Just trying to gauge some interest here...

Anyone interested in Tiffen offering an upgrade from Merlin to Pilot Sled, so that we don't have to re-buy another Arm and Vest?

Tiffen should get to see the thread, so do post if you are interested.


Steve

Put me down for one.

IIRC this was always planned. If you contact Tiffen, I think you'll find that it is. They may still be filling Pilot orders though, so a-la-carte Pilot sleds may not be available yet.

OK, maybe the thread-is-dead as just had this back from Tiffen UK...


"I've found out the reason why we're not selling the sled on its own
(direct from our CEO!). Because the Pilot has been so popular, the
factory is working extra hard to keep up with the demand. Meaning all
available parts are going to build complete systems, no parts were
forecast for building sleds on their own."

Bugger!!

Cheap Indian FlyCam 6000 sled for me then, along with some sellotape and a few rubber bands to attach it!

Steve

I'm thinking about buying an arm and vest combination for my merlin - have posted elsewhere for advice. One of my questions was the upgrade path to the pilot as the vest/arm are the same...

Once the demand for pilot had died down, I guess they will offer the pilot sled as a spare for those that have damaged them, but this may be more expensive than an upgrade....

There's nothing about upgrades on the steadicam website, but they offer both lock-blocks (if thats what they're called) as spares.

A definitive answer from the Steadicam guys in the know (Charles/Mikko etc) would be great!!!

Once the demand for pilot had died down, I guess they will offer the pilot sled as a spare for those that have damaged them, but this may be more expensive than an upgrade....



The problem is they reckon it'll be 2009 before the Pilot sleds may be available separately!

I posted about this in the other thread about Merlin arm/vest/Flycam sled.

Just wanted to say a big Thanks to James at Tiffen UK,

he's been a superb help and has been in frequent communication.

Unfortunately the news is bad with Tiffen probably not going to offer this until 2009, but James has been great nevertheless.

Cheers

Steve

I definitely am interested in the Pilot Sled. it would be a drag to have to wait an entire year, but if that's what it takes....

A year would suit me well as it'll probably take that long to master the Merlin with the arm/vest! - at least we know it will be available eventually...

I can't wait that long, the Merlin arm-vest combination works brilliantly, but I need the d-tap and extra weight specs of the Pilot for my corporate shoots. So I have ordered a Pilot rig. By the way: http://www.focalimageproductions.com.au/for%20sale.htm

So as expected, my conversation with Frank Rush at the Tiffen event on Friday confirmed what you guys had heard, they are simply too busy turning out complete rigs to be able to sell sleds by themselves. Frank took me back into the factory to show me rows and rows of partially completed sleds, a big box full of the carbon fiber posts, and a pallet with dozens and dozens of arms stacked up in layers. I've been in the factory many times before but I've never seen as many rigs being built at once. The Pilot is obviously a hugely successful product.

Thanks for the update, Charles. I am just a bit heart-broken that if I need to get one I'm going to have to sell my Merlin Vest/Arm in order to buy the indentical Vest/Arm!

It is great though that it is such a successful product line!

Thanks Charles
I guess that's what we expected... I'm going to go ahead and get an arm and vest for my merlin and hope that Tiffen will evntually release the pilot and pilot pro sleds as an upgrade in the future - plenty of time to learn the merlin!!!

Nick - I guess the shipping from Oz will make your arm a bit expensive???!

All tax deductions... I can't believe with all those Pilots supposedly out there no one has posted any footage.. I am dying to see why Charles is so impressed with it. I get mine tomorrow and I've got a shoot on Saturday...

I've been waiting for footage from the Pilot too! Nick, hopefully you will be able to post a nice video online for us soon. Can't wait to hear about your results.

There seem to be people expressing interest in arms, and in the Pilot sled (who already have arms)


Why don't you guys team up (1 Merlin owner & 1 Merlin + Arm/Vest owner) and buy a full Pilot system together and divvy up the bits?

Or even as simply as find someone who's looking for the Merlin arm and sell it to them to pay for your Pilot system. Win-win.


- Mikko