What the Professionals say about the PRO

Chris Haarhoff • David Emmerichs • More Comments

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Chris Haarhoff - From the AOL Board

Subject: Another year
Date: Tue, Dec 8, 1998 7:05 AM
From: Explodi@aol.com(Chris Haarhoff)

How to get this all down on paper without this sounding like too much of a sales pitch. Well the year is coming to a close and with a little luck we will find ourselves a million miles away from this nutty industry of ours, if only for the Christmas holidays. I hope this was a cool year for all....

For us steadicamers I think that perhaps this has been a year like no other, with the technical horizon blown wide open with the contributions of new comers eroding a fragile base held by the incumbents. I refer here to the manufacturing side of our craft, but it may as well encompass the craft itself as the landscape is changing forever. Ted Churchill wagged a beautiful bony finger in the air and cried doom almost ten years ago, and with that we were inwardly sad that the industry would take the best from the best while a new contract got made. The thousand for ten collected on 'Hill Street Blues' in 1984, has become highly negotiable as the upsurge of good young operators embolden TV Producers towards the best deals ever. Like it or not, our special contribution to cinema under the tutorage of the masters has a price tag on it and the market is wide open.

The fractured nature of equipment development, may have some of us longing for the security of our old model II's, but the dye is cast and to buy a rig these days is to enter as contentious an arena as one can find outside of Microsoft. Having said that, I find myself in the fortunate position along with some very active operators, of being a crash test dummy for GPI's PRO designs. Throughout the last eighteen months, some of us have been connected at the hip to the various prototypes of the new PRO sled and vest, and instead of sweeping that experience under the carpet I thought that now may be the time to as briefly as possible share some sort of summary.
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THE SLED

The PRO sled incorporating the Hytron batteries is now my full time sled, and any reservations about the performance of these batteries are unfounded except that they do take a long while to charge. Two chargers and eight batteries ease the pain.

The batteries do last longer, but have a steeper drop off at the end. Not a real problem.

They easily drive the 435 to all speeds, and rumors that they don't drive the gyros are incorrect. A similar power configuration to the original PRO, with 12 and unconverted 24Volts. Clean Video on all cameras is achieved through the independent and dedicated video battery.

The physical distribution of the mass in the redisigned sled section has changed the feel of the rig in a positive sense. The inertia in pan is closer in feel to that of the roll and tilt, which makes for a wonderfully stable and consistent instrument. This was arrived at by bringing one of the batteries under the post which lessened the total battery mass away from the post. Once static and dynamic balance has been reestablished the overall inertia in pan is 'greater' as the lesser mass' increased distance from the post has a much greater influence in the formula for angular momentum than the initial 'greater' mass placed closer in. We are only talking about to 3/4 inch , which turns out to be hugely significant. While the third battery placed beneath the post is removed from the pan equation, it still applies to roll and tilt as before, which is of course increased with post length. Essentially, as your monitor migrates up the post you decrease your pan inertia, while lowering it will increase your pan inertia.

The bottom stage is adjusted fore and aft by the same kind of adjustment found on the donkey box, so continual upkeep of the rig's dynamic balance is easy and accurate.

New and fairly central to the modular concept is the ability to turn the sled into a Lite or Super Lite, by removing and reconfiguring the batteries, very cool but I would bore you if I had to try and describe all the possibilities. So, make the call and find someone to explain how versatile this is.

Attached to the post by a bayonet mount, it is easily removed for a transfer to the long Super Post, or to free up the regular post for a gyro rack. It remains as simple as the original PRO, and allows you to operate any camera without any periferal add ons.
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THE VEST

As the vest is deeply personal it would be unrealistic for everyone to fall immediately in love with it, considering that most of us were still pining for our original model I and model II vests. However if one spends some time having the changes explained, you might find love once again. As the design of the vest took so long and we went down so many roads, it was easy to lose objectivity but what was finalized is to my mind fantastic.

Through one whole year of working on various concepts, including rear mounted (huh???), we resolved to focus on addressing the problems in the existing Steadicam vest, while keeping it within a familiar realm for the operator. One of the possible designs made perfect sense but would have had all the operators falling face first into the fruit bowl, if they didn't relearn some of the basics first. Maybe there's something else down the line, but if you are someone who is suspicious of strapping a flat metal girder to your chest with the subtlety of a ski boot then this could be for you. (Oops...sales pitch, ignore that!!). But seriously, some important things were learned in the process of design, and hopefully most of us will feel the difference. I know I have, and particularly on two consecutive days shooting "Fight Club" where Fincher would shoot 25 takes of a 2-3 minute shot. One day...old vest, second day....new vest. No comparison! I'm encouraged that I will subject my body to less abuse than before.

It's hard to highlight the differences that the new vest brings without it in the hand, but I would point out a few key factors:

• For the first time, the waist band takes into account the true shape of our waist, containing the hips and the sensitive muscle groups like a girdle. Under load it does not distort and collapse, and the weight of the rig is distributed in varying magnitudes along the full length of the band.
  
  
• The front spar attempts to follow the contour of the body rather than assuming that we were all born with flat chests.
  
  
• The cross piece on the chest is adjustable and wider to redirect the resultant force vector and relieving the compression of your chest. This reduces the tendency of the vest to fall forward under load
  
  
• The back is supported in one continuous wide band that directs the outward forces across a wide area well below your shoulder blades.
  
  
• The shoulder and chest straps are fully adjustable at their exit points to match your preference under load. The actual length of the shoulder straps are adjustable so that you can specify the ratio of vertical force shared between your waist and shoulders.
  
