Mike Peters

The tree of life sequence must be one of the most beautiful film effects sequences ever made. And all in a 4x4 tank. Quite inspiring.

Good news

The Clitheroe Police have confirmed that Mr Shamilov has admitted that all the missing gear is in the shipping container that is on its way to the UK.

Making progress.

OK I'll try them too

Cheers

Mike

Not a clue. Perhaps the British embassy in New Zealand would be able to advise you, although I should imagine they'll just suggest some things to try as opposed to doing much themselves.

 

P

Thanks Phil - will try the embassy

In the meantime I have emailed the Clitheroe Police with full details.

Cheers

Mike

I assume you've contacted the authorities here? What recourse is there in a situation like this?

Hi Phil

Well I'm in New Zealand and never had gear stolen before, so I'm learning as I go. I guess I have to email the Clitheroe Police somehow. Be worth letting the local photo club know so nobody else gets taken in.

Do you have any suggestions on the best way to proceed in UK?

Thanks Mike

NZ10K of Bush Telly gear has been stolen by a former member of the crew from Christchurch New Zealand.

Bush Telly gear is often loaned to members of the crew who return it and they have often loaned their own gear to Bush Telly so it has been of mutual benefit.

Alexander "Sasha" Shamilov was loaned this gear by me late last year. I only found out a few weeks ago that he is now living in UK and the gear has disappeared.

http://www.sashashamilov.com

Formerly living in Christchurch New Zealand

Now living in Clitheroe, Lancashire, United Kingdom

He had "borrowed"

1 Sennheisser MKH70 shotgun microphone

1 Rycote windsock system

1 Vinten 3441-3 Vision 8 pan and tilt head

1 Vinten 3770-3 ENG Aluminium 2-stage Pozi-Loc Tripod Legs

1 Tripod kit bag, head manual, maintenance kit, snow shoes, tripod floor spreader and plates.

More details at http://blog.bushtelly.org.nz/2012/02...elly-gear.html

Any help getting the gear back much appreciated. He may have also stolen gear from other people as well.

Cheers

Mike Peters

Director

Bush Telly

Postal

PO Box 9000,

Tower Junction,

Christchurch 8149

New Zealand

Ph 64+ 3-9800902

Fx 64+ 3 9800903

Mobile 027-210-5042

Skype bushtelly

info@bushtelly.org.nz

www.bushtelly.org.nz

I'm also on

www.redworks.co.nz

www.addingtonaction.org.nz

I noticed another manufacturer of grip gear, Kupo. They seem to be cheaper than the usual suspects like Avenger and Matthews. Is the quality any good? I've read here some people like their grip heads and c-stands, how about their overhead roller stands (ie. skyhighs)?

 

Thanks.

Bush Telly has been using Kupo gear for some years without any problems. I checked orginally with a local hire company in Christchurch "Hang up" who have Kupo and Manfrotto/Avenger gear. They said Kupo gear lasted about 5 years in a hire environment, while Manfroto lasted forever.

So we bought Kupo because we have a careful crew and the price is much lower. I think its very well made.

Buy just the Grip head. You can buy 5/8th stainless tube from a hardware shop, why pay a film company for something available off the shelf at any hardware store. Cut it to whatever lengths you want.

 

Sanjay Sami

www.thegripworks.com

Thats what I did - and saved a real bundle. Got 5 arms out of 1 length of stainless. Used Grip heads from Kupo which are very well made and cheap in New Zealand.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions

I'll post images of the finished track in a couple of weeks

I did a test yesterday - works great

Thanks for the tips everyone

That Canon site says the camera has a component out, so you could go component out with a cable like this.

Hi Chris - Yes that would work thanks

I have to sort out how to support the monitor and some kind of hood. I thought to make a hood from cloth glued to card and attached with valcro strips.

I could drill a VESA compatable plate and weld a female adaptor that would slip onto the top of a c-stand

Would be very cheap to do, and can always be improved on.

