Much ado about?

[Fred]

NA

[RobVanGelder]

Uhh? What´s up doc?

Who are you and what´s your business?

 

Before we go into lengthy detail about this subject would you please mind telling us who you are and why you claim to have made the best system ever?

 

And I might help to be a bit more specific about those "dilemma´s " you are talking about!

 

Rob van Gelder, Bangkok, Thailand

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

"What Is steadicam? I Having designed the best steadicam sytem in the world

Just a few questions.

 

What is your best Steadicam system in the world?

 

Who are you

 

what have you done?

 

Now Please answer the question and do not repost your original post.....

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

"WHAT IS, AND WHAT DEFINES STEADICAM? "

 

QUID PRO QUO

Seems like you don't know much about Steadicam

 

It also seems like your a bit of a troll

 

Is it too much for you to answer the questions that i posted.

[RobVanGelder]

It seems to me that a "member" since the begnning of this year but only posting once (this very strange post we´re reacting to) is not in any way connected to the working steadicam operators gathered on this board.

 

Therefore I think it is not very realistic to get into discussion with him anymore!

 

Rob van Gelder, Bangkok, Thailand

[JimBartell]

spectrabei = Steve Byro.

 

Now THAT is unfortunate.

 

Jim "unafraid to use my name" Bartell

[RonBaldwin]

Mr Bartell beat me to the punch (again! -- drat!).

 

ladies and gentlemen, we have just been honored by a visit from Steve Byro. He was touting some new revolutionary product a year or so ago that of course he could not tell anyone about. Do a search in the archives to learn more about this.

 

The work on Andy's rig he is referring to is indeed pretty cool -- a 6 inch crt installed into a 3A's monitor housing (a most excellent and large picture). He is quite good with steadicam electronics, and does very nice work...if you can track him down and/or get him to return your calls (and in some cxases, your equipment). I wonder if John has his sled back yet? How many years was it? 2? 3? Or do you still have it? I really don't know. John Hankammer had prepaid him to re-wire his back-up 3A sled to match his primary sled (which Steve completely overhauled) so the electronic modules could be swapped if/when it blew). Steve not only took his time, but took the sled with him when he moved to Chicago without telling anybody. It took John several months to track him down -- only to be given excuses and told that more $$ was needed to complete the work, after a price had been agreed on.

 

So everyone prepare for a scathing response with some great excuses to explain why he really isn't a flake, but a visionary and engineering god. You should have expected this kind of welcome here Steve...

 

...and to answer your question about what is steadicam -- it's the operator.

 

Ron Baldwin.

[Michael Stumpf]

Like I've asked from Tim Tyler from the beginning of this NEW forum. This is just another example of why we should of stayed with the old format of using each register person's REAL name, not a "username" and also each member's location.

 

It would of also helped to keep their original date of joining the Steadicam Forum, instead of starting with new dates with the new 2004 Forum.

 

Michael

 

"Still hoping...it would help eliminate things like this thread"

[Michael Stumpf]

...and to answer your question about what is steadicam -- it's the operator. 

 

Ron Baldwin.

NICE Ron! I second that!

 

I was once approached, well bugged endlessly for 3 days on a music video, by a Gaffer who once said to me, "that's what I'm going to do next" I said, "What's that?"

He said, "get a Steadicam and be a Steadicam Operator"

 

I said, "wow, that's funny, I was thinking of buying a light meter and becoming a Gaffer."

 

Your not a Race Car driver just because you own a race car. And you're NOT a Steadicam operator, just because you own a Steadicam. Just like ANY profession, it's the person who makes the job, not the equipment.

 

I've never thought of that response Ron, but that sums it up perfectly!

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

Well since we have outed this tool I think we should just ignore any post by him UNLESS they are notifying us that he has indeed returned John Hankammers Sled. In that post he must have proof.

 

Otherwise until then "spectrabei" is just another thief and criminal in my book.

[David Allen Grove]

What Is steadicam? I Having designed the best steadicam sytem in the world for

Andy Shuttlewoth. What is STEADICAM? Is It Esoteric? I HOPE NOT.

As a witness to Paul Thomas Andersons voracious attempts to negate STEADICAM

on the set of (and during) the filming of Booggie Nights can only pose the question to you, the STEADICAM OPERATORS, whom have experianced the same Delemma

in similar situations, WHAT IS, AND WHAT DEFINES STEADICAM?

I'd like to see this new contraption. (as well as the Alien!) Perhaps you could show your new device to the Steadicam Guild the next time you are in LA?

[Peter Abraham]

About 16 years ago, I sat in this joker's apartment. I eyed the nightmarish work bench. I watched his fish swim around his vertical fish tank. I just wanted my gear back, in working order. Not much to ask, considering... The haphazard way he approached a fix that was almost a SOLID FUCKING YEAR late was horrid. I owned a WRC-IIIA. Yes, I am proud to admit it. It was what I had, it worked some of the time but not all of the time and was twitchy.

