IBC 2008 review

[Erik Brul]

Hi All,

I will try a little review from the IBC :

Friday:

Just ran over the convention.. brought a friend with me which is interested in camera's so a supershort visit to Tiffen said hi to Robin, Terry, Daniel, James and Imran. , To Glidecam and said hi to David.
Assisted Chris Fawcett balancing his Archer for demo'ing his rig + handsfree-transporter and then went for editing / camera brands.

Saturday:

Finally, time enough to pay a visit to all the friends outthere.. started with Tiffen.

James Elias saw me checking the new LE..  Erik, you really should try it out. The gimbal is awesome. So i did... I'm a flyer owner, i have my second flyer now for sale just because some cancelations i did last year for jobs which needed 10 pounds or more extra. But I really love my current rig, it's just my little girlfriend. But as Garrett explained in a video while doing a demo with the LE, ' its a flyer on steriods, it's a flyer on rocketfuel'  .. that's so true. The feel in the arm is still very very nice, maybe better then mine current arm, i don't know for sure. So, the LE has a bigger gimbal grip, and the same but some better adjustments. That's also the reason i bought these parts from Tiffen Europe and pimped my current Flyer a bit with these parts..

Suddenly the music kicks in, james put a steadicam 'pit-crew cap' on my head and a lady dancer steps on a little stage at front of the booth. Ruben with the U2, Imran with the Clipper 324 and Erik with the LE flying arround this girl which is sexy indeed, making nice dancemoves and we three dance along. I must say, this is funny to do.. !
After this i finally put the LE at rest and almost immed put the LX vest on, G50 arm and pick up the 324 and following some minutes later with the archer. Both super rigs, and that G-50 is still a dream to fly.

After these funtime, time to go to other brands.. second stop, Glidecam booth.

Spoke with David, he shows the 'new rigs' .. The Gold is now 2 inch post, must say.. feels really good. But that arm, man.. what a weight. Pascal handed me 2 arms, left hand the X22, right hand the gold. What a difference.. the Gold is a cool, super complete sled but you really should fly it with another arm. I flown the Gold again but had to dock after 15mins or so.., not used to that weight !
I didn't try the improved V25.. the nice upgrade is for example the 1.7 inch post. The old post is now found on the (V)X22 rig. The sled at the bottom stage looks like the SK2.
Will try the rigs next tuesday..

Next and third in line, the Actioncam products.

I really looked forward to this because there is/was alot of information, reviews etc on the web but no chance to see and feel it in real life ! Now after some years they are back on the IBC. Brian was not there but Daryl is, btw really nice and patience guy. At the Glidecam booth i met Andreas and now i see him again at Actioncam. He is just fitting the vest. That vest, what can i say.. i only tried a backmounted sachtler sofar, was not impressed by it. The Actioncam vest feels very comfortable and strong. Also the female socketblock is under reach so putting the arm is no problem. The arm itself is a nice design, was fitted if i remember correctly with 6 or 8 springs in each bonesection.
It is responsive, a impresive boomrange and feels tough. The 'carbonfiber' Sled was rebalanced with 2 bat's below.. the redmonitor was placed really high, i think mainly because of the shortcable used.. This is the config of the Red edition. This means sofar i know, a small base below and not many adjustments like sliding rods when it comes to dynamic balance. They had also a impressive sled which is like the Zero-G config, there you see the rods for the monitor, the rods for the batterymounts etc etc... Flying the rig total was nice, not really heavy, the arms peformance is just like Charles Papert mentioned before just after the G-50/70 arms. Daryl mentioned also that several operators said the arm feels just like or as good as the pro arm. I cannot comment on that because i never flown one
So final, if i had the funds, like 17500 us dollars for full rig with also nonred base, it's a amazing rig and a serious contender !

Next a short visit to Sachtler.

Spoke with Curt, he asked me to try the ACT-2 arm with the Artemis Cine Rig so i did. The arm is nice, it's still carbon fiber, it's light and small. The last remark is also the problem. The boomrange is nothing like any other arm out there. The Tiffen arms have a great boomrange, the Actioncam arm has also a great boomrange.. the sachtler one, it's to limited. Also the arm makes some spring noises. According to Curt this was because the idea was to put a Arri on top and not a digi betacam like now. The arm was on the lightest springsetting, so the springs are just pissed sort of speak

Also i noticed twice a lock situation. Don't know where it came from, seems from the gimbal but i;m not sure. The situation was just like panning to the left was impossible for a split second really really a strangs feeling..

