http://www.magiqcam.com is not locked. Works fine.

<<<-- Originally posted by Scott Balkum : http://www.magiqcam.com is not locked. Works fine. -->>>

That URL may not be locked, but is not working as we speak. Tried both with IE and Opera.


Carlos

I just connected successfully on 2 different network connections through 2 different providers. Try cleaning your cache.

i would advice john to hire more staff to boost up it production before updating his site. at least, he would be able to meet dateline. my 2 cents worth.

ed

I ordered my Magiqcam 7-16-04 and recieved it 8-24-04. It also helped that I only live about 150 miles from them. Since I've had it I've grown quite fond of it as it is really light and handles very well. Once you have it balanced out (which will take you awhile) it will get you some really great shots.

I bought the series IIa and I'm running a Canon GL2 on it so I had to add a little more weight to the stage as the IIa is made for heavier cameras. The vest, arm and sled are very well put toghether. I recieved mine with a transport case and a docking station. The docking station is a nice item as you use it to balance the sled on one side of it or set in the cradle on the opposite side for longer times of non-use. There are two rubber covered metal rods on reach side to hang the arm and vest from, very handy!!!

So far I've only had one problem and that was the mounting peg on the sled and the mounting peg on the arm sticking and not wanting to slide freely. This was solved with a little 3in1 oil (just a light coat).

Up until now I was flying a homemade rig, which the vest and arm alone weights more than the entire Magiqcam including transport case.

So needless to say, I'm a very happy customer! And I recommend Animagique to anyone looking for a steay-cam style rig.

Thanks,
Thomas

How did you add the weight to the stage, or I guess I should ask what did you use?

Thomas,

I have the exact same problem you do with the peg sticking. Oil does help, but I can't figure out the main reason, I think the peg is machined strange at the end as I can pull it up, just not out. Very strange.

For the first question of the weights, I used steel plate of various thickness starting at 1/8" 1/4" and 1/2". My plates are 3.5 wide by 5.5 long. What I did is take off the sliding plate mount, took out the two allen head screws from the 3" x 4 3/4" aluminum plate and centered the (aluminum) plate onto my steel plates and marked out and drilled the holes. You then just install the steel plate inbetween the mounting plate (aluminum) and the stage plate. Note: you may need to install longer allen head screws depending on what thickness of plate you use. For my GL2 I needed a half inch thick plate and a 1/8" thick plate. This works very well.

As for the question regarding the pegs, I had to ask John about this as well at first. He suggested the oil. Since the pegs are at such close tolarances you may have to use a little emery paper to sand down any burrs on the metal and then use the oil. This helps out a lot. If you still have problems with the pegs binding contact John to see if there is something else that may need to be done.

When Mine first stuck on me we where out in the hot sun for quite awhile and I believe that since the rig is painted black that the metals heated and expanded. I had to take the rig off as a whole and set it in the shade to cool. The pegs were able to slide out part way but not all the way. We had to pry them apart the rest of the way. This is when I noticed a fair amount of burrs on the pegs and went to work using emery paper to smooth out the pegs and then with a little light oil they now slide smoothly.

I have not flown the rig out in the hot sun since then but I'm sure this took care of the problem. As it has still been quite hot in the areas that I have been shooting.

Hope this helps,
Thomas

hmm.. interesting thread and its changed my outlook on stadycams.. i used to see them as overproced bits of kit which hobbyists have tried to make a quick buck form, but the magiqcam seems to do the trick.. based on the vide ive seen and the promotional clip i saw (some dude walkin into a museum.. tracking shot around him follow him upstairs etc )

one steadycam shot i rememebr distinctly, was in the movie 15 Minutes.. they actually talk about it in the "making of" part, i think it runs for 7 minutes or so.. but its a brilliant piece with chaos reigning supreme and its jsut the one long shot..

hmm... pete looks into his wallet as the moths fly out.. maybe one day.......

Thomas and Scott,

A friend of mine bought the Magicam awhile back and he had the same problem with the pegs sticking. I had to take a Scotchbrite pad to the peg. It seems as though it's not machined perfectly round. His rig also had the burrs that were close to the base of the peg. I had to really work to get those smooth enough for the peg to sit all the way down and still come back out without sticking. Good idea about the oil. Will have to try that during the next practice session.

Thanks and regards,

Well I just finished a shoot this weekend in northern California, At a Music Festival. We used the Magiqcam on stage shooting for over a half hour and then another half hour getting crowd reactions and interviews.

(We didn't have any problems with the pegs sticking, so the emery paper and a little oil did the trick).

And I have one thing to say "Thank God the Magiqcam is light". It handled very well and really didn't have any problems at all. The Band we shot for got the master DV tapes today as they are doing the editing for a DVD. And the bands leader reviewed the shots and was very impressed with the footage we got.

We also had the pleasure of meeting with John and his wife (the owners of Animagique) as they came in to see us in action with there product. What a great couple, they answerd questions that we had about the rig. And stated again that if we have any problems with it to contact them and they will take care of it. They also handed out broshiers on the magiqcam to anyone interested there at the festival. They defenitly stand behind there product 100% as that is there livelyhood.

