Premium Members Sven Joukes Posted June 13, 2008 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 Hi all, so here I go... During rehearsals, suddenly, there I was, holding the rig with both my hands. A hellish noise just before that... One big CRRRAAAACK and I was holding on, trying not to fall over (thinking back, I just can't believe not a piece of gear even touched the ground...). Not really getting what had just happened. The arm post in my G-50 just snapped (the little shaft that's inside the collar). You never want this to happen and when it does, you wish it never did. No harm done, nothing fell to the floor, no gear at all was damaged. Just a little bruise on my arm. Will post a pic in the morning. Luckily no jobs till next week, time to fix stuff (thanks to a great fellow op I had a replacement G-70 well before our live show, thanks man) ...Boy, was I lucky... Sven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard James Lewis Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 Hey man, sorry to hear that. Can't be a nice feeling... Tiffen did update the later G-50's with thicker internal arm post pins. They also sent out upgrade kits too. Just curious to know if you had this done? Hope you get it all sorted out quickly. Rick. Hi all, so here I go... During rehearsals, suddenly, there I was, holding the rig with both my hands. A hellish noise just before that... One big CRRRAAAACK and I was holding on, trying not to fall over (thinking back, I just can't believe not a piece of gear even touched the ground...). Not really getting what had just happened. The arm post in my G-50 just snapped (the little shaft that's inside the collar). You never want this to happen and when it does, you wish it never did. No harm done, nothing fell to the floor, no gear at all was damaged. Just a little bruise on my arm. Will post a pic in the morning. Luckily no jobs till next week, time to fix stuff (thanks to a great fellow op I had a replacement G-70 well before our live show, thanks man) ...Boy, was I lucky... Sven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members AdamKeith Posted June 13, 2008 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 Tiffen now has another G-50 upgrade I just odered mine thru Peter Abraham. Tiffen Item # 802-7235-03 G-50 Arm Post Upgrade Kit $350.00 Tiffen (631) 273-2500 Regards, Adam Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Rob Vuona SOC Posted June 13, 2008 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 Hi all, so here I go... During rehearsals, suddenly, there I was, holding the rig with both my hands. A hellish noise just before that... One big CRRRAAAACK and I was holding on, trying not to fall over (thinking back, I just can't believe not a piece of gear even touched the ground...). Not really getting what had just happened. The arm post in my G-50 just snapped (the little shaft that's inside the collar). You never want this to happen and when it does, you wish it never did. No harm done, nothing fell to the floor, no gear at all was damaged. Just a little bruise on my arm. Will post a pic in the morning. Luckily no jobs till next week, time to fix stuff (thanks to a great fellow op I had a replacement G-70 well before our live show, thanks man) ...Boy, was I lucky... Sven scares the hell out of you doesn't it when something metal fails. This happened to me about 6 years ago on a remote location shoot, but with a much older arm.... Like you, just caught all the gear in my arms and proclaimed, sooo, there will be no steadicam today....LOL.... sure I can laugh about it now, not so funny then. Believe it or not, I ended up doing some of the required shots on a pair of borrowed rollerblades Send Picts thanks for sharing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Norbert von der Heidt Posted June 13, 2008 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 Hi all When this sort of thing happens, I'm curious as to why Tiffen charges $350 for the "upgrade" kit. In my humble opinion the arm was under-engineered in the first place. Any repair/upgrade should be free just like when a problem is found in automobiles, there is a recall and an upgrade/fix done at no expense to the owner. Why doesn't that philosophy work here? What makes us so special? Enquiring minds want to know. <_< Cheers Norbert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Erwin Landau Posted June 13, 2008 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 I heard of several early G-50 incidents where the arm post pin (no better word to describe it) had snapped. And also heard that Tiffen would take care of it... Looks like it didn't happen. I had some incidents with my PRO arm which got all taken care of by PRO, exempt for the Socket block where they said that they wouldn't warrant if you use the Titanium block with the Backmount. So I picked up the Steal block. Since I switched back to front mount no issues what so ever... BTW: there is a right and a wrong way to use the arm post for the PRO arm. There are wholes in the arm post on either end. One is for the safety pin and is almost at the end of the post that is the top part that goes into the Gimbal. On the other side there is a hole about an inch from the end that is the part that goes (if you use it for that) into the D-bracket and the whole is for the screw to keep it in place. Reverse it and you are playing with disaster... Happy flying! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinThwaites Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 Hello Norbert The upgrade for Sven will of course be free, Adams upgrade was to a different design with a removeable post. Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Sven Joukes Posted June 13, 2008 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 Hi all just wanted to say I was contacted by Tiffen first thing this morning to quickly solve the problem. Apparently I was overlooked when the (free) upgrades were carried out some time ago (bought my arm in 2006). Maybe the lack of dedication from the Belgian Steadicam dealer has something to do with this, I don't know... Thanks to Jerry, Robin and Dan at Tiffen for quick action! I'll post a picture when I get to my camera. Cheers Sven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members AdamKeith Posted June 14, 2008 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 14, 2008 The free upgrade does replace the "pin" in the post of the original design. I had this done to my arm and have had no issues. The upgrade I posted is a new design that allows a quick change of post and the use of longer posts on the G-50. Regards, Adam Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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