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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 :)

GROUP BUY: RTMotion Wireless Multi-Channel Follow Focus - Limited Time!

Ok, so I got my unit setup and played with it a little bit.

At first glance I really like it. Very solid build, like very! Good weight on the hand controller as well. Mounting and cable connection was pretty simple. Got a dtap cable for power. Haven't tried the start/stop function with the lemo yet. Tried first with my 35mm Cine Rokinon. When you connected power to the receiver and motor it automatically started to calibrate for a lens. It takes a few seconds to start, something that took me a sec to realize. It automatically finds the hard stops on the lens and remaps the rotation of the lens to the rotation of the full turn on the hand controller, really nice. I had some wireless connection issues my first go around with the unit, kept disconnecting for some reason, but I powered it down and when it reset it was fine. Maybe there is an order to plugging things in and powering up that I didn't do right, who reads manuals anyway right?

So then I wanted to see how it would work with a Canon lens with no stops. So I grabbed my Canon 24-70 LII and redrock gear ring and put it on and attached the motor. I didn't turn the unit off so it didn't calibrate automatically. I take it would just keep spinning anyway. Manual calibration took about 30 seconds without ever looking at the manual, it was that simple to figure out. I now had a full turn mapped onto my controller…well more like 160 degrees or so. As opposed to the 80 degree focus turn the lens gives you, I'd call it a pretty big improvement lol!

What I really like is that there seems to be a slight ramp in ramp out on pulls. Not huge, but enough so there's no jarring on focus, it's actually buttery smooth. At first glance I think I prefer it over using a manually FF, at least on photo lenses.

Looking forward to playing with it more, but I'm pretty happy thus far. I might make a setup tutorial at some point. So far so good!

- Jarek
 
I'm glad you finally got yours. Yes the modern lenses without hard stops can be a pain as the calibration starts as soon as power is connected. I've asked for a firmware update that let you choose if you want to start the manual calibration or not. The remapping is definitely easy and fast. The dampening is also user selectable but the default is nice. Make sure you adjust the power settings for the range if you are close to the unit as it will stutter. The default is MED.

Bob



Jarek Zabczynski said:
Ok, so I got my unit setup and played with it a little bit.

At first glance I really like it. Very solid build, like very! Good weight on the hand controller as well. Mounting and cable connection was pretty simple. Got a dtap cable for power. Haven't tried the start/stop function with the lemo yet. Tried first with my 35mm Cine Rokinon. When you connected power to the receiver and motor it automatically started to calibrate for a lens. It takes a few seconds to start, something that took me a sec to realize. It automatically finds the hard stops on the lens and remaps the rotation of the lens to the rotation of the full turn on the hand controller, really nice. I had some wireless connection issues my first go around with the unit, kept disconnecting for some reason, but I powered it down and when it reset it was fine. Maybe there is an order to plugging things in and powering up that I didn't do right, who reads manuals anyway right?

So then I wanted to see how it would work with a Canon lens with no stops. So I grabbed my Canon 24-70 LII and redrock gear ring and put it on and attached the motor. I didn't turn the unit off so it didn't calibrate automatically. I take it would just keep spinning anyway. Manual calibration took about 30 seconds without ever looking at the manual, it was that simple to figure out. I now had a full turn mapped onto my controller…well more like 160 degrees or so. As opposed to the 80 degree focus turn the lens gives you, I'd call it a pretty big improvement lol!

What I really like is that there seems to be a slight ramp in ramp out on pulls. Not huge, but enough so there's no jarring on focus, it's actually buttery smooth. At first glance I think I prefer it over using a manually FF, at least on photo lenses.

Looking forward to playing with it more, but I'm pretty happy thus far. I might make a setup tutorial at some point. So far so good!

- Jarek
Click to expand...
 
Bob Gundu said:
I'm glad you finally got yours. Yes the modern lenses without hard stops can be a pain as the calibration starts as soon as power is connected. I've asked for a firmware update that let you choose if you want to start the manual calibration or not. The remapping is definitely easy and fast. The dampening is also user selectable but the default is nice. Make sure you adjust the power settings for the range if you are close to the unit as it will stutter. The default is MED.

Bob
Click to expand...

Ah, so a high setting at close range isn't recommended eh?
 
Are there any 1/4-20 holes on the hand wheel? Thinking about mounting a wooden grip. Anyone do this?
 
Jake Wilganowski said:
Are there any 1/4-20 holes on the hand wheel? Thinking about mounting a wooden grip. Anyone do this?
Click to expand...

Actually I have three mounting holes on the back of mine.
 
Hi all,
I am considering switching from my trusty Bartech Analog to the RTmotion but I would love to see it in my hands before. Is there any RTmotion owner in New York City or around? Let me know.
 
FYI, I'm glad with the unit but really dispointed by the customer service... they take generally 2 weeks to answer your mail, and it have been months that is it noticed on the support page "Currently the MK3 firmwares are offline. There will be a new version after testing, approx 1 week."
I'm waiting for the new one because the function "flip knob" doesn't work anymore on my unit.
 
I talked to MKV at NAB who are the primary distributors of RTmotion, and they did mention that there are still moving to a new facility. They used to make all these controllers inhouse to maintain quality. They have been trying to source a facility that can make them to the level that we would expect and it simply hasn't been easy. I hope they get it sorted as they do have an awesome product. But damn, the growing pains of mass production... Its still no excuse for poor communication.
 
I have been wanting to get this, but the unsettled nature of this company is scaring me off.
 
We got ours a few weeks ago and couldn't be happier.
 
Nikhil Kamkolkar said:
I have been wanting to get this, but the unsettled nature of this company is scaring me off.
Click to expand...

I think this perception was completely valid from mid last year until earlier this year- we had to grow fast and lots of lessons had to be learned (we were filmmakers and electronics guys foremost, not businessmen, so we'd be the first to admit it took longer than it should have).

Thankfully we have taken on a long lease in a great new building and our staff count has doubled since Feb, and we are shipping more units and accessories than we ever have. We're also finally moving to world-wide stockists for easier availability, including a set of common accessories with people like amazon for super fast turnaround. Any questions to urgent@rtmotion.zendesk.com or phone calls to +44 2030 210 803 should now be actioned with the speed you should expect!

Kris
Director & electronics / RT Motion
 
My personal experience, the rig is solid (I have a FIZ MK3.1), beautifully made and Kris Bird cares. A stand up guy. We had some communication problems over the holidays and during the move, but that is understandable and long past. Kris made it good.
 
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