The one change that I'm making to my rig is a lighter battery for the monitor, as I'm using a brick style battery. I'm thinking of switching to a lithium ion to lighten the lower part of the sled. This should make balancing more easier.

Anyway, thought I would share.

Thomas

good for you thomas. maybe you can do me a favour and get john to answer my mail. i still cann't fly my rig and this mean, no income from it.
anyway, glad to know that this rig is a good investment after all.

ed

<<<-- Originally posted by Ed Liew : good for you thomas. maybe you can do me a favour and get john to answer my mail. i still cann't fly my rig and this mean, no income from it.
anyway, glad to know that this rig is a good investment after all.

ed -->>>


Hi Ed,

What problem are you having with the rig? If it is balancing, it will take you a little time and a lot of patience to get it to the sweet spot. To be honest it took me about 5 hours to get my rig balanced out. But I'm using a GL2 which is a very light camera to be using on the IIa rig. So I had to add weight here and take away weight there. I'm also changing out my monitor battery to eleminate excess weight from the lower part of the sled.

If it is a mechanical problem then you should either call Animagique or email them. And if you are not recieving there email check your cookie settings on your computer. I corrispond with john via email offten with no problems. They usually respond in a day or two, as they are very busy with getting orders out.

And yes, The Magiqcam was the best investment that we have ever made for our business!

Thomas

hi thomas,
i've got 2 major problem with the rig.
1. i've got a "bad bearing", according to john. this is the bearing between the handle and the gimbal. it make a cracking sound when i check for drop time and the whole thing would fly in all angles.
2. one of the bearing on the "u" shape bracket came loose. i manage to push it back to position but it keep coming off.
i've not fly the rig for more then 2 weeks now. and sad to say is that john only replied was, his compuserve is down. i've send him 4 or 5 mail now with photos of my problem and no reply yet.
i'm only hoping for the best now.

ed

Hi Ed, I just tried to send you an email regarding the magiqcam. Did you get it? If not, send me and email and I will respond back to you.

Thomas

thanks for the help thomas. appreciate it.

ed

Hi Ed, i ordered magiqcam 4 weeks back at ebay and have not recieved mine yet. I was wondering how long did it take for your rig? Having same problem, seems to me john never reply any of my e-mail. :(

it took mine 11 weeks to arrive.
john said that his compuserve is down and still is. normally i do get a reply from him after posting here.
which of part malaysia are from?

ed

I guess its not the time yet for me to be worry, will try contact John again soon. I live in KL btw, maybe we can share thoughts in the future.
Can't wait to fly my xl1s now...

hi dimar,
i'm in ampang area. come by if you wanna try out the rig.

ed

John from Magiqcam suggests the Marshall lcd monitors, any experience with these out there?

I have both the 5.6" and the Pro 4". By far, the 4" is better than my 5.6".

Or should I say, would you like to buy my 5.6"?


Tim

I'm not a huge fan of the Marshalls myself. I like the Nebteks, though.

Who carries the Nebteks? Better in outdoor lighting?


Thanks,
Tim

Here's the link (http://www.nebtek.com/products.php?cat=13).

The Nebteks look pretty good. Are you using the Nebtek? If so how's it for balancing? Looks like the battery mount off to one side.

Tim

Don't these things sit in an enclosure to reduce light?

Does Nebtek make an enclosure? I would think they're pretty
useless without one, although mandatory for a stabilizer.

I noticed a Steadicam Jr. out on ebay, the guy was using a 7" Marshall stating it was great in daylight.

I have a 5" that was used in the back of a car headrest that I put
on the battery holder on the XL1s, wouldn't it work better to have a monitor there rather than three feet below you? Problem is it is not battery powered, does anyone know where I can get a 12v battery pack for something like this? Maybe Anton/Bauer?

By "enclosure" do you mean sunshade? My experience has been that simple wraparound sunshades don't do an awful lot to cut down light. Until you get to the diagonal-type Hoodman enclosures, which aren't practical for stabilizer use.

The reason not to have the monitor up by the camera is that you have better peripheral vision of where your feet are going if the monitor is lower. Also, if you boom the camera up you won't lose sight of the monitor (this is a similar reason as to why it's good to have an outboard monitor rather than use the camera's flip out screen if available; when you pan to the right, you would lose sight of the flip out screen).

Got some education there, thank you

Hi - Just thought I'd ask - Magiqcam owners, what all did you need to get going? What I mean is that I want to get all the necessities before it arrives. I'm picking up a Panasonic 7" monitor but I'm not sure how it will mount ?? And if I should
power it with Canon batteries or something separate. Anything
else needed or recommended? Thanks

micheal,
i think the first thing you should get is a water level. second would be two manfrotto art 454 micro positioning plate. this would help reduce setup time. only setback is, you need to get a work shop to make another plate to mount it on to the sled - replacing the quick release thing.

ed

I think by "water level", Ed, you mean a spirit level...and I agree, it's a good think for stabilizer operators to get. Available at any hardware store, usually you have to buy an assembly with a plastic doohickey around it to hang on a line; simply break that open and liberate the little level inside (it's cylindrical, and make sure to get one with the two hash marks on it that indicate "center").

