GROUP BUY: CAME steadycam 2-15kg >1600USD

[Oje Unuigboje]

Excellent Brett, thanks !! I learned a lot just watching that and now I am going to get two or three Chinese steadicams instead of one.

instead of sending our money to China We could build the 'cheap as chups' DIY stabiliser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK-q6IJ-qo0&t=0m31s

The movie sold at Cannes. It was filled with unusable shots. I imagine Peter Jackson developed multiple bad operator habits during the 4 year shoot.

 

[Mike Smith]

instead of sending our money to China We could build the 'cheap as chups' DIY stabiliser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK-q6IJ-qo0&t=0m31s

The movie sold at Cannes. It was filled with unusable shots. I imagine Peter Jackson developed multiple bad operator habits during the 4 year shoot.

Brilliant! My opinion of Peter Jackson just went up hugely, and it wasn't low to start with! Can we please now stop having the elitist bullies telling us what we can and cannot do?

 

[Layi B]

Incredible. There's a huge disconnect going on here. Telling people they should redesign their shots? Really? Wow. This is pretty amazing. What people aren't understanding is that the CAME/Chinese Steadycam IS the GH2 of steadicams. What part of this do you not understand?

 

[chommavong somphane]

=Alex Kornreich;

I've worked a lot of low budget films, and some really great ones. If they can't afford a technocrane shot, they redesign the shot to maximize what they have. If they can't afford steadicam, they redesign their shot with a doorway dolly or whatever.

And yes, you learn a lot from low budget filmmaking. This is one of those cases where you learn what not to do, which is throwing away money on a knockoff steadicam operated by inexperienced people. But if your standards are low enough to accept floaty/wobbly, and off-horizon shots, then you'll be very happy with your purchase.[/

Sir Alex,
you said it in the red line and you don't like if other do the way you grow up, in the blue line.
my take is no body were born learned, so the yellow line is for all of us in the beginning, don't you agree ?!

 

[Alan Rencher]

The main thing that I get from this thread is that people are confusing "Indie Filmmaking" with bad filmmaking. If you don't have any money, and you want to make a movie, Just do it! People do that all the time. The people who do well at it, are people who love cinema so much that they've spent all of their lives studying the art of filmmaking. Do you know what those people do? They play to their strengths! Remember Clerks? Did that movie have a bunch of distracting shots that they crew was in no way capable of doing? No! If you suck at it, keep it out of your movie. Play to your strengths, and use you precious money wisely.

Why do you need Steadicam to make an "Indie Film"? Having a bad Steadicam shot will just make your movie look bad. Spend that $1,500 on actually making your movie. I've made short films for less than $1,500 (way less), and I didn't try to write in a Technocrane shot just for the hell of it. I think most of your are just interested in new toys, so quit hiding behind all of this BS and call it what it is: Gadget Lust! Thats what most Red users are; nerds with gadget lust, not artists.

 

[David Kellermann]

I think most of your are just interested in new toys, so quit hiding behind all of this BS and call it what it is: Gadget Lust! Thats what most Red users are; nerds with gadget lust, not artists.

wow... kinda insulting, don't you think? I totally agree that many, if not the most members here, have some gadget lust. I definitively do enjoy trying out new toys. But suggesting that members on this forum aren't artists is plain wrong. Sure, not everyone can be a Kubrick, but that doesn't mean that you should not try to find your personal film language using EVERY TOOL available to you. If you don't want to use some tool... that's fine with me. But please refrain from telling other people what to do.

 

[Brandon J.F.]

wow... kinda insulting, don't you think? I totally agree that many, if not the most members here, have some gadget lust. I definitively do enjoy trying out new toys. But suggesting that members on this forum aren't artists is plain wrong. Sure, not everyone can be a Kubrick, but that doesn't mean that you should not try to find your personal film language using EVERY TOOL available to you. If you don't want to use some tool... that's fine with me. But please refrain from telling other people what to do.

In my experience people that are confident about their skill-set and, more importantly, their place in the industry rarely lash out like this.

 

[Kyle Gentz]

This thread seems to be getting out of hand.

 

[Brad Crawford]

Yes, this is a group buy thread not a "tell us how you feel about cheap steadicam thread" unless you have something constructive to contribute in regards to your thoughts on a particular model/design/idea for this group buy to take place in the best possible fashion then don't waste the effort. Let's keep this civil guys.

 

[Alex Kornreich]

Yes, to learn, everyone has to start somewhere. I guess I just don't feel like this is the right piece of equipment to learn on. You'll learn bad habits without a properly constructed rig. From the fit of the vest, the movement of the arm, and fluidity and control of the gimble. It also may not be able to properly dynamically balance, which without, you won't be learning much about proper operating.

I understand this is a group buy thread, and you're not looking for people to come in and criticize. But how can you convince 70+ people to buy something, and give $100K+ to a random Chinese company, and no one experienced has even reviewed the product? You're buying a product with a "why not" attitude, without doing any proper due diligence.

