Mikko Wilson

4mat: My (school's [i hate having to say that.. i wish it was actually mine]) Flyer is dooing great.. I fly the Sony FX1 HDV on it and it's sweet.. i also fly XL1s and PD150s.. and even a Hitachi V21-W (large format DVCAM) on it and it just keeps working! I like the thinner post.. it tells my fingers that i have to be gental with it.. :-) - And I even managed to get a 3rd little thin cable down through it for a tally light (think Peter's tally system) without too much trouble. I really can't praise it enough! Charles: Spotted your first response on DVInfo.. Thanks! Say hi to the folks at Tiffen for me. - Mikko

Well I guess i'll say it.. Take a workshop! ok i know it's a lot of money (i'm 22 myself) but it's well worth it. If i were you i'd sign up for the Optex course (may still has space i think...). I'v heard it's really good. Myself I took the SOA one in the states last fall and it was incredible! - Well worth the couples of grand USD (so not even *that* bad in £) Any workshop will help teah you the right way to use any stabilzer, and will tell you if it's for you. - Even if you decide that it's not for you, the workshop will have been well worth it. By far the safest first investment! If you do go the handheld rig route, then i'd sugest a workshop before you do get a bigger rig at least. As for rigs.. Flyer all the way if you can at all afford it. ..If you want smaller handhelf then get JR.. in my oppinion they are the best handhelf unit ...and it'll even fly the 150. Good luck and welcome to Steadicam! - Mikko

So hang on.. Is there a HD Flyer then? I started loking after I caught wiff of a possible rumor (so not confirmed in any capacity) on the DV Info Net forum of a HD Flyer, and I found this thread... - Mikko

The arm carries the rig, so you don't have to! (right guys? B) ) About the workshops, check them out.. the Optex on is in England.. that's not too long of a hop, and it's a good workshop! (not to mention a little cheaper because it's shorter!) -I live (normally) in Finland, and i flew to the US to a workshop.. an I managed to scrounge up the money myself despite still beeing in college! I agree with Job.. from what i'v heard of Basson, they SUCK. As far as best low budget contender, i have to say that Glidecam is prolly your best bet. Unless youa re on a really tight time budget (this is your worst enemy if you are tryign to learn Steadicam.. it WILL take time) i'd sugest you read all you can about the topic.. there is SO much to be leanred on the web, then go to the optex workshop in (May is the next one with space?) and then go to IBC in amsterdam in September and fly all the rigs there for a good sampling of what is out there. - or just go to NAB in Las Vegas ;) Sorry if this sounds daunting.. i'm not trying to scare you (or anyone else reading this) off, just reminding you that this will take hard work and perseverance. and some monetary investment too. But it will pay off. - Mikko

Tomas, My bad.. and yeah, those little things are a dime (or make that 10p for us UK folk) a dozen. - I have a couple floating around in my little emergency adapter kit. :) Funny, both those links that you sent claim to convert both ways passivly... funny how sales people can be mistaken... you can *never* passivly (without external power) slip a composit signal to s-video. or component! heeh, oops on their part. But yeah, both those will do S-video to composite which is what Will need's. Good find. Haha, yes, Tandy for us.. and Radio Shack for the US :rolleyes: - Mikko

Hmm, never heard of that rig.. However there has been some discussion recently about flying the FX1 (little sister of the Z1) on the forum here: http://www.steadicamforum.com/forums/index...?showtopic=1445 However that (imitation) rig looks suspiciously cheap.. 2990? sounds rather risky for something claming to fly 8Kg. I wouldn't trust it with my camera! A Steadicam JR won't fly the FX1 or the Z1 apparently.. you run a serious risk of breaking the gimble. (read that topic I linked above) The general consensus for the right rig to fly the Sony HDV cameras is the Steadicam Flyer.. retailing for a little under 7000? in Europe... I fly a FX1 on the Flyer and I LOVE it! Works really really well. ..picture here: http://www.steadicam-ops.com/database/soaGallery.php (HD Steadicam for under ?11,000) As with anything, you *can* learn on your own. However it is always better to have some instruction, This holds especially true for Steadicam. If you ask just about anyone here, they will all highly recomend you take a workshop. go to: http://www.steadicam.com/workshops.htm for a list of upcoming workshops. Good luck! - Mikko