Your smartest move is to have two levels. Have one mounted on your monitor, just above or below (I like above) the faceplate of the monitor. The low-rent approach to attach it is velcro; high-end is a swivel mount that locks in place. The important thing is to be able to "true" it.

What this means is that you will take level #2 and place it either on the camera or on the mounting plate, somewhere that is exactly the same level as the camera itself. Then make sure that the level on the monitor is registering the same as this level (that's what "true'ing" is all about). Now you know that the level on your monitor is reading accurately.

And how much to refer to that level? Tricky question. The level only functions during linear moves, meaning that in periods of acceleration it will read inaccurately. In other words, if you were to make a sidewise move, the bubble would float around until you reached a constant speed, and then it would settle in and show you an accurate representation of your camera level.

Learning to interpret the feedback from the level is a tricky thing. A significant number of operators do not use levels (I'm talking bigtime guys here, too). I myself like it, but I am aware of when I can trust it and when to ignore it.

It's certainly helpful when one is making sure the rig is balanced right before a shot.

Good stuff thanks. I'm trying to figure out what I need to mount the monitor, John said that the back of the monitor needs to be flat so it can be mounted to the pod. How do these attach? Velcro? Screw on? The Markertek product I referenced put the battery right on the back of the monitor holding plate so I think it would block a flat attachment to the pod on the magiqcam. I'm just a little lost on what I need to get that monitor attached and
powered. I really appreciate your responses.

I want to be able to use the monitor in other environments to
so I don't want anything permanent.

Charles, your video reels are incredible, really incredible.

Michael,

I use a Delvcam 5.6" monitor on my Magiqcam. All I needed to do was apply some self sticking velcro to both the back of the monitor and to the mounting pod of the magiqcam. On my Delvcam I still wanted to be able to utilize the speaker system for use elsewhere so I was just carefull on how I placed the velcro. I used 2" wide velcro. But this will vary on what type of monitor you use.

Hope this has helped,
-Thomas

I'm going to get a cheapo AA powered LCD monitor from B&H for $200 when they get in stock. I can't imagine that for my purposes, the Panasonic would be any better.

I'm going to use Velcro to attach it to the pod. Velcro in big thick strips from the office store is the best way to temporarily attach things.

BTW, where is charles's site?

<<<-- Originally posted by Tony Hall : I'm going to get a cheapo AA powered LCD monitor from B&H for $200 when they get in stock. I can't imagine that for my purposes, the Panasonic would be any better.

I'm going to use Velcro to attach it to the pod. Velcro in big thick strips from the office store is the best way to temporarily attach things.

BTW, where is charles's site? -->>>

Tony,

Are you refering to a Citizen? I started out with one of those and quickly got my Delvcam. The Citizen just doesn't work well in brightly lit areas such as outdoors. or even indoors under bright lights.

Just my two cents.

-Thomas

Exactly what I looking for - Thanks.

Re Charles -

http://www.demoreelnetwork.com/chupap/index.shtml

Well, I'm looking at this one:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=317231&is=REG

with a hood:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=details_accessories&A=details&Q=&sku=202787&is=REG

It takes AA batteries, so the back will be fairly flat and who care about using Canon or Panasonic batteries... just get some rechargable AA batteries. And of course it's 16:9 which is cool. I'm sure it will be Ok with a hood though.

I checked out that demo reel and Charles has filmed two of my favorite movie scenes! Good work.

Thanks gents!

OK Tony, so which two exactly...?

I'll take a guess--American History X and the destruction of the copier from Office Space?

p.s. Velcro is a Steadicam op's best friend; one of our venerable pioneers once said "I just want people to respect me as much as I respect Velcro".

<<<-- Originally posted by Charles Papert : I'll take a guess--American History X and the destruction of the copier from Office Space? -->>>

LOL, you guessed correct!

American History X rocks.

So why isn't Tony Kaye happy ? Or making anything new ?



I'm still waiting for my magiqcam... its been ... since start of July ... hope it isn't a problem with my particular rig.

July?? Have you had contact with them?

Tony Kaye...that's a whole other conversation. Maybe a google search will turn up the answers. Let's just say his sense of hype overwhelmed his filmmaking ability.

<<<-- Originally posted by Michael Best : July?? Have you had contact with them? -->>>It takes them about 8 weeks now and he lives in Singapore so it will probably take longer because of shipping.

fyi shipping to this part of the world only takes 5 to 6 days.
just got a mail from john. my replacement part is on it way. hoping for better luck this time.

ed

Mine hasn't shipped.

it will come, one day.

ed

coming coming ! Its shipped ! yah !

Are you guys using or going to use some kind of zoom controller
like the Varizoom, it would seem pretty vital no?