Brad Grimmett

I've worked with a couple stand in's that have lifts so they can stand in for people of different heights. Should work fine if you don't see them head to toe.

If you can't tie the knot, tie a lot.

We have moderators now, so fire away. If it gets silly it can be fixed very quickly.

You're absolutely correct. What I should have said is that some people/companies (no specific company) have had a habit in the past of telling anyone and everyone that took a workshop that they could be a working professional steadicam operator at the end of the workshop. And they were more than happy to sell them a rig, by the way. As most of us know, it takes a whole hell of a lot more than knowing how to build and fly a rig to be a steadicam operator.

Most complete professional rigs cost between $75k-$100k. Backups and added equipment can add a lot to that, but a standard professional rig is in that price range for the most part. Yeah, for most people it obviously is, but it's not an entry level position after all. No, that's not true at all. I happen to be a big guy, but I know many fantastic operators who are much shorter and smaller than the average male. There is no height/weight requirement. Niche market or not, when you have much more supply than demand, it can drastically lower the price point of any product or service. And this is even more true in an already small field. There hasn't really been a big increase in the last few years I don't think. The big increase came about 10 years ago I would say. It's a strange paradigm, because there is still a measure of prestige among the crew that comes along with the job, but many producers treat operators as a dime a dozen type position, and they want to pay accordingly. Prestige is nice and all, especially when you're just starting out, but it doesn't pay the bills, especially after you've been doing it for 10 years or longer. Steadicam, and operating is general, is a great job. I love it. It's just tough when it becomes harder and harder financially to continue doing it.

Tiffen doesn't care what kind of rig they sell, as long as they sell something, and a lot of it. Honestly, that's a big part of the problem. They want to sell as many rigs as they can as fast as they can, and that's really bad for the art and craft of steadicam. I'm sure it's great for business, but it's not good for people who operate steadicam, or for people who hire steadicam operators. It dilutes the market so much that there are hundreds (probably many more) of people running around calling themselves steadicam operators, yet previous to buying their rig had never even operated a camera on a professional set of any kind. Yet they think because they own a rig that they're a "professional" steadicam operator. These smaller and cheaper rigs sound great at first glance, but the fact is, the smaller the rig (ie, less mass and inertia) the harder it is to operate. But yeah, sure, it's great for someones "business model". And weeks or months later a majority of those rigs are for sale because the "operator" realizes they don't know what they're doing and can't make money. The same way anyone can pick up a camera and "shoot", anyone can strap on a steadicam and "shoot". Rolling film through a camera doesn't make you Storaro, and putting on a steadicam doesn't make you Larry McConkey.

Used film cameras are already dirt cheap.

It's an XL Karl, not a Millenium, so the specs you posted aren't correct.

They're both good cameras. Many times your 1st will have a preference one way or the other, or the producer will have a preference based on the quotes they get. If you want better advice you should post some info about the job and exactly what kind of operating you plan to do.

I think if you call around to a few rental houses you should find a solution pretty quickly, or at least leads to a solution. Good luck.

So have I. I'm sure there are plenty of incorrect things on there, but in general it seems pretty accurate. If anything, there are more credits missing than there are credits that are incorrect, at least in my experience. It used to be a real pain to get them to add a credit, but it seems like it's gotten much better over the last 5 or 6 years.

There sure has! One reason is that there are so many new and different types of rigs on the market these days and people are upgrading and buying and selling gear more often. Another reason is that every tom, dick, and harry seems to want to get into steadicam these days. Because of this proliferation of operators there are many more people doing the same amount of jobs. Because of that, some people can't make a living and have to sell their gear. Another effect of all of these new operators is that the rates are dropping drastically. When people get desperate for work they'll accept almost any deal, no matter how terrible and low it is. And many producers don't seem to know that you pay for what you get. This drives rates down industry wide, as we all know. It's simple supply and demand. And it's being made much worse because of the economy. I think we'll see even more steadicam gear for sale in the next year as some of the new operators realize that steadicam isn't easy and operators aren't overpaid, as many people seem to assume. I've lost quite a few jobs to undercutting in the past couple years, as many people have. Hopefully those doing the undercutting realize that they can't make a living doing that and either raise their rates or move onto something else.

