Zephyr roll call

[Daniel Builes Montaño]

hello people

I own a Zephyr

I am currently looking for a baseplate for my Zephyr. anyone know any good baseplate? I am interested in the Tiffen 15mm bracket and rods, the Oconnor universal baseplate (http://www.ocon.com/...-baseplate.html) or theArri MBP-1 Baseplate. know any of them? I'm looking the baseplate to use a motor M-one with the Zephyr

if anyone knows of this issue I could use a little help

Regards.

[Chris Medico]

My Zephyr arrived today. I am fighting the urge to put it all together RIGHT NOW. :)

[Gregory Dillard]

Chris, you will LOVE IT!!

[Chris Medico]

Chris, you will LOVE IT!!

 

I've not flown it yet and I love it already. :)

 

I have the F3 and rails mounted and balanced on the sled. Looking for the best mounting option for the PIX240 now to get it fully ready for business. Going to play around with it this Sunday on a web series shoot.

 

No doubt there will be more happiness to follow.

[Ron Michael]

I'm impressed with the arm and gimbal of the zephyr. I flew a JVC GY-HM750U and I had to fully un-tension the arm just to fly it. So, I was very impressed with the strength of the arm. After I put a large 8.9 HD-SDI monitor and second Anton Bauer dionic 90 on the sled, only then did I have to start raising the arm tension,but only a tad! Gimbal is nice and smooth! I'm just a little concerned about the lock mechanism in the lower sled not really locking well and not to crazy about the plastic looking build of it either.

[Tom MaCoy]

And one more checking in. Just unpacked my shiny new Zephyr (upgraded from the FlyerLE) and it really is beautiful. Kind of torn over which improvement I'm most impressed by, though the new vest is a strong contendor, as is the rail style design for monitor/battery mounts. One thing I'll admit I don't care for are the quick clamps for adjusting height and position on the post, as a couple other people have commented on. Looks like they could easily be replaced with straight Kip handles though, basically trading a couple seconds of speed for durability, which is fine by me; any other owners tried that?

Minor quibble aside it really seems like a great piece of gear, I can't wait to show it to some of my clients.

[Morgan Gustafsson]

Hello from Sweden! :)

 

I´m also a Zephyr owner and operator, using a HD rig.

I´m shooting with a large variety of cameras like Sony PDW-355 XDCAM, Sony F3, Panasonic AG-AC160 and HVX170 depending on client.

 

This is my first Steadicam, bought it to start my career as an operator after 10 years in the video/tv-business.

I really like the Zephyr, easy to handle, easy to finetune with the noobs next to the sled, it´s a quality product.

It fits my clients needs and my startup budget.

 

I´m on the market for a HD-SDI wireless transmitter/receiver, minimum of 50 meter. Any suggestions?!

 

Here is a video from a simple practise-run a did, when this was shoot a only had 5-6 hours with the rig.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3r9gWAgv-E

 

Kind regards,

Morgan

[Wolfgang Troescher]

Hi Morgan!

 

Very good results after just 6 hours of operating!

 

One question: End of May I´ll have to use a F3 on my Zephyr (currently I´m practicing with a 7D).

 

Do you use any additional weights on the stage as the F3 weighs just 2.4kg / 5 lbs (without lense), whereas the minimum weight for Zephyr is 4kg/9 lbs.

 

Thank you

 

Wolfgang

[Morgan Gustafsson]

Hi Wolfgang!

 

Thanks! :)

 

I didn´t use any additional weights on this test run, but next time a will. Me and my father made from solid metal 1,5kg "dead weight" fitted on top of the camera mounted with a screw. Next version will most likely be directly mounted underneath the camera. Have only tested the "dead weights" on smaller cameras like Panasonic HVX170 and AG-AC160, and it´s makes all the difference.

 

Shooting with a Sony PDW-355 XDCAM on a Zephyr is rock solid, so adding some weights to the F3 would be my recommendation... but hey, i´m new in the steadi-business! ;)

 

// Morgan

[Mark Schlicher]

With the F3, by the time you add a lens, mattebox, baseplate and rods, follow focus, etc. you can get comfortably into the Zephyr's payload range. I've flown the F3 in that configuration with good success. That said, a 6 pound weight wouldn't hurt.

[Wan Zhong Wei]

When i was flying the F3, i had a 4kg additional weight added to it. the whole rig feels very good to fly.

 

i also managed to get the canon XF300 properly weighed down with the same weight, my colleague took a picture of us while doing a practice run at the shopping centre next to my rental house. :lol:

 

 

it was about a good 6kg on top. not the most ideal weight, had to drop the gimbal more to get a nice drop time as well.

 

looking forward to my dedicated 6kg weightplate which is still in the works!

[Andrew Stone]

The F3, as Mark states, gets well within the Zephyr range. With a typical lens -- prime or zoom in the 17-50mm range with rods w accessories, baseplate, mattebox will get you into the 14 to 17 pound range. Adding a single motor with increase your payload 1 to 2 pounds depending on your wireless FF system. A full system with motors and wireless transmission with be north of 17 pounds.

[Wolfgang Troescher]

Thank you all for your answers! I think I´ll use one of my weight plates (about 1.5 kg) + FF (HocusFocus) + Matte Box. I think I´ll get enough weight on my sled.

 

Hope I´ll take a good shot: opening scene of the movie, about 5 minutes long :blink: :blink:

 

Wolfgang

[Adam Brown]

Hey Mark,

 

Thanks a million for that G-Zoom mention. Foolishly, I'd been taking on smaller jobs, renting out a full wireless follow focus, and paying an assistant to pull focus for me. All the while, I was waiting on a solution from Redrock with their MicroRemote. I'm finally glad to have found something similar in function and for a completely reasonable price.

 

What is your experience with the G-Zoom? How comfortable is it to operate while pulling your own focus with that thumb-rocker? Any tips or tricks for that method of working?

 

Again, thanks very much!

[Mark Schlicher]

Adam,

 

Having an assistant pulling focus is by far the preferred way to work. The G-zoom (and the similar-in-function Stanton zoom/focus controller) is really designed for live broadcast work, where you are using broadcast lenses with internal zoom motors and a standard plug-in interface. For focusing, you still need to add a focus motor and control box (see "G-focus" on the G-zoom website.) So the cost goes up substantially.

 

More importantly, the focus knob is a small knob on the underside of the G-zoom. The rocker is for zooming. while it is fairly easy to zoom smoothly while shooting (with a compatible lens, of course), it's nearly impossible to pull focus accurately during a shot. The focus function is mainly useful for resetting focus in between shots. It's no substitute for having a wireless setup and focus puller for film-style shoots.

 

There's a fair amount of info in the forum archives on the G-zoom, you should do a search if you haven't already.

 

Specific cameras such as the Panasonic HPX-170 have dedicated zoom/focus/iris controllers (Varizoom) that can be mounted on the gimbal but, unfortunately, there are not any inexpensive gimbal-mounted focus systems that are "universal". For the low end jobs you either rent, or go without focus control and design your shots around the inability to focus during the shot.