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 :)

GROUP BUY - eMotimo ST4 + Dana Dolly

Malik Moore said:
Good update, Pedro. Is the DD setup you borrowed center supported? That can improve track stability. I also know that American Grip has a Dana combo stands that provide more surface area with pipe clamps. Video of the stand: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aje-KWQSnNQ - old video; they have a lighter version now.

I know that with the stand brackets on my Dutti Dolly, there’s the ability to attach baby pins and speedrail to provide stability. Here’s a video mentioning it: Skip to the 3:12 mark https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j4nCalxNsh0 . If Dana Dolly redesigns the end clamps or make an add-on, they could integrate a system like Matthews, etc.

As for camera stability, it’ll be a juggle. Replacing the arca on the pan axis should be a good start. Kessler sells a Kwik plate and a slider plate that connects directly to the kwik release plate. More surface area and less height of an arca riser/ Ballhead. I haven’t tried this setup, though. As for the tilt, it’ll be up to design.

If you own a Bright Tangerine Misfit atom, you could possibly add the 15mm rod attachment, that BT sells, to your misfit atom. Thus, making it a rod mounted mattebox. That could possibly provide some type of support to a lens (still/cine - non rotating front) that don’t have a lens support integrated. Just buy the right donut for your lens.
Click to expand...


-Yes the DD setup I borrowed was center supported by the recommended purpose built "mathews slider stand"

-As I detailed in my post I very much disagree with your statement......center support is exactly what makes it unstable in my opinion. you need to support each track not in the center but under each track like dollytrack....seams to me supporting from the center makes it flex side to side...thus wobble

-the dutty dolly video you posted shows the granade attachment and pipe track support...plus a center support.....great setup!! i would use both.

-lens support might help on some lenses, in this casae the xeen 50mm is not heavy and pretty short...
 
Yeah, I agree with the treat it like dolly track statement. That’s what I’ve been experimenting with my Dutti dolly last weekend. I’ve been trying to use it in it’s ride-on configuration with bazooka risers. I learned quickly that three points of contact is lacking and dead center isn’t the best configuration. A lot more is involved for true stability. It’s a fun process, though.
 
Quick take - In Live move as a pure remote-head, it's pretty great. Only a very approximate amount of camera balancing is required, nothing like using a gimbal head for this purpose. No drift, moves are super smooth with a 100mm lens and absolutely stable & locked down when not moving. Obviously this is only scratching the surface of what the unit can do, but the fact that I could take it out of the case for the first time and be doing extremely smooth & precise long-lens live moves in 10 minutes...was pretty great!

Nb. This was just mounted on a tripod head so far, haven't tried dolly tracking yet.
 
Hey REDUSERS,

Does anyone have a full eMotimo setup available for rental in Los Angeles for a shoot on Monday 4/23 and Tuesday 4/24. Please let me know asap.

Bryankoss@gmail.com
310.499.8141

Thx and hope all is well!
 
Hi all.

I purchased the full bundle, but my work and setup are completely changing. My eMotimo and Dana Dolly are sitting in my studio unopened. I know some people missed out on the group buy, so if you're interested in either (or both), at the same cost as the group buy, drop me a private message.

Figured I'd mention it here before I list them in the marketplace in a couple of days.

The items are in Utah.

Thanks, and hope this doesn't go against the forum rules.
 
Posted this on my facebook last week but might as well share it here.

Just playing around doing some tests. The thing I'm finding most critical in these types of shots is shadows. Gotta make sure they don't go where you don't want them, otherwise you end up with compositing problems.

 
Dana Dolly Stability

Dana Dolly Stability

I LOVE my new Emotimo ST4 / Dana Dolly combo. But i agree that the Dana Dolly track needs more than just a single support in the middle of the track ends. Beefing it up with some Mafer Clamps and C-stands at the side rails as I did here makes a huge difference in stability. But that's somewhat of a hassle involving extra time. It wouldn't take too much to make some brackets with ⅝" spuds to interface with grip heads on C-stands that could be bolted down with the existing bolts for the pipe-clamps. Dana Dolly: are you listening? Please make some such brackets available. I could make them myself, but I really don't have time..
 

