Phil Balsdon
New member
I'm the operator of the Steadicam Flyer referred to at the Steadi-Onfilms website. I own the JVC HD101E camera and the Steadicam Flyer. The P & S Mini 35, 35mm lenses and BFD wireless focus system were rented for the shoot.
The configuration of the Flyer took a little thought. Putting all the camera hardware on the stage above the gimbal put the gimbal so high on the post when balanced it was impossible to dock the rig. For this reason the DR HD100 hard drive was placed on the batteries at the bottom of the rig, allowing the gimbal to be moved a little down the centre post. The photos on the site also show the firewire cable running down behind the post, I later used a longer cable and ran it down the front past the monitor and thus allowing me to switch between "Don Juan" and "Missionary" shooting configurations on the fly.
The arm setting on the Flyer was very close to max so the rig only just coped with the load.
In future I would have a cable made to power the camera from the Steadicam power and ditch the camera battery and find a way to mount the hard drive between the monitor and post, instead of behind the lower batteries to improve the dynamic balance of the rig.
A dolly could not have done the job of the steadicam on this shoot. The photos show the rig being used on a very narrow balcony along which we ran. We also shot chase scenes up and down stairs and the arrival of the actors at the jail was done with a single shot over two minutes long that completed a 360 degree rotation around a car and showed a great introductory view of the location.
The other benefit of the steadicam on a budget shoot like this was speed. Once the steadicam is set it's ready for any move. A dolly needs to set up for each shot and that adds time.
When not using the 35mm lens kit I rarely bother about focus and iris, for most situations a combination of 1/3 inch chip format, a suitable f stop and careful fixed focus setting will allow depth of field to do the rest. Focus controls for Fujinon and Canon lenses are available that can be mounted on the gimbal handle of the Steadicam, but you need a motor on the lens.
The configuration of the Flyer took a little thought. Putting all the camera hardware on the stage above the gimbal put the gimbal so high on the post when balanced it was impossible to dock the rig. For this reason the DR HD100 hard drive was placed on the batteries at the bottom of the rig, allowing the gimbal to be moved a little down the centre post. The photos on the site also show the firewire cable running down behind the post, I later used a longer cable and ran it down the front past the monitor and thus allowing me to switch between "Don Juan" and "Missionary" shooting configurations on the fly.
The arm setting on the Flyer was very close to max so the rig only just coped with the load.
In future I would have a cable made to power the camera from the Steadicam power and ditch the camera battery and find a way to mount the hard drive between the monitor and post, instead of behind the lower batteries to improve the dynamic balance of the rig.
A dolly could not have done the job of the steadicam on this shoot. The photos show the rig being used on a very narrow balcony along which we ran. We also shot chase scenes up and down stairs and the arrival of the actors at the jail was done with a single shot over two minutes long that completed a 360 degree rotation around a car and showed a great introductory view of the location.
The other benefit of the steadicam on a budget shoot like this was speed. Once the steadicam is set it's ready for any move. A dolly needs to set up for each shot and that adds time.
When not using the 35mm lens kit I rarely bother about focus and iris, for most situations a combination of 1/3 inch chip format, a suitable f stop and careful fixed focus setting will allow depth of field to do the rest. Focus controls for Fujinon and Canon lenses are available that can be mounted on the gimbal handle of the Steadicam, but you need a motor on the lens.