Proper way to fly wired?

[Kevin Stiller]

Hi all.

 

Friday and Saturday I have two different gigs back to back, both of which are desiring to have direct input monitoring on camera. Neither production has wireless monitoring, so I need to be prepared to fly directly wired in. These gigs will be the first that I fly wired, so I was wondering if anyone here had advice on how I can successfully rig this?

 

Many thanks!

Kevin

 

 

 

Also - Does there exist any other downconverters for HDSDI to bnc other than the redbyte decimator? Im just trying to look at options and can't seem to find many. Starting to fly the epic and need a monitoring solution.

[Mike Germond SOC]

6ft is usually a good length. Thinnest and most flexible coax you can find. Terry West makes great BNC jumpers. Run it from the camera to your shoulder, the barrel into the thicker stuff that goes to video village.

 

If its SMPTE fiber you're dealing with, call up Suzanne Spera at Phoenix Optix for a 6ft Steadicam jumper. They run $575. (401) 637-4600

 

If its Triax, go with option #1 and use the Kings Triax-to-coax adapters like these http://www.gepco.com/products/distributed/conntools_video/adapt_triaxtocoax.htm

[Kevin Stiller]

6ft is usually a good length. Thinnest and most flexible coax you can find. Terry West makes great BNC jumpers. Run it from the camera to your shoulder, the barrel into the thicker stuff that goes to video village.

 

If its SMPTE fiber you're dealing with, call up Suzanne Spera at Phoenix Optix for a 6ft Steadicam jumper. They run $575. (401) 637-4600

 

If its Triax, go with option #1 and use the Kings Triax-to-coax adapters like these http://www.gepco.com/products/distributed/conntools_video/adapt_triaxtocoax.htm

 

Thanks for your input Mike. Turns out that one of the productions is using a very long SDI cable to go directly from the epic to video village. How would you recommend I wire that safely so it does not tug?

 

I'll keep your suggestions in mind for future gigs when I need to be going coax.

[Victor Lazaro]

And you can't rent a paralinx arrow or a teradeck bolt? They're cheap and will save you a lot if trouble.

[Kevin Stiller]

And you can't rent a paralinx arrow or a teradeck bolt? They're cheap and will save you a lot if trouble.

 

I haven't been able to find rental houses carrying wireless monitoring equipment in my area unfortunately. (Downtown Pittsburgh, PA)

[Frederic Sturm]

Hi Kevin,

 

Generally you'll want to fix the cable to your vest, whereever its most out of the way and the other end to the steadicam.

 

The steadicam operators Handbook then suggests a method of slinging the cable around your operating arm twice and

letting it leave your hand directly below the gimbal.

 

I tried that with success, yet have been shown a much more comfortable and reliable method by Larry McConkey.

 

Just fix the cable directly next to the gimbal (by means of a small clamp and some sort of

arm), where it has the smallest possible lever arm. Then just let it fall straight down freely and loop back up to the attachment point

on your vest. That way it will create almost no tug mounted right next to the gimbal, have the largest possible loop to give stiffer

cables the least chance of exerting force, and won't interfere with your arms.

 

Larry did this with a whole bunch of not really flexible cables from the Alexa 3D rig on hugo, with great success. Those were so many

cables that he even had a flexible belt attached to the cables that he just ran around his vest so he didn't need to reattach them all

everytime. Personally, I'd still try to get a flexible HD-SDI jumper, since the very long SDI cables are usually quite stiff.

 

Hope that helps =)

[Kevin Stiller]

Hi Kevin,

 

Generally you'll want to fix the cable to your vest, whereever its most out of the way and the other end to the steadicam.

 

The steadicam operators Handbook then suggests a method of slinging the cable around your operating arm twice and

letting it leave your hand directly below the gimbal.

 

I tried that with success, yet have been shown a much more comfortable and reliable method by Larry McConkey.

 

Just fix the cable directly next to the gimbal (by means of a small clamp and some sort of

arm), where it has the smallest possible lever arm. Then just let it fall straight down freely and loop back up to the attachment point

on your vest. That way it will create almost no tug mounted right next to the gimbal, have the largest possible loop to give stiffer

cables the least chance of exerting force, and won't interfere with your arms.

 

Larry did this with a whole bunch of not really flexible cables from the Alexa 3D rig on hugo, with great success. Those were so many

cables that he even had a flexible belt attached to the cables that he just ran around his vest so he didn't need to reattach them all

everytime. Personally, I'd still try to get a flexible HD-SDI jumper, since the very long SDI cables are usually quite stiff.

 

Hope that helps =)

 

Frederic, that's a huge help. Thank you. When you say "Next to the gimbal" Do you mean directly above or below it?

[Emanuele Chiari]

Hi Kevin...

a good alternative to a monitor HD (cinetronics or transvideo) is The BlackMagic Miniconverter Sdi to Analog.... never had a problem in 2 years of work... Cheap... Is still in My equipment attacked to My backup monitor....

( use it with a regulared 12 Volts input )

[Kevin Stiller]

Hi Kevin...

a good alternative to a monitor HD (cinetronics or transvideo) is The BlackMagic Miniconverter Sdi to Analog.... never had a problem in 2 years of work... Cheap... Is still in My equipment attacked to My backup monitor....

( use it with a regulared 12 Volts input )

 

I'll take a look at this. Thanks!

[NOT Simon Blouin]

Hi Kevin,

 

I've been facing this situation a lot lately. The best way I figured out was to plug a thin BNC into the camera and run the cable up to the center of the rig just underneath the camera, then put a piece of velcro onto the cable as well as onto the top stage, then another piece up to the gimbal. So your cable is never affecting the sled. Then you get a BNC female-female adapter and plug it in whatever cable they have at video village.

 

The Velcro is really great to keep the cable where it should be and making the rig look better and more professional. (No cables floating everywhere...)

 

There ya go, worked well for me! :)

 

Good luck!

[Alan Rencher]

I have a carabiner that hangs from my vest on my back near my right armpit (I fly regular). I take the bnc from video village, and I make a loop in one end. I then take that loop and hang it from the carabiner. From there, I connect a lightweight jumper to the camera. This way protects the camera, takes the slack off, and didn't pull your sled. You can also add a quick disconnect to the line in case your utility slacks off.

 

The carabiner also doubles as a hook for hanging the vest off of the Steadistand knuckle.

[Charles Papert]

http://www.charlespapert.net/gearsale/dual_bnc_jumper.html