What do other people do (tiny budget)

Hi Pual

Thanks for the tips. I'll do up some drawings and post them here as PDF attachment, plus the finished item.

Make sense to buy the joiners, if they are available somewhere.

I need some help. I have got a spare 15" LCD Dell PC Monitor and want to use it as a directors monitor for a Canon XH-A1 HD camera.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XH_A1

http://www.usa.canon.com/app/html/HDV/XHA1...fications.shtml

The monitor has a connector for the cable from a PC video card and a DVI connector. How can this be simply and cheaply be hooked up to the camera.

Thanks

The big boggle is the joining system. Commercial track usually has a plug that is mounted in one end of both lines of track. That plug fits into the open end of another section of track. Then, a clamp of some sort keeps the sections pulled together. I use cross-tab plugs for critical alignment. When I manufacture them I weld the end ties at the ends of the track. That lets me butt the track together and run bolts through the ties to keep the sections together. It makes a rock solid join but takes longer to set up than clamps. It's also a cheap way to get the track made and used.

Hi Paul

Thanks for your informative comments and suggestions.

I thought of using some kind of split aluminium or al/composite joiner with 2 grub screws to force the splits apart. However that would mean access to the grub screws from underneath the track which seams like a bit of a pain.

A few more tips:

 

Pipe diameter is gauged by the interior (ID). Tube by the exterior (OD). Stick to tube. There's a common aluminum design by a famous, internet, production educator that uses 2 inch pipe. It's an OK design and easy on the back. But, it is not versatile and requires your own skate to mount any other gear on.

 

1.5 inches is the most common round tube diameter these days. Yet, square tube is getting more available. That means different load and guide wheel systems. Square tube does allow ground wheels to be the same as track wheels with only the addition of small guide wheels when tracking.

 

There's two common track widths, at least in the USA: Doorway at 24.5 inch centers and wide at 31.5 (I could be misstating this one, correction is invited) inch centers. There are specialty sizes that usually rent with the applicable dolly. Sorry, I don't know what's happening with track in other countries.

I'm not sure what standard is in common use in New Zealand. However there are some chapman dollies for hire in Auckland.

Hello Mike,

 

As track manufacturer I would suggest not to make your own tracks :-))

 

Seriously, it all depends where you want to use them for, weather you want curved track and heavier payloads above 80 kg. If so, please contact a manufacturer and deal along. It will cost you a fortune on time and money to make you a perfect set of tracks, especially the joints.

 

If you want: I can send a sample piece to a friend of mine who lives in New Lynn. Maybe you can take a look at it?

 

Good luck,

 

Onno Perdijk

Hi Onno,

Thankyou for your kind offer. Yes you are right, sometimes its not worth manufacturing stuff. Luckly, I am a retired engineer/set builder and prefer if possible to make my own gear (its just lots of fun).

It would be silly however to try to make curved track without access to the necessary pipe rollers. So the stuff I do make needs to be standard enough to fit with bought components - hence my enquiry about track standards.

Bush Telly has a production starting in 5 weeks so I have to make 2 m of track next week and a workable dolly for the Director.

Do you have an opinion on aluminium pipe wall thickness? The type of aluminium alloy?

Thanks again for your advice

Your sizes are wrong if you want to run a proper dolly on it. If you are building your own it should be fine. 2 inch tube diameter seems very excessive, why would you want to use such a thick tube? Also if you are making it you might as well make the track width 62cm (24.5 inches) which is standard width . Maybe Onno can help you out with some advice?

Hi Sanjay

What is the usual outside diameter for the tube is used on track?

I'm making my own dolly track and would like to first check out the proposed dimensions.

600mm (2 ft) between centers and 50mm (2 in) diameter pipe cut to 1200mm (4 ft) lengths.

I'll also build a rideable dolly platform with 4 rubber wheels and 4 sets of twin in-line pipe wheels (not skateboard config).

Whole setup need to beable to be packed down into a ute or van.

Does anyone see any problems with this size?

I would appreciate any insights.