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 :)

GearNex geared head UPDATE

FREE GearNex raffle winner announced at FCPUG

FREE GearNex raffle winner announced at FCPUG

Congratulations goes out to Dean C. from Winnipeg who won our GearNex. He was very excited and so where we when we found out he was a camera operator and a teacher. Dean is going to be visiting the GearNex suite in the Hilton for a private showing and we hope to have his feedback caught on tape posted soon.

See you tonight at the RedUser Party at the Rio.
 
I've been looking for a reasonably priced used head for a few months with no luck. Thanks for getting this out there, it looks to fit the bill perfectly! Sent you a pm Joseph.

-Sean
 
Ummm.

I really, really wanted to like this head but after spending a while on it at the AJA booth, I'm afraid to say I'm not impressed.

I understand that it is much less expensive than an Arrihead. But what I'm really not convinced of is that it is an improvement over a similarly priced fluid head, especially for those who are not already proficient at the wheels.

At this junction I should point out that I have been using gear heads for about 15 years; I learned initially on a borrowed Mini-Worrall and for the past 12 years or so have been using either Panaheads or Arriheads plus various flavor of remote heads/Technos etc. with with wheels on the console. This is not to say I'm some sort of expert on the technology behind them but they are just tools that are part of my everyday working life.

For a geared head to be truly functional, it needs to be extremely responsive and smooth as goose grease. On most preps, either myself or my assistant will go through a few different heads at the rental house until we find one that has the nicest action. There's nothing worse than having to fight a sticky head. The sensation of resistance is the enemy of smooth operating.

The GearNex, while a nice little package, simply doesn't feel quite right. It takes a certain amount of coaxing to begin a tilt, and likewise it doesn't feather itself off when stopping the tilt. As expected by the design, it's a bit better in pan. I would consider subtle moves to be a major challenge with this unit. It had the small wheels onboard, which would translate to a faster gear, however I found it to be at best similar to 2nd gear on an Arri or Panahead, nowhere near as fast as 3rd gear which is critical when you need it (following a fast-moving actor for instance). I'm sure that the feel is improved with the reduction wheels, but of course that will only be useful for slow moves.

Having to change back and forth between two sets of wheels is something that makes my head spin; again, I'm used to a 3-speed gearbox and quick changeover but it seems a bit radical to me in terms of time and energy to be constantly bopping back and forth between the two sets, particular in an indie environment.

One other factor that is a bit of a time-suck, and this is the case with all modern geared heads, is that you are limited to 60 degrees of tilt, which is much less than most fluid heads are capable of. By engaging a tilt plate you can shift this range one way or another, but the more radical you do so (towards straight down or straight up), the more difficult it becomes to enact a smooth tilt due to the the weight shift of the camera. For these type of shots I will generally switch back to a fluid head rather than dick around with the tilt plate. Again, this is not specific to this unit but to geared heads in general.

Once again--I feel almost guilty raining on the parade because I did very much want to like this product and would have probably ordered it. For me, I would be inclined to stick with a quality fluid head over the GearNex for just about any shooting application I can think of (and I generally use a geared head 90% of the time on features and episodic).

I know that a certain percentage of people consider geared heads to be sexy, mysterious or impressive--certainly acquiring the skill to operate them is somewhat intimidating from the outside. It was for me back in the day. But what really counts is what ends up on the screen, not how cool you look in the behind-the-scenes video.

p.s. I will throw out one caveat--can't quite remember which camera was on the head at the AJA booth but I think it was a small HD jobbie and it is possible with the design of this head that it works better with more weight on board. If there is a chance to demo it again with both sets of wheels and optimal payload, I'll give it another shot. I'm an open-minded guy!
 
I checked out the GearNex head at the Reduser party tonight, which was good because I had bought it last weekend - the $2K discount was too good to pass up. I had been wanting a smaller geared head ever since I got my Red, but I wasn't up to paying too much for a used one.