Tomas's link is slightly overkill I think.. you dont' need a 2-way adapter for this application. -Though those things are hela usefull :) If one feels like a trip down to radio shack and wants to solder away, then there's a simple schematic for a circuit one can build here: http://www.hut.fi/Misc/Electronics/circuit...deo2cvideo.html You can even just use that diagram as a guide for which pins to connect (without any circuit) to a BNC connector from an s-video connector if a B&W signal is enough for your monitor. - That's by far the simplest solution: Just grab a composite (RCA or BNC) video cable and an S-video cable and chop them and strip the the conductors (the composite cable will be one coax, the s-video will contain 2 coaxes.) Plug the s-video cable into your camera and the composite into a monitor (like the JR) then just twist the ground conductors together and then touch the core of one of the coaxes from the s-video cable to the composite core. If you get a picture youre done! -if you don't, try the other core from the s-video cable. one you have a picture, all you need is a spot of solder and some electrical tape. - or put a clean RCA/BNC connector on the s-video cable. Good luck and have fun! - Mikko

You also have the issue tha tyou need ot get a signal to both the Monitor and the modulus.. And the JR dones't have a D/A in it. S-video is higher quality (slightly) as it carries brightness and color separatly, however to combine them you need a little circuit to make the composite so that you can connect them to anything. ..or you wire the s-video's brightness channel (which is just a B/W video signal) to you monitor and operate with a B/W monitor while sending the color signal from you composite ouput the the Modulus in the ways outlined above.. I have yet to ever come across a camera that didn't always send out Composite and S-video when it's in any mode. Good luck! - Mikko

I have to see that I agree with Jason's point of view too. I can see where he is coming from. At the SOA workshop where we praticed with little MiniDV cameras of course, we just about always has IS on.. just becuase we didn't bother worrying about the camera settings. I turned it off at one stage while we where practicing. However lo and behold come time for the Grand Prix, I'm preaty sure we all ran it with IS on. I know I sure did.. as did Mr. Brown. Sure if you are an absoloutist then turn it off if you want. but if you cosider the end more important than the means the do what looks best. - Mikko

Haha, I'll counter that with my view... If your camera has Electronic Imiage Stabilization (EIS) kill it (permenantly) - it's just as bad as Digi-Zoom. However (generally) OIS doesn't degrade the image - though there *could* be issues if the camera has crappy glass. I personally have never had any problem with OIS (on Steadicam or not) and I almost always leave it on. There is no 'cheating' in this buisness, and if it helps keep the shot steady without any negative size effects, go for it! - There is of course a catch.. normally the OIS will cause the frame to 'lag' ever so slightly when you start or stop a pan/tilt (as the camera can't tell between an intentional and accidental move) ..so if your shot has a lot of starts and stops, or whip-pans then you are probably off better not using it. My answer in short: Test you camera to confirm that OIS doesn't hurt the picture then experiment with and without to see what is best for the shot. -Mikko

Yeay, way to go! Good for you, hope she (he? ..do rigs have a gender?) serves you well! Happy flying. - Mikko

The Sony FX1 (HDV) camera flies great on the Flyer! I did a 19hour shoot (like 98% Steadicam - even for lockdowns cuz it was faster to keep set up..) for a short film with it the other day and it worked like a charm (not to mention didn't kill me in the long hours). The footage that came out of it is really nice too, we were shooting in an old farmhouse with very little for lighting and it got real dark on us really quick, but the little Sony pulled it off! We arn't trying to imitate fillm with it, infact thoguh we recorded HDV, we captured as regular DV and are editing with that. - Might do a batch upgrade to the HD version sometime in the future. I have the partially editited video (no real audio work yet) online at http://mikko.n3.net/videos/AppleTiger_V04_small-demo.wmv Also check out the pic I posted of the set up on the SOA photo gallery the other day... (HD Steadicam for under ?11,000) - Mikko

About the workshops: Just Go. Thats about all I can say about it. I was at the SOA fall '04 workshop (in PA) and it was well worth it, so much learning in so little time. I'd do it again (or maybe the Mallibu one..) at the drop of a hat if I could afford it. - Mikko

..wow.. Either someone has years mixed up with days or I'm in trouble! I'v been practicing for months, and I have yet to be paid a dime for my efforts! :angry: Wait a minute.. "you can ASK" ...well you can ALWAYS ask! :P - Mikko

It is my understanding, after a short conversation with Frank Rush about the PAL/NTSC issue, that all the monitors do show both, however the monitor is adjusted to one or the other. Apparently the picture will sync fine, however there is a small (negligable) issue with the number of lines in the signal so it might be a little smaller, or be a little squashed - I can't remeber exactly. - Someone correct me on this if I am mistaken. Bottom line, I think the NTSC monitor will show PAL usably, however it might need a bit of trimming to make it look as good as possible. - Mikko EDIT: Come to think of it.. if you are lucky you might end up with the PAL image looking closer to 16:9 on an NTSC monitor.. :blink:

Yeah.. how'd you do that? ( i have a couple of 14" 4:3 monitors that i want to make 16:9) - Resistor on the verticle coil wires? - Mikko

