Exercise and tip for steadicam

[Charles Papert]

Anton Bauer does make a voltage converter for DV cameras, but it is integrated into their handheld Stasis rig. I had one made for my Mini35, it's not especially complicated.

[Quoc Peyrot]

It seems I already have these upgrades, but I read in another thread:

(From Matthew Wilson)
I got a chance to look at a unit that has had some mods made that the new all black Flyers will have and it raised some interesting questions. Some of the bearings in the arm have been replaced with bronze bushings. The gentleman there told me this was done to add some friction to parts of the arm. Apparently, Steadicam, felt that the arm was too frictionless, particularly in the horizontal direction in the bone at the socket connection. He explained that the arm had a tendency to move too easily and that these mods made it behave much more like their bigger arms.

I'm wondering if I have this one (it doesn't seem, it's pretty much frictionless in my arm), and if I don't should I complain to B&H Photo?

Maybe I'm also paranoid, but my gimbal doesn't seem perfect, if I static balance and turn 90degree, it looks very very slighly off-balance. But I don't have a bubble level to check yet. Maybe that just me. And since it looks very slight, maybe that's doesn't matter in practice.

If I apply a pressure with my fingers, I also can move very slighly the gimbal in the yolk (it makes a small sound when I move it, it moves probably around 1/32'' or maybe even less, so you don't see it, you just feel it at your fingertips).

That's the problem of being a newbie, you don't recognize what is normal/relevant, and what is not.

[Quoc Peyrot]

Thanks Charles, at least it doesn't seem completely lost, that give me some hope. I'll try to check with Anton Bauer, even if I have to do a custom-made cable.

I just watch your steadicam reel Charles. I don't know what to say... Whooo, very inspiring and impressive. It's funny because before I've tried I really wasn't realizing how difficult it was. I guess it's the kind of "in the shadow" job, so hard to do, but ungrateful because the audience will never say "whoo, look at this steadicam shot".

Are you sometimes teaching in workshop?

Quoc

PS: Next time you see Jennifer Aniston and Kirsten Dunst, can you take their phone numbers for me? Thanks I appreciate ;)

[Charles Papert]

Hi Quoc,

Thanks for the nice words.

I'll see what I can do about the phone numbers--you might have to fight off some other guys for them though!

I used to teach a lot of workshops but not much any more, although I might again, you never know.

Regarding your Canon power issue, it will take more than a cable, you need a 12v (really, 14v) to 7.2v voltage converter which is going to be more like a small box than a cable. Here's one such device.

[Quoc Peyrot]

This DC convertor looks perfect, I just need to figure out how to mount this on the XL2 now.

Thanks for pointing me to this website.

--
Quoc

[Charles Papert]

Just keep in mind, Quoc, that any and all cables should be neatly and tightly dressed on the rig, not hanging loose, otherwise your fine balance will be affected. Down the road you'll probably want to shorten that power cable from the Dolgin box to the camera.

[Quoc Peyrot]

Yes I noticed that with the video cable last time. I forgot to put the video cable, very light cable by the way, before balancing it, then I realized it, so I added the cable and the static balance went off, not a lot, be still a lot comparing to the weight of the cable. I was really amazed how sensitive it was.
That's why I was wondering how I would mount this on the XL2, as you said, it has to be tight and steady.

I'll try to pratice a lot this weekend, I really want to put the effort to be good at it. I like precision work. Yesterday I read the very long thread (10 pages or so), where Leigh where posting a lot of videos and you were commenting (and frustrated ;) ). A lot of good suggestions/exercises from you in this thread. I'll try to pratice this this weekend. I remember you were frustrated and you were wondering if you were wasting your time. I garantee you you were not! It's very helpful for the others (like me...) as well! :)

for reference, if others want to read it, I'm talking about this thread: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=31873

Thanks,
Quoc

[Quoc Peyrot]

Charles, I tried to walk forward without my hand on the post to see if I was over-controlling. It has a tendency to pan to the left when I'm doing that (I'm goofy, so it pans toward where the arm is attached). Can it be due to a bad balance (I don't have bubble level, my camera is connected directly to the steadicam plate, so I'm balancing visually) or a small friction in the way I am walking? Or do you think it's a gimbal problem?

When I'm trying to "turn around" the sled (to change my orientation without changing the direction of the camera) without my hand on the post it pans also a bit, but I guess that normal here.

When the sled is on the stand for balancing, I check the balance in every direction by rotating it. I'm not sure but I seem that it tilt slighly depending of the pan angle. Also, sometimes I put it at a given pan angle and it pan a little bit (5-10 degree or so) and stop. But it doesn't do that on every position. I'm wondering if this could also be related to this impression I have that the static balance is not the same for every direction.

I realized this morning that the axis battery-monitor was not aligned with the axis of the mount plate/camera. I fixed that, but I'm not sure it completely fixed the slight pan problem when I'm balancing the camera.

I'm really wondering if these problems can be due to a not-so-perfect balance or not...

Any clue?

Thanks,
Quoc

[Charles Papert]

They could be. The Flyer gimbal is pretty damn good so I wouldn't expect that to be the cause of your errant panning. Theoretically you should be able to walk 360 degrees around the rig without it panning (when you get good, you can do it with no hands on the rig!). The Flyer is a bit of a bear to get into dynamic balance though--it has limited adjustment and it depends on the camera whether you will have enough range.

[Quoc Peyrot]

I can't go around without having it panning, that's for sure, but maybe it's because it is not perfectly balanced. Hard to know when you have no one around to check for you.

I just did a couple of experiments. I walked straight forward without my hand on the post. Only a hand on the yolk handle (the part which is attached to the arm)
- the first time I oriented the yolk 90 degree from the direction I am walking:

walk in this direction
^
|

---< yolk

When I am doing that, the camera is panning left

- the second time I oriented the yolk in the same direction I am walking:

----< (-> walk in this direction)

When I am doing that, the camera is not panning.

I'm really puzzled... I'll buy some small bubble levels to make sure it is correctly balanced before pulling my hairs and getting crazy :)

Thanks,
Quoc

[Quoc Peyrot]

I tried with a bubble level. I static balanced it. I then tried different pan angles, and the static balance went off (slightly but enough to be noticeable with the bubble level, and enough to have this impression before using a bubble level). And as I said, sometimes I put it at a given pan angle (to check the static balance) and it slightly pans for a few degree and stops, I pan it back to where I put it, trying to be gentle to be sure I didn't created the pan by accident, then it pans again and stops at the same position than before. But it is not always reproduceable.

Apparently I have the same issue than in this thread:
http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=47671

I'll contact Tiffen, my gimbal might need some adjustements :(

--
Quoc

[Manuel Hernandez-Stumpfhauser]

Hello everyone, I'm deciding on buying a steadicam flyer, but I was wondering If it can hold the new canon XL H1 with the mini35 and a matte box. If not, do you have a recomendation?

Thanks

[Quoc Peyrot]

Just a quick update about my gimbal problem with the flyer.
I sent my sled back to Tiffen's Customer Service (great customer service by the way, they always respond within 24h if not within a couple of hour), and apparently their engineers found a defect in my gimbal. I'm relieved that I was not imagining the problem... It's a tricky call to make when you have absolutely no experience with a steadicam and no one around to give you a final judgment, after all, Tiffen's steadicam and especially their gimbals are renowned to be pretty good...

Anyway, they are repairing it, I should get it back pretty soon. I'll let you know how it is without the defect :)

Quoc

[Jack Smith]

This is a very interesting thread.I see 3 pages listed but cant get to page 3 so I'm posting to try and see page 3
Sorry for the interuption.