates were crap as well. I think most of the operators went back home, as they should. I'm not sure who was doing the hiring on that gig. Bottom line is, get a deal memo signed before you ever get on a plane. That way you can't get screwed while you're 1/2 way around the world. I'm sure there are some reputable jobs on the Olympics, and some crap ones. I'm not familiar with the sports world besides a couple gigs for NBA films. It's just what I heard through the grapevine. Mark
  12. Dear Ingo, If you look in the Classified For Sale forum, you will see any sleds for sale posted here. One in particular is Angelo Colavecchia's PROI rig. Angelo is selling a rig that would allow you to shoot either digital or film. It sounds like you are serious about this craft. If that determination persists, then shortly you will be called to work on more than just video projects. Buying a rig that doesn't limit the jobs you can take is sound business. Try to imagine what kind of jobs you could be doing in 3-5 years, and buy a sled now that will accomodate your future plans. Basically, at your stage in the game, I suggest you need a rig that allows your career to grow. You mentioned that you have $18 - 20K Euro to spend on a rig (or roughly $28K US). Have you considered financing part of your investment? You may be able to afford more rig than you think. For example, say you spend $45K US total. If you put $20K downpayment, and financed the other $25K over 5 years, your monthly payments would be $500. On a 3 year loan, the monthly payments would be $780. These payments work out to basically one day's rental per month. You would have a rig that you would be able to use for years, and take any job that comes your way. Plus you'd still have a pad of $8000 to cover any slow months you might encounter while ramping up. There is also a benefit in establishing business credit with a bank. Say you use your first rig for 4-5 years, and you are ready to jump up to a new rig, you will certainly want to finance the $80 - 100K investment for that setup. Having a history of success with a bank will make that move an easy deal for them to approve. You could litteraly sell your first rig (which you spent $45K on) for maybe $25K. On a $100K purchase, the sale of your first rig would suffice as a downpayment for your next rig. You could move into a new, state of the art rig for little or no money out of pocket. That new rig, with a $75K loan for 5 years, would cost you around $1500 per month, or less than 2 days rental. Don't feel limited by thinking that you have to have all the cash for a rig now. You sound serious about this business, so treat it like a serious business. If you have the confidence in yourself that you will work, then you can see the advantages of financing a more expensive rig. As Erwin correctly said, you won't get much for $20K, but think about spending $45K, and you can get into a used rig that can do any job, film or video. I know this from experience. I bought my 2nd rig for around $40K, and put another $15K into it. It worked for 7 years, then I sold it as a complete system for $30K. I put $25K down on my new rig, took a 5 year loan when interest rates were 6%, and pocketed $5K while assembling my shiny new, state of the art rig. It's smart to look at both the equipment side and the financial side of the business. Good luck, Mark
  13. Hey Dan, Talk to Fred Davis at Production Cable Services. He has some lightweight 75ohm cables that I used on a Genesis job in 2 piece mode. I ran Fred's cables for about 7" to get off the sled, then barrelled them into 13' cables into the VTR on the toaster. According to Panavision, they don't want more than 30' of cable between the Genesis and the toaster, so I assume that rule would apply to the F23. Keep in mind, I only used 2 cables for 4:4:4 mode, or 4:2:2 mode over 30fps. Otherwise, the bulk of the dialouge was shot in 4:2:2 at 24fps, so I only had to fly one cable off the rig. That was quite manageable. They're not as light as the spaghetti cables I have for monitoring only, but much better than what a DIT will give you. Good luck, Mark
  14. Just an update. Terry West did a sweet job adding a DA into my system. Since there was no room inside my MK-V lower D box, he built a nice, small black box that mounts under the D Box. He utilized the 2nd monitor output as a means to get video from, and back into the D Box. Now, monitor, modulus, Archos & 1 spare all get a dedicated video feed, with no termination issues. This mod has cleaned up my video signals significantly. I highly recommend anyone without a DA built into their sled (I think XCS and Hill are the only ones who smartly designe DA's into their sleds) have this mod added. Terry West knows the routine, his work is top notch, and he does it for a fair price. Terry West 310-374-5711 techrat@earthlink.net If this sounds like an ad for Terry, it's because it is! He deserves some good press as one of the few guys who understands our electronic needs. Plus he's just a good guy :rolleyes: Mark