I guess being a Red early adopter has gotten me in the practice of putting money down sight unseen. If I can put money down on Red two years in advance with nothing to see, then I can buy a geared head with only a month or two to wait for it! They did have pics on their website, and Silverado said it was good, so I felt I was making an educated bet. (let's not get into a discussion about other products that are ALMOST about to be released)

Well now I have checked it out pretty thoroughly, and I am not disappointed. It's the real deal, at a groundbreaking price. I have a full-size Worrall geared head that's great, but I don't use it much these days because it's so damn heavy. The GearNex head goes well with the rest of my Red gear - it's slimmed down and appropriate for modern cameras like the Red, it works great, and it's a Red-style price. Good stuff.

Matthew Verkler
 
Charles Papert said:
Ummm.

I really, really wanted to like this head but after spending a while on it at the AJA booth, I'm afraid to say I'm not impressed.

I understand that it is much less expensive than an Arrihead. But what I'm really not convinced of is that it is an improvement over a similarly priced fluid head, especially for those who are not already proficient at the wheels.

At this junction I should point out that I have been using gear heads for about 15 years; I learned initially on a borrowed Mini-Worrall and for the past 12 years or so have been using either Panaheads or Arriheads plus various flavor of remote heads/Technos etc. with with wheels on the console. This is not to say I'm some sort of expert on the technology behind them but they are just tools that are part of my everyday working life.

For a geared head to be truly functional, it needs to be extremely responsive and smooth as goose grease. On most preps, either myself or my assistant will go through a few different heads at the rental house until we find one that has the nicest action. There's nothing worse than having to fight a sticky head. The sensation of resistance is the enemy of smooth operating.

The GearNex, while a nice little package, simply doesn't feel quite right. It takes a certain amount of coaxing to begin a tilt, and likewise it doesn't feather itself off when stopping the tilt. As expected by the design, it's a bit better in pan. I would consider subtle moves to be a major challenge with this unit. It had the small wheels onboard, which would translate to a faster gear, however I found it to be at best similar to 2nd gear on an Arri or Panahead, nowhere near as fast as 3rd gear which is critical when you need it (following a fast-moving actor for instance). I'm sure that the feel is improved with the reduction wheels, but of course that will only be useful for slow moves.

Having to change back and forth between two sets of wheels is something that makes my head spin; again, I'm used to a 3-speed gearbox and quick changeover but it seems a bit radical to me in terms of time and energy to be constantly bopping back and forth between the two sets, particular in an indie environment.

One other factor that is a bit of a time-suck, and this is the case with all modern geared heads, is that you are limited to 60 degrees of tilt, which is much less than most fluid heads are capable of. By engaging a tilt plate you can shift this range one way or another, but the more radical you do so (towards straight down or straight up), the more difficult it becomes to enact a smooth tilt due to the the weight shift of the camera. For these type of shots I will generally switch back to a fluid head rather than dick around with the tilt plate. Again, this is not specific to this unit but to geared heads in general.

Once again--I feel almost guilty raining on the parade because I did very much want to like this product and would have probably ordered it. For me, I would be inclined to stick with a quality fluid head over the GearNex for just about any shooting application I can think of (and I generally use a geared head 90% of the time on features and episodic).

I know that a certain percentage of people consider geared heads to be sexy, mysterious or impressive--certainly acquiring the skill to operate them is somewhat intimidating from the outside. It was for me back in the day. But what really counts is what ends up on the screen, not how cool you look in the behind-the-scenes video.

p.s. I will throw out one caveat--can't quite remember which camera was on the head at the AJA booth but I think it was a small HD jobbie and it is possible with the design of this head that it works better with more weight on board. If there is a chance to demo it again with both sets of wheels and optimal payload, I'll give it another shot. I'm an open-minded guy!
Click to expand...

