Fabian Alexander Aust

well.. yes, just what the title says: what do you former or current master operators dislike about the rig? from the perspective of everyday real-life usage... thank you guys so much!

that sounds like a great idea! that sounds good too! thanks guys!

please ignore my last post it was an attempt to edit another post going awry... i see all those points. i really understand that. however, i have spent some time in the biz and i'm a late bloomer in what i do now anyway, so i really gotta hurry, no matter what professional route i may choose to focus on. it's not that i would never ever do a DSLR job! i just don't want to be limited to that, because my rig can't fly anything else. and as a matter of fact, even the most underbudgeted projects are shot on RED here, so it is in a way a must to be able to fly that thing. that's simply the big consideration in my head. i know that what i'm writing here may annoy some people, but i just can't help it, that's what i'm feeling and i believe one of the most important things in our biz is to love what you do. some may think i'm not an open minded gyu, but in fact i am, very much. your posts definitely affect me and make me think... that's EXACTLY why i posted this thread! but you won't hear me recap politically correct statements that i've read somewhere, knowing they will bring me respect of the community or something like that. i'm just telling what's on my mind, straight. and if someone shows me that i'm totally wrong, by giving convincing arguments, i'll be the very first to bow and change my mind and accept all that...

that's what a rental person told me. they have a lot of RED ONEs, some upgraded to MX sensor, and they also have Alexas already. seemed to me like that guy knew what he was talking about... if it's not correct, i'd be extremely happy to be educated on this, since neither the RED or Arri digital homepages are telling a lot about sensor technology

i appreciate your direct words. of yyourse i need the workshop and i want it. sorry i didn't make that more clear...

i've read a LOT on this forum... and pretty much everywhere on the net where one can find steadicam information. i've registered my email with the steadicam workshop folks so hopefully it won't be long until i can attend one of the big courses. apart from that, i've been searching the gdmn web desperately for alternative (non-tiffen) workshops in germany, but i couldn't find anything yet. i realise this is a very imortant. however, attending a 5 day WS is a costly thing so you could also put that into the "investment" category. now, how do you decide to engage in the steadicam profession BEFORE that workshop? what's the decision-making process to subscribe to a WS in the first place?? correct, it's FEELING that this could be the right kind of job for a person. evaluating all the information, experiences from other filmbiz jobs and finishing it with a good deal of scepticism here and there but some creativity and optimism also. i honestly believe i have proceeded on that route quite a bit already. now, i definitely want to buy used unless i see a lot of convincing reasons against it. but on this forum, it seems that most people are quite happy with their used gear and, judging from photos in the MP section, people are looking very well after their equipment. what i wanted to express is: i see master series rigs here and they are much cheaper than the modern rigs, i'm talking all used here. i don't know, but i GUESS on a 5 day WS they won't bring old master series rigs would they? i rather think they will try to make you dig their new rigs so they can sell them. that's normal, hey. it would be very interesting to hear opinions about old vs new rigs. budget. as i've mentioned before, i do not have any budget. i'm a normal person, struggling through everyday live with film jobs and i never started putting money aside on a regular basis. why should i? i DO know that steadicam is expensive. i DO know that you always get what you pay for, you don't have to be a genius to know that, it applies to everything. but i also know that i don't want to fly HDV cameras or DSLRs. i just don't want to. so this thread is a step in my personal process of deciding if steadicam operator is a future for me or not. please... don't criticize me because i'm not willing to start small. but i can't help it. i just don't want to. because i also know what kind of projects shoot HDV cameras or DSLRs. and i don't want to make participating in those projects the foundation of my carreer, even if that's just for a couple of years. and if, in the end, i come to realize that steadicam operator on the level i'm talking about will never be reality for me, i got some other options for my future and i will be very happy with them just as well.

i do not have any budget ;)

Hi folks, I'd like to get into the steadicam business and i've figured that it would be a clever move to build a rig that can easily fly a RED ONE, since a lot of jobs in my area and in those genres i'm interested in (commercials, music videos, tv-features, low budget features) are shot on the RED and it's getting more and more and honestly, i think RED is the future; at least for a couple of years to come. ARRI's Alexa has the same sensor as the RED ONE MX but costs double rental rates, SI2K is a rarity here and doesn't seem to attract a lot of DPs, other digital cinema cameras virtually don't exist here. I guess it's pretty normal that lets say a MB-14 matte box gets replaced with a clamp-on without too much objection from the camera crew. I also guess that people understand they can't have their master zoom on my steady rig. And i guess most people won't object replacing the RED harddrive with my own 16GB CF cards as they give the same performance fps-wise and are only restricted capacity-wise. So what i need to satisfy most productions here is to fly a RED with CF card instead of harddrive, powered from the sled, with at most 2.8 kg lenses (lightweight zooms, RED primes, master primes etc), a clamp-on matte box, a RED lcd, follow focus and video transmitter, basically. Now i'm pretty open for everything that can satisfy those needs, but in general, i would love to own a cinema products/tiffen rig simply because of the advantage the name gives you and the pro-look on the set. I think i'd also prefer a used, older but bigger/more professional rig over the latest rig brandnew. basically. but, i'm open to all you guys views on these topics. So in a nutshell, i would love to hear you guys suggestions on what to buy, given the factors above. I'm in germany, so while i understand that it may be standard procedure to buy, resell, buy etc, it's a little bit more complicated for me since the german steadicam marketplace is small and dealing with people in the US is just so much more hustle. Also, i do not have any budget, no number i can give you guys. I'm open to hear suggestions that make sense, and if i see something that makes sense to me and that solution is like 30.000 EUR that just tells me how much i gotta make to make my move. Many thanks in advance for all your help guys!

well... just resetted things to normal. RED on EFP. but zeiss superspeeds. rental guy says 14kg is ok, and i think we'll manage to stay below that.

thanks so far guys. thing has been settled by budget... the producer won't let me rent more than the EFP budgetwise. we may even change our strategy completely and shoot a DSLR on an old SK... man then it'd be just the other way round, MB 14 all the way, everything heavy i can attach there with some use... which is not much in that case

since i can't power the camera from the sled i'm getting rather heavy here. we will be able to shoot CF cards however. which is a good matte box choice if i want to use ND/IR combo filters, a polarizer and maybe a star filter? i want to shoot optimo rouges... maybe the red zooms if the producer won't allow me the optimos... however, it will be at least 9kg without mattebox and filters, fully stripped down like this: red body rouge zoom bridge plate 2x 18" steel rods (don't know if i can get lighter rods) lcd + arm + cable 2x top mount top handle 2x 12" steel rods universal mount quick plate brick maybe i can avoid the 12" rods and lose the bridge plate if i attach everything from to 18", from the top. but i'm not sur if that really works out.

Don´t let Garrett hear this :-) I remember him saying all shots must be perfect in your attitude. while that is definitely true... i'm just human, not a robot Markus, ever worked with the xinetix people/equipment?

hello folks. i have a steadi shoot coming up and i might rent an EFP rig. can anybody share some experiences flying that with a RED setup of ~12 - 13,5 kg? how does the arm perform with that kind of load? there is also a GPI Pro rig available around here, but a bit more expensive; maybe it's worth the extra money? the job is a music video, so i don't need the most perfect shots, but flawless workflow and very short setup and ready-to-shoot-times... thanks for all input!

so tiffen do that? and if they do, can you get an ok deal?

cool, that makes a lot of sense