 

Steve Byro claimed he would make it better than a Seitz. The passage of years have proved that this offer didn't mean much coming from Byro, but back then a Seitz Follow Focus was the gold standard. I fell for his line. It's clear from other Posters to this message board that I am not nearly the only one to do so. I did not go home that day with my follow-focus, because there were still twitches and hitches in the signal. I choked on bullshit when what I needed was the truth, which was "This unit is by very design highly succeptible to RF interference. This includes the standing RF waves that permeate our planet. Operate accordingly". I did not get this information.

 

In a sad way, the story of this person closely parallels that of owning a Steadicam, and in fact- ironically- his behavior answers his own question in this thread. I could spend some heavy money, buy all of the meters, scopes, parts and boards that Jim Bartell owns in his amazing shop.

 

Would this make me an electronics whiz? It would not. It takes the right combination of intellectual rigor and willingness to work hard, fast AND accurately. ( Jim, I'm not trying to draw you into a war, but I had to use someone whose work is respected industry-wide).

 

What makes you an electronics whiz? Not just the ability to understand a resistor opposed to a capacitor. It is the sum of raw knowledge, skill, creativity and human skills.

 

What makes a Steadicam? Hardware and genius in design and manufacture. What makes a Steadicam Operator? Roughly eleven billion skills, raised to the creme de la creme of possibility, delivered every single day.

 

My irony cup, it doth runneth over that this man actually posted this to start a thread here. My gosh. And, since we all know that you are reading this Steve, save the threats. I'm not coming near you, your apartment, your dogs OR your girlfriend. I wish you luck in some other career, and wish you'd keep out of our collective hair.

 

-shrug- Hey, everybody has a wish. That's mine.

 

Peter " I got suckered once and am still smouldering from it " Abraham, E.M.T.

[guillermo nespolo]

if u use latin (QUID PRO QUO ) the only thing that u can realy get .its a roman tumbs up or down .

good part its fun

bad part the lions :P :P :P

[Peter Abraham]

Dude. Let us be remarkably clear here. I said I had some wishes. I didn't threaten you, or try to make you go away. You can chase your paranoid nightmares down someone else's hallway, but threaten you I did not do.

 

Okay, it was 12 or 13 years ago. You can't deny that I stood there in your apartment in Los Angeles, watching you try to sell me a dream.

 

You've named two Steadicam Operators and lay claim to many others who support your work ethic and skills. Put up or shut up. I'm waiting to hear from Andy, Paul and your countless other fans.

 

I'd settle for hearing from an even dozen of the other fans, but it won't matter to me personally. I've dealt with you face to face, and feel awful for people who have had their property hijacked and taken half way across the country.

[JimBartell]

( Jim, I'm not trying to draw you into a war, but I had to use someone whose work is respected industry-wide).

 

Peter " I got suckered once and am still smouldering from it " Abraham, E.M.T.

Feel free, Peter. I'm afraid this is another attempt on Mr. Byro's part to re-ingratiate himself into the Steadicam community and generate some instant credibility by name dropping. Last time it was Jac Holzman, Mark O'Kane and George Paddock. This time it's Ted Churchill, Andy Shuttleworth and Paul Taylor. All venerable names to be sure but all conspicuously absent from these boards. At least he has dropped the tactic of trying to capitalize on the bitterness felt by many toward Cinema Products by libeling Ed DiGiulio.

 

By the way, Steve, nice attempt to discredit Peter's statements by blaming his back injury. Last time you attacked me by intimating I was jealous of George Paddock's and Howard Preston's success. This is a classic case of attacking the messenger instead of the message. FYI, Peter IS still a working operator and instructing as well, and I have not noticed the slightest bitterness in any conversation I have had with him. I'm sure all of us who know him will agree. He is still the same, upbeat, enthusiastic, opinionated guy he's always been. Now what is your excuse?

 

I am also amazed at the way you explain away your lack of support by stating that your supporters are afraid of "taking heat". I've never seen anyone take heat over expressing an opinion or recounting their experiences. Disagreed with, yes, but not attacked in any way, unless the opinion is, in itself, an attack. I cannot imagine anyone attacking Andy, Paul, or anyone else for coming to your defense. Others may state differing opinions, but that is about all.

 

As to John's sled, this is mind boggling. You were paid in full for a job that had not been completed 18 months later and had moved out of the state unannounced. When John publicly complained, you offered to put in the tube for free as recompense for his troubles. When this didn't happen either, and John complained again, another operator (without John's request or consent) chimed in with an off the cuff remark, you decided to punish John for this by now charging him full cost.

 

My god man, have you no sense of how this completely destroys your credibility? And PLEASE stop making those faux-friendly remarks like "You do good work" and "Hope you enjoyed your vacation" in attempt to deflect criticism. They are really nauseating and an insult to our intelligence.

 

Steve, if you take nothing else from this, take this one thing; As long as you hold John's sled hostage you will be confronted with this issue every time you post here and any attempt to generate business here will be futile.

 

Jim "nothing funny about any of this" Bartell