Charles,

I feel personally responsible that Bret and I let you down, sorry about that. We tried to have both AJA and Panasonic booths manned at all times at NAB to prevent this very thing from happening, confusion. The popularity of the GearNex at the event was amazing, we got spread to thin to cover all the booths because of things like; events where we gave away 2 GearNex for FCPUG and the REDUSER parties, meeting with potential distributors like B&H, personally interviewed Ted from Red who was very impressed with the GearNex, sold one to Jim the owner of Red, was invited on the world tour by both AJA and Panasonic because of the positive feedback they where getting about the geared head and their experiences using it, and many other things we did to promote the GearNex geared head.

If Bret or myself would have been there, then you would have known the GearNex almost didn't make the show in time. We had just received the beta units from the anodizer last Thursday, roughly assembled them together on Friday and Saturday, Bret and Pete drove down on Sunday from Sacramento, 10 hours, and that evening Bret tuned them for the show.

Unfortunately, due to the incredible close call of missing NAB, we had to make some time management sacrifices. One being, we did not have time to burr the gears for even more smooth sailing in every speed. If Bret or I was there, you would have known the neutral in pan was not properly tuned for the show in the Beta units. You would know, we have a tilt plate to be released that should conquer your complaint you mention above. You would also have known about the many other things we have fixed already for the production run compared to the test run of three beta units "Larry". "Moe" and "Curly" which was what you where using at the show.

Most importantly, you would have been told by Bret Allen, SOC or myself that the Geared head was never intended to replace the fluid head, the GearNex geared head it is compliment your arsenal.

As Mike Frediani, former president of the SOC, who drove down form Los Angeles just to see it and I discussed, the GearNex geared head is "Job Security". If you walk on set owning a geared head and you know how to work the wheels and a fluid head, then you are that much better then the guy who does not. If you are trying to close a commercial client, you could show them you own a geared head and a fluid head and after explaining the benefits of it, it will be that much easier to close.

Again, I am very sorry I could not meet with you to explain all these things and demo it for you personally but thank goodness you are an open minded guy to hopefully understand what we have been through a lot in a very short time to make an affordable precision geared head for you and your colleagues. Remember, one week ago, you didn't have this choice. Imagine what we can do in 6 to 8 weeks before you get the polished production run versions.

Thanks for your time,

Joe Mendoza
Founder of GearNex
 
Just to add my two cents, I had the opportunity to check out two of the GearNex heads at the show. I don't know which was Larry or Curly or whatever, but I can say that one of them was not ready for prime time, and one of them made me happy I ordered the head. I know they are pre-production units; I was happy once I tried the "good" one. I felt it was up to the task for ease in/ease out.

As for comparing to a fluid head, each is a tool for a purpose, as you know. I prefer a fluid head for working with long lenses. On the other hand, I am just not happy with using a fluid head for doing slow pans and tilts with a wide lens.

Definitely try it again once the production models are released.

Matthew Verkler
 
I had the pleasure of playing with the REDHEAD from GearNex, after been introduced to it by Joseph, ( after He helped me serving the HANGRY crowds, by stacking up the Tirami Su' on my cart while I was serving it up, Thanks Joseph).

Few days ago we were playing with the ArriHead 1 and the Arrihead II, fantastic piece of gear no doubt, both of them, even so the massive size and weight of the outdated ArriHead 1 I found IT to be better then its second generation, mostly because of its tilt range, the Arrihead II on the other hand is a marvel in its own, with several improvements vs. its big brother, however I must say that for more then one reason I was absolutely stunned when I played with the REDHEAD from GearNex, extremely smooth,, even so Joseph told me that this particular unit was not worked as it should been and that the gears on the shipping units will be even smoother, wow!!

I won't go too much in detail but I say if you are in the market for a gearhead you absolutely must visit www.gearnex.com and give Joseph a shout, this baby, especially for the incredible low price, is a must have, and I know I will have mine soon.

ciao
 
Thanks Charles for your comments on your direct experience with what was presented at NAB.
 
Thanks for the response Joe.