Attachments

  • Dana Dolly.jpg
    Dana Dolly.jpg
    94 KB · Views: 0
Paul Kalbach said:
I LOVE my new Emotimo ST4 / Dana Dolly combo. But i agree that the Dana Dolly track needs more than just a single support in the middle of the track ends. Beefing it up with some Mafer Clamps and C-stands at the side rails as I did here makes a huge difference in stability. But that's somewhat of a hassle involving extra time. It wouldn't take too much to make some brackets with ⅝" spuds to interface with grip heads on C-stands that could be bolted down with the existing bolts for the pipe-clamps. Dana Dolly: are you listening? Please make some such brackets available. I could make them myself, but I really don't have time..
Click to expand...

Probably, best to email Dana Dolly about that directly. Here’s the email off the site’s contact page: mike@azgrip.com

Mike answers pretty fast. I wouldn’t send the email today, though. Probably, relaxing on a holiday.
 
Paul Kalbach said:
I LOVE my new Emotimo ST4 / Dana Dolly combo. But i agree that the Dana Dolly track needs more than just a single support in the middle of the track ends. Beefing it up with some Mafer Clamps and C-stands at the side rails as I did here makes a huge difference in stability. But that's somewhat of a hassle involving extra time. It wouldn't take too much to make some brackets with ⅝" spuds to interface with grip heads on C-stands that could be bolted down with the existing bolts for the pipe-clamps. Dana Dolly: are you listening? Please make some such brackets available. I could make them myself, but I really don't have time..
Click to expand...

The alternative I'm looking at is this for my 8' pipes: buy one more middle (not end) center support and then place each center support under each rail, in parallel with the rail, rather than across the two rails. In your case, given the length of the rails (10 feet?), you might want a total of four, two at 1/3rd of the distance between the ends and two at 2/3rds the distance. That would take four extra C-stands, rather than the 5 extra you have going. Since the dolly doesn't "see" anything below the top half of the pipes, supporting the pipes from the bottom tangents shouldn't be a problem.

There's no question that C-stands do one--and only one--job really well: acting as a column of support for a weight that is directly above the centers. Apply any twist or sway, and all bets are off.

Come to think of it, another solution might be to tie down (tightly) each pipe end to the middle of each supporting tripod leg. A tip to one side won't be supported by the slack line, but it will be resisted by the tension of the opposite line. The MSE slider stands have convenient holes drilled in the spreaders through which these lines can be routed. Hmm...
 
One of our customer's from this Group Buy, Tarsem Antil got his Dana Dolly / Spectrum setup going and make a little promo video showing it off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb07OAtl-Ek&feature=youtu.be We love that he has already tested and used most features. Thanks for sharing Tarsem.

As a head's up, I will be floating around Cinegear over Friday and Saturday. The Filmtools booth will have this setup to play with too. Send me an message, or call the company phone if you want to connect! 415-684-8162

Best regards,
Brian

 
Brian, I was hoping I'd get a chance to chat with you if you guys had a booth setup at CineGear because I have one quick question/feature request for the ST4.

First off the product has been a ton of fun to become acquainted with, but theres one issue that keeps coming up again and again when using the ST4 in live mode, which is the operator running the Dana Dolly into the track ends because they are concentrated on framing up the composition in the monitors instead of paying attention to when the Dana Dolly is going to slam into the track ends.

In the ST4 preview video @ 9:35 https://vimeo.com/153057540 you mention setting up software end stops to prevent this very issue (although it seems to just be limited to turbo mode). When I visited the eMotimo booth at NAB this year the person I spoke with (you were talking to somebody else at the time) said that this feature was taken away because users mistakenly thought their ST4's were malfunctioning as a result of the software end stops.

