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Boland 8.4 on Pro Monitor Arm?


Dana Morris

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Yes, you need a horse shoe femal to go on the bottom of the Boland. I think TransVideo makes one but they will not sell it to you unless you have a TransVideo monitor (not the best business move I've ever seen).

 

Also, PRO now makes a monitor arm extension (well worth it) which puts the monitor out further and makes the dynamic balance more "greenie like".

 

The Hytron 140 is not necissary but it also makes the weight and dynamic balance more greenie like and it has the added bonus of lasting almost an entire day without ever shutting it off. I have 2 of them and never even come close to running out.

 

Here's a picture:

post-1746-1232166281_thumb.jpg

Edited by Mike McGowan SOC
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Yes, you need a horse shoe femal to go on the bottom of the Boland. I think TransVideo makes one but they will not sell it to you unless you have a TransVideo monitor (not the best business move I've ever seen).

 

Also, PRO now makes a monitor arm extension (well worth it) which puts the monitor out further and makes the dynamic balance more "greenie like".

 

The Hytron 140 is not necissary but it also makes the weight and dynamic balance more greenie like and it has the added bonus of lasting almost an entire day without ever shutting it off. I have 2 of them and never even come close to running out.

 

Here's a picture:

 

Thanks a lot Mike,

 

Where should do you think I can get a horse shoe femal then? Thanks a lot for the help

 

dana

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Dana,

 

I feel the ability to slide a monitor back & forth invaluable so I'd also recommend the XCS monitor bracket.

 

http://www.xcsinc.com/ultimate/ult_compnts_3.html

 

As for " horse shoe", try XCS, Marell (http://www.marell.co.uk/mounts/list/) or even Glidecam (????)

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Gents--

 

I added a Boland 8.4 HD DayBright monitor to my system late last year and I can say it is wonderful. I have carried this monitor out in the snow in full sun and had a fantastic image to work from.

 

Here's a view of the current monitor support system.

 

http://www.steadicamforum.com/style_images...e_types/gif.gif

 

I do plan to build a 2-rod system to support and position the 8.4 but I have to first work out the range of adjustability required to stay in dynamic balance given my battery configurations.

 

The Boland support of this product has been excellent.

 

Best,

 

Brant

post-60-1232724255_thumb.jpg

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The PRO arm is much less expensive (I'm thinking a few hundred bucks?). I've never had a telescoping arm so I cannot say it's better just that I'm VERY happy with the PRO arm.

 

I have had both and I like the flexibility of a telescoping monitor arm. A lot depends on whether one tends to play around with the inertia of the system by expanding or contracting the length of the rig at the bottom. I myself tend to have things quite spread out for narrative work but if I find myself in a situation where I have to do a bunch of whip pans or rock-and-roll, I may squeeze everything together (Erwin tells me he always has the rig like this as he likes it "vippy"...!). I do have the ability to migrate my front battery fore of the post which aids in all this--I don't have to rely on the monitor itself as the only fore mass so I can be a little more "creative" with it.

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Gents--

 

The PRO Monitor arm is a stock GPI part. I just milled a larger clear hole at the bottom to allow for a 1/4-20 allen cap screw to pass through to thread into the ULCS ball mount.

 

The ULCS parts are found at www.ulcs.com.

 

The ULCS parts I used for this application are the ball mount, one clamp and their monitor base. Hit their web site and check out the parts. Lots of different pieces for different applications.

 

You may be able to find a dive/photo shop that carries these items locally. If in LA you can try Backscatter as they are a great resource.

 

Best,

 

Brant

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who has a boland 8.4? where did you get it? any problems? thanks

 

dana

 

After probably a year of research, I bought a Boland 8.4" last week, and personally, I think it's the best monitor in its price range. Due to various issues through a reseller, I was invited to visit the Boland headquarters near Irvine and was given a demo of the 6.5 and the 8.4 by Darick and Chris, their sales team. I tested the monitors in direct sunlight, and they both performed better than I expected, with the 6.5 holding a slight edge, but not enough to make me pick it over the other. Of course with the sun itself directly reflecting off of the monitor i couldn't see anything, but that's to be expected... I was able to get a usable image during most conditions in broad daylight, though. I love the amount of inputs, and through puts as well... It takes both analog and digital signals, both HD and standard. The menu is probably the best I remember seeing. As far as mounting, the 8.4" monitor attaches to my MK-V monitor arm without any modifications... Swapping out the old one for the new took all of 20 seconds. The monitor itself is a little heavier than ones I've used in the past, but this was actually a selling point for me, as it seems a large steadicam works best with weight in this area... I'm sure it helps the inertia and balancing aspects. the addition of the fan switch mentioned in an earlier review makes quite a significant difference in sound. I don't have a problem with the width, as it is the same width of all of my older monitors... It has a 4:3 screen, and my others were 16:9, so it's basically taller. I bought the voltage regulator and a gold mount as add-ons, they're probably not necessary for steadicam work, but I need multi-purpose equipment, or at least until I can afford to buy dedicated equipment... With a 40,000 hour life, I think the monitor should be fine for all the various tasks I'll need it for.

At the end of the day though, probably 90% of the selling point for me was the company, and the promises of support they put behind the monitor, as I expect to break something. I always break something. I've probably destroyed 20 or so cameras in my day, but I should mention the extremes I've put them through factored heavily into that... I went with Anton Bauer batteries for the same reason. I've had issues with monitors in the past, (Marshall and Glidecam) and nothing, nothing will replace good support for equipment, it's worth the extra cost usually associated with this.

I haven't had any problems as of yet, but I haven't really put it to work heavily as of yet...

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just bought the pro monitor arm extension the other day $345...

 

mike thanks for the recommendation on the boland monitor and all your help. i have been flying it for a few months now and totally dig it. a few small qualms i found are: i wish they had built the monitor a bit more weather proof the buttons and seams look a bit underprotected, and correct me if im wrong but i think all LCD monitors have a limited angle of view? i found i could not see the image at the end of a move i made where i had the camera horizontal to the ground. other than that absolutely great for the price!!!

 

im trying to talk them into a software upgrade that includes a frame-line generator :)

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that's a cool idea Brant. I just got the Sachtler arm Jens wrote about last year. It's pretty cool, and solid with a lighter monitor but a bit wobbly with a full size (tb-6) when extended -- but I expected that. I got it thinking I'd get a Blackbird but changed my mind and am leaning more toward the hd Transvideo.

 

rb

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