What to buy... Glidecam vs. Arri Lights

S

SE7

Well-known member
Hey guys... I'm in a bit of a predicament. If you guys were in my shoes, would you buy a Glidecam Smooth Shooter along with some cheap Britek lights, or would you go for a set of Arri lights with NO Smooth Shooter?

Thanks!

Colin Worley
 
Arri lights and no smooth shooter. Good lights are worth their weight in gold. While the briteks may work their support is sketchy as is their quality. You'll enjoy knowing you wont have to replace your arri's ever. Unless you just have to have a stabilizer I'd go this route.
 
Yeah, I was leaning towards that... but some of those shots are pretty amazing with the Smooth Shooter. Then again, won't Arri's retain their value?

Thanks
 
You can always rent a stabilizer too :) I'd look at how often you are going to use either one and see what the priority is or which will give you a better ROI.
 
-You can always rent a low end stabilizer (you cant rent big rigs) or you can always rent lights.
-Working with lights require good knowledge and little hands on experience.
-Working with a stabilizer required good knowledge and enormous amount of hands on experience.
-If you are going to use your stabilizer once a year it's not worth your money. You can always use your lights, anywhere, anytime.
-At the same time a good stabilizer system generates new work and pays itself off faster.
 
emretufekci said:
-Working with lights require good knowledge and little hands on experience.
Click to expand...

I disagree. You can read all the books you want about lighting but it's a whole 'nother thing to try it yourself. Both a stabilizer and lights require plenty of practice to get good at.

I would go with the lights because ultimately good lighting contribute more to your film than steadicam shots ever could. With videoish, flat lighting, your cool moving shots just comes across as gimmicky. But ultimately it depends on what your priority is. If you just want to train yourself on on a rig and will never be in the DP seat, then go for the Glidecam. Otherwise weight your need in term of what will be "cool" to have and what will actually help you grow as a filmmaker.
 
I think I was misunderstood because I worded my comments improperly, I meant:

-If you know how to light and have a lot of experience doing it, you can rent light and use any package with excellent results.

-If you know how to light and understand the principles, you should opt out for a stabilizer as you can keep practicing to improve yourself and rent lights when needed.

I was trying to approach it from a business point of view. You can always rent lights and you can never own enough lights. You can rent some small stabilizers but the return of the product of ownership soley depend on your expertise with the gear.
 
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The lights. Get good lights and stands for them. You will use them a lot more than the stabilizer... And I am a stabilized cameraman. Having your own quality lights will allow you to get shots that are being shot on a tripod, hand held, from the ground, off a crane, and later from a stabilized camera rig. :engel017:
 
Personally, I would find myself wanting to rent lighting rigs and go ahead and buy the stabilizer. The reason being that if you, or whomever is going to be operating, is unfamiliar with balancing a stabilizer, you'll spend a day's worth of rent money just working on getting the thing balanced correctly. They do take a considerable amount of practice in balancing and operating sometimes, so take this into account.

Then again, if your film will work without the use of stabilizers, give the lights a go. Remember, if you're trying to do complex/lengthy takes with a stabilizer, you have to block the scene very strategically and design your lighting around that.
 
Get the lights. Dont even worry about renting the Glidecam. One thing people dont realize is that not only is a "steadycam" not the panacea that everyone thinks it is, but you also need time to practice with it before you can get anything worth the time/effort.

I had a full light set and a Steadicam Merlin. The Merlin was awesome as I put in alot of practice time and was very good with it. That said, I always needed light, I didnt always need the Steadicam. You can always think of another way to get the shot if a rental house is closed for the day, but you cant always find another way to light.

Just for comparison, my buying order was roughly this:

Camera
Hand held rig (figrig)
Lights
Audio
Dolly
Crane
Steadicam

Without many, MANY, MANY hours of practice, that Glidecam will not replace a dolly, and with all the practice in the world it will never throw enough light for you to shoot by.
 
The Arri's

What good is a stabilizer if you don't know how to light the scene in the first place.

(Damn I want an Arri Kit)
 
I say get the stabilizer and cheaper lights, not necessarily Briteks. There are othe mfgs out there and with shopping smarts you can put together a nice effective low cost system. I have lots of lights: Mole, Arri, Destisti, Kino, Altman, 5k,2k,1k, etc... Arri are expensive and while they're nice, other low end lights will do the job just as well but you need to learn to light. If you happen to go for the expensive lights look at Desisti, they're much better than ARRI, -- IMHO.

You need the steadicam so you can practice, renting won't do. Besides sticks & handheld a steadicm unit enables you to get all sorts of otherwise unobtainable shots, but you have to develop skill to get these shots. You can stand on a moving cart that bumps around and have glass smooth shots, or on the back of a quad with an actor running full out toward you so you capture the stress and pain of their dash for freedom, walking, running, etc... it's pretty much an essential tool for many moving camera shots. Otherwise, you can show everyone visiting the set your ARRIs and they'll know you're a Pro because you have ARRIs. ;)

Me, my decision: steadicam & whatever lights I can scrounge up to get the shots I need.
 
GageFX said:
One thing people dont realize is that not only is a "steadycam" not the panacea that everyone thinks it is,
Click to expand...

I very respectfully disagree. In the hands of a skilled op steadicam is one of the most useful tools you will have on the set. Its a time saver and gives you opportunities to do things no other thing on set can substitute

Also lighting for a steadicam is an art all by itself.DoP's working with steadicam for the first time will find very unique challenges in accommodating the scenes for the desired effects. It challenges them to be even more creative and produce amazing results.

I would like to state again that lights are available for rental everywhere, in the hands of a experienced DoP almost any fixture will create beautiful images.

I own about 40K in lighting and always find myself in a position to rent more lights as I cannot always keep an inventory that will address every situation. Thats what rental houses are for.

I have 1 steadicam and it has paid itself off many times over. Putting down 50K for single piece of equipment might be intimidating but worth it in the long run. You can start with a smaller rig but you will soon find yourself asking for more.
 
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