Please let me know once you have a model that is up to spec available for review in the LA area and I will be delighted to come try it again. I had a a lot of misgivings about writing anything negative because I am well aware of the amount of time and energy it takes to bring a product like this to market, and I think it is a great concept.

"Most importantly, you would have been told by Bret Allen, SOC or myself that the Geared head was never intended to replace the fluid head, the GearNex geared head it is compliment your arsenal."

Not sure what this means. The geared head IS intended to replace the fluid head for certain types of shots, otherwise it wouldn't make sense to cart around two heads, let alone use one that has a comparably limited tilt range and maximum pan speed in a given configuration. Obviously having both is better than having one, but both have to be up to snuff. It's a bit like bringing two cameras to the shoot but knowing that one of them has a problem with the sensor or the electronics so the images won't look right--would you really want to use it? What would be the point?

And for the record--I'm not sure where this wisdom has come from that geared heads are meant for wide and slow moves and fluid heads are better for long lens work--it's often quite the opposite. It's much easier to pan at a consistent rate with a low gear than it is to drive a fluid head at a slow and exact speed when tracking at a long focal length. Obviously this is all a matter of preference, but I know that I am not a lone rebel on this. The old joke that we have on set is that when there is one geared head it always goes to the A camera, but the B camera is the one stuck on the long lens who actually needs it more.

I understand that for many users, having this tool will help impress their clients (sort of like the zillions of little matteboxes that have been sold to zillions of 1/3" camera owners, who will never put a filter in them nor own an eyebrow or siders for them). I'm not denying that. And if this allows folks the opportunity to learn the skill of using wheels which they can then apply to other devices like remote heads, that alone is worth the money. I'm just focusing on the actual performance of the unit here--and as I said, I'm more than ready to revise my opinion when a production model is available for review.
 
I played with the unit that was on display at the Reduser event.

As an operator who has a little bit of time with the Arrihead 2 geared head, I would say that if the one I bought performed like the one I tested, I would be very happy to own this unit, especially at the price. The machining is pretty nice and I had no major complaints. A great piece of kit. I'm looking forward to buying this thing or failing that, renting one in NYC.

I agree with Charles, that a geared head is best for operating a heavy load with a big lens. Exactly what I would want this head for. The real test will be loading it up with a big Optimo and having a go. If it performs, it's a buy in my book.

Nice one, Joe! :thumbsup: It was a pleasure to meet you.
 
Quite possibly the one at the AJA booth was the lesser of the three prototypes, as my business partner and I felt similar to Charles regarding the head.

Joseph, do you think you guys will have a couple revised/improved heads
at CineGear? We'd like to give it a second chance.

-Michael Jacob Kerber
 
I tried the gear head out at the red user party and was very impressed with how smooth it was. I've never used a big gear head before, so I can't really compare it to that. But for the purpose i need it for, I think it will come in very handy. I do a lot of music videos where we have circular dolly moves. It's almost impossible to get a smooth pan with a fluid head while being pushed on a doorway dolly. With this gearhead I think it should be very easy now. For what it does, I think the price at the show was almost too good to be true. So I went ahead and put a deposit down, hopefully it doesnt take a year to ship.
 
MJ KERBER said:
Quite possibly the one at the AJA booth was the lesser of the three prototypes, as my business partner and I felt similar to Charles regarding the head.

Joseph, do you think you guys will have a couple revised/improved heads
at CineGear? We'd like to give it a second chance.

-Michael Jacob Kerber
Click to expand...

Michael,

Thanks for the question, absolutely we will. Here is the time issue we had in a nutshell. We started the assembly of unit #1 on Friday and tried to tune it Friday night for about 2 hours because I was leaving to Las Vegas so AJA could have the unit Saturday as requested. Unit #2 & #3 where assembled all day Saturday, then arrived in Las Vegas at 4 pm. We had all night to tune them up unlike unit #1.