I'm good friends with the guys at PRO GPI, who make the best arm, and arguably the best sled, in the world. I know what goes into research and development for these systems, and I know why they're as expensive as they are.

An apt analogy to buying this rig is like someone buying the new 4K GoPro to "learn" about cinematography in place of a Red. You're missing the key important features of actually learning cinematography, in the same way this stabilizer is missing key features of operating (iso-elasticity, dynamic balance, ergonomic vest, etc.).

So that I can add something constructive, buy "The Steradicam Operator's Handbook" by Jerry Holway. If you guys truly want to learn, start there before you throw $1500 away. Then if you're really interested, take a workshop. They are anywhere from 2-6 days, and are well worth the money. Once you do that, you'll instantly realize what myself and other experienced ops on this thread are talking about.

 

[Alex Kornreich]

Incredible. There's a huge disconnect going on here. Telling people they should redesign their shots? Really? Wow. This is pretty amazing. What people aren't understanding is that the CAME/Chinese Steadycam IS the GH2 of steadicams. What part of this do you not understand?

It is absolutely not the GH2 of steadicams. The Steadicam pilot, or Glidecam X series, which are from reputable companies, could be the GH2 of steadicams. This is a KNOCKOFF, and falls under the Chinese bootleg DVDs of steadicam. Pretty sure you're not going to throw a bootleg DVD into your new 4K display to test the picture quality, in the same way it'll be unproductive to learn steadicam from this system.

 

[Alex Kornreich]

so the yellow line is for all of us in the beginning, don't you agree ?!

Yes, I absolutely agree, but only if you use proper gear.

 

[Brandon J.F.]

I understand this is a group buy thread, and you're not looking for people to come in and criticize. But how can you convince 70+ people to buy something, and give $100K+ to a random Chinese company, and no one experienced has even reviewed the product? You're buying a product with a "why not" attitude, without doing any proper due diligence.

From what I understand the rig will be reviewed soon. It's already been shipped. Let's see what the reviewers say. Then people can make a more informed decision.

 

[Layi B]

Alex, your worldview is flawed, and worse, you're not even paying attention. Dynamic balance has already been demonstrated with these steadicams. Search for the video posted that demonstrated this.

These "steadycams" will be LESS than $1500 well spent and I can't wait to give this company my money.

Everything you're saying about these devices, naysayers said about RED in the beginning. Where are they now?

"Change or die."

 

[Shervin Mandgaryan]

I hate to say it but I think Alex might be a tiny bit butt hurt that an 'inferior' product is coming to terms to be much cheaper than the cheapest steadicam and hence he's opted for more of a hostile attitude.

I think most of the people who signed up for interest like what they've seen in the tens of videos available about this product and we clearly see value in it. It isn't a Zephyr and it won't ever be, but for the price you really can't go wrong. If it turns out to do what a zephyr does at even 1/2 the performance... it'll still be tremendous value.

 

[david_winters]

I throw this out there again.... I have the Came model, discovered on this thread. http://www.reduser.net/forum/showth...he-Chinese-knock-off-Steadicams-Like-this-one

I have been around steadicam rigs for 15 years, but have never focused on operating... and my operating sucks. The Came vest is comfortable, the vest stays in place, the arm can take the weight, the gimbal is smooth, the stage is adjustable, dynamic balance is possible. After a few practice sessions I'm getting shots far superior to walking hand held. In week 2 I shot a low budget commercial with the rig, 10 hour day, some decent shots, some borderline awful, all fixed focus 16mm. I did not die, my back is not broken, just a few sore shoulder and core muscles, a day of HH hurts me more.

Currently my sled is at a machine shop building a new base to hold two anton bauer bricks, $300 in upgrades. When the rig is back I'll setup a meetup here in Orange County for a few people to take a look.

 

[nickmilo]

Currently my sled is at a machine shop building a new base to hold two anton bauer bricks, $300 in upgrades. When the rig is back I'll setup a meetup here in Orange County for a few people to take a look.

Would love to check out when you get it back! One thing I was wondering about the rig is if it could fly a R1 (stripped down of course) -- I could bring my R1 up, not sure how much it weighs, but I'll try and get it down to its lightest possible config...

 

[Zakaree Sandberg]

Would love to check out when you get it back! One thing I was wondering about the rig is if it could fly a R1 (stripped down of course) -- I could bring my R1 up, not sure how much it weighs, but I'll try and get it down to its lightest possible config...

when I get mine (after checking out davids rig)
I plan on doing an overhaul..
I will make the sled my own..
one thing I dont like is how much tubing there is inbetween the gimbal and the arm

 

[Nick Gardner]

I applaud the efforts of the steadicam operators, but last time this came up I tried to explain it the same way, and was vilified and called an elitist etc, etc, as are all of you. Give up, let the kids do what they want. They aren't going to listen to us anyway.

Nick

 

[Zeb B]

Hey,
Is this thread still a group buy or did it get highjacked into the darkness? If still a buy, then put me down for one to SoCal USA.
Cheers!