  
• Getting in and out is simple with two beautiful over center levers replacing the velcro and off the shelf snow boot bindings of yore. It's scary how cool this aspect of the design is. It's as simple and as elegant as can be. Relaxing the pressure between takes is as easy as flipping two levers.
  
  
• All in all the vest is light, quiet, has a better load distribution than anything else and is easy to get in and out of.

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THE ARM

At present I have the oldest arm and I was the first to use it anger. I was also the first to fall with it... so there. I dig it so much I can hardly speak, so I won't. If you aren't using it, it's your loss. Anyway, that was last year's thrill.

I hope that this little blurb helps those that are at all interested, but I must be crazy, it's 11.45 and call is at 6...

Ciao brothers
Chris Haarhoff
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David Emmerichs - From the AOL Board

Subj: PRO Arm
Date: 6/30/97 9:44:24 PM
From: Emmerichs

As a completely unbiased and impartial observer I thought I'd post another note about the new arm. (Spot the fib in the above sentence and win a kewpie doll.)

Like all the products George has come out with it is simple in concept, graceful in execution, and very user friendly. The arm is not iso elastic yet it doesn't require a lot of effort to boom up and down. Like the steering wheel in your car it will seek it's optimum float point which will feel very familiar to users of the Model III Arm. However, as Andrew mentioned earlier it takes very little force to lift the arm or to boom it down, somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 1/2 lbs. There is also far less friction than in the previous arm.

Visually the configuration is similar to the other arms in that there are two lifting parallelograms connected by a double hinged elbow. There the similarities end. There are no cables or pulleys in the arm. The work is done by up to four compression springs in easily removable cannisters. The springs come in two strengths: light and heavy. They can be combined in various ways to lift anywhere from 13 to, heaven help us, 72 pounds. The lightest weight setting is achieved by only using one spring cannister in each arm section. Using a spring combination of two heavys and two lights will give you a lifting range of 39 to 63 pounds, a good range for our everyday use.

I musn't forget to mention that each cannister is individually adjustable using a good old gimbal wrench. If you are skeptical about the ease of changing springs around wait until you hear this. All four springs can be replaced in about two minutes, and that's without rushing. It's faster to lose the two light springs and operate a lightweight rig (PRO Lite with a Robings 2C for instance), using just the two heavy springs, than it is to crank down the weight of each individual spring.

Removing two spring cannisters takes less than 30 seconds.

Great, it looks cool, comes apart easily for maintenance and is very sturdy, but does it work? After trying it for the first time I was thrilled. It's unbelievably smooth, easy to operate and seems to have no bad habits. The arm won't lock up at either end and it's built so soundly that there is very little flex from the torque the rig is applying to it. It's hard to describe but this seems to make the rig feel lighter. After playing with it for a while it feels perfectly natural. I was completely unprepared for how it would feel to go back to my old arm. I wanted to weep. My only problem with the new PRO arm is that I haven't got it yet.

Ask any questions you want, you'll get real answers from people who've tried it and from the people who make it.

David
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Subj: Adjusting the PRO ARM
Date: 9/18/97 6:16 AM
From: mailto:emmerichs@aol.com

I've been using my new PRO arm on a film for about a week now and believe me, it's a wonderful thing. It took me about a day to get used to it and now I'd never go back.

Right away I need to clear up a misconception that has been spread around. Where the idea came from I don't know but some people seem to think that the springs are not adjustable or that you must change cannisters to change the load capacity of the arm. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The springs are easily adjusted with an allen wrench while you are wearing the rig. This suprised me as I always had to remove my IIIA arm to adjust it. Only two springs need be adjusted at any time with the PRO arm and they are easily reached while the arm is under load. Yes, you can still adjust the springs when you are not wearing the arm. Repeat: no load is necessary to adjust the springs.

My excitement about the quick change cannisters related primarily to the convenience and flexibility they provide. If a spring breaks in any of the other arms, and this does happen, it is a major deal to repair and you're done for a while unless you have another arm. With the PRO arm a broken spring (less likely with the compression springs used) could be changed in under a minute.

The reason there are two strengths of springs is for flexibility. I find that two heavies and two lights work perfectly for the cameras I carry. I need only make slight adjustments to the heavy springs when changing lenses etc. This I can do while wearing the rig if I want to.

Now that that is clarified I'll just add that the arm works as advertised and is a welcome leap forward. More to come as I continue to use it.

David
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Operator Comments, circa 1995

"The PRO has solved all the problems that operators used to face." Jimmy Muro	"George's design has radically changed our equipment and how we use it - it's been a great improvement." Randy Nolen
"The PRO gives me what I missed - reliability - and smart engineering." Greg Lundsgard	"Three months in rain, two months in snow, six months on, and sometimes literally in salt water, rough handling, high temperatures, heavy dust, smoke and just plain severe abuse. No problem- the equipment just works. Fast set-up, assistant friendly, easy accessory attachment, and well thought-out. Backed by a company that offers continuing improvements, solid R & D and who actually listen to the operators. There is nothing out there that can do the same job, period. PS: I have owned a back-up sled for two years- l've never had to use it." Mark O'Kane
"The PRO sled is a shining example of how healthy competition energizes the marketplace." Steve St. John
"I find it exciting to note that in the 2 1/2 years since I upgraded to the PRO sled (serial # 001) I haven 't spent a dime on repair or maintenance. Technical insecurities are a memory to me now and my time on set is applied to the real reason that I'm there. I take the rig out, use it and put it away." Chris Haarhoff

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