04Jan Life After Death – Steadicam Vest
Preparing for a last minute shoot today, I found my Steadicam Merlin Vest had cracked on the upper chest piece. Crap. The quick fix for me today was to use the top portion of the Konova Vest and mate it with the Steadicam Merlin Arm (which is held on with the waist area). There was a bit of hackery, drilling, and modding, but it managed to all come together in the end. The reason I needed to stick with the Steadicam ISO Arm is because the rig I had already built up was fairly lightweight. The Konova requires a good payload to be effective, but the Steadicam arm can be dialed to fly lighter sleds. So for today’s shoot i’m Frankenstein-ed out with a vest that consists of a Konova Chest Piece, Steadicam Arm, and Glidecam sled…
Like 
Subscribe 
Follow
21 Comments
Leave a Comment
Recent Comments on Cheesycam
- Guy Cochran on Porter Case – Camera Hard Case Carry On + Hand Truck Dolly
- jonyoshi on Porter Case – Camera Hard Case Carry On + Hand Truck Dolly
- VisX on World’s Fastest Zoom Lens Available to Order – Sigma 18-35mm F/1.8
- Emm on Porter Case – Camera Hard Case Carry On + Hand Truck Dolly
- ron on Porter Case – Camera Hard Case Carry On + Hand Truck Dolly
- Emm on New F&V LED Ring Light vs 600 LED Panel Comparison
- Alain Wong on New F&V LED Ring Light vs 600 LED Panel Comparison
- AP on Classifieds
B&H Photo Video
 New Zoom H6 |
 Canon SL1 |
 Sigma F/1.8 |
 Fuji X100s |
 BlackMagic |
January 4th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
@cheesy ~ Due to your rig breakdown, I assume you put your order in for one of these babies:
http://bit.ly/zb5rP8
January 4th, 2012 at 4:07 pm
I’d be really pi**** if my $1600 piece of equipment fell apart like that. Good patch up job. Lucky you to have back up parts:)
January 4th, 2012 at 5:23 pm
But can you wear it while drinking coffee and talking on a cell phone?
Ah HA!
January 4th, 2012 at 7:19 pm
There must be some warranty with the steadicam company. I bet if you show them that picture, they will probably send you new one. Nice fix!!
January 4th, 2012 at 7:38 pm
Yeah, how’d that happen.
January 4th, 2012 at 7:39 pm
I had a rig handle bust on me prior to a shoot too. Hate when crap like that happens.
January 4th, 2012 at 7:49 pm
Is it under warranty still Emm? (Hopefully)
January 4th, 2012 at 8:33 pm
Darn, must have been pretty unnerving for it to break on you last minute like that. Props to you for solving it quickly. Yeah I hope you have some sort of warranty or at least Steadicam will get a replacement for you. It’s by no means a cheap investment.
Since you hacked and drilled the Konova vest, would it still be compatible with the Konova Arm or was it a permanent mod?
January 4th, 2012 at 8:48 pm
Should be easy to weld back together – I mean, this is a DIY site isn’t it.
January 4th, 2012 at 8:50 pm
LOL @ Pete’s Tex Rex joke
January 4th, 2012 at 9:28 pm
@Brad Justinen – Its not metal, but a type of plastic. I’ll figure a way to mend this…or make a new piece.
January 4th, 2012 at 9:46 pm
Hey Emm, where is the website for your production company? I’ve always wondered where i could find your finished corporate/film work.
January 4th, 2012 at 9:46 pm
@J Toha – Its modded to work on both. I like the Konova better because less velcro, but I needed to use Steadicam arm today.
January 5th, 2012 at 7:37 pm
Call Tiffen. Their Customer support is awesome!
January 8th, 2012 at 6:38 pm
Emm, would it be safe to say that the konova vest is the same as the glidecam x10? They look very similar.
I’m planning to get the steadicam vest but when i saw this its making me rethink.
Thanks
January 8th, 2012 at 7:16 pm
@Mark Serrano – I have not used the Glidecam, but I know it’s not the same as the Konova. I still think the Steadicam Vest is the best bang for the buck and it can handle light weight setups. If you get too much vest, then you’ll always have to load up your Stabilizer just to make it work.
January 12th, 2012 at 10:06 pm
Em – I just got my HD4000 glide cam. I have a field monitor that I want to attached on the bottom of the sled. Do you hide the hdmi cable? I was thinking maybe making a Normal to mini to mico HDMI cable and hide it in the glidecam. Only problem is I have to make holes =(. In the end it would be a nice clean setup.
Thanks
Mark
January 12th, 2012 at 10:08 pm
@Mark Serrano – I don’t use the monitor often enough, but I thought about doing the same thing and drilling a few holes.
January 14th, 2012 at 12:33 am
I am on the verge of purchasing the Merlin Arm and Vest. Is it a reliable product? This doesn’t seem like the quality you’d expect for a $1,500 piece of gear. Is there any warranty coverage?
BTW, this is a great, to the point blog.
January 14th, 2012 at 2:10 am
@Kevin – It’s a great product, but I really beat up my gear. I don’t baby any of the stuff I have and really put it through the paces. I’ve had it for quite a while and it’s been through plenty of use. I haven’t called Tiffen yet, but i’m sure they have a replacement part for this plastic piece.
May 27th, 2012 at 9:54 pm
I was searching for cracked pilot/merlin vest and came across your post and page. This same thing happened to me yesterday. Pretty much the exact same spot. This has to be a stress point in the vest and it’s clearly something that’s a trade off for the weight, and the price. I probably have 300 hours in this thing atleast.
Well, I’m going to try and gorilla glue this thing together. Superglue in a pinch didn’t work. DUCT tape. That worked… Gaffers, not so much. I’m thinking though that I should be able to get a replacement from steadicam and or modify it another way.
cheers for posting this!
Justyn Rowe