Magiqcam gone? at DVinfo.net

Quoc Peyrot · September 18th, 2005, 01:17 AM

Hello,
Anyone knows why (it seems) magiqcam has vanished from ebay?

Since I'm waiting for mine, I hope they are not out of business...
Any infos appreciated.

Thanks.

Best Regards,
Quoc

Tom Wills · September 18th, 2005, 09:45 AM

No, they're not out of buisness. http://magiqcam.com/

Give 'em an email if you have questions. They have pretty quick email response times.

Hope you enjoy your stabilizer!

Martin Polach · September 25th, 2005, 08:35 AM

Payied my 2P rig two months ago. Six weeks ago I got info that my rig is almost ready to go to the powder coater. Since that, no information was sent to me. I wrote John an e-mail 10 days ago, but got no reply yet.

I hope that things are OK and that Animagique is just very busy lately and that they will ship my rig soon.

Martin

Quoc Peyrot · September 25th, 2005, 09:29 PM

Pretty much the same story for me (IIp ordered 08th July), I called John twice. Each time it was "just coming out of the machinery and was going to be assembled. Thus [I] should get it by the end of next week".

I called again last week, has been said he was in LA (apparently an heath issue in his familly, I won't give details here even though the (friendly) woman on the phone did, it is not really the place to discuss private matters). She told me he was coming back tomorrow (Monday), and I'll have more details about my order status from him.

I checked on ebay the feedbacks, apparently the worse case was 3months.
I guess that's the price to pay for having a relatively cheap good stabilizer, so I'm trying to be patient :)

I don't really know what to think, I have heard animagique had a really good customer services, but here I definitely miss some communications from them. Waiting that long is (almost) O.K. as long as you really know what's going on. We'll probably have more info this week I guess. I just hope the delay is not due to a technical problem with the IIp serie.

I hope the rig is as good as I read in this price range so it was worth waiting that long! :)

Martin Polach · September 26th, 2005, 12:55 AM

Yea, it's almost the same story in my case, but like you said, prolly it is the price we pay for a good stabilizer in this price range.

One thing confuses me, I ordered IIa at first, when I sent the money to John he wrote me that I could get for additional $800 their new model 2P. Since I was having some money problem those $800 were very hard for me, but I lend some money and payied it. John wrote me that if I buy 2P, the order would take a bit longer. I asked if he is able to ship it within two months, the reply was "Oh yes it would surely ship by then."

Don't have anything else to do than wait. I hope I'll just get reply from John this week - that things are OK and the whole process will take a bit longer. I am starting to worry about my money :(

Leigh Wanstead · September 26th, 2005, 12:39 PM

I don't understand that why people want to wait several months to buy a stablizer especially money pay in advance. I bought my jvc gy-dv5000 camera from New York and it took only a week to arrive in Auckland, New Zealand.

Does that mean US$2,000 stablizer is really hot in the market and can demand whatever condition the manufacture wish?

Just curious

Regards
Leigh

Quoc Peyrot · September 26th, 2005, 12:52 PM

As far as I know, animagique is a small family company. As some other small companies (redrockmicro for the M2 for instance) they build the item on demand, so it can take a while.

Why people are willing to wait that long? Well, if you compare the stabilizers in the $2000 price range, you'll see the magiqcam is quite good for this price. But I somehow agree with your comment.

Anyway, after almost 3months waiting I now have enough money to order the Flyer, so I just canceled my order and asked for a refund. (BTW, I didn't pay the magiqcam in advance, John is quite friendly and allows different ways to pay. I paid 500$ at the order and was supposed to pay the remaining when ready for shipping).

Leigh Wanstead · September 26th, 2005, 02:35 PM

Hi Quoc,

I look forward to watching your video using your flyer.

Regards
Leigh

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quoc Peyrot

As far as I know, animagique is a small family company. As some other small companies (redrockmicro for the M2 for instance) they build the item on demand, so it can take a while.

Why people are willing to wait that long? Well, if you compare the stabilizers in the $2000 price range, you'll see the magiqcam is quite good for this price. But I somehow agree with your comment.

Anyway, after almost 3months waiting I now have enough money to order the Flyer, so I just canceled my order and asked for a refund. (BTW, I didn't pay the magiqcam in advance, John is quite friendly and allows different ways to pay. I paid 500$ at the order and was supposed to pay the remaining when ready for shipping).

Charles King · September 26th, 2005, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quoc Peyrot

Anyway, after almost 3months waiting I now have enough money to order the Flyer, so I just canceled my order and asked for a refund. (BTW, I didn't pay the magiqcam in advance, John is quite friendly and allows different ways to pay. I paid 500$ at the order and was supposed to pay the remaining when ready for shipping).

