Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Red drives on technocrane

S

Sean Sweeney

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 1, 2008
Messages
189
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Hi everyone - just wondering about the red drives on a technocrane. It seems smooth as silk for the movement - anyone experienced issues with the red drives and the technocrane?

Thanks.
 
no more probems then on a stedi cam or car mount. Make sure you have all the everything needed cable wise for the operator and swap out the drives as needed to backup and check the footage. Also a remote start stop is pretty sweet. but thats a custom deal not made by red.
 
We just ran some tests and a few shots - seems the red drives are fine with the technocrane. We're swapping drives often to verify everything and have the CF cards on standby just in case.
 
We put #1502 on a Technocrane for 12 hours and had no problems. We swapped out drives often to keep the download station in business and saw no problems, in fact the footage looked great and the drives performed flawlessly.
 
Yeah the footage we're getting is spectacular. This is a virgin run for RED #920 on the technocrane. Hope there are many more!
 
JohnLands said:
no more probems then on a stedi cam or car mount. Make sure you have all the everything needed cable wise for the operator and swap out the drives as needed to backup and check the footage. Also a remote start stop is pretty sweet. but thats a custom deal not made by red.
Click to expand...

Using the drives on a car mount would definitely cause problems. Technocrane and stedicam are fine.
 
Sean Sweeney said:
Hi everyone - just wondering about the red drives on a technocrane. It seems smooth as silk for the movement - anyone experienced issues with the red drives and the technocrane?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

We have use the drive in regular crane/jib, even using the rig on the back of a truck bed, moving at 30 mph following the action, and no a single problem has been experienced so far. I was afraid at the beginning, but no worries so far...:biggrin:
 
Any footage of this Sean?
Click to expand...

There are a lot of VFX shots (it's all white-cyc and tracking points) so once we get the final product I'll post a link in the footage section.
 
Don't know about a technocrane, but i just spent 2 hours hanging out the side of a chopper with the RED on my shoulder doing some crazy moves. Build 15, code 36 2:1, red drive...and not even a dropped frame! Niiiice.
 
I've had roughly 80% success.
Click to expand...

Success with the red-drives on a technocrane, or using the red-drives in rough situations?
 
No problem for me, on any of the three jobs with a Techno so far.
Cheers,
Harry
 
No problem for me, on any of the three jobs with a Techno so far.
Click to expand...

What kind of head were you using on the technocrane? We have a z-head, and with very rapid movement there is a bit of shake. Anyone have any experience with how the z-head compares to the scorpion?
 
Rule of thumb is if there's going to be G-forces, use the cards. There is no guarantee that the drives won't drop frames or have other problems when under G load.

That said, I've had our cameras up on Technos several times without problems. I can't recall in production scenarios but AFAIK we've had them on both the Scorpio and the Z-head, as well as the Techno Dolly.

But, on the flip side... I once had a camera with Red-Drive up on a smooth-running 150' long Web Press. It was so smooth I couldn't feel any vibration through my shoes... but it was enough to make the drive drop frames and stop recording.
 
Sean,
Z-Head two of the three times. The third "techno" job was actually a custom techno-like rig made by Scott Buckler, a well-respected rigging grip, machinist, and inventor in the New York market. His "Scottiscope" is a more modular, portable version of the Techno. In this case, it's his own proprietary head.
But again, no problems.
Cheers,
Harry
 
the only problem I've ever had with the drives is doing music videos when there is a lot of vibration from the drums. The closer I got to the drums, the worse the frame drops were.
 
Well the red drives survived an 18 hour day on a technocrane doing all sorts of complicted, fast moves.

Kudos RED team - the clients loved the footage. Can't wait for the VFX to be finished!
 
Yeah, we've yet to encounter any rough shooting conditions (only had the camera about a month and a half, so I expect some soon) but I see no reason to use the red drives under those circumstances. The compact flash cards do the job very well - and once the 16 gig cards hit then long takes in rough conditions won't require ridiculous jimmy rigging of the red drive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top