Premium Members Beau Cuizon Posted October 11, 2014 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted October 11, 2014 Peter: Hmm...Best to let sleeping dogs lie, then! But please, carry on with the stories, they are so very interesting, and filled with history and surprises! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Martin Newstead Posted October 13, 2014 Premium Members Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 Wow, great stories! I started when I was a BBC staffer in the late nineties, a steadicam op came in to work on a show we were doing, he had an efp which he let me have a go with. I got myself on one of the Optex courses being run by Robin Thwaites, I think master series was a fairly new rig at the time and we had three to practice with. I don't think I realised what I was getting into as I stomped up and down the corridor of Ravensbourne college strapped into the thing complete with a BVP7 betacam on top, my back muscles burned and the sweat came in buckets... Robin said "this is quite a lightweight camera, wait till you put a BL4 on there!" So as I had done the course, and the BBC had spent money sending me for training I was punted out as an op, using a hired in rig whenever the need arose, this led to a glaring realisation that you need constant practice to have any hope.... I really wanted to practice at home, lacking any form of suitable rig I got a broom handle and attached a dumbell weight to both ends to practice 'gimble control'....ahh After saving up some pennies I bought a Glidecam V8... which was slightly better than the dumbell/broomhandle arrangement as I could put a camera on it. I made some mods, added a tiny lcd screen and battery, and started doing student projects in downtime. The V8 was frustrating because the weight range was limited, the vest uncomfortable and the sled would go out of balance if anyone breathed on it, so I set about saving for a better rig. It was on this very forum that I saw a used model 1 sled and vest for sale by Rich Davies, I bought it, got a model 2 arm from Hugo over in Oz, and away I went! Loved that rig, my first real steadicam, I can't remember the sleds serial number but It was very low, (was it 26?). It had the derose mod for the battery and a wrap grip. Eventually the BBC station I worked for bought a fantastic shiny brand new Ultra, and sent Robin over to train a few more of us, so I eventually sold my model 1 rig. When I went freelance in 2010 I bought a secondhand master series, again did some mods adding a colour screen (chrosziel first, now an ultrabright), ditching the original battery packs in favour of V-locks etc. Still love my master series, great rig for the time, easy setup and can carry just about every camera you can throw at it. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Beau Cuizon Posted October 14, 2014 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 Great story, Martin. I remember those first generation Glidecams...really, really crude, and rudimentary, but they did work. I remember how big, and unwieldy those original glidecam arms were, what with the huge blokcy spring covers, and visible welding points, and such! Lucky you had a model 1 in your hands...that's like living history! Hope you took some pics! It's cool that your employer spent some money to get your trained up. I've been in broadcast for many years here in the US...and getting our bosses to pay for anything, especially training or professional development is almost impossible. That fact that your station actually bought an Ultra is astonishing, to me! For many years, these corporate companies that own our stations, they were mostly concerned with cutting staff, and expenses, which meant buying cheaper, and smaller, if buying anything at all. It's changed a little now, in some cases, out of necessity. Just our of curiosity -- when you went freelance, did you know there was enough work in Steadicam to make a living? Or were you just winging it? Anyways, thanks for sharing your story...always interesting to see where people come from, and how far that have gone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Beau Cuizon Posted October 17, 2014 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted October 17, 2014 We've had some great stories over the last week, about how you all got into your first rigs -- anyone else care to share theirs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Beau Cuizon Posted November 3, 2015 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 It's been a while since anyone has added any stories to the thread...anyone out there want to share? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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