brooksrobinson

I'm selling an Odyssey 7Q+ handheld monitor/recorder with one 256gb media card, Nebtek handheld bracket, and Anton Bauer battery mount. This was purchased for around $3000 for one project as a handheld monitor, and was used only two weeks on set before I stopped doing steadicam. It has not been used since. The screen is in top shape, as is the rest of the monitor, and I'm asking $800. Please contact me through the forum with any questions or comments, or reach out via email at brooksontheroad (at) pacbell.net.

I have a used Pro vest for sale. I used it for about 8 years on such projects as Tropic Thunder, Iron Man 3, and Fantastic 4, so it has seen use. I replaced the pads at some point, and they are in good shape, but the straps and some of the fabric that covers the flexible skeleton will need to be replaced (see photos). The hardware including the socket block, and chest plate are in good condition and are as solid as ever. I'm looking to sell the vest for $1500 - sourcing straps and fabric might take a bit of time, but are inexpensive, and getting this vest back to its glory days should not be a costly endeavor. Please contact me with any questions or comments through the forum, or via my email at: brooksontheroad (at) pacbell.net.

Sold! Thank you for looking.

I second taking a class with Greg. Hes a world class operator, and you wont find someone more knowledgeable about the craft.

Price reduced to $8000. Please contact me through the forum or email me directly at brooksontheroad (at) pacbell.net.

I'm selling a 2nd generation Bolt 2000 HD transmitter system. It has 1 transmitter, 2 receivers, 1 Sidekick receiver, 1 flat panel antenna, and 1 SmallHD 702 monitor with handheld brackets and an Anton Bauer mount. Everything is housed in a custom Innerspace foamed Pelican Case, and it includes A/B brackets for the 2 receivers, antennas, and cables for everything. It is a turnkey system - open the case and you are ready to go. Please take a look at the photos and contact me with any questions or comments. I'm asking $8500 for everything. Please contact me with any questions or to see more photos. Thanks in advance. Brooks Robinson brooksontheroad (at) pacbell.net

Good luck with that...do a forum search for Cinetronic and read page after page of angry customer reviews about non-existent customer service, and a product that fails. Stay away, and buyer beware. Brooks Robinson

Bud - Backstage has boxes for shipping. I believe the one time I needed to ship mine independent of the camera package they charged me for it, but I would call them first. They probably have ideas about shipping as well, as they do it every day. Good luck and have a great shoot. Brooks

Look up Greg Smith through the forum - he's an A-list operator and gives one on one lessons. Highly recommend.

Thanks Mike!!

Thank you John!!! I really appreciate your feedback. Brooks

Thanks Rich! Seeing this through from writing and tweaking the treatment to sitting in with the colorist as he put the final touches on the edited piece was a real education. I'm not sure if I'll get another opportunity to do something like this, but doing this project was great, despite hardships and setbacks along the way. The best part of it was realizing how many cool people I knew - from a director I last worked with 15 years ago helping me with insurance, to 25 people showing up to help me at 6:30am on a Sunday, with most of them starting a new 5 month job the following day, to a free smoke machine and iron lung, and deals on everything from tables and chairs to cube trucks - people were cool and went out of their way to help me see this through. I've always tried to help people that asked for it, never expecting it to one day come full circle, and for me to be the recipient. I guess the point I'm making is - if you really want to do something - go out and do it. There are people to support you along the way. Make it happen. This could just as easily be about steadicam, or anything else. Follow your dreams and hit it hard - good things will happen! Brooks PS Thanks for checking out the video!!!

Hey gang - I've been done with steadicam officially for over 6 months now and I'm very happy with my decision to walk away when I did. My back is in a much happier place, and I've been very fortunate to have kept extremely busy since making the transition to doing conventional operating full-time. The best part of my new role is finally getting the opportunity to work alongside steadicam operators that I've known forever, but never worked with (George Billinger, Victor Macias, Simon Jayes, Chris Cuevas). I've learned a lot from them, and only wish I'd had the chance to do it sooner while I was still carrying the rig, so I could swipe some of their tricks! I had the opportunity to direct an extremely low budget music video for Sean Danielsen of the band Smile Empty Soul in the small gap between projects. I really admire fellow steadicammer BJ McDonnell for his directing efforts on the three Slayer videos (soon to be a 4th), and I wanted to do something interesting while dipping my toes in the water of directing. The pre-production phase was an absolute nightmare because there wasn't money in the budget to hire a producer. Booking locations, lining up a crew/insurance/craft service/smoke machine/retractable syringe and all the other little things one never thinks of (how many butt cans will I need?) really took a toll, but the day on set was an absolute joy. We somehow managed to get footage on the cards of my Red Dragon, and the finished piece turned out great. I was planning on doing the operating myself until my DP started talking about steadicam. I was assuming the entire show would be handheld with the exception of two technocrane shots (thanks to Christian at TCC for the help with the 17' Moviebird), but Ric Griffith came out to save the day. He ended up operating the entire video, and it was very liberating to be able to sit back and watch the actors instead of deal with having a camera on my shoulder while trying to judge their performance. Ric did an amazing job (we didn't end up doing much steadicam) and it was great to watch someone else interpret what I'd had in my head when I was writing the treatment. Anyway, I finished coloring the video on Friday, and I wanted to put the finished product out there if anyone was interested in seeing it. Here is a link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2HELbLB4lo, as well as a link to a behind the scenes video if you want to see Ric do his thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF7wRO0byyE. All the best, and thanks to this great community for all of the support - both during my steadicam career and after. Brooks Robinson brooksontheroad@pacbell.net