Congrats on your decision. You are definately not going to be disappointed. The flyer is one bad baby. When I did the review I had a small sony DV camera. When I flew it again( it comes in black this time, much better looking) I flew it with a film camera. What huge difference. Good choice and hope you too share your experience. :)

Quoc Peyrot · September 26th, 2005, 08:40 PM

Thanks, I'm pretty sure I won't be disappointed, your video and your review are pretty much why I even considered buying it. The arm looks really impressive. When you run in place and the camera just float as if (almost) nothing is happening... That's a killer!
I don't know if I should thanks you or not for this review, my bank account looks like it just drank a slim fast! If only drinking a slim fast could have the same immediate impact on me... ;)

I'll probably share some videos but it will probably takes a couple of months. First we (the small group/team I'm working with) have to get used to the steadicam of course and we have to learn how to properly choreograph the shots/camera movements. Since we didn't have any stabilizer up to now, we are pretty much used to shot everything using tripod (we don't really like the handeld-shaky style). So we will now have more creative choices, but we have to learn when and how to use it properly. It's like DOF, you don't want to over-abuse it just because you can... It doesn't make sense.
But I'm sure it's going to be very fun! :)

Anyways, thanks for you review, I can't wait to receive to Flyer.

In the meantime if you want to see some of our trailers (no full shorts for the moment, I still didn't have the time to encode them for the web...) from past projects:
http://www.chojin.neomagie.net/blog/ (for the context/background around the videos)
or
http://chojin.neomagie.net/blog/videos-films/ (for the videos themselves)

I hope you'll like them :)

Charles King · September 27th, 2005, 12:33 AM

Thank you so much for th ekind words. I didn't realize. It's good to know the reviewed helped. I will take a look at your past projects at the link. Again, good luck.

Rob Mitchell · September 30th, 2005, 01:00 PM

You won't be diappointed. I got my rig in January after waiting almost 8 weeks. You will be impressed when it arrives and it will be worth the wait. John is slow at answering e-mail though, so I used to phone to check on progress - slightly more expensive alternative from your location though.
Good luck

Charles King · September 30th, 2005, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Mitchell

You won't be diappointed. I got my rig in January after waiting almost 8 weeks. You will be impressed when it arrives and it will be worth the wait. John is slow at answering e-mail though, so I used to phone to check on progress - slightly more expensive alternative from your location though.
Good luck

Rob, I think you are a little confused. He is not buying the magiqcam. He is getting the steadicam flyer.

Rob Mitchell · September 30th, 2005, 01:24 PM

I missed that part. Sorry. I still think the Magicqam was worth the wait.

Quoc Peyrot · September 30th, 2005, 07:09 PM

By no mean I was saying it was not worth the wait (but for me it was now almost 3 months, which is, you must admit, quite long). It's just that some unexpected extra income went in, and I realized that I now could afford the Flyer. And I think we all agree that if you can afford it, the flyer is the way to go in most cases :)

I read very good reviews about the magiqcam, and I think there is no doubt the magiqcam is very good for this price.

September 18th, 2005, 01:17 AM	#1
Quoc Peyrot Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 81	Magiqcam gone? Hello, Anyone knows why (it seems) magiqcam has vanished from ebay? Since I'm waiting for mine, I hope they are not out of business... Any infos appreciated. Thanks. Best Regards, Quoc

September 27th, 2005, 12:33 AM	#11
Charles King Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: sweden Posts: 795	Thank you so much for th ekind words. I didn't realize. It's good to know the reviewed helped. I will take a look at your past projects at the link. Again, good luck. __________________ Charles 'What we perceive to be may not be what we believe to be.'

September 18th, 2005, 09:45 AM	#2
Tom Wills Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 326	No, they're not out of buisness. http://magiqcam.com/ Give 'em an email if you have questions. They have pretty quick email response times. Hope you enjoy your stabilizer!

September 25th, 2005, 08:35 AM	#3
Martin Polach Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Czech republic Posts: 35	Payied my 2P rig two months ago. Six weeks ago I got info that my rig is almost ready to go to the powder coater. Since that, no information was sent to me. I wrote John an e-mail 10 days ago, but got no reply yet. I hope that things are OK and that Animagique is just very busy lately and that they will ship my rig soon. Martin