By the time CineGear is here, we will have a lot more time to tune them properly and burr the gears.
 
prime zero said:
I tried the gear head out at the red user party and was very impressed with how smooth it was. I've never used a big gear head before, so I can't really compare it to that. But for the purpose i need it for, I think it will come in very handy. I do a lot of music videos where we have circular dolly moves. It's almost impossible to get a smooth pan with a fluid head while being pushed on a doorway dolly. With this gearhead I think it should be very easy now. For what it does, I think the price at the show was almost too good to be true. So I went ahead and put a deposit down, hopefully it doesnt take a year to ship.
Click to expand...

Glad you like it and thanks for the purchase.
 
Thanks for the quick response. Yes, we actually noticed the gears looked a bit "rough", for lack of a better word, so the fact that they weren't burred could explain a lot of what we were feeling.

I look forward to seeing the head again at Cine Gear.

-Michael Jacob Kerber
 
MJ KERBER said:
Thanks for the quick response. Yes, we actually noticed the gears looked a bit "rough", for lack of a better word, so the fact that they weren't burred could explain a lot of what we were feeling.

I look forward to seeing the head again at Cine Gear.

-Michael Jacob Kerber
Click to expand...

I think its important to note that these things require a "break in period"
brass and steel

and will only get smoother as the gears and teeth wear a bit and mesh
up... give it a couple weeks of cranking it everyday and its going to
be super smooth. Again, Ive worked with gearing... and the metals need time to find their groove. (pun intended)
 
prime zero said:
I've never used a big gear head before, so I can't really compare it to that. But for the purpose i need it for, I think it will come in very handy. I do a lot of music videos where we have circular dolly moves. It's almost impossible to get a smooth pan with a fluid head while being pushed on a doorway dolly. With this gearhead I think it should be very easy now.
Click to expand...

Actually, one of the tougher things to manage on a geared head is a rotating chassis underneath like a dolly on circular track or jib/crane arm moving in an arc. With a fluid head, you simply and intuitively aim the camera at the subject; with the geared head you must backpan continuously to keep the camera pointed the same direction. To complicate things, if you want to pan one direction or the other from that point, you need to backpan faster or slower. It all falls into place after a while but there is a definitive learning curve involved; expect to put in a lot of solid practice to get really comfortable with it in all situations.
 
Tim, the break-in aspect coupled with what Joseph already mentioned makes sense.

Maybe Joseph and team should consider (if they haven't already) this for the heads they bring to Cine Gear. Having only used well-tuned, well broken-in
Pana and Arri Heads, I've not yet used a gear head during its "break-in" period.

It would be great to see a tuned and broken-in Gearnex head with a fully built Red One (decent sized zoom, matte box, follow focus, evf, onboard monitor, battery, Red drive, etc.) on it at Cine Gear. Oh, and the tilt plate and wheel extension accessories as well.

-Michael Jacob Kerber
 
MJ KERBER said:
Tim, the break-in aspect coupled with what Joseph already mentioned makes sense.

Maybe Joseph and team should consider (if they haven't already) this for the heads they bring to Cine Gear. Having only used well-tuned, well broken-in
Pana and Arri Heads, I've not yet used a gear head during its "break-in" period.

It would be great to see a tuned and broken-in Gearnex head with a fully built Red One (decent sized zoom, matte box, follow focus, evf, onboard monitor, battery, Red drive, etc.) on it at Cine Gear. Oh, and the tilt plate and wheel extension accessories as well.

-Michael Jacob Kerber
Click to expand...

I will ask Torrey from Silverado to see if he might get us all set up for that with his RED gear, Torrey?
 
Done deal.

Torrey
-----------------------------------------------
Torrey Loomis
President & CEO - Silverado Systems, Inc.
Outfitter to the World's Foremost Apple Professionals
2600 East Bidwell Street, Suite 280
Folsom, CA 95630
(916) 760-0032 • FAX (916) 404-5258
torrey@silverado.cc
http://www.Silverado.cc

Check out our Silverado Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/silveradosys
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top