Greg is an A-list, A camera/steadicam operator, and anyone looking to up their game would benefit greatly from his many years of experience of doing big budget Hollywood movies with a who's who list of directors and DP's. Greg is a solid guy and terrific operator, and I wish his services were available when I was starting out. You can't go wrong here. Brooks

The sled has now been sold. Brooks

Both motors are now sold. Thank uou for looking. Brooks

The M21VE motor is now sold. The M26VE is still for sale. Thank you for your interest. Brooks

I'm selling one M21VE Heden digital focus motor and one M26VE Heden digital focus motor. These work well with Preston FIZ units and I believe other digital wireless units. Both have seen little use. I would like to receive $1400 per motor, which includes a full set of gears for each. Please contact me through the forum for information or more photos. Brooks

Thank you Joe for the nice words. Unfortunately, I can’t take much credit for Suicide Kings. I was listed in the credits, and somehow IMDB listed me, but I only worked three days on it. I was called by DP Chris Baffa ASC early on in pre-production as we used to work together all the time for Roger Corman. Originally, I was supposed to be on the entire project – something like 35 days. Then I got a call from Chris to say that my days had been cut down to around 12, which was fine. Then about a week before we started shooting, I got another call to say that the days had bumped back up to 25. Perfect! The job was out of Panavision Hollywood, and they wanted the B camera to be the steadicam camera as well. There was no Panavision XL back then, so the only options were a Gold or Platinum (no thank you), or an Aaton. I pleaded for an Aaton and was granted it. I did not attend the prep (mistake) and the AC’s didn’t bother to call to tell me that the camera was changed at the last minute to a Gold (for those of you who haven’t flown this camera before, think heavy). I showed up on the first day of shooting to discover that I had a camera that weighed twice as much as I thought it was going to, and was quickly pulled aside by Chris our DP to tell me that now production only needed me for the first three days. This job was going downhill fast. I did plenty of traditional camera operating shots, but only one small steadicam shot in the first three days. Those days were really, really long, averaging about 15 or 16 hours per day if memory serves me. At some point, I got a call for a five day Target commercial that started on what would have been the fourth day of Suicide Kings, and I quickly took it since I wouldn’t be employed on the movie after that. On day three, the shit hit the fan. We were setting up to do a big 4 page scene as a steadicam oner in hour 14, when the producer told everyone that the production was shutting down for the day. Word had come from up above that we couldn’t work huge hours any longer, and we would need to do the scene in the morning…well…all except me, since I was moving on to a Target commercial. I went over to Chris to tell him what was going on and he (and the producers) lost their mind. “What do you mean you aren’t going to be here tomorrow?” was the response I got. I explained that they had only booked me for the three days with no guarantee of future employment, and I had simply said yes to another gig. I packed my gear and loaded it into my vehicle. Suicide Kings was a valuable learning experience for me. I learned that I should always go to the prep for long term projects, and at the very least, communicate with the AC’s during the prep. I learned that regardless of the circumstances, keep communicating with everyone. I could have asked the DP if there were more days on the schedule despite production only booking three, and I certainly could have told him that I was planning on taking a commercial and confirming he wouldn’t need me past the third day. As it was, I got out of carrying a really heavy camera for a 4 minute scene, but lost my contact with an up and coming DP that I liked and respected. Dan Ayers who replaced me worked with the DP for years after that job, just as the DP's projects got better and better. We learn by experience, and I never made those mistakes again. Hopefully some of the younger operators can learn by the experiences (both good and bad) of us older guys and not repeat our mistakes. Brooks

I am now adding a Pro SD green screen monitor with rain cover as well as a Decimator downconverter with 2 power cables (one from the sled, one from P-tap) to my XCS sled package. The price is still $16,500. Please reach me through the forum or my website which has my personal email. Thanks for all of the interest. Brooks Robinson www.brooksrobinsoncamera.com

Thanks Keith - lots of years in the saddle lends itself to lots of stories. Unfortunately, telling some of them publicly while still working in the industry would lead me to no longer be able to get a job. For now, I'll stick to telling most of them in private. All the best! Brooks

Both Garfield mounts are now sold. Thanks for all of the interest. Brooks

I have two Walter Klassen hard mounts for sale - one that mounts to both a Mitchell base and speed-rail, and one that only mounts to various sizes of speed-rail, which I used exclusively on my rickshaw. I would like to get $800 for the unit that mounts to both Mitchell and speed-rail (they are $1150 new), and $700 for the speed-rail only unit ($950 new). Please PM me if you have questions or would like to see photos. Brooks Robinson

There has been much interest, but no buyer, so I'm dropping the price of my XCS sled to $16,500.00 USD. Please PM me through the forum with any questions or additional photo requests. Brooks

Just wanted to post an update, along with a few more photos. There have been multiple people interested in the sled but no takers so far. The sled now includes a custom soft case that I used to transport the sled for in-town jobs (see attached photo). It has custom foam, and is lighter weight than the included Innerspace hard shipping case. The attached photos show the soft case, the XCS docking station 2, and two XCS plates - one standard plate, and one sliding plate. Thank you for your interest, and please contact me through the forum with any questions. Brooks Robinson