Premium Members Alan Rencher Posted February 2, 2013 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Reduser.net (and by extension, Red users) is a cesspool. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Ruscher Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 I have to admit I have used this rig before but before you start telling me I'm a disgrace to steadicam operators everywhere, there is a good reason. The rental house in my area gets tons of (Red) operators saying how they want a Steadicam rig. At the time of this increase they only had a Zephyr and Scout. Half of the time it would come back damaged, scratched, dropped whatever. So they decided to buy a cheap chinese knock off and only allow professionals to rent the Zephyr and those with solid experience to rent the Scout. I think that is a great idea and helps out the rental house. I've been able to try out both the Scout and Knockoff and although I am a noob, I could see why the Scout costs more. However, I do like having the option of learning the basics on a cheap rig and can rent for only $150 for the weekend while I save for a real rig. Not a bad training tool and helps out the rental house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Alan Rencher Posted February 2, 2013 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 (edited) They were renting the cheap rig for $150? That seems like a lot. A $5,600 Bartech rents for $125 here in LA, and they're charging more for something that only costs $1,500? I'm not knocking someone who wants to rent a cheap rig to learn a bit. I (and others it seems) are tired of these Red guys thinking that they can buy some cheap, shoddy equipment and with no skill and very little practice, they can be a Steadicam operator. Its insulting to our years of experience and investment in high quality gear. Just look through discussions on this forum. We care about our craft, and we are always looking to educate ourselves. Edited February 2, 2013 by Alan Rencher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Ruscher Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 That does seem a bit high but for here in DC, that's my only options. I think the Zephyr is $250 or $300. I definitely see where you are coming from. I'm just trying to do it right without going bankrupt :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members David M. Aronson Posted February 3, 2013 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 Rob, If you and I are thinking of the same rental house, The Zephyr is $250, The scout is $200, and the knockoff is $150. Their 1 channel Preston kit is $150. The Preston kit is almost double the knock off new and they charge the same. To me, that means that the cheap rig will only last for a few months before becoming beyond repair and dieing a well deserved death. If you're ever down by Arlington, give me a call and we'll grab lunch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Ruscher Posted February 3, 2013 Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 Cool thanks David. I lived in Arlington for about a year and know I'm in Alexandria and working in Old Town. And I think we are talking about the same rental house! Well said. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Erwin Landau Posted February 4, 2013 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 What do you expect? They bought a RED to begin with... rest my case! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members David M. Aronson Posted February 5, 2013 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Shhhh. Erwin, don't let them hear you say that. They might decide that they no longer want to hire Steadicam ops because they think that we charge too much and can do it better themselves with a cheap Chinese knockoff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Erwin Landau Posted February 5, 2013 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 To late David... On a RED shoot a while ago I encountered a DIT that was one of those RED devotees... He was gushing about the RED One and how it was the beginning and the end of all Cameras. Needless to say I gave him a piece of my mind of what I thought of his precious clunker. I ended up named and discussed on the RED forum as apparently I scarred the poor guy shitless... but anyhow... Also a while back I got roped in to help out on a feature shot on two RED One's. They belonged to the DP, as did the lenses and basically everything related to the camera department, of course any useful AKS to make it work with the Steadi was missing. Pretty quickly I could tell that he was solely hired on the bases that he brought all that gear to the shoot and he was very sure of himself that he could never loose that position. It was one of those painful shows including the AC that was pulling focus off of the onboard monitor, complete with her repositioning the same while we were doing takes... it took me a while to figure out why my balance was constantly shifting... And of course the DP wanted to teach me how to composite and execute every shoot as well as teach me how to operate the steadicam... needless to say the couple of days didn't go well. I left the show only to get a call the following week from the producer to ask me to come back... with the explanation and the incentive that the DP has been let go and that they had a better set up rented for me... enough said. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Chris Poynton Posted February 6, 2013 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 It seems some of the people on the RedUser forum are now leaning away from buying the Chinese Steadicam systems and towards a more high-tech solution ... from Peter Jackson ... known as the "Cheap as Chups" Steadicam, as used on Bad Taste (1987). It seems no-one who uses these cheap rigs gets anywhere in this biz ... [thanks to Brett Harrison of Mebourne for digging up this timely reminder!] 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mohamad Faiz Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 http://news.doddleme.com/news-room/chinese-steadicam-knockoff-shows-up-on-ebay/..... I am incensed by this report.... Feel like telling the editor that he shouldn't quit his radio job... As technically he knows nuts...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kellermann Posted March 6, 2013 Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 Hey, I'm the guy to blame for this group buy. I was browsing this forum to find some information about other rigs and stumbled on this thread. I do believe that most of you got this whole approach the wrong way. This group buy is supposed to give REDuser members, who can't afford to hire professional operators with rigs, the opportunity to accomplish rather stabilized shots (in contrast to hand held shots) in their own no budget projects. Think of it this way: you have a nice idea for a short film you could shoot with friends over the weekend, but other than a steadicam no camera equipment, since you normally work on jobs where these items are provided. Would you rather not shoot the clip or go with a cheap DSLR? Nobody (or at least I hope so) will call himself a steadicam operator, just because he purchased this rig. As this rig definitively has many short comings, we used the size of our group to ask for modifications of this rig. Their might be some REDuser mebers, who act sometimes rude or exhibit strong fan-boy behavior. But hey, they are not alone: Reduser.net (and by extension, Red users) is a cesspool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Jason Glucksman Posted March 6, 2013 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 How would you feel after spending $35k+ for an Epic and accessories and then have a knockoff Red camera come out for about $850? But hey, even if it's not quite as good as the RED, it can get the shots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kellermann Posted March 6, 2013 Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 How would you feel after spending $35k+ for an Epic and accessories and then have a knockoff Red camera come out for about $850? But hey, even if it's not quite as good as the RED, it can get the shots. There is an 850USD RED alternative. It's called a DSLR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Michael Maga Posted March 6, 2013 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 "Nobody (or at least I hope so) will call himself a steadicam operator, just because he purchased this rig." I cant believe you even had the audacity to post that... I cant imagine there is a person here that would believe it. I guarantee as soon as guys use it, many of these guys will list "steadicam operator" on there resume. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.