  15. Hey Mike, Check with Howard at MK-V. On their site, they sell their version of the 8.4" Boland, so I'm sure they should have a PRO spigot for it. http://www.mk-v.com/monitors.htm I picked up a MK-V Hummingbird earlier this year for live work, and I ordered a XCS bracket for it. I'm still a greenscreen guy at heart, but I find myself using the LCD on more digital jobs as well as the live stuff. Chime in once you've had some time on the Boland. I haven't heard much feedback on that LCD. Good luck, Mark
  16. Hey Erwin, How old is your Klassen harness? I bought mine about 2 1/2 years ago. When Walter fitted me for the harness, he explained that he was just starting to carve out a bit of carbon fiber at the bottom of the harness, directly where it would tend to pinch the top of your leg. By countouring the harness in this way, he said leg numbing should be a thing of the past. I have never had any numbing or tingling in my legs since I have had the harness. If you have had your harness for that long, I'd venture to guess it was before Walter made the mod. Just a thought, Mark PS Hey Bryan. Could you post your design for a live focus rig on the appropriate forum. I ususally have a focus puller for live gigs, but not always. I'm investigating what you are describing, so if you don't mind sharing some info, it would be greatly appreciated.
  17. "The final thing I will say is that at the end of a long day with the backmount, I will at worst feel a bit beat up in the legs but never in the back, and I can't say that about the front mount style with any of the brands I have owned." I have to agree with Charles on this one. It may just be specific to certain operator's physique. Live concerts are probably the best jobs for determining fatigue and wear & tear. I always had a sore back after concert work in a front mount, and only feel the leg burn in my back mount. I'm sure it's different for other operators. I also made the trip to Toronto to be fitted by Walter at his shop. I think this was invaluable. I just added a $1000 weekend to the cost of the vest, took my bride to a couple shows, and wrote the whole thing off. One phenomenon I have experienced, which seems to be pronounced with my Klassen harness, is the persistant knot in my back positioned exactly where I rest when I throw the rig over my shoulder. My massage therapist seems to work more on this area than anywhere on my back. Maybe because of only having a small shoulder strap protecting that area, the Klassen makes you more open to soreness from simply being in a resting position. Has anyone else experienced this? I may experiment with rigging a small pad just for my resting position while holding the sled, as long as it doesn't look stupid. God forbid I have some gross appendage coming out of such a nice looking harness. As my wife would say about wearing high heels, style over comfort. Mark Karavite
  18. Hey Doc, Thanks for the input. I didn't want to go through the Archos menus everytime I turned the monitor on / off, but I didn't take the internal battery into account. Your method will save the sled batteries as well, and it's nice to leave on the Archos's internal battery for playback off the sled. Thanks, Mark
  19. For those of you who have modified your sleds by adding an internal DA, I have a question regarding Archos (recorder) power. Do you prefer to have the Archos power follow the monitor power switch, or have the Archos stay powered with the camera, therefore not turning off with the monitor? Thanks, Mark
  20. Dear Tim, I bought enough cables for my AV500 only. Check the link to make sure you have a compatible cable. Archos changes them on different models. Mark
  21. The pending deal for this monitor fell through, so it is back on the market. Mark Karavite
  22. Doc, That's the best laugh on this forum this year :D God bless Erwin and his endless quest for perfection. Mark Karavite
  23. This is why I always ask what lenses will be used on Steadicam ahead of time. If you don't ask, someone else will make a stupid decision for you. That was quite a lever they had you operating there. Try a whip pan with that monster :( 9 hours can be a very long day, if it's all Steadi with a pig like that. I did the hardest day this year 2 weeks ago. It was a festival concert with 6 acts with sets of :40, :40, :50, :50, 1:00, & 2:00. It was non stop operating during each act, with 15 minute breaks between, 85F & 95% humidity. Is someone going to say that's not a hard day because it's only 7 hours? Please! Mark Karavite
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