Socket Block issues...

[Brad Hruboska]

I have also experienced a loosening of the screws, and on one occasion the male part of the socket was creeping out of the female part, I docked and fixed it immediately..But it is a concern, Its now part of the preflight check to make sure its all tight and ready, but I agree that a better solution is pending. <_< I have spoken to Walter about this issue and he agrees that it should be addressed.....

BTW the lo profile arms for his harness are very nice.

[Erwin Landau]

Quick update:

 

Walter was so concerned about the developments that he send a new Hardmount and a loaner Lowprofile arm for the time being, until he figures out what was going on.

Talking about Customer Service... He called me after he heard I had trouble and couldn't get in touch with him...

 

Thanks Walter.

 

BTW: Got a Male Socket Block from GPI, no charge.

 

Thanks George.

 

Screw backing out???

Never had that happen, I forget to tighten it once in a while when the 1st AD has no patiance but, backing out??? No sir.

 

Since I installed the Low profile arm on my Vest, I haven't hit a door frame yet...

 

 

Erwin" All about Customer Service" Landau, SOC

www.landaucamera.com

[Howard J Smith]

Hi Erwin

 

How are you?

 

Also Walter has the New drop down - low profile arms - These are great for low-mode or low highmode. Using the adjustment on the back means you can use this arm all the time as well.

It is the same as a normal low profile arm but it has a 2" drop built in.

Walter in making a 3" drop for me to try - I can't wait to use it.

 

See you soon

all the best

 

Howard J Smith MK-V

[WillArnot]

I believe I was the first to have a 2" drop down made for my new low profile arm. Larry was a close second, and with the un-deniable success of mine & the pictures I sent Larry, Walter made up a 3" drop for him.

 

We both sing it's highest praises. This feature makes Low-hi mode or High-low mode a dream. I don't miss the height on the top end at all. It's easy to gain height w/ longer arm post etc. The point is, the drop down really expands the working range of that grey zone right around hip level. Especially if you use a Master arm, which has slightly less boom range than the PRO & is susceptible to lock outs, the added 2-3" down on the carbon arm gives amazing opportunities and comfort back to the operator.

 

Even with the 2" drop, set at it's highest position it is easily at belly button height or even an inch higher. But at it's lowest the socket is right down below the bottom of the vest at the hip joint level, which is way cool.

 

And of course low mode benefits too. With a 10" post on a D-bracket in low mode, with the rig fully stretched out (~32") I can almost be in Super-Post low mode height. ie. just above ankle bone, below mid-shin... but without the super-post.

 

....Seated around a table... an 8 year old's eye level .... all vastly easier with this great feature hand made by Walter.

[Lawrence Karman]

How about a picture?

[Howard J Smith]

Hi

 

Please see :

http://www.walterklassen.com/steadilowprofile.htm

 

We will have all the new vest arms at Cinegear - please pop by and have a try.

 

Look forward to seeing you

 

Howard J Smith MK-V

[WillArnot]

I would love to post a pic. It seems difficult. How do I post pics????

[Lawrence Karman]

I believe you have to upload the picture on the web somewhere and then copy the URL onto a post here. Either the picture will come up or a link to it.

[RobVanGelder]

Uploading: when you make your reply, you will find on the bottom of the screen a button to attach a file from your harddisk, this can be a picture (only one!), as long as you make the file size of that picture smaller than 75K (e.g. with photoshop).

Generally, a picture sized at 600x400 and at 50% JPEG quality will do nicely.

 

This is the fastest way to post pictures, no need for uploading and linking, etc.

 

Rob van Gelder

[Charles Papert]

Will, as I recall you are somewhere north of 6' 37"...how tall are you again??! That might have something to do with your "not missing" the newly-lowered high mode...?

[Larry McConkey]

The lower mount point makes all the sense in the world. I have been wanting it from the beginning and thought about a mod on the harness to do so, but that would have meant the mounting plate extending below the harness and it seemed not only unaesthetic but possibly dangerous, and certainly harder to pack or just rest on a flat surface. The drop down arm solves the problem elegantly. With any steadicam system I have seen, it is very easy to get higher: just use a longer arm post (or extend the length of the sled post). There is very little noticeable downside to this solution. Also, there is a point when raising the height of the arm mounting position when the arm begins to get in the way of your own arms, so at a certain point going to a longer arm post makes more sense anyway.

