Premium Members David McGill Posted March 16, 2007 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 16, 2007 Well first of all I'd like to say hello to all of you veterans of these forums. It has been quite a while since I have been here. I have been flying an XCS Ultimate for 7 or 8 years now. When I first got it, I didn't like not having the adjustable top stage, so I got a DB II and mounted it to an XCS mounting plate. This worked fine for the most part, but lately I have been troubled with that pesky vibration (initially pointed out to me by Darin Okada... Ouch!) So I have decided to invest in a new top stage. Question is... which one? I immediately thought of a DB III, but I have been looking over the topics here and have seen a couple others. What's the consensus of which is the best? I'd like to do this quickly as I am currently going sans adjustable top stage. Thanks, David McGill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members WillArnot Posted March 16, 2007 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 16, 2007 Hi Dave, You might consider having an adjustable side to side baseplate made, like CP made for Steadicam before they figured out how to make an X,Y Top stage. I have used this set up in my XCS Ultimate before and it is a formidable combo since you take advantage of the most rigid top stage on the planet. The side to side plate should lock down in a way that eliminates all play. The fact that you only have side to side adjustability means there is also far less chance of compromising the rigidity of the XCS system. Will Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Stephen Murphy Posted March 16, 2007 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 16, 2007 Hi Dave, Great to see your name back on the forum. If you do a search for the DB3 you'll find plenty of happy owners onboard, including myself. I and many others use it in conjunction with Greggs plates and personally ive never had any problems with vibration even on very long lenses. Hope this helps, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Alec Jarnagin SOC Posted March 16, 2007 Moderators Report Share Posted March 16, 2007 David, Welcome back. I've wondered from time to time what ever happened to you. The DB3 is much better than the DB2. The few complaints I've heard on the DB3 were early ones that George of course made right. I'm very happy with mine. Chroziel makes an excellent stage as well, but living in the US and having such a positive history with GPI made me go that way. I do think adding a new top stage on top of the existing one is not a great idea. Raises the camera height and introduces a lot of "in between hardware." If you want to keep the original XCS stage, I'd opt for a simple side-to-side plate like Will has suggested. Jim Mead (last I heard was working with Clairmont Camera) used to make side-to-side plates for the stages without that ability. Mounts between your dovetail and the bottom of the camera. My model 2 was by no means vibration free but I don't think that plate was ever the problem! Oh, and one bit of bookkeeping, please change your log-in name to your first and last name as we are now asking all members to do this. Thanks. Welcome back!!! Best, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members David McGill Posted March 16, 2007 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted March 16, 2007 Hey guys, thanks for the quick feedback. I had been leaning towards the DB III so I think that's the route I will go. Just wanted to know if there was anything new on the horizon as the most recent stuff I saw here about it was from about 6 months ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip Monk Posted March 17, 2007 Report Share Posted March 17, 2007 Hey David, You first D-Box II is still in very good hands. :) Take Care, Chip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mark Karavite Posted July 31, 2007 Premium Members Report Share Posted July 31, 2007 Hey David, I combine a DB3 with an XCS camera plate, and I have never had any vibration issues. I can't say enough good things about GPI's products & service. Another option to look at now might be the SteadyRig top stage. They don't have up to date images on their site (when I just looked), but you could contact Hugo at admin@steadyrig.com, and he could give you more info. I haven't flown the SteadyRig top stage, but it might be worth a look. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Smith Posted July 31, 2007 Report Share Posted July 31, 2007 Photos of Hugo's Topstage Here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett Manyluk Posted July 31, 2007 Report Share Posted July 31, 2007 Is the the Steadyrig topstage ready to go yet? What's the current state of this (great looking) piece of gear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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