Awesome Klassen Upgrade

[RonBaldwin]

This problem of tingly legs has been linked to a healthy liver...y'all need more sauce!

 

I've heard about this problem, but thankfully never had it. My secret may be that I am a total slouch and I've always worn the vest high and tight. I do wear it everyday, some days for one or two shots, other days for most of the day. I don't dock as much as I should, but I've been lucky this season to have an Arri LT (I fly a stock pro with a tb-6 or marell).

 

Last year I switched to a harness with the straight-back/hard front/hinge-pin. Sweet. I tried one at the Tiffen get together last summer and thought it was a bit more comfy than my original euro. Sorry I don't have any insight on the tingling leg issue, I'd say start trying diferent shoulder-strap lengths/pad combinations (as mentioned above). And for god's sake guys, don't wear it for 30 minutes -- a light camera is heavy after 10. I'm also a bit concerned with how heavy the Alien is with a real camera in it and that someday I might be required to fly that beast! 90 lbs of love!

 

Ron B

[RobVanGelder]

I experienced similar tingling (BM-vest) in my legs when I did a 10 days, all day Steadicam shoot in the hills in North-Thailand.

I am pretty sure it was mostly induced by the uneven ground, always one foot a little bit lower than the other, meaning you cannot devide the weight equally.

 

The camera was not that heavy, an SR3, but the takes and setups were long, always masters with different focal lengths.

 

I think too that the even distribution between the legs has become much more important now that the BM-harnass give you more "stamina" or endurance to keep that camera floating.

 

With the FM, almost everybody would find the docking stand as soon as the take was done, but now with the BM-harnass where it seems that we are so comfortable with the rig and it looks as it doesn't weight anything, and also with the HD-cams with nearly unlimited rolling time, people around us are expecting us to keep it floating as if we are a human dolly.

 

We all have to take care of our own body, and we have now arrived at a point that we face new physical limits, limits of the strength of our leg-muscles, and also the nerves going there.

 

And then for sure it doesn't help when you cut the blood-flow to the legs by sitting in a harnass for a long time, but i had a similar experience with the IIIa harnass once, so that is not really related to the kind of harnass.

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

With the FM, almost everybody would find the docking stand as soon as the take was done, but now with the BM-harnass where it seems that we are so comfortable with the rig and it looks as it doesn't weight anything

 

 

That's not entirely true I know that myself and Rich Davis wear FrontMounts Longer than pretty much anyone out there. And while it may work for you Backmounts don't work for everyone. Again Rich and I have tried them and they simply don't work for us.

[RonBaldwin]

Eric...I only use the backmounted harness because it makes my ass look smaller.

 

Ron B

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

Eric...I only use the backmounted harness because it makes my ass look smaller.

 

Ron B

 

 

LOL

[Lawrence Karman]

It also seems like operators are being asked to do longer shots and hold the camera longer without docking. It?s important to keep spreading the load on both legs and not crush the load on one leg.

Lawrence Karman posted a similar story here back in January 2004 (Lawrence, hope it's OK that I re-type this since I can't find the original link).

"I do have that tingly feeling. More of a numbness on the outside of my left leg which I find comes more with a heavy camera package... Last week I brought my vest over to my chiropractor who feels that it is not pressing onto a nerve as the vest rides fairly high. He seemed positive that when I lock my leg in a lock-off position there are muscles that work to stabilize the leg left and right and they are being over worked in this position. The muscles' reaction is to shut down feeling in that area. This kind of makes sense in that I am more likely to feel it only with a heavy package. Who knows. I am also trying to stand with the weight distributed between both legs more and this seems to help as well"

 

Finally, everyone is talking about proper fit and we agree it's very important. As Jerry posted in this other thread it seems like posture and working to find the best way your harness/vest fits your body to minimize impact is key.

http://www.steadicamforum.com/forums/index...?showtopic=2426

 

In a Klassen harness, adjusting the position of your carbon arm, putting the right pressure in your air bladder and getting your harness in the right position on your hips and around your waist can make a huge difference in your comfort level. Once you get used to finding that ?sweet spot? then it becomes second nature. This is why we encourage new customers to have Walter talk you through your first time set-up so that he can get you as properly fitted as possible from the get-go.

