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Flyer issues


benedictspence

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Hi kids!

 

Just been doing a shoot for MTV today down in brixton. Was using a flyer because they wanted to shoot on HDV.... so we got there and started setting up; I added a couple of weight plates and an Audio 2020 reciever + teletest 2.4ghz transmitter to bring the weight upto something with a touch of inertia to it. Came to balance the sled and I found the gimbal very VERY sticky.

Both the bearings in the yoke of the gimbal (the side-side tilt) and the bearings in the handle (the front-back tilt) seem to have got really sticky. Panning was unaffected.

 

Made it impossible to balance properly since the post would happily sit a good 3 degrees off vertial in every direction. Even with really quick drop time (2 secs) it wouldn't fall into place and hang vertically- it would only "grind" (not that extreme though) to a halt a few degrees off.

 

I find the flyer a bit twitchy at the best of times due to its light weight but this definetly added alot of, well, shake to the picture...

 

Now the thing is, although the Rig was from a facilities company I know for a fact that it has only been used 6 times, and 4 of those times were by me! It hasn't got wet, or sandy or anything nasty like that and is only 2 months old. Has anyone had a problem like this before with the flyer or should I just get them to phone up Robin at Optex and have it checked out... thoughts anyone??

 

Ta V much!

 

Ben

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Hi Ben

I thought I had the Flyer concession for the Lambeth area covered, drat.

Yes the gimbal should be smooth in all axis and sounds like a problem.

BTW the spring from my Flyer arm dropped out the other day a bit scarry to say the least but something to watch out for. At the bottom end of each spring is pin held in with a grub screw that has a bit of varnish or loctite or something to keep it in. Well one of these grub screws had worked its way out and the pins then fell apart. Not too tricky to fix after staring at the thing for an hour or so.

My Flyer has gone off to the wilds of Namibia for 3 weeks so will be interesting to see how it holds up

What did you think of the HDV cam ?

Next time you are in the Brixton area please make sure you obtain a daily Lambeth Flyer license from our office please.

Easy now

joe

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Hi Joe! Hi Robin!

 

Sorry Joe- I was working through the facilities place otherwise I would have gone straight to you for the hire! Much as I love to hate little DV cameras like the PD-150, I must say that the sony HDV isn't that bad a camera. It's nice and easy to use- less fiddly menus and dials than the pd-150. It's got a nice, resonably wide lens- far wider than the PD-150 had. Obv there is the true anamorphic picture (can finally burn those horrible PDX-10's ) and the 25p and film looks are great.

 

Still niggles however- LCD is still pretty horrible and hard to focus on, damn annoying minijack breakout thing for video out, can't review footage in 1080 mode at all and it's far to easy to nudge that little menu wheel at the back when you are shooting. If I had to use a little semi-pro camera then the HDV would be my camera of choice!

 

Still though the HDV mode does look great- have only seen it on the computer but the increase in resolution and colour depth is amazing! What do you think of the thing?

 

Robin- I've got a job with the same company tonight (just regular lighting camera) so I'll have a moan at them to send the rig back to you- have also warned them to NOT just try spraying WD-40 in there! Cheers mate!

 

 

Ben

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Next time you are in the Brixton area please make sure you obtain a daily Lambeth Flyer license from our office please.

 

Please explain what this means? Because, to someone unfamiliar trying to understand this statement, it could well mean that if someone is bringing their own Steadicam in to the Brixton area for a one-day shoot, they must first purchase a license to operate it from you.

 

Tell me this is not true. What does this quote mean, please?

 

Peter Abraham

New York

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And , to address the OP. I've had my hands on ( possibly ) more Flyer gimbals than almost anyone else around. This includes both prototype Flyers.

 

None of them were anything except very slick and even in all axis. I would encourage you to contact Tiffen in LA directly regarding such a serious issue. My guess sight unseen is that a few bits of grit have indeed gotten into the gimbal. That is simply not the way any Flyer gimbal should act or feel.

 

Give Frank Rush or Robert Orf a call at Tiffen in LA. :)

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Yeah, Joe has the Lambeth area covered- not really allowed to shoot anything on a Steadicam or 'any other body mounted camera stabilisation system' (to quote the local union laws) unless we get the relevant paperwork sorted.

 

Na- not really. Joe was just kidding (I hope!).

 

Living in London can sometimes be a bit of a beaurocratic nightmare. But it's not that bad!

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