baer-bel arm

[Robert Helming]

Hello,

 

I´ve read some few lines about the baerbel arm, but anyhow if there is somebody who has worked with it and made some interesting experiences, let me know what you think.

 

Thanks for your answers.

 

Robert

[Thomas English]

I used one of these for a little while. It is the best arm at the time for running shots. I found though that on lighterweight cameras its lack of iso-elasticity became a little disabling. It does become more iso-elastic as you start putting heavier cameras on.

 

I believe there are a few ranges of springs that you can put in there. I think I had it on the heaviest duty setup.

 

Nicely made and looks cool.

[Robert Helming]

Hi Thomas,

thanks for what you wrote, very interesting. On Wednesday I have the chance to play with the arm a little bit, then´I`ll know more.

 

Robert

[George Grammatikos]

i used to work about 6 years with this arm (with heavy duty springs)it work great with big cameras litle hard with lightweight cameras(much better if you use light springs,Markus use to tell that you dont need the light springs but i thing it work better with the light springs,for light cameras(video 16mm)

if i try to compare it with pro arm (i work 3 years now)its sure one step back but not so far away!Pro work with one finger from the lower to higher position B.Bel need two finger from midle lower to midle higher position and 3 or litle more power for the end positions

my 2 cents

George

[Louis Puli SOC]

!Pro work with one finger from the lower to higher position B.Bel need two finger from midle lower to midle higher position and 3 or litle more power for the end positions

George

 

Hi everyone

I was looking at buying a B.Bel arm that was for sale over here(Australia) and may I say it took me over an hour to change the springs over from Heavy to light springs .As for the ride for me was nothing on the Pro arm Slightly better then a 3a. I never went ahead with it.

just my 2cents worth

Louis Puli

[George Grammatikos]

Hi everyone

I was looking at buying a B.Bel arm that was for sale over here(Australia) and may I say it took me over an hour to change the springs over from Heavy to light springs .As for the ride for me was nothing on the Pro arm Slightly better then a 3a. I never went ahead with it.

just my 2cents worth

Louis Puli

HEY Louis , over an hour? maybe the arm use short springs (the are some of them out as Markus use diferent size elbow in the older arms )of course its not pro and the change look like a pain but its not so bad i had change them only twice when i use this arm and the second time take me about 10-15 min(i agree that its still a lot of time)but it cost 1/2 price of pro ,but my opinion is go pro its worth every cents !!!!

[Brett Manyluk]

I've used one of these arms since 2003 and I've only ever had to spend about 1-2 minutes per spring to change from light to heavy. I've found it to be a great workhorse and able to carry the heaviest of setups (panastar w/1000' mag, BL4 w/S4's, full Genesis w/VTR, etc) and quite smooth. Is it a Pro? Nope, but the price difference was quite significant at the time I purchased. I had previously used the 3a and found the smoothness, reach, and strength of the arm to be a great trade off to the "old-style" iso-elasticity of the 3a. Markus also seemed to over-engineer the amount of metal on the arm, something I was appreciating greatly after I foolishly agreed to hard mount to a very high horse-drawn wagon on a very rough road and had to operate at full extension to frame the shot. I think any other arm would've been taxed to stay in one piece based on the lateral torquing and twisting forces with a full panavision package on, but the baer-bel came through with only a spent bearing that was easily replaced. Of course I don't recommend pushing your arm to these kinds of limits, nor do I recommend letting your brain leave your body like mine did that day, but it was an "interesting" test nonetheless.

 

If you find one at a reasonable price I would encourage you to pick it up. If I had to start all over again with the current crop of equipment, I would choose the G70 or Pro first, but would be perfectly happy to fly the Baer-Bel again if that's all my budget allowed.

 

I would recommend the use of one light spring in the front bones for lighter cameras, but it shouldn't take more than a minute or two to change it. I think I can change mine in less than a minute now.

 

Brett