Question About Arms?

[invalid username]

Ive always wondered about Steadicam arm/vest systems: are they used only for supporting the rig, or are they beneficial to the smoothness of a rig?

 

I.e. If you could carry your Archers and Ultras with your arm alone, without getting tired or fatigued, would you still use the arm/vest? Would it be beneficial to the shot?

 

Thanks!

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

Ive always wondered about Steadicam arm/vest systems: are they used only for supporting the rig, or are they beneficial to the smoothness of a rig?

 

I.e. If you could carry your Archers and Ultras with your arm alone, without getting tired or fatigued, would you still use the arm/vest? Would it be beneficial to the shot?

 

Thanks!

 

 

HAHAHA carry your ultra with your arm alone.... yeah right, these arn't smoothshooters and glidecams, take a look at the payloads we carry.

[invalid username]

I ment more hypothetically, if it were possible. I was just trying to give an example to my main question of "does the arm just support the weight, or does it add to the smoothness over a hypothetical hand-held big rig".

 

I do understand that in actuality you can not actually carry any of those rigs.

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

I ment more hypothetically, if it were possible. I was just trying to give an example to my main question of "does the arm just support the weight, or does it add to the smoothness over a hypothetical hand-held big rig".

 

I do understand that in actuality you can not actually carry any of those rigs.

 

You answered your own question. Riddle me this, why is the arm referred to as "The Vibration Isolating Arm"

[Jerry Holway]

Alexander-

 

While the arm does dampen vibration - especially the vibration and movement that comes from our walking, which moves the socketblock on the vest (or the motion of a vehicle of some sort)- it is clearly possible to make great shots without a mechanical arm - JR's and Merlins and the like are based on this fact. The gimbal does most (all?) of the high frequency vibration damping and also takes out all of the angular components of lift.

 

Bigger rigs have been carried by "buddycams" - a specially designed handlebar that allows two people to lift the rig via the gimbal handle. It is smooth as silk, booms 6 feet or so - and very quickly. It's easier to run up hill with two folks carrying the load (might even be two grips and you just operate)... But it is limited; hard to get two people where an arm and one operator might fit.

 

Jerry

[Thomas English]

The buddy cam is also helped by the fact that it averages out the vertical movements of the two people holding it. Just hope they don't walk in step!

 

I'm still planning on getting that Buddycam you sell Jerry. I built a 6foot wide one to do that shot a coupla weeks ago when I couldn't rent an AR rig in. It was awesome but I still need one of your reasonably sized ones.

 

You do have to put in quiet a lot of manual input with a lot of arms. Especially I find when walking really really slowly.

[Sydney Seeber]

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[Jerry Holway]

Thomas-

 

love so see a pix of the six foot wide one. I once dreamed about making one about 12-15 feet wide... crazy!

 

Jerry