Assembling my rig

[Andrew OBrien]

Hi,

Just bought a small camera, Canon 5DMK2, which allows me to record great quality video. My real profession has nothing to do with operating camera's, I am recording as a hobby. As of late i am recording in some clubs and last week filmed at a bachelor party for a good friend of mine. Afterwards i like to edit what i shot myself. I am spending as much time as i can reading about stabilizing systems since i just recently discovered the excistence of these systems.

I do not intend to build my own system, so im looking for a ready-built (commercial) system. I have not bought a system yet, because i want to get my requirements right before i make a descision. My budget allows me to spent up to €5000.

I have created this topic to vent my ideas/wishes and hopefully get some feedback/opinions from the good people here at HBS. Thank you in advance for your time.

My requirements-list at this time (17 nov 2009):

- Weight to fly: between 6 and 9KG (all parts summed up: camera, sled, batteries, monitor, audio recorder, mattebox)
- Preferable a backmount system
- Double arm
- Extendable sled
- Video/powerconnections in the head
- Able to use two batteries and a monitor
- Adjustments to the vest and sled as much as possible without tools, preferable by hand
- Low mode recording

At this moment i am looking at the following systems, neither is a backmount as a backmount is not available in my pricerange as far as i know:

Slideman Pro
http://www.slideman.net/web/eng/spec.php?product=5

Movcam Avant S
http://www.movcam.com/en-avant-s-sys-1.htm

If anyone has questions/remarks/opinions please feel free to share them here.

Regards,
Andrew O'Brien

[Charles King]

€5000 can get you a nice first generation Steadicam rig. But seeing that you wanna fly around 9kg total weight, then that might need something a little heavier.

[Andrew OBrien]

Hi Charles,

If price was not an issue, what system would you prefer, considering my requirements? And why?
Weight will be between 6 and 9KG, i have not yet decided what the exact total weight will be.
Though i have calculated that the max weight will be 9KG.

[Charles King]

See this thread: http://hbsboard.com/index.php/topic,1452.msg11673.html#msg11673

I have not tried the others you mentioned but others have. My favorites for the budget you mentioned would be the two  in that link I posted. Did you read any of the reviews in the Equipment review forums?

[Andrew OBrien]

Thank you for that link, im going to study the Flyer and the V25. I am reading through the review section bit by bit.
Going to compare these two with the ones allready on my 'watch-list'.

[Charles King]

Made your decision yet?

[Andrew OBrien]

Hi Charles,

No i have not decided yet. At the moment i am seriously considering the pilot as the weight i will be flying seems to be alot less than i first anticipated. I have done some work using a shoulder rig, with light, mattebox, followfocus and monitor. It seems that all these together do not weigh 9kg. All together the weight was around  5 kg. The Pilot now looks like a good system for my light setup. I don't like the Pilot's vest though. I would prefer Steadicam because of the fact that it holds its value. On the other hand i am still considering the lighter Slideman system.

In the Netherlands there's only one store that has the pilot in stock (so it seems). I would really like to wear the vest before i buy, just to get a feel of how it fits and works.

Any advice would be appreciated

[Charles King]

Have you considered the flyer le?

[Andrew OBrien]

Hm, looking into it now

[Charles King]

I think it would be a much better buy.

[Charles King]

Like I mentioned before the Flyer will be best. It will handle camera less than your needs but will have room enogh just in case you decide to fly something that you wish you had the weight capabilty of the arm.

[Andrew OBrien]

I understand. Thanks for the tip. I'm planning to get myself a system before this summer. I want to use it at a big outdoor event.
I'll let you know when i bought a system.

In the meanwhile all extra information or tips are very welcome.
Thanks again!