I guess my question is will there be any possibility of adding this feature back?

To make it extra dummy proof you can bury the feature to set the track end soft stops in the Settings menu instead of something that's button mapped like the FIZ end stops. It can also be something that clears from memory everytime the power is cycled similar to the FIZ. Finally, it'd be super useful if software track ends stops could also be available to all live motion modes and not just limited to turbo.

This issue happens in live mode to literally everyone I hand the controller to including myself. Its especially aggravating if I assign "GoTo" frames to several buttons while in live mode, only to have all of those frames thrown out of wack because of bumping into a track end.

Thanks to you and your team for listening and for putting together such a versatile and user friendly piece of tech!
 
Last edited:
Marco Raboy said:
Brian, I was hoping I'd get a chance to chat with you if you guys had a booth setup at CineGear because I have one quick question/feature request for the ST4.

First off the product has been a ton of fun to become acquainted with, but theres one issue that keeps coming up again and again when using the ST4 in live mode, which is the operator running the Dana Dolly into the track ends because they are concentrated on framing up the composition in the monitors instead of paying attention to when the Dana Dolly is going to slam into the track ends.

In the ST4 preview video @ 9:35 https://vimeo.com/153057540 you mention setting up software end stops to prevent this very issue (although it seems to just be limited to turbo mode). When I visited the eMotimo booth at NAB this year the person I spoke with (you were talking to somebody else at the time) said that this feature was taken away because users mistakenly thought their ST4's were malfunctioning as a result of the software end stops.

I guess my question is will there be any possibility of adding this feature back?

To make it extra dummy proof you can bury the feature to set the track end soft stops in the Settings menu instead of something that's button mapped like the FIZ end stops. It can also be something that clears from memory everytime the power is cycled similar to the FIZ. Finally, it'd be super useful if software track ends stops could also be available to all live motion modes and not just limited to turbo.

This issue happens in live mode to literally everyone I hand the controller to including myself. Its especially aggravating if I assign "GoTo" frames to several buttons while in live mode, only to have all of those frames thrown out of wack because of bumping into a track end.

Thanks to you and your team for listening and for putting together such a versatile and user friendly piece of tech!
Click to expand...


Hey Marco,

Great feedback. I am glad you are having fun with the ST4 and getting good use from it. Software stops are in there currently, but only for Fz. These stops are easy to set and remove, but are also "in the way" for a lot of users. Our number one issue with Fz is, "I have pressed every button imaginable and Fz won't move!" You likely already know that by pressing the R1 and L1 buttons, you are actually setting the end stops for Fz. Options button releases this and pulls off the stops. The R2 / L2 triggers actually drive the Fz. A users pressing every button on the way to trying to get the Fz to move, is are actually causing the issue.

So, we could say that users should just read the instructions, but we want our gear to be better than that. We haven't done our jobs very well if we aren't intuitive on using these so we need to make a change. A change is coming for this in the next 3 weeks on our Betas. Reach out to us at help@emotimo.com if you want to help be one of the first testers. This won't be limited to Turbo Mode - all modes will benefit. This will likely be a quick menu that will we will have to tune axis parameters. It likely will be accessed by re purposing the Options Menu to cycle through Pan, Tilt, Slide, and Focus tuning screen. On these screens setting and removing stops by axis will be on thing a user can do.

Another fun thing coming to the Beta that I think all users will like is logging all moves to the SD card. Very much like a digital camera we will create a log file for each programmed move run with an indexed filename. The frame by frame data for that move can then be take off the card and manipulated. VFX'ers will like it!
 
Last edited:
Thats great to hear! Very happy to hear about the continued development, I'll definitely be reaching out to help with testing!
 
Hi,

I'm a UK owner of this group buy Dana Dolly St4 rental kit and had a good
play with the kit today. Doesn't seem like Dana Dolly ship large items like the portable pipe kit to the UK. I tried some aluminium schedule 80 piping but it doesn't have threads to join together so you end up with large pipes which are hard to travel.