September 25th, 2005, 09:29 PM	#4
Quoc Peyrot Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 81	Pretty much the same story for me (IIp ordered 08th July), I called John twice. Each time it was "just coming out of the machinery and was going to be assembled. Thus [I] should get it by the end of next week". I called again last week, has been said he was in LA (apparently an heath issue in his familly, I won't give details here even though the (friendly) woman on the phone did, it is not really the place to discuss private matters). She told me he was coming back tomorrow (Monday), and I'll have more details about my order status from him. I checked on ebay the feedbacks, apparently the worse case was 3months. I guess that's the price to pay for having a relatively cheap good stabilizer, so I'm trying to be patient :) I don't really know what to think, I have heard animagique had a really good customer services, but here I definitely miss some communications from them. Waiting that long is (almost) O.K. as long as you really know what's going on. We'll probably have more info this week I guess. I just hope the delay is not due to a technical problem with the IIp serie. I hope the rig is as good as I read in this price range so it was worth waiting that long! :)

September 26th, 2005, 12:55 AM	#5
Martin Polach Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Czech republic Posts: 35	Yea, it's almost the same story in my case, but like you said, prolly it is the price we pay for a good stabilizer in this price range. One thing confuses me, I ordered IIa at first, when I sent the money to John he wrote me that I could get for additional $800 their new model 2P. Since I was having some money problem those $800 were very hard for me, but I lend some money and payied it. John wrote me that if I buy 2P, the order would take a bit longer. I asked if he is able to ship it within two months, the reply was "Oh yes it would surely ship by then." Don't have anything else to do than wait. I hope I'll just get reply from John this week - that things are OK and the whole process will take a bit longer. I am starting to worry about my money :(

September 26th, 2005, 12:39 PM	#6
Leigh Wanstead Trustee Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: NZ Posts: 1,276	I don't understand that why people want to wait several months to buy a stablizer especially money pay in advance. I bought my jvc gy-dv5000 camera from New York and it took only a week to arrive in Auckland, New Zealand. Does that mean US$2,000 stablizer is really hot in the market and can demand whatever condition the manufacture wish? Just curious Regards Leigh

September 26th, 2005, 12:52 PM	#7
Quoc Peyrot Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 81	As far as I know, animagique is a small family company. As some other small companies (redrockmicro for the M2 for instance) they build the item on demand, so it can take a while. Why people are willing to wait that long? Well, if you compare the stabilizers in the $2000 price range, you'll see the magiqcam is quite good for this price. But I somehow agree with your comment. Anyway, after almost 3months waiting I now have enough money to order the Flyer, so I just canceled my order and asked for a refund. (BTW, I didn't pay the magiqcam in advance, John is quite friendly and allows different ways to pay. I paid 500$ at the order and was supposed to pay the remaining when ready for shipping).

September 26th, 2005, 08:40 PM	#10
Quoc Peyrot Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 81	Thanks, I'm pretty sure I won't be disappointed, your video and your review are pretty much why I even considered buying it. The arm looks really impressive. When you run in place and the camera just float as if (almost) nothing is happening... That's a killer! I don't know if I should thanks you or not for this review, my bank account looks like it just drank a slim fast! If only drinking a slim fast could have the same immediate impact on me... ;) I'll probably share some videos but it will probably takes a couple of months. First we (the small group/team I'm working with) have to get used to the steadicam of course and we have to learn how to properly choreograph the shots/camera movements. Since we didn't have any stabilizer up to now, we are pretty much used to shot everything using tripod (we don't really like the handeld-shaky style). So we will now have more creative choices, but we have to learn when and how to use it properly. It's like DOF, you don't want to over-abuse it just because you can... It doesn't make sense. But I'm sure it's going to be very fun! :) Anyways, thanks for you review, I can't wait to receive to Flyer. In the meantime if you want to see some of our trailers (no full shorts for the moment, I still didn't have the time to encode them for the web...) from past projects: http://www.chojin.neomagie.net/blog/ (for the context/background around the videos) or http://chojin.neomagie.net/blog/videos-films/ (for the videos themselves) I hope you'll like them :)

September 30th, 2005, 01:00 PM	#12
Rob Mitchell Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Miami Beach, FL Posts: 38	You won't be diappointed. I got my rig in January after waiting almost 8 weeks. You will be impressed when it arrives and it will be worth the wait. John is slow at answering e-mail though, so I used to phone to check on progress - slightly more expensive alternative from your location though. Good luck

September 30th, 2005, 01:24 PM	#14
Rob Mitchell Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Miami Beach, FL Posts: 38	I missed that part. Sorry. I still think the Magicqam was worth the wait.

September 30th, 2005, 07:09 PM	#15
Quoc Peyrot Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 81	By no mean I was saying it was not worth the wait (but for me it was now almost 3 months, which is, you must admit, quite long). It's just that some unexpected extra income went in, and I realized that I now could afford the Flyer. And I think we all agree that if you can afford it, the flyer is the way to go in most cases :) I read very good reviews about the magiqcam, and I think there is no doubt the magiqcam is very good for this price.