Heh, beeing a Media student, i must say that www.steadicam.com could be a little better organized.. but it's not bad. Yes the Flyer can be dynamicly balanced because the battery (and monitor) is adjustable. (haha, back to the comparison, neight the Battery or the monitor are adjustable on the SK - except for the viewing angle of the monitor which has no effect on Dyn-Balance) I'll see if I can get some better picks of the Flyer up soon. - Side note: does anyone use the chat? I sit around in it often in another window but it's been preaty quiet there... - Mikko

Nicely said... that goes for just about everything in my oppinion! - Mikko

Yeah the price is just borederline for a lot of us.. - But to quote some advice that is said rather often: buy the best rig you can possibly afford, it's worth it in the long run. Dont' forgat that you will need to invest en extra weight for the camera if you get a SK/2 I have some high-res pictures, but non really handy, of the flyer. I have lots of (higher) res images on my website at: http://mikko.n3.net/photos Take a look around there in the Operaing section. I do have a bunch more pics going up there soon, so I can provide some high res ones with time. - Esp. if you mention what sort of pics you want. ...I think the picture on the Flyer flyer (brosure) is a rather good shot. - Granted the online PDF *could* be a little higher resolution.. - Mikko

Arn't those videos not books? ...NTSC no doubt.. no good to us European folks of course. Stupid formats.. :angry: - Mikko

Though I agree that it's the current avialability price that influences your descision, however do keep in mind the new purchase price of both units. about $6k for the flyer, and $8k for the SK2 Either way, I think that it's DEFINATLY worth it for the Flyer. In my oppinion the Flyer flies and handles just like a Master/Ultra series arm and rig ('cept it's way lighter :) ) The SK2 is considerably more limiting. The arm isn't as smooth and the boom range is only about ½ - you can't even rest the camera on your shoulder with that. Also the SK2 can't be dynamicly balanced. And much more importantly, doesn't have the standard adjustability at the vest-arm connection. - That alone in my oppinion is enough to get the flyer. Oh yeah, and the Flyer has native 16:9 as well as 4:3 support. As for the Sony FX1 - It's a very nice camera, picture quality is great, but ours at least has a couple of lite software bugs in it.. I agree with yoru decision to wait for the Z1 - the lack of XLRs is a shame (thoguh on steadicam you dont' want those pesky cables anyway.. As for handling it works great, the controls are in about the right place. The "manual" focus and zoom rings (that standard ring-controled servo that the little cams are cursed with) are Exceptional. - the zoom ring is indexed and the focus ring is as good the top level canon focus servo controlers I'v used on broadcast studio cameras. The FX1 weighs in at a little over 2.2Kg fully loaded which is just on the lighter end for the flyer (look at the pic.. the gimble is a little low for my liking...) but it really does work well, however it is FAR FAR too light for the SK2 - it would require a practice cage to work. Look at this pic: trying_a_SK2_SOA2004 The gray lump under the camera is a big Anton Bauer battery (2.3Kg - same as the FX1), and the gimble is at the very bottom of the post. - Definatly not for the lighter cameras! There's my combined review on 2 bits of kit.. I have my first shoot coming up on the 6th with the FX1 on the Flyer, I'll post back then about how it went. - Mikko

xddj: The Sony FX1 (HDV) camera flies great on the Flyer! My school has both and they work great! There's a pic of it on the SOA photo gallery and here: - Mikko

Not that I know much abotu the Modulus 3k, however, you have a termination problem by the sound of it! The monitor is terminating the signal but the modulus is not. with a T peice the signal is terminated by the monitor. however without it isn't and that's why it looks too bright. I don't know about how the modulus deals with temination but it sounds like it's not dooing it. If it's selectable, than it should be set to on (when you arn't using the monitor). if it's not but should be on, then it could be borken. - Someone who knows the modulus, aswer this part please.. A quick fix is to use that T-peice - even without the monitor - and put a terminator on it. - A terminator beeing a 75ohm resistor between signal and ground. The termination of video is 75ohms, so it may also go by just that name: "75ohm". - Mikko

Woah, a whole new look to the forum for Christmas I guess! its... BLUE! (almost a little too much so in my oppinion..) I like the prospect of live chat though.. (I had been thinking of sugesting actually..) only thing about it that worries me is that a lot of good information may go missed if it is passed in the chat instead of the forum.. At the moment it seems to log me out if I switch forums using the tabs.. (even if I have it set to 'rember me') - don't like that so much. Looks good though. new look for a new year! ..oh yeah. and Happy Holidays to everyone! :) - Mikko

Whooo.. that's deep! :) - What if you (I) are dyslexic? -Mikko