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  • 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 :)

BeSteady FOUR Thread

The overall tricky thing about Group Buys is clarity and delivering on expectations. It's so very important to look deep behind the "deal" and research the company, the people, the product, etc....

Will the product deliver what buyers are expecting? What are the potential roadblocks that might delay the product from arriving into buyer's hands? What potential issues could there be with the product itself?

This is one of the tricky things about setting up and supporting a Group Buy. It's often hard for the 3rd party that sets up the Group Buy to do all of that research or answer all of those questions. Just recently we've seen very successful and smooth Group Buys that "worked out for everybody". That works great for the manufacturer and buyer. Personally, it also instills a bit of what can work well here on REDuser as the community finds usefulness in the product and the concept of a Group Buy. Successful Group Buys come from having a plan and often having a functioning product that can be properly tested and inspected. In this case lots, and lots of roadblocks have occurred along the way. 2 years of them. Though it sounds like October is a bit of reckoning for everybody involved. Though it's been very far from an ideal Group Buy.

There have been several Group Buys I haven't participated in due to my own research in the company, product, and "expectations" of functionality. While some look like a great deal and value, often very quickly it's revealed to be a smoke screen of under-delivering on what is expected.

As always, be careful out there.

On a side note, from a website and moderator perspective there has been lots of conversation and thought about how to approve and monitor Group Buys. I'll be a bit more vocal in the future regarding these things as well.
 
constantine Tirintzis said:
its not fair to include all start up companies putting them in the same situation because one company failed at least for a long time to deliver.
Kickstarter and indiegogo has brought up some great projects in the past, and though its always a risk, its also a tool for evolution and progress.
Sometimes shit happens I know, but if no one was encouraging and investing in start ups , there would be no evolution and many great projects would never had seen the light and brought to life.

kind regards
Click to expand...

To this I 100% agree. And I should, working partly as I do, in a startup developing some really exciting and ambitious on- and off-set solutions.

As to GB's though, I think there is a different "deal" on a kickstarter (which is meant for development/startups) and group-buys (which should deliver a promised product in a timely manner to the user), and maybe reduser isn't the place to arrange what Kickstarter could do better and with everyone involved more aware of the risks involved.
 
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I think the point of Carey's last post was missed. There are working BS4s out there and the person most responsible for this is Carey who has had two non functioning units. The REDUSER group buy provided BS with capital to stay in business. Carey facilitated this. And it's highly likely, reading this thread and the one that REDUSER deleted, that this group was misled. They have displayed complete disrespect for Carey and this group buy. The lack of communication about ship dates, package items and engineering processes. How many different times have we heard about the new boards and testing? Lucky for BS that REDUSER did remove the initial thread.

Yes you take a risk when participating in a group buy but this has gone beyond that. The people responsible for this situation need to own it and if it means putting their houses up as collateral to solve then this is what they need to do. Maks, Piotr or whoever is left need to assemble a working BS4 with extras and personally deliver it to Carey. Anything less is unacceptable at this point.

But even then it's too late for a lot of people. Not only will I never use any of their equipment, I'll go out of my way to steer anyone away from this company, and their founders, and I represent one of the biggest universities in the country who spend millions of dollars on media production and equipment.
 
Piotr Chmielewski said:
Hello Guys,

we finally received confirmation about delivery of new main boards. Adding to it the time needed to put them into units and time required to make full quality control we will resume shipment of units during first week of October and we are planning shipping of all remaining units in that month.

From Monday, please contact us at support@acr-sys.com to arrange details of upgrades of your units to V2 version. We need those information to arrange it in convenient time. Please provide us with information when you will be able to ship your units, when they should be returned and unit serial number. We will need approximately about 5 days to complete upgrades but we will be unable to perform them all at once.

In case of any additional questions, please contact me.


Best
Peter
Click to expand...

Getting solid working units in October would be an outstanding conclusion to the saga. I want to believe!
 
There is a lot of very understandable anger and frustration expressed in the last several posts. But I also hope that this is finally nearing an end. October is not that far away. The new V2 boards and software look like a big improvement on V1 going by this:

https://instagram.com/p/56-peQECbK/?tagged=besteady

I think jumping ship at this stage, after two years, might be a counterproductive move. I would encourage ACS to be even more open with us about what's going on and when. Even negative news is better than none.
 
