xddj Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 Hi All, I`m looking for a Steadicam SK / SK II / FLYER for a reasonable price. Marcin xddj_steadicam@o2.pl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members JobScholtze Posted December 30, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 There is one on EBAY right now. $ 4000 and if you email him maybe he's willing to ship to Europe. SK2 LINK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xddj Posted December 31, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Hi Job, Thanks for link, but eBay`s world wide sites are the first place that I`m looking. That is why I`m allready talking to the seller. There is another one but also in the US: SKI But like I mentioned in the subject I would prefer rigs located in Europe because of border tax fee in case of importing the unit from countrys outside EU. Marcin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members JobScholtze Posted December 31, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Hi Marcin, The one you showed me on ebay is also an sk2. The sk1 has the arm the other way around. So bone first that the 2 section part. This is the sk2 arm. Just remember an sk2 in europe is more expensive than the one in the usa. Because the owner paid the tax already. You can ask the seller to send it in two package so it's more parts than rig. That's the way i did it in the past. Now i have a new rig and paid a lot of tax for it. A LOT :angry: Good luck Greetings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xddj Posted December 31, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Hi Job, Good that the seller knows what he/she sales :D I could never tell the diference between SK1 and SK2 - Thanks Job for explaining it to me. I have seen on your page that you used SK as well. Could you tell my how does it fly? So far I have been using a stabilizer system that I have manufactured myself. I had an oportunity to fly 3A with a tutor, so I have some comparison... Additionally - is the monitor on SK2 4:3 / 16:9 switchable? I was going to ship the rig to my brother in the US and make him separete the eletronics from mechanics - so that the custom office wouldn`t make a BIG clame ;) Happy New Year!!! Marcin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members JobScholtze Posted December 31, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Hi Marcin, Sure i can explain my expercience with the Sk2. I have used 2 of them. The first was fine for flying a betacam with now extra's on it. Later i bought a new one, because the old one was very used. After a while i try'd to upgrade the arm to a provid arm with two twosection arms. It did'nt help me with extra weight. Only the booming ( High to low ) was more. And i spend a hugh amount of money for that upgrade, it also took tiffen 6 month to deliver :angry: . Because of the short post, it was not very handy with that new arm. The monitor was in the way when turning the rig, so don't go there. The monitor is very easy to make it switchable. I did use a switch to push the picture to a sort of 16:9. Later i bought a followfocus and electronic bubble and a video transmitter. I had no place to power it from the rig. Also dynamic balance is almost not possible with the sk2 because of not be able to move the battery and extend the post. So i was looking for a provid. But i discovered the Glidecam Gold, and try'd it several time's. For a bit more money than the provid, i can put 4 battery's on the sled, do the dynamic balance, fly every camera i want, even 24v camera's, put al extra's on it and feed it from the sled, etc etc. All my limits are gone. What i am trying to say is, the sk2 is an easy rig and have his limits. If you are looking for that , fine. Only don't try to upgrade later on, because you waste your money. I know, the upgrade i did to the Gold was a hugh step financially, but it pay's itself back after a while. So, it was a fine rig to learn but you wil grow out of it. ( Depends of the work you do with it of course ) Don't know about the flyer ore the clipper rig , mayby someone can jump in here? But what i have seen on the IBC, was the flyer too light and the clipper no extra power and video outputs. Don't know about the pricing. I do know that Glidecam is coming out with the V35 rig, that is a very intresting rig with al the feature's you alway's wanted. Send them a email and ask them about it. I saw the prototype on the IBC and i think it's not a very expensive one. Hope this helps, Greetings and Happy New Year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xddj Posted January 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 Hi Job, Thanks for sharing your experience. It helped a lot. If you could elaborate on the switch for 16:9 I would appreciate it. As for my use of the steadicam, well I`m just a guy who like doing movies. I like the whole process, so I`m starting from the script then storyboars, filming, editing, putting effects in post production etc... As for now I`m doing most of my work for myself to learn as much as I can. I have also done some jobs for the advertisment buisness - some of it was post-production some acting as cam-op. But I have never decided to go fully for it so far. I want to learn more :) So any way, when I started with my movies I needed a tool to smooth my shoots. Then I e learnt that there is this marvelous device called Steaicam. Of course it was out of reach for a guy in high school - so I`ve decided to do it on my own. And I did, but lack of tools to workaround alumminium, made the finall effect not fully satisfactory, untill I had a pleasure to