 

Walter and the rest of us here are always available by phone or email to answer any of your questions.

walter@walterklassen.com

(416) 778-7848

 

See you all at CINEGEAR :)

 

Jen

 

 

Jennifer, Thanks for reminding me about distributing the weight evenly. I think this does indeed make a difference.

[RobVanGelder]

With the FM, almost everybody would find the docking stand as soon as the take was done, but now with the BM-harnass where it seems that we are so comfortable with the rig and it looks as it doesn't weight anything

 

 

That's not entirely true I know that myself and Rich Davis wear FrontMounts Longer than pretty much anyone out there. And while it may work for you Backmounts don't work for everyone. Again Rich and I have tried them and they simply don't work for us.

 

What do you mean here Eric? The time spend in the harnass wearing the rig per take/setup/day or the total years of using a FM? :huh:

 

What i know for sure is that MOST operators with FM are happy to find the Docking stand after the take or when not really needed to carry the camera around.

MOST operators with BM experience that they can hold and carry the rig for longer times than they could before with FM.

It's THIS CHANGE in behaviour, together with increasing demands for longer takes (video has hardly any limits anymore) that might cause the increased reports of numb legs and tingling.

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

What do you mean here Eric? The time spend in the harnass wearing the rig per take/setup/day or the total years of using a FM? :huh:

 

What i know for sure is that MOST operators with FM are happy to find the Docking stand after the take or when not really needed to carry the camera around.

MOST operators with BM experience that they can hold and carry the rig for longer times than they could before with FM.

It's THIS CHANGE in behaviour, together with increasing demands for longer takes (video has hardly any limits anymore) that might cause the increased reports of numb legs and tingling.

 

 

Again with the Generalizations.

 

My comment about Rich and I is time wearing the rig during the course of a shooting day. To the Point that Directors, DP's, AC and Crew all comment on the amount of time we wear it.

 

Never with a front mount have I had tingling of the legs unless I sat and didn't shorten the suit up.

 

Rob I appreciate that you are happy with your Back mount. That happiness doesn't mean that it's the correct choice for everyone (Hardly) and the end of suit development.

[RobVanGelder]

Eric, you are missing the point I want to make here;

 

It's not about what you or I feel as comfortable, I am not generalizing here, I am detecting and pointing out a changing pattern in working practices, possibly introduced by new equipment.

 

More people are having similar problems, but not you and some others,

That still means that there IS something happening that we all should be aware of.

[mattmarek]

there's an interesting poll for forum members. what's the longest period of time you've been in the rig shooting without docking or even a break to rest on the shoulder or a grip.

 

other day i was doing a tv gig;. we started at 11am. was running around like a madman covering the event and when i finally NEEDED to dock, i looked up and the time was 12:13. :blink:

 

boy was i feeling it that night :lol:

[Charles Papert]

Just got my harness back from Walter's. I've had the curved front for a while but was running out of adjustment room on the ratchets, particularly when I had multiple layers of clothing on or there was a particularly tasty desert at lunch. I wanted to swap out the leather hinge for the pinned version and get the hinge extension.

 

It's almost redundant at this point to sing Walter and Co.'s praises but I received my harness back in beautiful condition--love the new hinge and extension, but the entire ratchet assembly (which had worn out a bit) was replaced with sexy new silver ratchets, cablekeeper flaps sewn on the front and back as requested and probably half a dozen other things that I haven't noticed yet (I thought Walter said something about hiding a string of Krugerrands inside the carbon shell)...in other words, service above and beyond.

 

The only caveat is out of their control, and that's the out-of-country shipping mishegas; holdups at each border etc. The package arrived literally five hours before starting a feature today. Whew!

