Sled for indicam and wired setup?

[Stephen Eastwood]

OK, this is probably something I should have guessed, but is there a certain type of sled that has a method to run wires down to the bottom?

Basically I need the camera on top and possibly a led light, that light has a very heavy battery that can be wired down, also I need to connect a firestore which is rather heavy, it would be great to have the firestore and battery mounted on the bottom plate, but it seems that makes the camera near impossibly to balance since a wire runs around the arm from top to bottom, kind of applying some resistance on smooth turns and pans.

So is there a sled that has wire routing down somehow? I have seen setups with monitors and such below so they must be wired as well? It should be for 10-15lbs at least I guess.

Thanks.

[Mikko Wilson]

Many rigs are wired internally, and many have space inside the post for custom cables. Check with the manufacturer of any paticular rig about the possibilty of pulling your own wires through the post. I'm sure Terry will answer about Ind!cam himself shortly...


If you can't get cables down through the sled, the nest best thing is to pull them down from the front of the stage to the top of the monitor (or front of the lower section of the sled if you don't have a monitor) This keeps the cables nicly out of the way - as you never block the lens during a shot anyway.

- Mikko

[Chris Klidonas]

I have seen some that have a wiring system in place to mount them through a box at top and they pop out at the bottom.

Hows it balancing with all the weight?

[Stephen Eastwood]

terry is away on vacation this week, so I did not want to bother him, I can wait till next week when hes back to ask certain things, just figured I would get some advice from what others are doing, thanks for the info, I am looking into potential options for a sled with an internal setup for wiring because I would like two wires at least be it firestore and LED or soon a screen and firestore combo to be mounted at the bottom. I have the firestore mounted at the bottom and the wire running down now but it seems to through it off once it starts to rotate in either direction since it will always exert some type of resistance to movement.

The setup XHA1 LED light Sony large LED with large sony battery large canon battery in place, firestore with normal battery all mounted is a pretty heavy device I could not imagine handholding it at all reall and getting anything usable, with the double upgraded arm its amazingly easy to keep steady, just the sled is not balanced perfect with the wire running. Still the video running around the house and backyard is amazing, I thought it would be much harder than it is seeming to be and I am only just starting (this is not doing anything fancy just yet, only straight walking and slow turns around)


Stephen Eastwood
http://www.StephenEastwood.com

[Terry Thompson]

Thanks Mikko for your help.

================

Stephen,

We're back for the week long shoot in Lake Tahoe and Reno NV (Hot August Nights car show) and are just getting to emails and posts.

We have run a video cable inside the post by drilling a hole just below the camera stage and another one just above the bottom plate. It can be tricky as the cable has to be long enough to allow for the post extension (if needed) and one end has to be soldered (or connected) after it comes out of the post.

We're attaching a couple of pictures of the set up we did just to show you.

Tery
Indicam

[Stephen Eastwood]

Any ready to purchase sled options out there I am not sure I want to cut a firewire and than trust it to be drop free afterwards, and looking at them it would have to be a very big hole to fit it through without cutting off the tip and reconnection.

[Charles Papert]

Stephen:

Having external cables run from top to bottom of the rig doesn't cause any issues with balance or influence on operation, it's only when they run from the rig to something off the rig (arm, vest, shoulder, outboard monitor etc). If you have them dressed nice and tightly so they don't flop around, they won't cause you any issues as long as you don't snag them on something! My first rig didn't have internal cabling and I worked for years with a mass of cables on the outside. You can't spin balance this way but for most shots it is no problem.

[Stephen Eastwood]

So now that I keep getting emails from this guy, I see that his sled may offer an internal wire system, anyone know if the gimbal is a good one or if the sled is good for a load of about 18lbs spread top and bottom?


http://www.fsprostab.com/english/com...imbal_head.htm

he does not sell the sled separately so it does not matter,

in any event maybe its the way I have the wires set up, here is a shot of me playing with it http://stepheneastwood.com/stuff/sho...py%202.htm you can see the wire on the bottom, its hanging around and seems to pull the top when it would otherwise move freely around the center column?

[Terry Thompson]

Stephen,

Cool picture by the way.

I had to cut off a video cable and then reconnect it when I ran it through the post and I don't know how that would work with a firewire. There are probably solder on firewire connectors but I'm not sure because I have never looked for any.

Where there is a will there is a way.

Tery
Indicam

[Chris Klidonas]

I am curious doesn't anyone make a sled that has built into it a slot for wiring? I have seen them in shots are they all custom made? if not does anyone know who sells them, I am looking myself to run several cables down the shaft of one.

[Terry Thompson]

Stephen and Chris,

One of the problems is what cables and for what use. The big guys have cables built in but they are set up for video and battery. I don't know if anyone has a solderable firewire cable but someone out there might know.

Come to think of it...I had to replace a firewire connector on one of my Sony cameras and I bought the part at Frys. It was exactly the right replacement for the bad one on my camera.

I'll have to make a stop at Frys and see if they still have the connector I bought earlier. Always looking for ways of improving our system.

Here's a link to a firewire solder part...http://www.mouser.com/catalog/specsheets/KC-300177.pdf

Tery
Indicam

[Sean Seah]

nice update Terry.. haven been following up on this. Time to do some practise on the indi again.. watz the size of that LCD? I may like to hook one up as well..

[Terry Thompson]

Sean,

The two sizes of "Active Matrix" LCD monitors we have are a 5" regular and a 5.8 wide screen. Either would work fine for framing a shot. I'm kind of learning towards the smaller one just because it is smaller and lighter. It's not a high definition monitor and it's not real expensive. Frankly, I don't know why anyone would want a high definition monitor on a steadicam type system when you are just using it for framing.

Hey, we're working on our new website and will be having an area for our users to show different applications. It will feature text, a still picture, and a flash video from the user showing how he (or she) is using the Indicam PILOT. I'll let you know via regular email more about it.

Smooth shooting,

Tery
Indicam

[Stephen Eastwood]

Great to hear, so are you selling the screens if so how much? and how difficult is it to modify to fit the wire down the shaft? and are you selling a sled already wired? if so how much?

Also ever think of making the top of the sled a bit more user friendly with adjustable dials like a macro tripod head that allows you to dial in forward and backward as well as left right movement, you could even have a diagonal, but adjusting the diagonal by hand and having an easy dial adjustment for/aft and side to side would be such a great setup improvement and timesaver.

[Terry Thompson]

Stephen,

Actually, the camera stage is very easy to balance once you know how to balance a steadicam type system. We can usually do it in 5 minutes or less with a new camera.

Manfrotto makes micro adjustable plates and if someone wanted to, they could buy two of them and connect them at right angles to each other.

Link: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ing_Plate.html

Your idea is a good one and we have thought about it for a while so we'll buy a couple of these plates and see how well they work out.

We just bought the 5.8 wide screen monitor so we'll make a sled and see how much extra time it takes.

The 5.0 monitor sells for $559 and the 5.8 monitor goes for $699 without being mounted.

Thanks for your suggestions.


Tery
Indicam