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Emotimo Spectrum 4 axis Motion Controller

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Daniel Kelly Brown

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Greetings,

Wanted to enlighten you all to eMotimo's unbelievably badass new motion controlled video and time lapse device called the Spectrum ST4. Here is a little promo video I created for eMotimo and their new Spectrum (shot on RED Dragon/Weapon):

https://vimeo.com/160755974


http://store.emotimo.com/spectrum-st4-p110.aspx

I am considering organizing a group buy for the Spectrum here on reduser. Anyone out there who might be interested in that?
 
Hey Daniel, impressive for sure. An obvious question would be how you think it compares to Kessler's Second Shooter. Definitely less expensive. :-)
 
Ronald Williams said:
Hey Daniel, impressive for sure. An obvious question would be how you think it compares to Kessler's Second Shooter. Definitely less expensive. :-)
Click to expand...

I have yet had a chance to try out Kesslers second shooter. I am a big fan of the Kessler cineslider and it looks like they have a pretty amazing product on there hands there. In all honesty I think the Spectrum would be a better option to run with for the following reasons:

1) Lower profile (helps out so much with moco shots allowing for heavier payloads with less burly/heavy tripods and less shaky shots in windy situations)
2) Smaller
3) Lighter? (possibly lighter then all the parts necessary to make second shooter run)
4) More easily packable
5) Less moving parts = less assembly and setup time -It would be hard to imagine the setup time being fast on second shooter then on spectrum. With time lapse half the battle most the time is getting the shot setup before the good light fades.
6) Controlling with the PS4 controller is very intuitive and allows for buttery smooth real time video moves. Guessing that would be hard with the arrow button controller on the Kessler rig.
7) Price- you mentioned spectrum is less expensive, but from the looks of it they are around the same price.
8) Adaptability- you can use spectrum on a number of slider setups and Emotimo is always working to create adapters for other slider companies. Just a guess, but the second shooter probably only plays well with Kessler sliders.
9) Quite! There are a bunch of motor profiles you can select from on spectrum, one of which is quiet mode. Its crazy how quiet it is!
10) FAST - another mode is turbo mode. This is crazy fast and will be really cool for ramping slow motion video shots with RED cameras.
11) Brian who started eMotimo is a true Genius and on top of that one of the more awesome and genuine humans I have yet to meet on this planet. He is always working to better the firmware and add new and awesome features. He really loves what he does and it shows in the Specturm.

Brian is going to chime in on this thread once his reduser.com account is accepted and will likely be setting up a group buy for Spectrum after his first round of orders go out... sometime soon after NAB
 
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Matt Fleming said:
Thanks for sharing Daniel. How does one control the easing curves or is it real-time human control only?
Click to expand...

Hi Matt,

To control curves/easing you can set the amount of ramping you want on each end of your move. Ramping is calculated in number of frames for time lapse and for video as number of seconds. Although you might not see quite as much control over the shape of the curve as you would in say dragon frame, it still does a great job of ramping that quick and easy to setup.

Brian will soon chime in here on this to verify, but I am confident he is working to improve spectrums firmware to include more adjustability for ramping features.
 
Any word on integration of Dragon Frame software control ?
 
Liking the specs on this.. I'd love to see it actually working with a Red Dragon setup. I think I saw a review that said it could only handle 5 lbs. Hope I'm wrong on this. I own the Matthews Dolly Crane, and I've held off on buying their moco accessory - can I use the Emotimo system with it, or do I still need to purchase Matthews system AND the Emotimo?
 
The Spectrum easily supports a reasonably sized DSMC or DSMC2 setup with a smaller prime lens. It handles more than 5 kg (12 lbs). I got kilograms and pounds mixed up in a review video we shot with timelapse guru Gunther Wegner, and apparently many people have watched this video....

Regarding the Dolly Crane: the Spectrum can drive up to two auxiliary stepper motors- so in theory it should be possible to drive the Dolly Crane if you can mount a stepper motor on it. Not sure if Matthews sells their stepper withouth their controller, but I am sure it should not be too hard to interface any other stepper to the DC.
We have successfully integrated the Spectrum with Dynamic Perception, iFootage and Rhino Sliders. Ditogear Omnislider would not work right out of the box as the Omnislider has its own motor driver (and is usually a servo motor, which is controlled in a different way than a stepper motor).
Hope this helps.
 
Interested...
 
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