Another Stabilizer Comapany to hit the market - Movcam

[Leigh Wanstead]

The back mount yeah but is this patented and finaly who is going to say what happened between daniel and walter?

As some discussed before, from what I know that the back mount vest is not patented.

Regards
Leigh

[chuck colburn]

Leigh,

I see from your bio that you are a stablizer manufacturer. Could you post some photos and a price breakdown of your rig so I can get a feel for it?

Thanks,
Chuck Colburn

[Charles King]

Leigh,

I see from your bio that you are a stablizer manufacturer. Could you post some photos and a price breakdown of your rig so I can get a feel for it?

Thanks,
Chuck Colburn

Chuck go to this post here: http://hbsboard.com/index.php/topic,1960.msg18413.html#msg18413 ,  in this same forum to find out more about Leigh stuff. Leigh please answer him in another post and just leave this under this subject. Thank you.

[Tim Le]

The no tools socket block? dOnt every company uses this at the middle high end rigs?

Sorry, I wasn't very clear. I was talking about the tool-less male socket block on the arm. None of the high-end arms seem to have it except for the Steadicam, who came up with it for the Ultra arm. The PRO arm, MK-V arm, Gold arm and SteadyRig arm all still use the standard male socket block that you adjust with a hex wrench. I don't know if the tool-less version is patented or not but only Movcam seem to have copied it.

As for the Steadicam's arm adjuster, I will only say that there is more to it than just being a screw. There is a very specific engineering reason why it was done the way it was. And that's why it has a patent.

[Leigh Wanstead]

I think this is a great feature.

The no tools socket block? dOnt every company uses this at the middle high end rigs?

Sorry, I wasn't very clear. I was talking about the tool-less male socket block on the arm. None of the high-end arms seem to have it except for the Steadicam, who came up with it for the Ultra arm. The PRO arm, MK-V arm, Gold arm and SteadyRig arm all still use the standard male socket block that you adjust with a hex wrench. I don't know if the tool-less version is patented or not but only Movcam seem to have copied it.

As for the Steadicam's arm adjuster, I will only say that there is more to it than just being a screw. There is a very specific engineering reason why it was done the way it was. And that's why it has a patent.

[Tery Thompson]

Constantine,

I can appreciate your input.  We had to do a patent pending on certain aspects of our system and it was a pain!

We have found that not only are the Chinese clever and hard workers, but most of the asian born Americans I know are as well.  Peter Chung is a great example. (I think he's American born) He has been very helpful to us with his questions and suggestions.  I hope he doesn't mind my mentioning his name.  He's a great guy and very detailed.  His wedding videos are fantiastic too.

I wish he lived closer to CA since we make improvements or work on accessories constantly and could use his input.  We don't want to get into doing the "shipping" thing all the time.

Terry
Indicam

[Charles King]

Constantine,

...We had to do a patent pending on certain aspects of our system and it was a pain!

Terry
Indicam

If you don't mind me asking. What exactly on your system that is patented? I'm only curious.

[Michael Maier]

Well, copy or not stuff like this helps driving prices down.  Say what you say, but the prices for vest stabilizers are just outrageous! Even if they are copying, I don’t think that’s much different from all the other companies. As somebody already mentioned all the other companies are just “copies” of the original Steadicam. Yes, they have come up with some “different” ways, but it’s basically the same idea, which is what really counts. After you have had an idea anybody can improve or work around that.
Having said that, did anybody find any price information for Movcam?

[Patrick Moore]

WOW this seems like a good looking system. There is one problem, and that is that Movcam is a Chinese company. I have nothing against China but as far as patent infringement, there would be no reason for Tiffen to waste their time with China. They will choose not to recognize US patents for almost anything you can think of from pharmaceuticals to steadicams. I recently (thru my company) submitted a patent for a device a co-worker and I made and we delt with our corporate attorney about the process. He informed us first that a patent was not designed to protect someone from getting their idea stolen. A patent actually gives other inventor's ideas on how to improve the idea without using your exact idea. That was the original reasoning behind a patent. He also told us that if someone wanted to change it in a minor way that they would probably get away with it. He also informed us that if we made a minor change afterwards we could be infringing on our own patent and could be sued by someone else (CRAZY!). He told us basically that unless the device is identical to yours, you probably won't have a case against them. Especially if they're from China. He said he has been in case's against Chinese companies where the U.S. company won the case. The only problem was all China did was made that company shut down (which sometimes that doesn't even happen) and a week later they opened up under a new name in a different location doing the same thing. He said he actually enjoys his job because of all that crazy stuff that goes on. Anyway I was looking for prices to and didn't find any. Good looking equipment though.

[trung dau]

I emailed them 3 times but there's no reply. Then I called them for the prices, they said they will mail me, but it's been a week since i call them. Very Strange!!

[trung dau]

Here is the price list in USD. I don't think it's really cheap. TH price is not really impressive

[Leigh Wanstead]

Hi trung,

Well done. Thanks for the information.

Regards
Leigh

[Charles King]

Thanks Trung.

[Leigh Wanstead]

Well, copy or not stuff like this helps driving prices down. 

So all these guess is just simply wrong. It won't drive price down by reading the movcam price list trung dau posted. It will only hurt people who really create original design which cost lots of resource. The movcam price near US$30,000 is more than g50 arm from Tiffen. The movcam back mount vest's price is around US$8,000. That is around same or more than other competition company who manufacture back mount vest. The movcam seems does not work from Howard's personal view who tried movcam. I am curious why people want to buy from them not tiffen if movcam is more dear.

Claim: Everything said is a fact to my best of knowledge. It is just my personal view.

Regards
Leigh

[trung dau]

I have the same opinion with Leigh. First i though it would be very cheap. They only sell a full rig. If they sell seperately part like arm or vest or sled, customers will have more options.