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G50 / G70 / G50X / G70X Maintenance


Mariano Costa

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With all due respect for Larry, i think you need to try and compare yourself wich arm you prefer.

I also did a 3d Movie overhere, and i found the pro handle it better then my G70. The G70 was way more stiff under that load, so i took my Pro. Never looked back. Also with the footsteps, i dont have any troubels with them. is it my operating? I dont know, nor do i care anymore, i dont have them in my footage. But again, i didnt try the New G arms, perhaps the are way better, i didnt want to invest in that upgrade anymore, the adventure was done for me. See if you can loan an arm for a few day's and make your decision on your own feelings, thats what i would suggest to you.

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I had my G50 disassembled for cleaning and greasing of the bearings. I didn't do that, I'm for sure not capable of, but the guy who did it said it's easy. Anyway big change in the behavior of the arm. It now flies very smooth. I'm still fighting with the impressions of footstepping but I now understand how to avoid them with my operating hand, I can tell when they're going to show up and control them. Just to be clear it's something I've never got said on set, no one (DPs and directors) ever said me they could see my footsteps. It's something for my will of precision.

stay well and have good holidays

 

mq

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Gentlemen,

 

Would you mind elaborating on how you remove footsteps with your boom hand? I run a de-tuned arm and have only seen my footsteps show on the screen when I really mess up my footwork. It ends up being more of a single, solitary, soft clunk and not the more pronounced jogging bounce.

 

Thanks much for any light you can shed on this.

 

*2*

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it's like you said Twojay, a single solitary soft clunk. when I got the arm back, cleaned and greased, I did my usual test pointing 90 degrees and having a line to follow. I was with a steadicam friend both looking at my monitor. When I feel the bounce I tell him to watch but he never see it. Little screen, it might be this, but I was able to feel when it was coming and in a way keep the boom hand stronger for seconds just to keep this releasing tension coming out as this solitary soft single clunk. Don't know if I made myself clear, it's difficult to explain it in italian. I have a G50 old model, do you have an iso arm Twojay?

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That makes sense, Matteo. You're increasing either upward or downward pressure when you're anticipating the clunk to happen. I use a PRO arm, myself. I never see footsteps, or this "clunk" unless my feet either get tangled or I take an overly long step.

 

With the level that our gear is at (at an industry-wide level), I think we can almost always take the equipment out of the equation and look at our operating as the variable that is inducing any unwanted motion within the frame.

 

Happy Holidays!

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With the level that our gear is at (at an industry-wide level), I think we can almost always take the equipment out of the equation and look at our operating as the variable that is inducing any unwanted motion within the frame.

 

No we can't, that's why Tiffen had to "Fix" the G- Series arm.

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Hi friends!.

I was speaking... mmm, sorry, ..e-maiing with Larry, and this is the answer he sent me to my question: ¿Why did you use PRO arm for this shot?

 

 

 

Armando,

I am very happy with my G70 as well, but the load from 2 Alexas, 2 lenses and the 3D rig, along with 1-2 extra batteries was too much for the G70. I could adjust it high enough to lift the sled, but it was very, very "springy" and it twisted significantly as well, making me somewhat worried about its integrity, but also causing the Steadicam yoke to twist in the direction of the twist, not where I wanted it to be for operating. I counted every ounce as I helped design the 3D rig, and made all my own cables, stripping all insulation, even stripped down the connectors, potting the actual with epoxy instead of the metal shells, but finally, when the cameras finally arrived (a week before shooting started, I had to deal with the weight. I didn't even weigh it all at that point, but it was certainly 90+ lbs, and the G70 just didn't perform well enough.

So I rented a PRO arm from the local rental house and they tested every spring the had to give me the strongest possible. I adjusted them to the very top and never touched it after that. I had to make a custom connector block from my back mount harness to the arm as well to position it properly and take the weight as well. The PRO arm worked beautifully, acting with exactly the same effort needed to boom full up and full down as it down with a lighter load, about 4 lbs each direction. The G70 at that load was nearing 20 lbs of effort for full up or down!

I was also happy to go back to the G70 since then as it is lighter and more easily adjustable, but I really have a great deal of respect for the engineering the the PRO arm. I would love to have both!

Larry

 

My post is only for information about it.

Merry Xmas and all my best wishes to all colleagues, vets or newbies of this... OUR WORK.

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the load from 2 Alexas, 2 lenses and the 3D rig, along with 1-2 extra batteries was too much for the G70. I could adjust it high enough to lift the sled, but it was very, very "springy" and it twisted significantly as well, making me somewhat worried about its integrity, but also causing the Steadicam yoke to twist in the direction of the twist, not where I wanted it to be for operating....

 

but it was certainly 90+ lbs, and the G70 just didn't perform well enough.

 

So I rented a PRO arm from the local rental house....

 

I adjusted them to the very top and never touched it after that....

 

The PRO arm worked beautifully, acting with exactly the same effort needed to boom full up and full down as it down with a lighter load, about 4 lbs each direction. The G70 at that load was nearing 20 lbs of effort for full up or down!

 

Interesting information. It matches with what several former Tiffen customers have said in the past and observations I've made. Notice his statement about the arm twisting but doesn't say that about the PRO arm. Also "Springy" "Making me somewhat worried about its integrity" and "needed 20lbs of effort for full up or down" take that as you want but when you consider that the PRO arm didn't behave like that you have to really start asking yourself which arm truly is better...

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