I also agree that the central single tripod mount at the end stops envokes wobble. I used Kessler Kwik rail pipes with the angled legs and it worked great. Kessler ship to U.K. via CVP but DAMN it's an expensive solution, over £2000+VAT :



http://store.kesslercrane.com/products/kwik-rail-travel-kit.html

https://cvp.com/product/kessler-crane_cs1117_leg_clamps


Anyone have any ideas for cheap but portable / travel friendly solutions for us in the U.K. ? Even with paying the high shipping costs on the piping kit, a new end bracket with two tripod mounts / 5/8th threads in the corner / overhanging bracket to
Make that happen to mount two supports to either side plus some slider stands has to be cheaper than the pricey Kessler solution?

If anyone has a contact for Dana Dolly they could email me, that would be fab!


Thanks!

Craig Lees
UK
NyouMediaLtd@gmail.com



It's awesome in this config.

PS replacing arca mounts with dovetails would also be awesome.
 
Hey Craig, greetings from Aus!

Same experience for myself and plenty of great suggestions there to make a great kit even better!

I purchased the Dana portable pipe kit from Adorama. If you can swallow the price, the quality is there, all nicely machined and easy to transport.

https://www.adorama.com/ddppk1.html

They ship to Aus which couldn't be any further from the rest of the world ;)..... so I'm sure they'd do the UK.

Cheers,

Pete



Craig Lees said:
Hi,

I'm a UK owner of this group buy Dana Dolly St4 rental kit and had a good
play with the kit today. Doesn't seem like Dana Dolly ship large items like the portable pipe kit to the UK. I tried some aluminium schedule 80 piping but it doesn't have threads to join together so you end up with large pipes which are hard to travel.

I also agree that the central single tripod mount at the end stops envokes wobble. I used Kessler Kwik rail pipes with the angled legs and it worked great. Kessler ship to U.K. via CVP but DAMN it's an expensive solution, over £2000+VAT :



http://store.kesslercrane.com/products/kwik-rail-travel-kit.html

https://cvp.com/product/kessler-crane_cs1117_leg_clamps


Anyone have any ideas for cheap but portable / travel friendly solutions for us in the U.K. ? Even with paying the high shipping costs on the piping kit, a new end bracket with two tripod mounts / 5/8th threads in the corner / overhanging bracket to
Make that happen to mount two supports to either side plus some slider stands has to be cheaper than the pricey Kessler solution?

If anyone has a contact for Dana Dolly they could email me, that would be fab!


Thanks!

Craig Lees
UK
NyouMediaLtd@gmail.com



It's awesome in this config.

PS replacing arca mounts with dovetails would also be awesome.
Click to expand...
 
Craig Lees said:
Hi,

I'm a UK owner of this group buy Dana Dolly St4 rental kit and had a good
play with the kit today. Doesn't seem like Dana Dolly ship large items like the portable pipe kit to the UK. I tried some aluminium schedule 80 piping but it doesn't have threads to join together so you end up with large pipes which are hard to travel.

I also agree that the central single tripod mount at the end stops envokes wobble. I used Kessler Kwik rail pipes with the angled legs and it worked great. Kessler ship to U.K. via CVP but DAMN it's an expensive solution, over £2000+VAT :
Click to expand...

Just happened upon this thread. I just got a bunch of super cheap pipe from proaim in india. It's got a system with a rubber bung and two bolts to link sections together. I don't know if this is really what you're looking for but when i did the rounds of cheap pipe, these guys were reasonable and shipping to UK is via fedex.

There's no way the finish is as good as the Dana original (or Solidworks or any other higher end offering) but it may get you out of a pickle?

cheers
Paul
 
Hi Paul,

This sounds perfect, can you send me a link as I can't find the item on the ProAim website?

Thanks much appreciated!

Craig Lees
UK
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top