Steadicam Flyer On A Feature Film

The Steadicam Flyer has been extensively used on the feature film "Maitland". Shooting with JVC HD101E cameras and P+S Technik Mini 35 adaptors with Zeiss lenses and recording to a DR-HD100 hard drive then add BFD wireless focus system and it presents a challenge for the lightweight Flyer, but it worked and worked well.

I arrived on location 2 hours north of Sydney without having had the opportunity to test the full set up. Installing the full camera set up on the top stage I knew would probably not work, balancing the sled would require the gimbal to too far up the centre post. To overcome this we installed 2 batteries at the bottom and attached the hard drive to the back of them. The balanced position for gimbal was now 2 to 3 inches below the top stage, perfect.

The arm was just able to handle the weight, with the heaviest lens, a Zeiss 18mm, it was just at it's limit.

I was able perform shots as well as anything I could do with my Master Film, infact the tight situations inside the Maitland jail location made the Flyer more suitable. I was able to make my profile very narrow moving through cell doors and along the narrow balconies.

For future use of this configuration I have disposed of the IDX V lock battery on the back of the camera and had a custom made cable built to run the camera from the Steadicam power. The IDX also provided power for the BFD wireless focus via the D tap. Unfortunately a standard camera battery has to be used to power the Mini 35 adaptor.

The standard SWIT accessory bracket made attaching the hard drive very simple.
A custom made power cable would enable the DR-HD100 to be powered from a D tap on one of the lower batteries.

This image shows the firewire cable between the camera and hard drive at the rear of the rig, we later moved this using a slightly longer cable to the front of the rig running down to the monitor and then back to the hard drive. We then rotated the drive to a horizontal position which helped with switching between "missionary" and "don juan" shooting positions. It also gave us a better view of the drive's menu window.