Hey, just got a Glidecam Smooth Shooter and am waiting for the Glidecam 4000 that goes with it. I really want to replace my Sony FX-1 with the new Panasonic HD camera but since the P2 cards are so 1) small 2) expensive, the only cost effective way to use these silly things is to attach a special hard drive which isn't out yet or firewire the camera directly to a laptop.

Now... my question is...

... if I wanted to strap a small laptop onto the camera operator and keep it just barely cracked open, is there any way, any trick by which we could rig a firewire up to a camera using the Glidecam that won't mess up the Glidecam?

I remember in college a guy used to wrap the mic cord that went into our videocamera around his wrist when he was using the old Steadicam Jr. and that seemed to work okay...

Hi Betsy

the glidecam will be fine as long as the cable is not pulling on or inhibiting either the arm or the gimbol.

you would have to secure the cable connection on both ends so it can't be pulled out which would probably mean looping the cable enough so that the cable is going into the port straight and not pulling on the firewire port and then tape it with gaffa tape to the laptop and the body of the camera. Then you could use a bit of gaffa tape to tape the center of the firewire cable that is dangling to the body of the operator leaving enough lee way for the glidecam to move freely and keeping the cable out of his road. This way you don't have to have the cable actually touch the glidecam

Be carefull with the firewire ports you could badly damage the ports on the camera and the laptop if something happend like the operator tripping up and racking the port (easily done i've tripped up a few times using my glidecam V8)

Hope this helps =)

Andy.

Thanks Andy:)

That was very helpful in deed. Quite a relief that there is some solution.

What about a Firestore FS-100? It is designed for situations like this. The release date is about any day now.

http://www.focusinfo.com/dynassets/documents/products/FS-100%20Datasheet.pdf

Betsy:

Cable management with a stabilizer is all about reducing torque and twisting from said cable. A short and closely run cable will tend to pull more on the rig than one that has some droop. My preference is to tape the cable so that it exits the camera as close as possible to the center of gravity fore and aft, then hang it in a generous loop, which will help reducing the torque. From there, it's a matter of choice how it attaches to the rig or operator--some like to hold it or attach it to their wrist as you mentioned, otherwise run it down the arm. I like to attach it to my shoulder and then over the back of the vest. But the important thing is that loop; and also using the most flexible cable you can find. Thickness is one factor, but flexibility is the key. You can measure it by holding the cable in both hands with about 8 inches of length inbetween, then push together to make a half loop up in the air (like an upside down smile); twist the fingers and see how much resistance is caused by the different cables.

Hey Charles I had a look at your Bio, that is one impressive career. By the way Scrubs is one of my favourate programmes, funny as hell. You've worked on some major projects good job mate.
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Andy.

Another great tip, Charles:) I wonder, do you wrap the cable around the shoulder that's doing most of the operating or around the free shoulder? Thanks again for dispensing advice to all us journeyfolk.

Betsy:

I tie it off to the shoulder that is closest to the camera (I fly with the camera on the left so it goes to the left shoulder, held on to the vest with a clip or clothespin). This allows for a nice loop that shouldn't get in the way of the rig.