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Mitch Lewis

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  1. Hi TJ. You probably don't remember me, but I worked with you many years ago. I "think" it was a project back when I used to work at ImageWorks in Pasco. But it might have been when I worked at one of the local tv stations. I just remember that your rig was HUGE back then (because the camera was HUGE). Anyway. Just wanted to say hi! :)
  2. Thanks Andrew. You've pointed me in the right direction. I'll post on the newbie forum from now on. Thanks!
  3. Wow! Thanks! So that solves one problem, and brings up the next issue.... Second question. We're getting requests from the local car dealerships to do some Steadicam work for them. They all want us to drive by their dealerships as well as driving by the rows of cars in their lots. Some other car dealers are wanting us to re-create "factory footage" of some of their more popular vehicles. So instead of seeing a vehicle driving around in unfamiliar surroundings, they will see it driving around our area. Any advice on building what we would need?
  4. I'm a little embarrassed to post this, but I feel that I owe it to Steadicam to retract my remarks from my original post. I just got back from a 2.5 hour shoot and the Steadicam supplied HD monitor worked great! This time I was smart enough to turn everything all the way up and I had no trouble seeing an image for framing. I also took the viewfinder tube off our Sony EX3, so I was able to use that as a small camera monitor as well. I'm pretty embarrassed that I had been shooting on three other outdoor shoots and never tried turning the adjustment knobs on the monitor up any farther than their detents. So "thank you Steadicam" for supplying a monitor that works well in bright sunlight. I'll admit, if the sky hit the monitor at just the right angle then it would wash out and I couldn't see it, but that only happened once or twice. But my biggest problem was the wind. I'm starting to figure out that using the Steadicam in strong winds is next to impossible. Thanks everyone for the replies. :)
  5. Talked to Steadicam today. They said that they haven't had any complaints about their HD Flyer monitor. I'm hoping that it's just my stupidity for not cranking up the brightness and contrast. We'll find out this morning as I've got a big shoot outdoors.
  6. No kidding? This is great news. Thanks Mark! :)
  7. Mark made my point for me. (thanks Mark!) I contacted TV Logic and they said that if you remove the protective glass screen, it will expose the internal components to dirt/dust. They don't sell a matte version of the screen. Honestly, I'm not sure if it's a brightness issue or not. If the transreflective monitors you're talking about are so bright that they overpower the reflections, then yes, my monitor is probably not bright enough. But I'm guessing it's not a brightness issue, but instead a glossy screen issue. Thanks for the replies! :)
  8. Thanks for the replies. You're right. I need to do most testing. The monitor looks great indoors and normally all our editing room monitors can stay at their detents, so that's why I left this one. I'll go outside today/tomorrow and try adjusting the settings. But honestly, I guess my post was a nice way of asking "why did Steadicam sell a monitor with a very reflective glass screen"? Thanks again. :)
  9. We purchased a Flyer for our Sony PMW-EX3 and love it. But it uses a different size arm mount than the high-end Steadicam units. As a result I'm having trouble finding a vehicle mount for it. Any advice? We'd like to shoot out the back of a mini-van and out the side doors as well. I'd love to mount something to the front of the mini-van but I'm not sure there's a practical way to do that. :)
  10. We recently bought a Steadicam F24LEHDVLBH Flyer and it came with a TV Logic monitor (the one with HD-SDI inputs). The problem we're having is that the screen is very glossy. It looks like there's a piece of glass covering the screen. As a result when we're shooting outdoors it's next to impossible to see an image on the screen. I'll admit that I haven't tried messing with the controls (brightness, contrast, etc...). They are all set to the detents. Maybe cranking them up would help? Does anyone know if there's a monitor hood available for this monitor? We made our own monitor hood out of black poster board and it did help a bit, but there was still quite a bit of reflection on the screen. Anyone else with a new Flyer having this issue?
  11. Thanks Douglas. I need to start watching that DVD. :)
  12. I watched Ted's video "The Day And The Life of a Steadicam Operator" and it was hilarious (and also interesting). Thanks again Paul.
  13. Okay I just ordered the book from Tiffen/Steadicam. (They have a few for $20 that are slightly scuffed) I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I haven't watched the DVD that came with our Flyer. I'm assuming that it's the "EFP Training DVD" that Chris is talking about?
  14. I just took delivery of our new Flyer LE 24 with the HD-SDI monitor, stand and flight case. We're using it with our Sony EX3, mattebox, zacuto rods and Century wide angle adaptor (when necessary). In addition, I just got back from San Francisco where I attended an excellent 2-day workshop given by Peter Abraham. So now I realize that I need to practice, practice, practice, before I actually use it for a paying client shoot. (mostly corporate videos and local television commercials). I'm looking for some good ideas on ways to practice. Peter had some excellent ones we did at the workshop. He taped a straight line on the floor with "stops" at the end and we'd practice starting and stopping without jarring the camera. We also put chairs at each end of the line and followed people while they stood up, walked to the other end and stat back down. (I don't have anyone that could help me with this, so that might be hard to practice) He also suggested to mount a laser pointer on top of the rig and try and move around while keeping the pointer on a target on the wall (I haven't tried that yet....sounds really hard). So anyone else have any suggestions on things to practice? Obviously (like everyone) I want to get comfortable with the rig sooner than later so I can start making money with it. Thanks in advance! :)
  15. http://www.containerstore.com/shop/travel/...ductId=10000238
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