Tim Morten said:
Getting solid working units in October would be an outstanding conclusion to the saga. I want to believe!
Click to expand...

Tim, and everybody else on this thread, i usually don't Post myself a lot, i have been reading and following this thread since a couple of Months, the Dates the Announcements and the Pain so far of the Group Buy until this Point, but maybe it helps a lot of you out there waiting during these last steps of the journey to know that they can definitely believe and count on it.

...just drove home from a long week of Shooting , all in all now we are on Day 14 so far, of a German Feature Film in Munich - with two Beasts with Dragons running and Breathing and Spitting Fire on Set... and one of them is the new V2 Version.

img_04634.png


if anyone is interested in a insight on the Story with them so far, ups and downs, the good the bad the ugly, do's and font's, Configurations / Setups etc. i will try to write up in more detail tonight and sift through some more of my iphone Pictures from Set so you guys can have a real world view or maybe first look kind of of review of Beast V2
 
alexjentz said:
if anyone is interested in a insight on the Story with them so far, ups and downs, the good the bad the ugly, do's and font's, Configurations / Setups etc. i will try to write up in more detail tonight and sift through some more of my iphone Pictures from Set so you guys can have a real world view or maybe first look kind of of review of Beast V2
Click to expand...
Yes i'm interested and would appreciate that very much.
 
On Set Review Part 1

On Set Review Part 1

...i am more a visual / Photo / Cine Person than a writer so i will try to write around some pictures that i am uploading now... not all at once, lets see how far i get tonight ;)

so here we go:

The Feature is called "on Eye Level" with Cinematic and TV Prime Time Release next year produced by an established Munich based Production Company. Our Company well done does the complete Camera Equipment Rental and i am Second Camera on the Film. It is a Film for Kids and our Main Actors are Kids and a little Adult Person, so they have have about 1.30 Meters of "Eye Level Height" - when i had the first talks with the Directors the main Point was that they wanted to have the cameras on that Eye Level at most Times but also able to move up to adult level, and also moving and flexible / able to react to Kids maybe not perfectly hitting their marks, and also the camera being kind of Characters themelves, participating in the Scene.

So this was a perfect Job for Gimbals, it seemed not the perfect height for Steadycam and the shift from 1,30 to 1,90 is difficult for that Tool. Budget as often of course also plays a role.

Diving right into Prep & Camera Testing Phase:

We started out with two Beast V1 Units that were now up to the task of being fully customized and rigged for a full Feature Film Production with all the little bells and whistles that you need (they were coming full priced through regular German retail Channels)

IMG_1133.jpg


Some Details: Top Right is a Custom Made (by PURE4C Munich) Super Thin RED LCD Cable specially made for Gimbals, the original RED Cable you can't really use... In our final rig we mostly don't use it but is has its place and is sometimes useful for Shooting gimbal

Lock and Load mechanism: the Lock and Load of Current V1 at least is not yet where it should be, it is sometimes hard to get in and out. ( Rotating the whole thing can be hard)
also: be really really careful that you always check that is is fully locked before picking up... that warning is not there without reason - the gimbal and cam can really fall out when it is not safely locked! it happened to us once gladly while being on the stand.

IMG_1134.jpg


IMG_1136.jpg


The Setup - Camera Shelf:

