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Arri WMU-1/UMC-1 remote focus and the RED

Fredrik Harreschou

Fredrik Harreschou

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We are having stability issues with an Arri WMU-1/UMC-1 remote focus and the RED. It just stops responding from time to time and we have to restart the receiver on the cam. The rental house gave us another unit but we are experiencing the same issues.

The rental house is suspecting that it might have something to do with the RED. Not our RED, but the cameras in general. Could the camera be interfering with the wireless transmission in any way?

If anyone has experienced this and/or have any technical insights that may help us it would be much appreciated. If you have used it without any problems what so ever I would like to hear that as well.

Thanks!

Fredrik
 
Fredrik,
I have a Bartech unit that has been working just fine with the Red. The Arri unit is on a different frequency, so perhaps there is something happening with RF, but I cannot think of why that would make the receiver simply stop responding. Usually you would get a flashing RF light on the hand unit.
How are you powering the receiver? The Lemo connector on the back of the camera may not have sufficient amperage. I use an Anton Bauer P-Tap for the Bartech.
Cheers,
Harry
 
Harry,

thanks for replying.

You are right regarding the flashing lights, they go from green to flashing red whenever this happens.

We have tried both D-tap from the RED battery and a separate 24 v battery. Same issues.

I believe it's using 2,4 ghz. Is that a bad thing with the RED?

Thanks again,
Fredrik
 
One more idea: Are you at different locations when this has happened or in the same place? There might be a localized RF source interfering with the Arri unit.
Cheers,
Harry
 
We are shooting in different locations almost every day. The rental house actually picked up our RED and all the equipment early this morning. We have a night shoot today and they wanted a couple of hours of testing in the "lab". I will post here if/when they find anything. Thanks for tips and replies!

Fred
 
Hi Fredrik,

Without wanting to ask the obvious do you try all the different channels when you get problems? I always find metallic things like fences or frames nearby or in the way can interfere with the signal (I suppose they act like an aerial themselves?). Having said that I also had similar problems with an Arri wireless LCS a few years ago and it took two replacements to find a kit that worked adequately (I think the newer ones are much better in general). If all else fails maybe see if your rental house will swap out the WMU for a Preston or my personal favourite the C-Motion?

Just thinking out loud - do you get the same problems when using Compact Flash (i.e. not the Red Drive?)
 
davecw said:
Just thinking out loud - do you get the same problems when using Compact Flash (i.e. not the Red Drive?)
Click to expand...

Was going to suggest this next - just came of 6 weeks of shooting in heavy wooded locations; RF hell for the TC receiver on the camera. It picked up EMI from the RED DRIVE at certain frequencies as well.
 
Thank you all for replying to this thread. I haven't had internet access for a couple of days.

We couldn't really find the source of the problem. We had better results using D-tap from the RED battery than with the 24 v battery. We are only shooting CF so no RED RAID interference.

The solution was davecw's - we got a C-Motion today. :biggrin:

Both Arri kits we have used have been, well...not new. But the fact that we have tried two with similar issues I am still not sure what caused it.

I will update this thread if the rental house discovers anything that they want to share with us.

If I only had my Impero/Inclino now. It would have been a perfect opportunity to introduce a spanking new kit.
 
Fredrik Harreschou said:
Both Arri kits we have used have been, well...not new. But the fact that we have tried two with similar issues I am still not sure what caused it.
Click to expand...

Given that the current line is AFAIK the WMU-3 (just dug out our brochure) and that the WMU-3 has had two radio modem revisions... it's possible that there are problems with the WMU-1's radio hardware...

Still, glad your C-motion kit is working!
 
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