Low-cost motion control... Kessler or VariZoom?

[Jon MIchael Puntervold]

Hi,

I'm interested in acquiring a low-cost motion control unit/remote head.

As far as I understand there are two options I should consider (maybe more?):

From Kesslar:
http://www.kesslercrane.com/product-p/100117.htm

From VariZoom:
http://www.varizoom.com/product.aspx?productID=VZMC50&category=MC50

Any tips and experiences with either unit are very appreciated

Best regards,
J. M.

 

[Clint Lealos]

Never used Varizoom, but I've been using Kessler gear for years now. I can't say enough about them. Eric is a stand up guy, and you can get him on the phone if needed. Reminds me a lot of the Red support. Plus, their gear is top notch and getting better all the time. I just wrapped a show where we used the Kessler Cine slider with an AF-100 with a KiPro Mini and big ass battery on the back... no sweat. We took it all over the south of France, Israel, and Italy. We went literally up mountains to cave churches with this thing. When an unexpected full on Catholic ceremony broke out with singing priests, we had that slider rocking. Awesome product. So, yeah I like Kessler. You can't go wrong.

 

[John Marchant]

I've used the kessler revolution head for a budget motion control job. Its reasonably repeatable, but not absolutely perfect. Motion recorded is relative not absolute positioning, so to repeat a move you need to manually align the start position, which can lead to errors.

http://vimeo.com/25677370This was the end result - only subtle moco usage, which suited the budget approach. Nice straightforward gear at a good price though.

 

[Marcos Montenegro]

Kessler!

 

[PatrickFaith]

I have most of the Kessler motion control systems, sliders,shuttle pods, tilt/pan, and revolution heads. I also have the kessler jibs, stands, and heads. What i like best about the Kessler system is you can mix and match parts to make each shot unique. All the bolts kind of line up correctly, even as you place a revolution head onto a kessler jib. For smooth linear movement I prefer the shuttle pods. For smooth rotational movement i prefer the revolution head. I often mix/match multiple of these components for each shot though.

ohh ... Also, btw, I do about 70% of my sound in post, so this isn't a problem for me. But if you are recording dialog during motion control, so you need to know the distance of the talent to the stepper motors. If the steppers motors are within 5 feet of the voice/talent and you need to pick up the talent's voice ... using the more inexpensive/Kessler motion control systems is difficult(i.e. kessler stuff is great, but if you need low noise movement for a sound stage, you will need to stage your shot paying very close attention to your sound guy). Rig's i have used with Kessler are close to 10 pounds. I haven't used the varizoom motion control stuff.

 

[Jon MIchael Puntervold]

Thank you all for the feedback. Anyone who has used both systems?

I'm a bit skeptical about Kessler, as I bought their crane a few years back, and I had to do some obvious modifications to get it stable...