I saw Charles Papert flying this rig in a DV Info gallery and asked him if this was that super duper top secret stabilizer that was discussed a while back. He confirmed that it is. Check this machine out! There is a demo video on the site with some impressive shots. Charles said that it runs between $50K -$60K so I went ahead and put one on layaway for 10 years.

Charles, what would you say that operators could now add to their current day rate for gear and labor seperately when flying this rig on a project?

www.alien-revolution.com

The few operators that are flying the AR right now are still feeling this out. Some will be able to command a significant amount on both gear and labor on the big shows--others will not push as hard. The more units that are out there, the less the bump will be. We are seeing just this happening for regular Steadicam rates, which are dropping every year. What used to be a significant bump over scale is shrinking to a token amount over scale (and in episodic television, may disappear completely within a few years). The rental rates, which were holding pretty firm, are now eroding also.

Well that's not so good to hear. It's hard to believe that a position like Steadicam operation could be on the slide especially with that new accessory just being introduced and requiring even more expertise. That's about $150,000 that an owner/operator has in a rig. That's a nice house on the east coast! Well, I guess you guys had better stick it to them while you can!

I had a good chat to Howard and his wife at NAB - they invented this rig. It's quite awesome. There's some pictures on my website in teh NAB 2005 section. It's fantastic to see in operation, really fantastic, and so beautifully engineered. I was gobsmacked.

Graeme

Mmmm...with all due respect to Howard, he didn't invent the AR. Another operator named Lyn Nicholson has spent the past 10 years designing it; he sold the manufacturing rights to Howard a couple of years ago. Howard has moved it into a production model with some physical refinements, but the basic operating technology including the software were Lyn's work.

There are still quite a few growing pains involved with the rig--it'll be a few years before they all shake out.

where on your site are those photos?

I got to play with this at NAB, and even an inexperienced goofball like myself could go from a front shot of the feet to an over-the-shoulder. "Take a hot check?" What was the word another poster used? "Gobsmacked?" That's the perfect word. I too was Gobsmacked.

Dan
www.DVcameraRigs.com

got the pics - well, it's an interesting design. Would like to see it in action!

Charles, what's the latest info about this rig? I just saw a demo at the link below that was absolutely awesome! The transition from low to high was seamless but when the move was complete I did notice a very subtle mechanical stop. The high version takes a bit to download but it is well worth it!

www.mk-v.com/ar-site/revolution-video.html

Lots of information (and strong opinions) here:

http://www.steadicamforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=201

and one for sale here:

http://www.steadicamforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5250

I'll plead the 5th.