Mark MacEwen

Again thanks to everyone who gave me advice, I have jumped in and bought a second hand steadicam Archer, which seems to suit my needs well, it cost me more than I originally budgeted but I realised that my original budget was not that realistic for the work I intended to use it for. It has a G50 arm, copes very well with the weight I am looking to fly with and is light and portable to get to the places I need to use it. And I managed to pick up the days of work wildlife filming required to make it worth my while making the investment. So next stop some workshops for training !!!! And lots of practice !! Looking forward to learning more and more, thanks again Mark

Hi there, All good advice, I am currently weighing up the option of purchasing a second hand archer, but it is more than I wanted to spend and due to the nature of the majority of my work being wildlife I am a bit hesitant. On the plus side as you guys have said and from what I have found out, steadicams seem to hold there value on the second hand market, so I can always re-sell if needed. Got a meeting about a project today which kind of helps me make my mind up, if they go for a number of days with the rig I'll jump in and get one. Another project on lions are hopefully going to get back to me with some days as well. But I am not really into financing, so it would just be a straight purchase. Thanks again for all help, I'll let you know how I get on. All the best Mark

Thanks to all the response, all advice was very welcome. I am looking into course's and there seem to be several good ones out there, and I intend to get on one as soon as i can. As for the rigs I can see that for the sort of cameras I'd be looking to fly I would be hard pushed to get a rig to take that sort of weight and I may need to revise my budget and look about for a second hand Archer. For the sort of work I do I feel I'd need to own the kit, as much of my work is in jungles or extreme locations for 4-6 weeks at a time and the rig would only be used for a few of those days, but need to be there for the whole shoot. Thanks again for any and all advice All the best Mark

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum and find myself here in need of advice. I have been a wildlife documentary cameraman for over 10 years based in the UK, but more recently I have found myself working on programs that require some Steadicam use. I have found myself using a MK-V rig and an Archer, both opened my eyes to a new world of what can be added to productions through using a steadicam. And also that I could do with some training. But I have several jobs this year that require me to own a rig and I have about £8000 to spend on one but can't workout what to get, it would need to be able to fly panasonic varicams, with matte box, possibly a follow focus rig etc, at a minimum and if it could handle a red as well that would be great. I have looked at Flyers,Glidecam, floatcam fc12 and fc14 but struggling to find more options I would be happy to look at second hand rigs as well. I'd really appreciate some advice All the best Mark