Hey Joe, interesting, please let us know how you resolve your problem.

Charles, your right, as long as i know the issue is there im sure it wont be to much of a hinderance, Its certainly not as bad as Julians issue, at least its only slightly out.

I've contacted both my Dealer and Tiffen, and have already had a response from my dealer saying they will try their best to get it fixed asap. Early next year will be fine. The new years shoot isnt that crucial steadicam wise.

I will keep everyone updated.

Hi Joe,

I hooked up with a practice partner in my area, and he had the same problem with his EX3/Pilot. He shipped it back to Steadicam back in L.A., and they said the problem was with the 2 little screws on either side of the gimbal handle. Apparently, Steadicam forgot to put lock-tight on those 2 little screws on his Pilot when it was built, so they came a little loose, and the bearings in the gimbal handle weren't working quite right.

You may be having a different problem, but it's worth checking. The screws almost look like rivets, but they have a small hex wrench hole in the middle. I checked my screws and they're tight, so I guess this is happening on only some Pilot units.

Hope this helps.

Cheers Dave, i think i know the screws you mean.. now i just gotta find the correct kind of screw driver. In the edit suite for the next 2 days solid.. will look into it on friday.

Hi Joe, sorry to highjack yr thread but I wanted to check if u customised the RCA cable on the stage? Did u shorten it from the original?

Yup,

I ordered a new one that also had svideo out on it.. leave that with the camera kit.. and modified the one that came with the camera..

Just had a look at my gimbal, and i noticed that when looking at the post with the gimbal handle towards your body.. the left side where the gimbal attaches seemed ever so slightly closer than the right side.. im about 1mm max.. The screw doesn't feel loose, however all i have right now to try and undo the screw are ballpoint pens which dont really do the trick..

Can someone else have a look at their pilot gimbal and see if they notice anything like that.

Dave was this the issue your practice partner had?

Cheers

Joe

Joe,

The gimbal screws, as you know, require a special screwdriver. When I initially had my gimbal problem, Tiffen was considering sending me a one of those screwdrivers, but since I live pretty close to the factory in Glendale, CA, I drove it up there instead. Have you sent an email to Tiffen Technical support?

Julian

Hey Julian,

I've contacted both my dealer, and Frank Rush who is Steadicam's Aus/NZ contact.

Have yet to hear back from steadicam.. but have heard back from my dealer. Im not too fussed, and am not expecting to hear anything back till the new year.

In the mean time.. im going to try and find a screw driver like it.. or something similar.

Joe

Found the correct screwdriver for it. The screws seemed slightly loose but not enough to cause any problems... and unfortunately my tightening them didnt make any difference at all!

I resetup the rig again yesterday before i found the screwdriver and discovered that the rig is now doing the whole off horizontal thing.. the same as Julians.. So im very sure its the same problem.

Rightyo,

Thought i better give you guys an update on this.. been rather busy but have managed to get the rig fixed.

After a fair few emails back and forth Tiffen sent me the details on how to fix my rig. They also sent over the correct tool to Lemac in Aussie to then forward onto me.

Like i said in a previous post i found the correct type of 2 pinned screwdriver to adjust the gimbal.. and thats what tiffen ended up sending.. (i hadnt mentioned it to them until they told me what they'd sent..)

So anyway, i've managed to fix my gimbal with the instructions Tiffen sent, and now the rig balances fine. I need to have another play and i also need to put some more Loc tight in there so everything is tight.

I wont post the details about the fix on here as im sure its something Tiffen would rather users avoid doing as it can easily mess up your rig if your do it incorrectly.

If anyone has this problem in the future please contact your supplier and Tiffen straight away and they will definitely sort you out.

Cheers to Mike Craigs from Tiffen and Scott Backhouse from Lemac Australia for sorting this out, they've been great!

Now time to get posting some clips.

Yes, that's probably for the best. But for other folks with this same issue, could you provide the name and phone number of the guy at Tiffen that knows the most about this problem?

There seems to be a lot of other people that have this issue. Tiffen has said they should have used more Loc-Tight at the factory, so there may be a lot more people that we haven't heard from.

Just spoke with Mike and he said it was fine for me to post his details.

If anyone has this issue please contact,

Michael Craigs,
Phone 800-593-3331 ex 17
Fax (818) 845-1929
MCraigs@Tiffen.com

Cheers

Joe