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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 :)

Letus Gimbal

Paris Remillard said:
I'm almost more interested in this as a remote head on a crane/jib. Well, at least AS interested.
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Ditto. That's a HUGE part of my intended use for the product. And while theoretically any of the gimbals could be used that way, I have yet to actually see manufactured hardware for coupling any of them to a crane. Turbo Ace is the only manufacturer I've seen even tout that functionality (in their Allsteady 7 kickstarter video), though I still don't know what hardware they might eventually offer to accommodate that. I think anyone at this stage using a gimbal on a crane is probably cobbling together their own interface solution.

I admit I haven't put much thought into this yet and have just been going on "faith" that it would be possible. I use a Kessler Crane, which has a two armed extension with a camera platform in between that can go in underslung or overslung position, and there is a manual tilt lever that allows that platform to tilt from horizontal to 90 degrees forward. I don't know for sure it would work, but what I imagine trying first is removing the third axis on the Helix (which includes the handles), mounting the camera "sideways" on the Helix platform to give you tilt instead of roll, and then going with a 2-axis pan/tilt head that can rotate 360 degrees on pan and probably something close to 360 on tilt (the limitation being that you can't point the camera (guessing here) within 20 degrees of straight down.). However even that wouldn't be a true limitation since you could manually tilt the Kessler Crane platform to allow the camera to point straight down. There are a lot of details to nail down about how to interface, and that's something I'd like to nag Letus about for those of us who really want to multipurpose this product on cranes.
 
Originally Posted by Paris Remillard
I'm almost more interested in this as a remote head on a crane/jib. Well, at least AS interested.

Elizabeth Lowrey said:
... while theoretically any of the gimbals could be used that way, I have yet to actually see manufactured hardware for coupling any of them to a crane. T...
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The DJI gimbal has a dovetail at the top, for quick-release swapping between handles and copter/jib use. That said, I am not discrediting the Letus approach, it probably will have its advantages in plenty of situations as far as I can evaluate. Personally I will need to have something for copter and handheld use, therefore the dji, otherwise, probably a letus approach.
 
I saw this thing at the Letus booth. It was, in a word, janky. It didn't work correctly and seemed actually quite unusable in real world production.

Of course it might have been a prototype or something, but buyer beware, demand a demo and/or try it out intensively before you lay down your cash.
 
Paul Schneider said:
I saw this thing at the Letus booth. It was, in a word, janky. It didn't work correctly and seemed actually quite unusable in real world production.

Of course it might have been a prototype or something, but buyer beware, demand a demo and/or try it out intensively before you lay down your cash.
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As I mentioned in my review further up thread, there was significant vibration in the third (tilt) axis when I played with the unit at the Leuts booth on Tuesday. Those issues were reportedly much worse on Monday, which was only a few hours removed from Hien finalizing the addition of the hardware for the third axis by soldering wires in his hotel room at 5:30 AM on Monday. Monday night was used to tweak motor firmware and software, thus the improvement on Tuesday, and Hien represented that with additional time for firmware tweaks, the vibration would be completely eliminated. He tweeted just yesterday, I think, that the new axis is now completely smooth and operational, and I have no reason to doubt that because the other two axes were very smooth and cooperative during my hands on time.

I concede that something about adding a third axis in the hours before NAB is paradoxically frightening and reassuring at the same time, but this product has actually been in development in different forms for three years, so it's not actually "new" but a continual refinement of ideas. And I would strongly disagree with the notion that it's "unusable in real world productions." Third axis vibration aside, it felt more useable to me than anything I tried in Vegas, including the Movi. But you are quite right about needing to see demo footage from the completed product. I want that as much as anyone else.
 
Well, I'm a former attorney (I lasted 4 months in practice before the inauthenticity of it as a career path forced me to admit my mistake), though certainly not a patent attorney. That's a specialty all unto itself. So I'm unable to make an informed judgment as to whether a modluar, 3 axis stabilizer using brushless motors and operating on the principle of coincident optical and COG axes is a violation of the above patent. There are obvious similarities in implementation of the roll axis as well as some obvious differences, but certainly the idea of turning a camera on its optical center is not patentable. I'll leave it up to Letus to decide if their product is differentiated enough in expression to avoid patent infringement claims.
 
Elizabeth Lowrey said:
Well, I'm a former attorney (I lasted 4 months in practice before the inauthenticity of it as a career path forced me to admit my mistake), though certainly not a patent attorney. That's a specialty all unto itself. So I'm unable to make an informed judgment as to whether a modluar, 3 axis stabilizer using brushless motors and operating on the principle of coincident optical and COG axes is a violation of the above patent. There are obvious similarities in implementation of the roll axis as well as some obvious differences, but certainly the idea of turning a camera on its optical center is not patentable. I'll leave it up to Letus to decide if their product is differentiated enough in expression to avoid patent infringement claims.
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Plus Letus doesn't have to market it as a steadicam accessory. The form factor of their gimbal may just happen to be easily mounted on a steadicam sled by the operator ;)
 
I am also not an attorney, not even for a few months. ;-) But, I have to say it is kind of sad that such an excellent device was patented in 1998 and has never made it to market. It seems like Steadicam work could have benefited from this quite some time ago.

In any case, as Elizabeth said, we consumers have little choice but to let the companies sort all the issues out. As much as I admire Garrett Brown, Steadicam, as a company, has never been very "indie friendly" in their pricing. Maybe we should get this group buy going so we can get our units before they get sued out of existence. :smiley:

EDIT: Well, I guess if it's the Steadicam thing, I solemnly promise not to use mine on a Steadicam. ;-)
 
Terry VerHaar said:
I am also not an attorney, not even for a few months. ;-) But, I have to say it is kind of sad that such an excellent device was patented in 1998 and has never made it to market. It seems like Steadicam work could have benefited from this quite some time ago.