I think i passed MK-V several times, looked at Floatcam PRO but did not try the system. A france system, Aigle was present,with a couple of systems.. funny, but the arm using something like elastic straps. The sleds downstage looks like a combi of their product and that german dude who has placed all kind of so called stabilizers on ebay.., forgot the name, you know who i mean I really don't know the performance, maybe someone else has tried it out..

At the and of the day went back to Tiffen.., another flying with the LE and went home. In the evening a nice Tiffen Operator party with a nice group of people. Also Garrett Brown was present, he even played some electric and later acoustic gitar. Funny and cool !

Tuesday:

I will try tuesday the new glidecam rig and improved V25.. Pascal was present during the weekend, maybe he can shine a light already on this..
Also when it comes for example for review Actioncam, maybe Andreas can drop in and share his feelings / thoughts..
Will also search again for MK-V, think i just passed by several times..

So this is my attempt of a so called review, you see.. Charles should be here, he is so much better in this.

Best, Erik

[Charles King]

Erik, a wonderful overall review my friend. Thank you for this. It did gave me a little feel of everything. Well done. I really want to try the Actioncam. The amount of springs they have in the Actioncam arm, they must be really small in Diameter and small in size as well. Is this true? Are the springs Carbon or steel? I have also been confuse on how they are adjusted. Is it similiar to the old V16/V20 Glidecam adjustment?

[Erik Brul]

Hey Charles, thanks mate !!!

Yep, that actioncam.. man, really cool and nice to fly. The springs are indeed small in Diameter and small in size, maybe Andreas has a picture of it.
The springsetting is done for the both sections at each side of the elbow. You can adjust these by hand without any problem, so no Allen key needed. I have attached a picture were you can see it a bit.., just turn these thumbscrews up or down. This can easy be done by just remove a bit of the load (lift the post a bit..)

Best, Erik

[Charles King]

Ok, looks odd but it seems it gets the job done. I see four springs. So there are 4 springs per section but I am still confused on how they are adjusted...Judging by the pic you included, it seems to adjust the springs vertically which is definately strange. Is that a another adjustment behind the arm in the slightly smaller pic, you seemed to have circled? What was the lift capacity of the one your tried at IBC? I really like to test this system out. I guess I'll have to wait 'till next year.

[Job Scholtze]

I went today, and heres my opinion.

Tiffen, what can i say.  I dont like the gogo dancer to be honest. It makes it a little cheap. Its a proffesional brand, and now with a cheap edge. I spoke with Garret for almost an hour. ( he hated the gogo to be honest ) Good to speak with him again, hes a very intressting guy.

That france thing, looked like a real waste of money. It feld like it looks, useless. The totaly are missing the point.
Actioncam looked very nice. Cool piece of equipment.

Sachtler sleds, i like the look of them. But there are several things that bothers me. i spoke with kurt for  also a long time ( thats all you do there ) and he is designing a more modulair model, wich is good. Also a new kind of post, its not completly round, but a little off. That way he can control the strait line up of the sled more. I am not sure if this is gonna work, but its a intressting approch.

Transvideo, what can i say, i own there new HD monitor and it rocks. I asked for a change in the software, and he did. Jaque is a amazing guy.
Didnt see mk-v. I heard he was there this weekend, only without gear. Wonder why....
Glidecam has indeed a 2 inch version of the gold, and are making a new arm for the gold. I think its still to heavy, and the should redisign the whole thing, but thats just me i guess.
Inie dolly systems made some great dollys and are not so expensive. I think i want one. Cool design, very well made.

Overall, i had only 5 hours today and i really need another day. Think i will go again tomorrow.

Later
Job

[Erik Brul]

Hey Job,
About the dancer.. yep, i heard that sound also from other people in Hall 11. I think you are right, i don't understand why they do it, only that it was funny to make some shots of her (she is not my type at all, i like brunettes..
David from GC told me that in Vegas they all use nice looking girls, but thats also because it's vegas baby.., maybe Tiffen thought let's try the same here ?

Anyway, tomorrow i be there between 9:30 and 14:00.. maybe i see you there.

Best, Erik

[Charles King]

Nice to hear from you too Job. I thuink the idea of any sort of girl dancing almost naken is just rediculous. No company should use that approach. Anyway, hope to see Action next year. Hope you are well Job.

[Jolink Pascal]

Anyway, hope to see Action next year.

I'm sure you will, it's Amsterdam baby!! 

And a more serious attempt at a reply:

Like Erik I was pretty anxious to finally try the AP gear. I e-mailed Brian a couple of years ago if was possible to get a demo vest shipped over to try it out because they never attended any of the tradeshows. His reply was to simply come over to Switzerland if I wanted to try it... not gonna happen.

