Premium Members benedictspence Posted September 16, 2005 Premium Members Report Share Posted September 16, 2005 Damn it! I just bought a Pro Arm (and a lovely thing it is too!)- I need reassurance that I did the right thing! And Hi to Imran- found the photos of us at the optex course on your website- very funny ... seems like a long time ago! Ben Spence Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Thomas English Posted September 16, 2005 Premium Members Report Share Posted September 16, 2005 don t worry Ben, The g70 won t come out for ages! you ll have made your money back by then. The weapon of choice on cheap bread and butter promo s at the moment seems to be varicam gekko ringlight downconverter singlechannel bartech 2 lightweight pags on a recent promo i weighed it and this comes to a grand total of 55lbs on my sled. So I figured forget the g50 and bought a nice workhorse master and now I am confident! in a year and a half, when it comes out..... ill get a g70 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members WillArnot Posted September 16, 2005 Premium Members Report Share Posted September 16, 2005 I have yet to have the pleasure of trying the new G-70, G-50 but continue to hear nothing but great things. The two main things I love about my PRO arm are: -the modularity. I can completely dissassemble the arm and clean and lube every washer, and joint / trunion etc. I love this. With my old Master Arm there was always that niggling feeling in the back of my mind that I would have to find a time to send the arm in for servicing after extended time in dirty / windy / humid / sandy / salty conditions. You (I believe) still cannot dismantle the Tiffen arm and are therefore bound to sending it to Tiffen for an overhaul. Unless you have a 2nd arm you are therefore at the mercy of Tiffen's workload before getting your arm back. And certainly if you are working out of the country in adverse conditions where service isn't an option, build up of foreign matter in the arm may result in having to actually replace the bearings and trunions if you can't service the arm yourself within a day or so of being caught in such conditions. I have found myself in this scenario on several occasions and have been so utterly relieved that I can take care of such problems myself right away, rather than needing the help of a busy company. Of course the spring canisters themselves are totally weather / dust / dirt proof. -secondly. Hats off to a greatly increased working range on the new arm. But that still doesn't cover the 9-14 lb weight range for super-light applications such as my video finder that I use for extended blocking on certain jobs. The video finder on my back up PRO lite running sled comes in at 11 lbs. With my PRO arm i simply remove 2 black spring canisters, leaving 2 blue spring canisters dialed down about halfway each and I have the slickest, lightest, most responsive light-wieght arm I could hope for. When it is time to go back to the full 35mm XCS sled I simply re-insert the two black springs (about 20 seconds total) and off I go, no trimming the arm to find the sweet spot etc. It is all pre-set in this manner. Beyond just the video finder, even on a full 35mm movie I have sometimes had to fly just a consumer DV handicam as coverage within a scene or some such thing. Much better to have an arm that can go super light, than have to create more mass for a light camera you want to fly. -and of course if there is ever a problem with a spring canister you can send off just that canister and still have a fully working arm (if you have a full canister package 4-blue 4-black). This can be the difference between being available in a pinch and adaptable to unforseen circumstances, and being unable to take or continue a job. This you can't really put a price tag on. Again, hats off to Tiffen, Garrett, and Jerry for their undying quest for improvement. But I'm undoubtedly keeping the PRO arm as my primary arm. I might consider switching out my Master Arm to one of the new ones as a back up. Will Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Mouraud Posted September 24, 2005 Report Share Posted September 24, 2005 We've had the chance to extensively use the new G70 arm at our workshop. What a treat. This new arm is nothing else but fabulous. It is capable of dolly shots at the slowest speed. We used it for Garrett's shot upstairs, which started with a slow creep into a makeup room. No matter how slow we got, it never showed anything on screen. Garrett was also very impressed with it (and would hand out 50? banknotes to anyone who would say good things about it :P ) and I must say that the Ultra sled with the G70 arm was just fantastic, with tilt-head and electric trim on the sled. We were able to test it against the lastest Pro arm and it holds the comparison, with the benefit of on-the-fly adfjustments. It is light, yet thanks to its coaxial springs design, it will accept up to 70 pounds. Again, the "ride" is amazing. And at way less than $20k it should be a seller. But then a lot of people also got very surprised by how good the Glidecam Gold rig actually is, including world-class operators... :lol: :ph34r: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobgilles Posted September 25, 2005 Report Share Posted September 25, 2005 Wow, pricey stuff! Is the G50 priced at under $10,000? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mikko Wilson Posted September 25, 2005 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted September 25, 2005 Jep G50 is *just* under $10k (like $9xxx something) -Mikko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Mouraud Posted September 25, 2005 Report Share Posted September 25, 2005 Since when money is a consideration in our trade ? :P I haven't been impressed by the G50, honestly. It's a good arm, fairly light and all, but nothing tremendous, where the G70 is absolutely incredible. Then it is at least $5000 cheaper than a Pro and it delivers, baby, it delivers. And last but not least, cheap and Steadicam, these are words that don't go together well :ph34r: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Thomas English Posted September 25, 2005 Premium Members Report Share Posted September 25, 2005 I reckon the g70 will be an incredible contender, but as stephen murphy and will arnot pointed out; How easy is the g70 to clean ? can a monkey like myself simply take it apart and clean it or do I need to spend $2000 on a service ? Will I need to wear arm covers in the rain? I just bought a master arm, but I would be wanting to make a decision to buy one or the other next year when the choice/funds are available. Really it is still a close call. I would love it if some pro veterans would try it out and review it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members JamieSilverstein Posted September 25, 2005 Premium Members Report Share Posted September 25, 2005 I think that the lesson learned here is that you probably can't have everything. Its difficult to have a great arm at a price that is less that what GPI is charging that is field servicable and is as flexible as the PRO arm. However, you have to acknowledge that Tiffen is now making strides in an equally admirable direction, namely, in making an arm that is responsive and of overall good quality at a very reasonable/affordable price. REALITY CHECK...... Before the PRO arm, all arms had exposed parts, and there was some marvelous photography made with them. Infact some of the best shots in Steadicam history were made with arms of far less technology. Yet another way to look at it...... How many cleanings would it take to equal the cost of the PRO arm if one were to buy the 70 arm? If the answer is more than say 10 then you are looking at a good deal. I have owned my Masters arm for 8 or 9 years, and have had it cleaned and maintained 3 times, at the cost of about $500.00 per time. If you are shooting in the desert all of the time, then I would agree, you might want to/ BETTER DAMN WELL get the PRO arm. It only makes sense given the rigors of your environment. If you live in a metropolitan area and a vast majority of your work is done in that environ, then either arm is probably a great choice. Hell a good 3A arm would probably do just fine for the type of shots most of us do on a regular basis. How about that Rig Engineering arm for that matter? Its good to see another arm out there stirring up the interest of the masses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobgilles Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 I thought the G50 was a lighter version of the same design? In terms of design, how is the G70 radically better in perfomance and feel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Mouraud Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 You are right. I think the G50 doesn't have the coaxial spring design. I didn't fall in love with it the way I did with the G70, though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nils Ruinet Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 Funny, I didn't feel a big difference between both arms (G50 / G70). I mean, sure the G70 is much better as it carries a wider weight range (15-70 lbs), but when operating both arms felt quite similar to me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mikko Wilson Posted September 26, 2005 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 Hmm.. the "ride" adjusts the feel of the arm... the arms felt different to everyone, sometimes the same, sometimes different... I guess Ride works! :) - Mikko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nils Ruinet Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 Yep Mikko you must be right, I think the G70 was adjusted to a less isoelastic feeling. That's the great point with these arms, everyone can adjust them as he likes... The same could be achieved with the G50. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Garrett Brown Posted September 26, 2005 Premium Members Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 Thanks for all your comments/reactions. BTW: Both the G-50 and the G-70 can be user-disassembled... the spring backs off easily to zero tension and the trunnions unscrew giving access to all parts... We'll look into providing a manual that describes the procedure. The G-50 doesn't even have any spacers. GB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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