In any case, as Elizabeth said, we consumers have little choice but to let the companies sort all the issues out. As much as I admire Garrett Brown, Steadicam, as a company, has never been very "indie friendly" in their pricing. Maybe we should get this group buy going so we can get our units before they get sued out of existence. :smiley:
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LMAO, I'm ready to roll, pardon the pun, but am still waiting for a reply from Hien on whether, in principle, Letus is receptive to a group buy. I sent a reminder email very late Tuesday night (technically Wednesday morning) since the idea of the group buy itself got lost in the brief emails we'd exchanged about the product earlier. My understanding is that he's working very hard on product details and may just want to wait until he can come up for air on that before worrying about switching hats from creative designer to business man. Or maybe I'm just projecting since the business/administrative side of any endeavor has always been the most mundane and unpleasant for me.:-) In any case, if he hasn't answered by tomorrow, I plan to nag him again or else get him to hand me over to someone else in the company whom I can nag about it.
 
Joe Minuni said:
Plus Letus doesn't have to market it as a steadicam accessory. The form factor of their gimbal may just happen to be easily mounted on a steadicam sled by the operator ;)
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I can't wait to use it on my monopod...
 
Letus released a brief demo clip of the Helix on Facebook. I know this must have been shot at the Kessler NAB party because I attended it briefly and recognize the location, plus I unexpectedly ran into Hien there at one point, whom I'd met for the first time earlier in the day. Didn't realize they were shooting this or I would have hung around to watch.

Only shot that gave me pause was the one at about 19 seconds, not because it wasn't "stable" so much as it looked like the operator didn't know exactly what he/she wanted to do. But there's a caveat that this was a "spur of the moment test" without much prep, so it doesn't worry me. Rest of the shots look very smooth to my eye with good "follow mode" cooperation by the gimbal, good horizon, etc. And the shots largely are at head level (sometimes even above), which is a very welcome perspective in this milieu.
 
Very exciting product, love it's modularity! A Red edition would be ideal. Count me in for the group buy!
 
Dear RED users. Wow, thanks so much for your tremendous support. I haven't written in this forum in ages. Here is a little update:

1. Helix can now flip up to the sky and even can do a 360 without getting freaked out. It was just a setting issue that was quickly fixed.
2. I heard you all, there's a cold shoe mount for the monitor on the back of the unit. I added few 1/4-20 for you all, both on camera side and on the back.
3. We have connection points for wireless video transmitter right underneath the camera plate.
4. Front rods for FF and MB.
5. We significantly reduced the weight with increased strength. (Thanks to my Structural Analysis professor at Portland State University :-)
6. The base can now lock by thumbscrews for even faster balancing on the 2nd axis (Elizabeth nagged me about it during NAB and I finally gave in :-)
7. The back of the slipring is now completely covered.
8. For RED users, I can put 2 2-pin Lemo's instead of 1 2-pin and an SDI because you can use a wireless video transmitter.

What I just told you is nothing compared to what I will tell you Monday after the patent is filed. It will blow your mind away.

You all can check back on Monday on LetusHelix.com for complete specs.

Here is the link for the pictures: http://www.letus35.com/letus-helix
 
Please count me in for group buy.
 
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hienle said:
Dear RED users. Wow, thanks so much for your tremendous support. I haven't written in this forum in ages. Here is a little update:

1. Helix can now flip up to the sky and even can do a 360 without getting freaked out. It was just a setting issue that was quickly fixed.
2. I heard you all, there's a cold shoe mount for the monitor on the back of the unit. I added few 1/4-20 for you all, both on camera side and on the back.
3. We have connection points for wireless video transmitter right underneath the camera plate.
4. Front rods for FF and MB.
5. We significantly reduced the weight with increased strength. (Thanks to my Structural Analysis professor at Portland State University :-)
6. The base can now lock by thumbscrews for even faster balancing on the 2nd axis (Elizabeth nagged me about it during NAB and I finally gave in :-)
7. The back of the slipring is now completely covered.
8. For RED users, I can put 2 2-pin Lemo's instead of 1 2-pin and an SDI because you can use a wireless video transmitter.

What I just told you is nothing compared to what I will tell you Monday after the patent is filed. It will blow your mind away.

You all can check back on Monday on LetusHelix.com for complete specs.

Here is the link for the pictures: http://www.letus35.com/letus-helix
Click to expand...


Thanks very much for posting. This really is getting exciting!! Never thought I'd look forward to a Monday!! :thumbup:
 
hienle said:
Dear RED users. Wow, thanks so much for your tremendous support. I haven't written in this forum in ages. Here is a little update:

1. Helix can now flip up to the sky and even can do a 360 without getting freaked out. It was just a setting issue that was quickly fixed.
2. I heard you all, there's a cold shoe mount for the monitor on the back of the unit. I added few 1/4-20 for you all, both on camera side and on the back.
3. We have connection points for wireless video transmitter right underneath the camera plate.
4. Front rods for FF and MB.
5. We significantly reduced the weight with increased strength. (Thanks to my Structural Analysis professor at Portland State University :-)
6. The base can now lock by thumbscrews for even faster balancing on the 2nd axis (Elizabeth nagged me about it during NAB and I finally gave in :-)
7. The back of the slipring is now completely covered.
8. For RED users, I can put 2 2-pin Lemo's instead of 1 2-pin and an SDI because you can use a wireless video transmitter.

What I just told you is nothing compared to what I will tell you Monday after the patent is filed. It will blow your mind away.

You all can check back on Monday on LetusHelix.com for complete specs.

Here is the link for the pictures: http://www.letus35.com/letus-helix
Click to expand...

Welcome to Reduser Hienie
 
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