I first went over to their booth on Saturday. The other guy helped me put on the gear as Daryl was talking to his girl on the phone. After a few minutes my back was killing me because the vest wasn't adjusted properly: the curve in the vest was above the curve in my back, so I had a quick feel of the sled and arm, both really nice machined and performed like a Swiss army knife (good, effortless) and then I threw the rig back on to the docking stand.

After that I had a chat with the guy about the adjustment features, about which he knew very little unfortunately. I thanked him and went back to the GC booth.

Went there again on Sunday and to my relief Daryl was able to help me out. He fitted the vest and told me he could adjust it so it would fit me about 80%. But again it felt as if the vest was sitting too high. Some more adjustments followed but it still wasn't even close to being comfortable.

In all I was very disappointed by the vest. I was actually looking forward to buying this vest; it's more affordable than an Ultra 2 vest, it can do the job as it's very rigid and has top notch machining. I'm at an impasse... It could turn out to be a great addition to my gear, on the other hand it could be a waste of money.

I heard some other problems with BM vests from Job and David Stevens as well... what to do 

I don't like the gimbal handle either. There's no need for a big round knob at the bend.

Flew Floatcam as well. A Polish company that could be in trouble in the near future as it's using a Steadicam patent to adjust the spring tension; adjusting the hight of the lifting triangle to adjust the lifting capacity.

The rig flew quite nicely. The design of the arm is a bit uncommon because the springs, pulleys and cables are outside the bones, but covered by a aluminum cover. I believe there are four smaller springs per section.

The back-mounted vest isn't rigid enough for heavier loads. It shifts around quite a lot. I haven't spend much attention to the sled but it's a decent budget rig. I'd choose it over a Basson Steady System 

I watched as a Danish guy tried the l'Aigle rig, walking around with two fingers on the gimbal telling the rep. how wonderful it is etc. Then the rep asked him which rig was better: Steadicam or l'Aigle... quality wise! That was my cue to walk away...

Sachtler didn't have anything new, Steadicam I know already.

Glidecam had a semi prototype X-22 rig at the booth, which I demo'ed a lot. The arm has half the weight of the full prototype X-22 arm. That's a BIG plus. Very smooth arm, not too bouncy. Only downside: it looks too cheap. Make it look pretty!!! Functionality is one thing, but I want a good looking rig as well. I'll send David an e-mail about that. The sled has the V-25 post with a redesigned base. Simple yet functional. No J-box unfortunately.

The Gold sled now has a 2"post and is HD-SDI wired.

The Suped up V-25 has, as Erik mentioned, a 1,75" post.

The lighter rigs all have an XY stage with fine adjustment and a pop off top plate. Redesigned base with weights that are a step up from the old washers that shift around, and a feature that spread the weights easier than with to old models. Besides that a tiny HD-1000 for cameras up to 1,2 KG. Cute little handheld. Friggin difficult to operate with such a light load 

[Erik Brul]

You see, all you dudes can do it better...  More specific details then the common remarks by myself...
I say, thanks again,

Best, Erik

[Charles King]

Thanks for the extra reviews Job & Pascal. I see everyone has a somewhat similar opinions. Thanks for that. Great review from all of you.  And yes Pascal, there's always action in Amsterdam. So what will you be getting now that the AP BM does not meet your approval?

[Charles King]

I thought the patent for the vertical adjustment had run out? Pascal, are you sure it's still in effect? I wonder if the patent is for a particular construction that pertain to the vertical adjustment or just the vertical adjustment regardless?

[Job Scholtze]

I tryd the rubber arm today
And made some pictures. What can i say, it holds it, but it sucks. Better not going that route i am affraid. The whole sled is a piece of junk for almost 4400 euros.
It took 3 people to connect the arm to the vest, haha. And eric couldnt stop lauching. It was fun

[Job Scholtze]

Also, look how low the FIXED gimbal is. ts impossible to spin the sled without hitting the monitor. Also fast spin means camera goes to the left, base to the right
The bm vest was terrible wrong. I still could use a backpack under that vest and it wont hit your back.
Nice try but no.
Spend an our with the pilot. What a neat little rigthat is. It flys just like any other steadicam. Wonderfull, higly reccomend it for dv users. Only the vest could use some work imo.
btw, sorry for the pics, there taken with my iphone, and its only 1 pixel i guess

[Charles King]

Rubber!!!!!! Are you serrious?? What rig was that Job?

[Job Scholtze]

http://www.laigleparis.fr/