Besteady Four / Beast
EPIC Dragon Aluminum ( you all know it)
Vintage Cooke S2 Lenses PL Rehoused (really small and Leighweight with a really nice look on the dragon sensor, loving that combo ( does not Cover 6K from 32 mm and below though, there it is 5K / S35 Size what counts - Image Format is 1:1,85)
A CAM: Cmotion Evolution with Camin 2 Receiver ( a bit heavy the receiver not the most optimal for gimbal work )
B CAM: Cmotion Compact Camin - very small and light - perfect for gimbal
Mounting Solution for Camin: a Viewfactor Stealth Plate where we drilled a hole from behind it so a 1/4th Inch screw sticks out the side of the epic which then goes into receiver. pretty neat solution. receiver is tight to body and no possibility to wiggle around. In General: try to keep your Cam Rig Setup as tight and small and without things that move as possible - helps with balance and vibrations and everything !
A CAM 1 Heden Motor - light enough and a good standard - our current cable is too long so it has to be wrapped around - 20 cm would be better
B CAM: 1 Cmotion Cforce Motor (based on Arri CLM4 ) (bigger and heavier than heden and a bit louder) - i would recommend the Cmotion Cforce Mini for that. Still the bigger Cforce is no problem for the beast at all
2 x 5 cm 15 mm Rods - long enough for the Cookes
Bright Tangerine Atom Misfit on 15 mm Rods ( cannot clamp anything to the Cooke S2 rehoused cause the Focus mechanism then will not rotate good - so this matte box is the only real way to do it - light weight and on 15 mm rods - it is marketed as 2 stage but to put in 2 filters you actually have to put them flat on top of each other - there is no individual trays - you put the filter directly into the matte box - so it depends if you want to do that to your filters ... we mostly use one filter so it is ok. they are really hard to put in and take out though - a little clamp at the top holds the filters.... also the 80 mm adapter ring has some holes in them to be flexible and you have to tape them to not leak light... but other than that so far i begin to like them Misfits for gimbal work - insanely light...)
TRUEND Filters... good ones - no color shift
1 Kramer Ultra Thin SDI Cable 60 cm leading up from the camera to Top Handle - it is the most flexible and soft cable we have found ( gonna show top Rigging more detailed later)
1 Tentacle Lockit Sync Device for Sound Sync connected to Lemo Sync in of EPIC. (great little things- way lighter and smaller than ambient lockits or other ones and really reliable so far - some cool software comes with it to sync your audio / video too )


Power Supplied through the Onboard Power Connector: We cut off the Traxxas Connector that comes with it and replaced it with a Lemo 0B 2 Pin female out - then going to another Costum Cable: 2 pin lemo male to Epic Power and 1 x 2 pin lemon female to be a supply plug for the Wireless Focus Receiver that goes lemon 2 pin to fischer 3 pin with its own cable ( we are thinking of reconfiguring that to go directly to 3 pin fischer into the Camin receiver because it helps to have not so many additional plugs and cables hanging next to your camera - clean and neat helps you rigging and getting cam in and out of gimbal )


IMG_1337.jpg


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getting late here in germany, i am going to continue with more tomorrow

...leaving you with my very helpful 1st AC and DIT in the Camera Truck with the halfway rigged Setup (without lens and matte box and here in testing a Config with CAMIN Receiver mounted on Top Handle with Cable down to camera Shelf)... ready to drive Home after a long Test day.

IMG_1149.jpg
 
Guys,

I fully understand how unhappy you are with delivery times of your units. But please keep in mind, that we are doing everything to keep our promises and deliver those to you. We should probably give up a long time ago, say sorry and disappear not to be seen or heard ever again. But no! We keep fighting keeping the company alive and please believe me when I tell you - it came with great cost from us, physically, mentally and financially. We didn't give up and we won't give up because we are not quitters.

What happened during those long two years was very hard for members of that group buy but it was as hard for us. But finally we are at the end of the road. We are going to close this group buy and it will happen in this year. All units will be delivered.

Please believe me that we are doing all we possibly can to speed things up but some things are beyond our control - for example PCB manufacturer is outside company, and we can't tell them how to work.

And yes, we will be delivering all accessories with those new shipments.

Allex, thank you for sharing your with us. I hope you will write some more here with information about your experience with working with The Beast in Feature Film you are part of.


Best
Peter
 
Fantastic! Both news and the little mini review.

Even though I'm extremely tired of waiting, I'm now very happy to hear that the BEAST will arrive in time for some feature film work starting early next year. Thank you ACR for not being quitters and when you deliver this product to all of us and if it truly works as well as people suggest, I'm sure in time wounds will heal and we will hopefully see a great deal more from you guys!
 
It's great to see those folks that have both V1 and V2 Beasts in hand and using them, while most of us still stare at the door waiting for the delivery person. I am excited to see Ryan's unveiling of his!!

David
 
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