Just add the credit. IMDB isn't contacting anyone about it. They'll most likely just add it when you submit.

No, I don't think I have. I'd be interested to try them though.

The Red isn't the best handheld camera to start with, so I wouldn't try to put any large zooms on it for handheld. I would probably try to get the small Optimo's if it were me. Stylistically, you can either use a zoom stick if you want snappier type zooms, or you could use a microforce mounted to the handlebar for smoother zooms. Or you could have someone else doing the zooming, but that wouldn't be my preference in most situations if I were operating.

Oh, that's a shame. Paul was always posting interesting things. I second John's notion that someone should try to help her sell his gear for a reasonable price. There are many people here that could help with that.

Yeah, I know I can do that, I'd just prefer not to because I think my operating will suffer. Maybe it won't....I guess I should try it. So far I've had the 2nd do the zooming for me and it's worked fine, but sometimes the timing is a bit of an issue and it would be nice to be able to do it comfortably on my own. It's honestly not a big issue on this show, but it would be nice to have options in the future.

We've been using Artemis a lot on the feature I'm on right now, and I'm hearing a lot about Panascout. I still haven't switched to the iphone though, so I don't have either. Does anyone know if these are available on android?

I'm currently on a movie with a G2, an 11-1, and 1000ft mag, and because of the weight I'm using the Panahead pretty much all the time. The 2575 just won't balance well with that package. Anyway, for the most part I'm using the zoom as a variable prime, but on the rare occasion the director wants to do a zoom in the shot. I've heard of a zoom control device that can be put on the wheel handle for these types of situations, but I've never heard the name of it. I'm wondering what it is and where to get one. It's a bit of a mystery to me at the moment. Anyone have any info about it? Our "A" camera operator (who is a fantastic operator) has done a shot or two holding the microforce in his hand while turning the wheel, but I'm doubtful that I can pull that off as well as he can, and I don't really want to risk it. Any info would be great.

There are quite a few steadicam operators in NYC that have weight plates. If you post on the steadicam forum you will probably find someone to loan/rent you theirs very quickly. Adding weight at the bottom is exactly what you don't want to do. Using a sand bag or some other loose weight is possible but not ideal. You really don't want weight that can shift while you're operating. A weight plate under the camera is ideal.

I agree with Brian regarding long amounts of time while doing handheld. Much worse. But here is the worst handheld camera setup I've ever used. Luckily the takes were only a couple of minutes. Panastar with an 11-1. I had the 1000 footer on it previously but we ran out of 1000's and had to go to 400's which was much worse.

Hunter, When I go to your website my anti virus goes nuts. Your website is infected.

That's a much more watered down investment. Most of the companies that own studios and are traded make all kinds of other things as well. For example, Newscorp's stock may have gone up a bit when Avatar was a hit, and you could make a few bucks investing in Newscorp, but if you bet on Avatar alone you probably made a nice chunk of change. It's just a different investment. I think the idea for the exchange is a good one. There is very little opportunity for insider trading in my opinion, and what little there is exists mainly on the short side. Studios have an idea of when a movie will flop much more often than they know it will be a hit. And they never really KNOW one way or the other anyway. No one does. As we all know, people are gambling billions and trillions of dollars every day on all the different stock markets, often times with much less research available than the average person has about movies. So I'm all for it. Although I'm a bit bummed that anyone working in the business can't trade.

You can probably still get the real thing. I saw them on a set in 1998 or 1999. I'm sure they won't be cheap.

I own a suped up modulus, which works great. I've used the Cam-Wave on a few jobs and it works great, but it's quite a bit more expensive.