Handheld Stabilizers ?

I know of those other films. I was just using those examples to say that they are not common and that to do those shots goes beyond the scope of this post regarding glidecams and merlins. All those films quoted are big budgeted films . Russian arc maybe not. the point is if you have the money for a 6 min shot that would probably take the whole day or more to set up your least concern is what steadicam to use.
Aside from the fact that long steadicam shots in my opinion have run their course as "cool shots". the mystery is gone.
If someone is talking about merlins and glidecams a realistic approach to using those tools would make them viable to use even without a vest.

I have worked on over 20 big budget feature films and am currently working on a huge film $100 mil +, and in all that time I have yet to experience a steadicam shot longer than 1 minute. And most are well below that.

Actuallly one of the best steadicam long shots I have seen recently is Tony Jaa's "the protector "which is unique for all the fightng that had to be choreographed and which goes on I think well beyond 6 minutes but I also noticed that it was also done with a very good almost unoticeable cut in the middle.
 
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The Steadicam should be used as a storytelling tool. If a film wants to make a shot that is continuous, w/o cuts, that's great as long as the shot moves the story in an engaging and positive direction. If the shot is just for flare, if the production just wants to say, "Look at us, we have a Steadicam on set," yes, it becomes gratuitous.

Long shots don't necessarily cost more money. Yes, it may seem like a couple days of prep and one day of shooting for just one shot might be a lot. However, if you consider how many setups it would have required to shoot many of these scenes traditionally, the costs might ultimately be relatively similar. It's not possible to make a blanket statement in either direction. The cost of shooting continuous or traditionally totally depends upon the individual scenes.

The shot from "The Protector" is amazing. It's not quite 6 minutes, clocking in at about 4. One day of rehearsal, shot in one take, no cuts. Imagine how long a multi-story, 4 minute fight scene would take to shoot if it had been done traditionally!
 
Good evening from Copenhagen :-)

A option could also be the Ugrip system (www.ugrip.dk). They make camera handles,mounting brackets for the firestore, brackets for audio ltd & sennheiser microport receivers . The system doesn't take the strain and weight away when you shoot handheld but it gives a better control when operating the camera and all your extra mounted gear is neatly in place and out of the way.

I use this system with my HVX 200 and I'm very satisfied with it. I went to see the firestore bracket today , they said that there would be pictures on the web during the next few weeks ? anyway this bracket ables you to mount the firestore very sturdy on the camera handle or underneath the camera, with or without the rest of the Ugrip system.
 
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