David M. Aronson

I kind of want a plate on the back of my phone case now. Snap a dionic 160 on it and I'll be making slightly cumbersome phone calls for up to 15 hours* Shouldn't be that hard to make with a car charger cable. If you're going to make one, just be really careful not to fry your phone and test it with a fresh off the charger battery. If it would blow at any point, it would be then. *with brightness at 50% in well covered areas.

Shhhh. Erwin, don't let them hear you say that. They might decide that they no longer want to hire Steadicam ops because they think that we charge too much and can do it better themselves with a cheap Chinese knockoff.

I'd probably push the rig out more so that in case I get shoved, I have the weight forward so I won't fall and have the camera fall on me. It does create something to grab onto. If I was in a situation with a lot of people in a really tight area, I'd probably rig up the holy crap strap just to be safe, even if the risk is very low of me getting in a fight, If a fire broke out and I needed to haul ass away from where I was, I'd ditch the rig.

Rob, If you and I are thinking of the same rental house, The Zephyr is $250, The scout is $200, and the knockoff is $150. Their 1 channel Preston kit is $150. The Preston kit is almost double the knock off new and they charge the same. To me, that means that the cheap rig will only last for a few months before becoming beyond repair and dieing a well deserved death. If you're ever down by Arlington, give me a call and we'll grab lunch.

Micheal, I hate to break it to you, but the Steadicam forum isn't the best place to sell this. You'll probably have better luck somewhere like DVXUser or REDUser. Sorry

This is one thing that annoys me about the red mindset. I'm not saying this about every red owener, but a lot of then think that because they bought this magic camera, they can buy the cheapest crap for everything else and their films will turn out great. Lights, tripods, steadycams, batteries, etc. 7 out of 10 Red owners I've ever dealt with have been like this. Five of them wouldn't let me use my lighter and much more powerful Dionics and insisted that I fly with either red volts and/or the red bricks on the back of the camera. One of them actually said to the AD, knowing that I was within earshot, that they shouldn't have hired a Steadicam op because he had a really nice flycam in his car.

Will, you make a good point with the hacking. Spam is also an issue... I wasn't thinking about email either. That can't be done within wordpress.

+1 for the Decimator. Black magic also makes some downconverters if you're strapped for cash, but you have to be VERY careful with the voltage you feed it. They will die if you give it 16V from a fresh Dionic. Trust me, it happened to me they day before a big job and made me look like a dumbass unprepared. Decimator all the way. Also, Velcro! Get a big roll of industrial strength Velcro and cover your rig with it. You'll never need to use gaffer's tape again. On the topic of the powering question, you will need to have a separate battery or a cable with in in line voltage regulator if you want to power the downconverter from your rig. I've only ever seen an SK at glance, but it looked similar to the Flyer topstage. Not a lot of room for more connectors, but not impossible to mod. Hope this helps

Something Wordpress based would be good. It's easy to use, very customizable, and you don't have to know how to code to make pages on it. Plus, if you want to host another site, just add another database. (I'm not a hosting expert btw, so feel free to tell me I'm wrong)

You have to remember that to owning a rig involves owning a lot more than a rig. You need cables for any camera you plan to use, you need back-ups of those cables, you need batteries for the rig, you need a charger, stand, sandbag, weight cage, etc. Most folks have some sort of wireless follow focus system which can range from $1200 for a cheap JAG35 model to $20,000 for a Preston unit with 3 motors. You also might want wireless video wich has a huge range of prices. I personally started out on a Flyer LE and for a lot of jobs, I wish I still had it. It's light, it's comfortable, It holds a stripped down ENG rig, and it feels like a big rig with ehough weight on it. Used, you can get one for around $4500 in good condition. A Zephyr is a great choice too and it's even better than the Flyer LE. It has a more comfortable vest, higher weight capacity, even more HD ready, and It's newer. The only down side is the price. It's roughly double the cost new than a Flyer LE. there goes your budget for accesories. Only fools buy new, and with an amazing used section, check out this forum for a month or so in the marketplace. If you don't find a rig you like, buy new, but you'll be a lot happier with a used rig. Edit: WORKSHOP WORKSHOP WORKSHOP! I completely forgot about workshops. Take a 2 day one near you or the week long one. The best rig for you is the one that's comfortable, so try out rigs untill you find that one.