get some training on 3A with one of the best steadicam operators in Poland. After that, working on my own rig was more sucessfull. However, now I have finally put aside some money to buy the real-thing. I`m going to improve my skills with the new Sony HDV camera. I`m 23 now so I guess I need to start my career soon to make it to the market. I have some connections, so I guess all I need is a good skills. B.T.W. what did you do with your old rigs? I`m asking for two purposes: 1 - the other steadicam that I showed to you was without manual nor the training video, and I was wondering if you could make a copy of them for me? 2 - maybe you have some parts of the old rigs laying around that I could buy? Marcin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members JobScholtze Posted January 1, 2005 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 I sold the rig, but still have a copy of the manuel. Also the dvd Award winning Advanced steadicam techniques, but don't have a dvd copier. Can try to make it to a wmv so i can put it on cdrom? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xddj Posted January 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 I will propably buy the one without manual nor training video. So would be VERY gratefull if you could try to put it on CD and do a copy for me. :) Thanks Job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members JobScholtze Posted January 1, 2005 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 Sure, just email me your adress and email Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mikko Wilson Posted January 1, 2005 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 xddj: The Sony FX1 (HDV) camera flies great on the Flyer! My school has both and they work great! There's a pic of it on the SOA photo gallery and here: - Mikko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xddj Posted January 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 Hi Mikko, Is there a big diference between flying SK and Flyer? As far as I know the price of the flyer is $6100 and I think I can get SK for half of that - is it woth to buy Flyer? How is the camera? I`m waiting for the pro version Sony HVR-Z1E to be aviable. They will reach the market in February. Can you give me your impression about it? Job - I`ve send you the addresses by PM if you don`t get it, here is e-mail: xddj_steadicam@o2.pl Marcin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mikko Wilson Posted January 2, 2005 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 2, 2005 Though I agree that it's the current avialability price that influences your descision, however do keep in mind the new purchase price of both units. about $6k for the flyer, and $8k for the SK2 Either way, I think that it's DEFINATLY worth it for the Flyer. In my oppinion the Flyer flies and handles just like a Master/Ultra series arm and rig ('cept it's way lighter :) ) The SK2 is considerably more limiting. The arm isn't as smooth and the boom range is only about ½ - you can't even rest the camera on your shoulder with that. Also the SK2 can't be dynamicly balanced. And much more importantly, doesn't have the standard adjustability at the vest-arm connection. - That alone in my oppinion is enough to get the flyer. Oh yeah, and the Flyer has native 16:9 as well as 4:3 support. As for the Sony FX1 - It's a very nice camera, picture quality is great, but ours at least has a couple of lite software bugs in it.. I agree with yoru decision to wait for the Z1 - the lack of XLRs is a shame (thoguh on steadicam you dont' want those pesky cables anyway.. As for handling it works great, the controls are in about the right place. The "manual" focus and zoom rings (that standard ring-controled servo that the little cams are cursed with) are Exceptional. - the zoom ring is indexed and the focus ring is as good the top level canon focus servo controlers I'v used on broadcast studio cameras. The FX1 weighs in at a little over 2.2Kg fully loaded which is just on the lighter end for the flyer (look at the pic.. the gimble is a little low for my liking...) but it really does work well, however it is FAR FAR too light for the SK2 - it would require a practice cage to work. Look at this pic: trying_a_SK2_SOA2004 The gray lump under the camera is a big Anton Bauer battery (2.3Kg - same as the FX1), and the gimble is at the very bottom of the post. - Definatly not for the lighter cameras! There's my combined review on 2 bits of kit.. I have my first shoot coming up on the 6th with the FX1 on the Flyer, I'll post back then about how it went. - Mikko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Jason Williams Posted January 2, 2005 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 2, 2005 I have a to agree with Mikko, the Flyer is an awesome rig, I tried one recently at an Optex Workshop and I have to admit that it is very light (I have a Provid) but handles well, and the arm is very sweet. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xddj Posted January 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2005 I would gladly buy a Flyer, but for $4500-$5200 price range. However, it cost $6100 and that is just too much for me. I was hopeing that someone in here would have a Flyer for sell - bought for one time work and redy to give it away for a bit less money. :( Mikko, is it possible for you to send me some hi-res images of the Flyer rig? I just want to study it more closely, since only advert material aviable from Tiffen is a PDF brouchue with one poor picture... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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