 

Getting lower is much more difficult however and requires an 'F' or 'J' bracket. Often I find myself struggling to get the lens a little lower in high mode, rarely am I struggling to get higher. With the 3" drop down arm I can now extend my own arms to the lowest comfortable position just as the steadicam arm is bottoming out. I find myself using this position quite often and almost never need to raise it; and if I need a little extra lens height I just slide the mount up. Even with the drop down arm, the highest position makes it a bit awkward to operate, but it is there if I need it. I certainly have not wanted to mount the arm higher still. I find that very often when I am told that a shot will be a low mode shot, it turns out after a rehearsal with a finder there is only one part of the shot that is fairly low, and the rest of the shot really needs high mode. That's when I used to get out the 'F' bracket and felt slightly compromised for the entire shot by the slightly awkward configuration. Most of the time now I can get the lower height with the drop down arm in the lowest position and operate with maximum ease.

 

The only downside is that I recently discovered that by a slight machining of the arm mount, a non-twisted arm could be adjusted far enough to balance correctly side to side, at least with my harness on my body. This allows the same harness arm to be swapped to either side for the occasional goofy foot shot. (I believe Walter may have started doing this mod on all his arms...?? With the drop down style this means swapping sides raises the lens height. I think this is much less important than giving a better range on the most used side.

 

BTW, I noticed a tendency for the steadicam arm to loosen in the harness socket as well. I now make it a habit to snug up the top bolt after picking up the sled. This preloads the joint and makes the connection much tighter and have not had any trouble since. I sometimes have to put downward pressure on the arm to loosen it after a shot as well, but I don't even think about it anymore. And as fore whether an aircraft pin allows more slop than a bolt I think there are a couple of answers to that one: yes and no!! With all the load offset to one side of your body, there is very little movement possible. You would need to unload all the weight with the arm at the top of its travel for this to happen. It could happen with the large and sudden G forces on a vehicle mount from time to time however. And any connection that allows movement will produce wear over time, but I have never seen any in my career.

 

Larry

[Michael Stumpf]

"Drop Down Arm"

 

I have DSD vest #73 (Eurobladder and all)

 

It has a 5" adjustment range on the back for the vest arm. Is this "drop down arm" something different?

 

Maybe because I'm not too tall nor not too short (5' 10") I just set the vest arm in the middle of the range (most comfortable for me too) and go to work.

 

Maybe I'm missing something on the "drop down arm" thing, but I usually find that with a J-Bracket and pushing the steadicam arm all the way down, it goes lower than my arms can reach anyway. If I slid the vest arm any lower down, it would be in vain, because my human arms still wouldn't be able to stretch any further to reach the gimbal.

 

So, if there's something to this "drop down arm" part that I'm not aware of, I'd love to know.

[Alec Jarnagin SOC]

Will was nice enough to come by the other day and show me his new vest. What can I say? Walter has outdone himself. This vest has come SOO far since the first generation - lighter, more adjustable, and far more comfortable. While Will is something like 14 feet taller than myself (okay, slight exaggeration), I still managed to don his vest with some success. The air bladder is such a great feature, as it fills the void of less than perfect padding.

 

The drop down arm refers to an arm that incorporates a built in angle to it, so over the length of the arm, it declines two or three inches. As Will mentioned, his arm has a two inch drop, which I fond sufficient with the set up we had at my house (steel practice cage and a camcorder). With the vest arm set to the lowest point, I found it very difficult to reach the end of the Steadicam arm's boom range (using no J-Bracket). Very nifty trick this thing.

 

In short, very cool. Walter, what a job you've done. Amazing piece of equipment.

 

Thanks again Will for showing it off.

[Erwin Landau]

Hi Michael,

 

The "Dropdown arm" is meant for guys over 6 feet with orangutan arms (like me) where you hit the end of your support arm before you reach the end of yours... where you start squadding to reach down an additional inch or two, to avoid going into Lowmode or using the superpost in lowmode to hit the floor.

 

Also people are trying to avoid using the J-Bracket/D-Bracket, or people that use the ergo handle can operate more comfortable again without the High Low Mode pain...

 

Walter is bringing me a demo to CineGear for testing. I'll let you know...

 

On another note...

 

After today I'm concerned, I just changed to a shorter post (going from 21 inches to 16 inches) which brings my lens height down by 3 to 5 inches depending on the Camera. I was presiding down hill with a 6'5" priest... (don't ask) shooting up hill and staying on eye level... and "don't get any of the sky in"....

I need a longer arm post, I guess. I was running out of travel...

 

 

Erwin "Inch cruncher" Landau, SOC

www.landaucamera.com

[WillArnot]

Photo of 2" Drop down?