I hear PRO's working on that. Should be out sometime late 2013. If you need to move very precicly with a long lens in a perfect circle, why not just rent a circular dolly track? You can use as long a lens as possible and you can put stuff like lights on it.

Great post. This really should be pinned. I'd love to see HDMI mentioned in there since that's a cluster of all sorts of nonsense. Component would also be interesting to mention too.

Buy Ron Baldwin a few beers, and you'll get all of the information you'll ever need to know. Really though, there are tons of great resources all over the place. The forum is a big one. A lot of the big names in Steadicam post in here frequently. Garrett Brown, the inventer of the Steadicam, is usually pretty open to comunitcating with folks who want to learn about the steadicam. I agree 100% with Janice too. Take a workshop. 'nuf said If you can make it to the US any time soon, see if you can get a factory tour of PRO GPI. Go there once and you'll quickly see why rigs cost so much. Hope this helps

No one's being asked to misinform people. What's being asked is to not voice opinions and then state them as facts. What's also being asked is to be respectful to newer members and the questions they have. :) I'd love to hear the opinions of moderators if they are expressed as opinions and not stated as facts. It would also be nice if people weren't attacked or berated if they dissagree :) You don't have to water yourself down, just don't be a dick. :) Edit: Tone of post has been misinterpreted. Added smiley faces to make it less formal.

Does the rig come with the exclamation points or do I have to buy those separately?

Hey Pascal, $2500 is a great price for that setup and you'll probably have it longer than the rest of your kit if it's in good condition. Bartechs are pretty much indestructable and if you do happen to break it some how, Jim's customer service is second to none. Definatly jump on that offer. Just be sure you have the right cables and back ups for those cables! You can make your own(like I do), but you have to per pretty handy with a soldering iron to make it and getting the pin outs right can sometimes be a chore. You can also buy pre made cables from a bunch of other people. Terry West is well known for making great cables and having great customer service. Good luck!

I have my gear orginized into "cold safe" and "inside" cases. Anyhting that doesn't care about the cold or heat lives in my garage to save space. Stuff like my sled, arm, and vest. "Inside" cases live inside where it's heated or cooled year round. All my batteries, my monitor, and camera are "inside" cases. It's what made sense to me. If you have some space next to your washing machine, why not stick a pelican there and save your gear!

Can you have two bolt systems working in parallel to eachother? I'd love to have wireless telepromptor to the sled and wireless video back to video village.

Two big questions and a little one How much will it cost? When will it be available? and Is ther a prototype anywhere near DC for me to try? :) I'm really glad you can get back into opperating Peter!

Oddly enough, I agree with Eric. There's not a lot of space on and by the court and you'll have a misrible time trying to do anything Steadicam related. Stick with handheld.

Zylight makes the Z90 which can be controled from their wireless remote system.

Pictures would be nice

Well, this is going to take some time to get used to.

I consddered doing this, but the instability would kill it and it would raise the CG way to high for all but the lightest cameras. Unless you tightened it with a wrench, a ball head just wouldn't stay put well enough. A standard tripod head might work a little better, but those are heavier than ball heads and raise the CG up even higher. Betz-tools has one, but without knowing what rig you have, I can't recommend it. It may sound weird, but the best option is probably just to trim for headroom. You won't always be in dynamic balance and you often won't even be statically balanced and this freaks a lot of people out. It's actually better to be slightly tilted up or down and not touch the rig at all than to have the rig perfectly balanced and put force on it the entire shot. Hope this helps.

I like my Flycam arm. I hear some of the top ops use Glidecam. They're the best