 

Cheers,

 

Chas

[Erwin Landau]

Just got my Vest back from Walter.

 

I also had my vest (classic deluxe #75) upgraded to the curved carbon front with the leg cut outs, I still had the 2 leather flaps of which one was starting to break. As I posted a couple of months back, I lost a lot of weight and the vest started to slip on me which eventually resulted in the numb leg crash incident. I thought that the vest could not get any sexier... I was wrong.

 

Walter called me, ones he had my vest, to make sure that we were on the same page about what I wanted done and what not. Like the handles, what style doors, etc.

 

When I took it out of the bag, I had to double check if it indeed was my vest. It looked brand spanking new. It was worth every penny of the $1200.- for the upgrade. You get a new vest back. It also sports his new sexy logo on the back now. Any worn leather was replaced and any scuff in the leather was painted out. I went with the single hard hinge with pin version.

They cut down my shell, added the hinge on one side and the new style racket on the other. The Sliver rackets look... for the leak of a better word... cool.

He also exchanged the worn aluminum hard ware like the slider piece, between the back of the vest and the Carbon Arm as well as upgraded my old Socket block (it went through hell a couple of times and also had taken a beating when my Titanium Arm Socket block broke a couple of years back) with the newest version.

And all around new adjustment screws. The new sexy ones!

 

Charles my skim (sp?) with shipping worked out I send it Fedex international priority (overnight $208.-) last Friday it arrived at Walter's on Monday before noon. It gave him and his team 2 1/2 days to do the express upgrades and send it back Wednesday night (I called Walter before hand to make sure that he had time and enough buffer to do it). It got held up for one day by customs and was delivered today friday at 9am. I will be using it tomorrow for the first time. They can't hold it longer because you payed premium with time sensitive delivery date, as Fedex works closely with customs it helps, and they would loose big business if they could not guarantee delivery.

 

 

Again, two days, brand new Vest. How can you beat this? Worth double of every penny I spend on it. What can I say more about the costumer service... When any person in his shop can pick up the phone and you only have to say your first name and he/any of the guys/gals, will know exactly who is calling... says they know you as a costumer and they care... a lot. Beside the PRO arm, Preston and the Ultimate, the best piece of equipment I ever bought.

 

A Big Thank You... to Walter and his entire Team.

 

 

Fly safe,

 

 

Erwin "back in the saddle again" Landau

[Charles Papert]

Erwin, your malaprops are often delightful---it's "customer", not "costumer" old boy, unless you are moonlighting the wardrobe department (after learning that you have 14 pairs of the same model of footwear, this may not be too far from the truth).

 

Meanwhile, two weeks after getting my vest back, it's kicking ass more than ever. Props to the Toronto posse...

[paul magee]

I don't like to be a " me too " poster but I had to join the choir on this one.

 

Walter, Jennifer and the rest of the crew did an outstanding job on the upgrade of my classic vest ( # 74).

When I got it, I felt guilty putting it on - it will never look that good again. It even had that new car smell.

I also went with the single pin curved front and as Erwin and Charles said it's a fantastic upgrade, one that suits me very well. I found it easier to get in and out of. The latching system is much cooler and easier to use and the ability to "customize" how far the latches open when you're resting is a big improvement which is greatly appreciated after lunch.

 

I also went with the low profile arm upgrade which I'm very happy with. I found making trimming adjustments under load to be quite difficult on my older arm due to a lack of flexibility in my right shoulder. The new arm seems to places the screws and knobs in a position I can reach and employs a mechanical advantage that makes trimming under load much easier for me. Aside from being newer, sleeker and lighter it has the rear capture bolt, washer and mounting block captivated to the arm which eliminates an item from the " what did I forget to pack up" list.

 

The Tronto crew were right on the button with pricing and turn around time and as always were delightful to deal with. The original vest was the best purchase of equipment I ever made, these upgrades may be a close second.

 

 

Paul Magee

Philadelphia, Pa