Premium Members Darren McDonald Posted March 11, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Can someone please explain the load weight difference between the Flyer Le 19lbs and the Zephyr 24lbs? Due to the Zephyr having one battery to power the camera and monitor compared to the Flyers two which means the Flyer Le carries more weight, does that mean if the zephyr carried two batteries would the load specs between the two rigs be roughly the same?..with also keeping in mind the zephyr has a slightly more lightweight bottom stage?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Brian Freesh Posted March 11, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Can someone please explain the load weight difference between the Flyer Le 19lbs and the Zephyr 24lbs? Due to the Zephyr having one battery to power the camera and monitor compared to the Flyers two which means the Flyer Le carries more weight, does that mean if the zephyr carried two batteries would the load specs between the two rigs be roughly the same?..with also keeping in mind the zephyr has a slightly more lightweight bottom stage?? Those numbers are camera capacity. Everything on top of the dovetail. Don't look any deeper than that or you'll go nuts for a bit. The Flyer does not require 2 batteries, nor is the Zephyr limited to 1 (I'm assuming they're offering the 2nd batt attachment by now) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mark Schlicher Posted March 11, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Straight from Tiffen via email this week: "There is no plan in the foreseeable future to offer a dual battery mount for the Zephyr." Not what I wanted to hear. This means no hot-swap parallel 12V and no 24V. Also no way to balance heavy cameras without extending the post or adding dead weight to the bottom of the centerpost. (a Hytron 140 is about 5.5lbs I believe...about the heaviest single battery available) The "optional second battery mount" is still listed on Tiffen's website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mark Schlicher Posted March 11, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 As for the payload, Brian is correct. The dovetail and gimbal are rated for 24lbs of whatever you place on it. The rest of the system is supposed to be engineered to handle the necessary counterweight to balance what's on the dovetail. Curiously the Zephyr website lists 24lb camera payload but only 30lbs of lift. Seems a bit light on the lift capacity, since a heavy camera would require maybe 8lbs of counterweight. Maybe I'm missing something... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Brian Freesh Posted March 11, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Mark, Thanks for the info, that is pretty lame about the battery mount. I remember them being gung ho about that last year, I wonder what changed. I know you just purchased one, I'm sure you can modify it yourself, though at greater expense than if they simply offered it as they should. The lift capacity of the arm may not be that far off from 30lbs. The sled will be ~4lbs with the SD monitor if I understand correctly that it is lighter than a Flyer LE, and one power cube is only 1.6lbs. Stick a 24lb camera on there, a pilot weight or 2, extend the post to the floor, and you're good to go at 30lb capacity! :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mark Schlicher Posted March 11, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 I'm making inquiries and will report back... Requiring a post extension to achieve max camera payload would be, erm, less than ideal. Mark, Thanks for the info, that is pretty lame about the battery mount. I remember them being gung ho about that last year, I wonder what changed. I know you just purchased one, I'm sure you can modify it yourself, though at greater expense than if they simply offered it as they should. The lift capacity of the arm may not be that far off from 30lbs. The sled will be ~4lbs with the SD monitor if I understand correctly that it is lighter than a Flyer LE, and one power cube is only 1.6lbs. Stick a 24lb camera on there, a pilot weight or 2, extend the post to the floor, and you're good to go at 30lb capacity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Erik Brul Posted March 12, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 I was curious from the first day i saw the Zephyr was born. Have asked about it at the IBC, never got any more answer then 'like they were busy with it..' :( However, i can imagine that you mount a second battery mount like the one provided and mount this one on the monitor rod. You can also screw on 4 positions the Merlin weights... This way you can easy overcome the Powercube weight or E10 weight. I don't know how many weights are provided in the standard package. So, maybe you can buy a batterymount bracket apart + a lot extra Merlin weights. It seems just stupid to have a rig which can handle 24lbs but cannot mount 2 batteries for a 'hotswap' like on the Flyer LE ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mark Schlicher Posted March 12, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 Had a good conversation with Peter Abraham today, he had good feedback on practicalities of batteries...inertia, DB and overall weight. I think I'm going to be okay, even without 2nd battery hanger for now. Picking up Zephyr tomorrow. Will have more to say in a couple of days... