looking for john from magiqcam

[Ed Liew]

hi all,
i'm trying to get hold of john, magiqcam. don't seem to be able to reach him through email. john, if you are reading this, please can you reply to my mail.
thank you.

ed

[Tony Hall]

I think there was something wrong with his email. I tried to email him about a week ago and didn't get a response. So, I tried again yesterday. He replied and said that he never received my first message. Try emailing him now or try calling. My Magiqcam will be ready next week!

[Scott Balkum]

He answers his phone. I have never had a problem calling him. His email response is slow, but I imagine it's because he only checks it once or twice a day.

Give him a call.

[Ed Liew]

i have send him a couple of mail wtih regards to support to my rig. he did reply twice but without offering any help to solving my problem. thats why i'm trying here. i know he check on this site quite often, reason being i will get a respond from them everytime i post a question with regard to their product.
btw, anyone of you having problem with the york part of the rig? mine, first, the bearing is not working. john said its most probably bad bearing and thats it. now another problem i'm facing is, the two bearing supporting the gimbal, one of it is dislocated. i manage to push it back to position but its dislocate again when i'm setting the rig while checking for drop time.
any help or suggestion. i've not been flying the rig for almost two weeks now.

ed

[Ed Liew]

send another email to john a while ago.
a favour i would like to ask folks here, if anyone by chance be contacting john, could you let him know ed from malaysia is looking for him. appreciate all the help.

ed

[Wesley Wong]

I'm still waiting for my magiqcam too, ed. I haven't heard from him in a while.

[Ed Liew]

hi wesley,
what i would say is, it will come one day but definately not in 4 or 5 weeks. the last time, i was told by one of my equipment reseller here who was interested with the rig, that the delay was due to john wife being hospitalised. he never mention that in our correspondance.
if you wanna have a look or feel of the rig, i can sort of bring it down to jb. i've got a coverage there for 3 days. i wouldn't be able to use it though due to one broken part. and this is the reason why i'm looking for john to help me solve my problem.
anyway, good luck with the wait and i would say, theirs not a scam.

ed

[Wesley Wong]

ok, that's comforting. Best wishes to John and family. Just that buying overseas, especially through internet, is the least reassuring and e-mail, although a great invention, doesn't give you assurance.

Will wait patiently. I haven't really promised any of my gigs steadicam coverage yet, so I'm not in hot soup.

Thanks for the offer Ed, although I don't see I can find time to hope over even to JB to see your shoot in action ! All the best !

can't remember what camera you are using and for what purpose (i.e. : indie shorts or broadcast production)

[Ed Liew]

i'm using a panasonic dvc200. we work with afew corporate client on their visual needs. if you got time, this is our site http://visualline.web1000.com
good luck.

ed

[Ed Liew]

just receive two reply from john. some server down or something, but i'm glad he reply.

ed

[Terry Thompson]

Ed,

I just watched your demo reel and was impressed. Some nice effects etc. Was it shot using the DVC200?
I live fairly close (1 hour away) to John from Magicam but haven't actually met him. Do you like your stabilizer?
Just thought I would let you know I saw and liked the reel.

Terry

[Wesley Wong]

Well Ed, I'm still patiently waiting for my magicam.

Ed + Terry , am I getting the right URL ? I keep getting directed to : http://www.paysforsurveys.com/ if I use the exact URL Ed listed above...


just curious.



P.S. : was busy working on 2 wedding videos and another community service coastal conservation video coming up... didn't have time to surf dvinfo much, but Charles P has a fab steadicam demo going there...

[Giroud Francois]

if you like cheap stabilizer there is a french product that is really good.
http://www.laigleparis.fr
see more picture on
http://www.dvforever.com/article.php3?id_article=111
note that it is one of the few stab using back support.
It is a tremendous difference with model with front support.

[Charles Papert]

Giroud, have you used or own this system? It does have quite a design flair, and I am interested in the arm system being used (compression springs?).

Yes, the backmounted harness is a great way to go. I've been working that way for about a year and it's definitely better on the body, if it is fitted right.

I did notice in the right hand picture on this page that the position of both harness and arm is causing the system to lean away from the body substantially; note the angle presented at the elbow hinge. This continues to be one of the red flags with many lightweight stabilizers. It forces the operator to keep a death grip on the gimbal handjust to keep the rig from flying away, which is undesirable to say the least (and causes additional fatigue).

[Ed Liew]

hi terry,
thank you for the comments. are you in the video production line too?

most of the newer production were shoot using dvc200. pretty good quality picture but not so good with reliability - the camcorder. thinking of going for the dvc pro 410 early next year.

as for the magiqcam, i feel that for the price, its worthy a good product and i really like john welding work. not to say the vest. just top class.

for practicality, some of the design, i think, is just a little off - mainly on the sled itself. also, one thing about the vest is that, the two front adjustment screws should be make the other way round. i find it a bit difficult to position the nuts inside the vest when we want to adjust the vest height.

let hope that john will come out with a more pratical version in the future.

ed