NEED HELP! anyone know how so setup a glidecam 4000
 

Does any one know how to set up a glidecam 4000 for use with canon XL1s. I am using all stock camera (no assessories).

Need to know a ballpark figure of
1. camera placement on mounting plate
2. Number of weights on each side.

I am not having good luck with this at all.

Charles

XL1S mic problem
 

Hi,

I have been using the mic that came with XL1S for sometime now. But it started
not recording to one channel intermittently. I am not sure if its a mic cable problem or something more serious.
Could someone please give me some advice how to test this and what other stereo mic(s) is available to replace this one (omnidirectional)?

I am thinking of using a mono directional mic to connect to xlr (MA-100), but i like the stereo mic.

Much appreciated.

Gordon

If you can find (borrow) another stereo mic with a mini-phone jack, connect it to the camcorder and see if that mic works. ALternatively get a splitter adapter (e.g., from radioshack) aud feed a mono mic to both channels of the input. If that is OK, the problem may be wiht the mic, possibly a defect in the cord, connector, or just dirt on the jack/plug.

The Audio Technica AT822 is a nice little stereo mic that can work on a camcorder or with minidisc recorders, etc. The cheaper stereo mic you see are, well, cheaper and sound quality would be substantially lower.

check out "the stability of balance" video at glidecam's site.

http://www.glidecam.com/videos.php

here are some tips:

1) get your hands on a quick release plate and adapter. this will make your life much easier going forward. manfrotto/bogen have an extra long plate with mm measurement markings which has proven very valuable to me in the past.

2) the xl cams are front-heavy. mount the quick release plate on the center hole, towards the back of the glidecam's mounting plate. i don't have my glidecam in front of me and i can't give you the exact hole, but the adapter was towards the back of the mounting plate, but not jutting off of it.

3) set up your camera exactly the way it will be set up on the sled. that means, put a tape in, take the lens cap off, level out the viewfinder, etc.

4) start out bottom heavy and remove weight plates as necessary.

5) use the telescoping pole at the very end of setup to fine tune your drop time. a longer pole will increase bottom heaviness, and a shorter one will decrease. glidecam recommends a 2.5 second drop time. this seems to vary with operator preference, but it's usually between 1.5 and 3 seconds.

good luck.

XL1 Playback Problem
 

After returning from an extremely wet and muddy Honduras jungle trip, I noticed there are several segments where i either get a blue screen or a split screen consisting of five bars of what was shot and five bars of someother scene.
I cleaned the heads via cleaner tape with no success. The split image appears in the camera view finder and on my monitors.
Incidentally the KATA rain cover worked very well (I think) I did get a moisture warning one hot/humid/rainy afternoon.

Any thoughts if or how to salvage the bad segments?

Thanks
Jon

Try several different playback machines playback machine. Hopefully you can get enough good playback to piece it together.

WANTED: advice about XL1S battery and charger
 

WANTED: advice about XL1S battery and charger

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just purchased an XL1S used for $1800 - it has only the BP-930 battery and the remote...I need a AC charger with the DC coupler so I can charge the battery when it's in the camera...does anybody have one for sale or know where I can buy an aftermarket AC power charger so I don't have to pay the Canon retail prices.....I'm also looking for rechargeable batteries...I found a sunpak unit that quick charges batteries....is this a decent brand to use on the XL1S or should I go with Lenmar batteries...these two were highly recommended by another person and he said I should post my needs on here to see if anybody had anything to sell to me....I don't care if the batteries are aftermarkets as long as they are good and he stated that the Lenmar batteries will show the battery level on the XL1S.....Can I get a battery charger, AC power adapter and DC coupler as aftermarket products that are just as good as Canon??
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Dean

Dean,

The AC charger will not charge the battery while it's on the camera. Nor will it charge the battery while the charger is running the camera on AC power. You have to physically unplug the charger output to the camera for the battery to charge. I've heard good things about the Lenmar batteries from others who use them.

HTH,

-gb-

That's a well-documented problem which sometimes can be attributed to contaminated heads but is typically due to head alignment issues. More often than not a drum replacement is the ultimate fix. I wish you luck with your footage, but my experience has been, once it's on the tape, even the pricey decks won't cut it.

Adobe premiere omf
 

apart from paying £400+ is there any way to get the whole adobe audio timeline/projetc out of premiere into pro tools or nuendo.


Ive tried EDLs and they dont seem to work


Cheers Steve

Thanks
 

Thank you for the reply, will go and do some testing.

Do you mean export the audio from the timeline to an audio file; e.g., a WAV file, that you can open in another program?

Warm Expodisc for white balancing
 

Does anybody use these expodisc for their video productions? There is the regular expodisc that give a neutral white balance and there is the warm expodisc that gives a kodak 81A slight warmth white balance...do they work like they brag??

Premiere Edl or OMf
 

i mean export the whole timeline so as to edit it in a program such as pro tools, or nuendo.

When i try and bring a premiere Edl in to Nuendo it comes up "parse error"


I know there is a program called Pro Export PPro which allow premiere omf export.


I just wanted to see if anyone know any other way because Pro Export PPro retails at £400+

Cheers

Steve

difference between HC-3000 and HC-3100 CASE
 

I need to know what the difference between the HC-3000 and HC-3100 hard case is? I ordered the HC-3000 used for my XL1S but the instructions say the XL1S should be in the 3100. does it make any difference?? I was just going to cut foam to put inside.