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Stunzi Posted March 12, 2011 Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 Had a good conversation with Peter Abraham today, he had good feedback on practicalities of batteries...inertia, DB and overall weight. I think I'm going to be okay, even without 2nd battery hanger for now. Picking up Zephyr tomorrow. Will have more to say in a couple of days... :-) I'd be curious to exactly what Peter said. Can you go into more detail? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Darren McDonald Posted March 12, 2011 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 I would still prefer to carry 2 batteries for hot swapping and extra endurance on shoots. Having one and no plans in the future accommodate two seems a little weird...guess I shouldn't have sold my Flyer so quick to get a Zephyr ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members chris fawcett Posted March 12, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 Stackable batteries any help? http://www.idxtek.com/products/e-7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Erik Brul Posted March 12, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 about the counter weight issue. Below the centerpost there is screwhole to attach a Assy weight: http://www.tiffen.com/displayproduct.html?tablename=steadicam&itemnum=800-7970 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Darren McDonald Posted March 13, 2011 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 Mark Schlicher SOC Posted 11 March 2011 - 02:32 PM As for the payload, Brian is correct. The dovetail and gimbal are rated for 24lbs of whatever you place on it. The rest of the system is supposed to be engineered to handle the necessary counterweight to balance what's on the dovetail. Curiously the Zephyr website lists 24lb camera payload but only 30lbs of lift. Seems a bit light on the lift capacity, since a heavy camera would require maybe 8lbs of counterweight. Maybe I'm missing something... This is the point in my question. If for instance you have a Sony PDW-800 XD/HD and need to run that battery hungry camera and to counterbalance it too....then how do you do it with one battery? Even though being at the extreme of it's lifting capacity would the Flyer LE still be a better choice to fly the XDCAM?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mark Schlicher Posted March 13, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 Picked up the Zephyr yesterday. 4 1/2 hour drive one way, so on the road for 9 hours. I will be happy to share my firsthand impressions and experiences with the rig in the coming days, but probably won't have time today. The bottom line is that the Zephyr is, for my money, a significant upgrade to the Flyer and even Flyer LE. The lack of second battery hanger is a mistake IMO, and I've registered my concerns frankly. If it's important to others, I encourage you to contact Tiffen with your questions and concerns. Customer feedback may be the best driver of them reconsidering their decision. The communication is a separate issue. Dear Tiffen: Fix the website! Stop promising something you've decided not to offer. The IDX stackables are a good partial workaround if you already use that system. For those of us with Anton Bauer, or non-stackable V-mount batteries, the solutions are murkier. If one has thousands invested in one battery system, it's not a great feeling to have to consider switching to another system. A/B or V-mount hotswap plates are another partial workaround but have their own issues and shortcomings. And this doesn't address 24V for those who want it. Yes, dead weight can be added to the bottom to keep the post shorter, but better to have your weight contributing some power, especially with cameras near the top range of the Zephyr (RED, power-hungry HD ENG cameras, etc). More later... Fly safe and have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Stone Posted March 13, 2011 Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 Hi Mark, Curious what you have discovered about the shortcomings of the dual-swap plate. Without having a Zephyr, on paper, what I would do is put a battery plate on the bottom of the rig. The 1/4" 20 makes it relatively easy, dual-swap and replace the monitor with something decent that has a battery plate on it. There is a spare 3 pin lemo for power. It should be relatively easy to get one the cable making individuals to do what should be a relatively simple mod to get your 12/24v power happening. The wiring may already be in place for full 12/24v operation and may be as simple as swapping out to different pinned lemo cables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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