Zephyr Next Steps

[Alex Hampton]

Hey all, 

My name is Alex, and I'm a 21-year-old (junior) steadicam operator located in Chicago. About 6 months ago, I purchased the original Zephyr Kit (without the A-30 arm upgrade), have been practicing consistently on my own time, and started operating for smaller (unpaid) Student projects in the area. After checking the price of the professional workshops, I thought I might be better off purchasing a beginner rig to learn the basics in a "trial-by-fire" kind of way. 

I'm going into my last year of film school at Columbia College this year, and having the structure of consistent projects has been great for finding low-pressure beginner Steadicam opportunities. Recently, I started picking up some paid gigs on smaller independent short films, and am about to wrap a feature that I've been 2nd ACing and intermitently Steadicam Operating on. 

I'm still very much a beginner operator, but I want to keep my sights set on what the next step is as I'm becoming more comfortable with the rig. 

My main question now is what is worth upgrading to at this point? I think the most intimidating part of accepting work for me right now is that I don't have a volt... I made it a point of learning without one, but at this point, I would be spending 6 grand on installing a volt in my Zephyr, which just doesn't seem worth it. I also know that if I plan on upgrading, I'd need to buy a vest, arm, and sled separately (since I'll need to sell my Zephyr kit altogether).

With the new Elite kit coming out, it seems like a great option for an intermediate weight capacity, which lines up with the cameras I'm normally flying. I've also been looking at upgrading to an M2 sled and investing in a G-50x or G-70x arm, but the price tag of buying those pieces separately on top of replacing the Zephyr vest is a hefty investment. 

I know Steadicam is an expensive career choice, but I'm trying to stay smart with the amount of debt I'm going into (seeing as I already have enough with student loans). If anyone has any suggestions on what to upgrade first, or has gone through something similar, I'd truly appreciate any sort of insight. 

Again, I'm a very new operator, so I know any kind of upgrade is a ways down the road, but I want to keep myself realistic and know what I should be saving for in the long run. 

Thanks, 

Alex