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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

building motion control systems ,I would say that its not always a matter of components use on a system that makes this a good reliable device. You can have a sensor less system with no encoders to work very well, and a system with encoders to work bad, and the opposite. 99% of all these systems use the same motion card Alex mos, the same sensors, and more or less the same software, some twick their software etc etc.
Its down to the expertise of the company in electronics , doing this correctly, and apply all the upgrades correctly so you can get a reliable and accurate system.
What you need to care about more is, to get a good working system that is reliable, make sense to your camera set up and your style of shooting, and learn how to use it to produce the best out of it. And since all those systems are new and not tested 100% in the field, you cannot make any comparisons yet, other than talk about specifications that have been announced. One of the most important factor in this technology is operating and get to know the system, and personal skills. Seeing a really good move from one system, and a medium move from another , doesnt prove always that one system is better that the other, and a lot of people think , that there is no skill needed, you just grab the thing and it does the rest.
There are also a lot of untested , non , proven methods you guys are just about to get to know, and you assume that will be kick ass with out real tests, in fact all you got so far is some pictures or small videos of system configurations. Some of you are even jumping into steadicam adaptation with out being steadicam ops, and think that you can buy a vest and an arm, stick your gimbal up there, and voila, everything is good. My personal advice will be, that you will need steadicam training, which is not done over a week, and in real pro shooting you will get to face a lot of challenges, you are not aware off right now.
The exciting part, is that you can get nice cheap electronic stabilisers that can give your movies a smooth look where is needed. All the rest are yet to be proven by extended use and experience. Regards.
 
Don't get me wrong, I wish the current 32 bit Basecam can use data from an optical encoder. I just quote what I know from Alex, I have no clue what B4 has and what I said is that if they are using the current available Basecam, then it won't take advantage of the optical encoder, but if Alex makes a special board for them to use the encoder, then it's different story. Alex would then make 2 branches of firmware for each feature he adds in the future.
 
Thank you for the clarification Hienie. Your willingness to engage / listen to your audience and share info is most admirable.

Thank you,

hienle said:
Don't get me wrong, I wish the current 32 bit Basecam can use data from an optical encoder. I just quote what I know from Alex, I have no clue what B4 has and what I said is that if they are using the current available Basecam, then it won't take advantage of the optical encoder, but if Alex makes a special board for them to use the encoder, then it's different story. Alex would then make 2 branches of firmware for each feature he adds in the future.
Click to expand...
 
constantine Tirintzis said:
building motion control systems ,I would say that its not always a matter of components use on a system that makes this a good reliable device. You can have a sensor less system with no encoders to work very well, and a system with encoders to work bad, and the opposite. 99% of all these systems use the same motion card Alex mos, the same sensors, and more or less the same software, some twick their software etc etc.
Its down to the expertise of the company in electronics , doing this correctly, and apply all the upgrades correctly so you can get a reliable and accurate system.
What you need to care about more is, to get a good working system that is reliable, make sense to your camera set up and your style of shooting, and learn how to use it to produce the best out of it. And since all those systems are new and not tested 100% in the field, you cannot make any comparisons yet, other than talk about specifications that have been announced. One of the most important factor in this technology is operating and get to know the system, and personal skills. Seeing a really good move from one system, and a medium move from another , doesnt prove always that one system is better that the other, and a lot of people think , that there is no skill needed, you just grab the thing and it does the rest.
There are also a lot of untested , non , proven methods you guys are just about to get to know, and you assume that will be kick ass with out real tests, in fact all you got so far is some pictures or small videos of system configurations. Some of you are even jumping into steadicam adaptation with out being steadicam ops, and think that you can buy a vest and an arm, stick your gimbal up there, and voila, everything is good. My personal advice will be, that you will need steadicam training, which is not done over a week, and in real pro shooting you will get to face a lot of challenges, you are not aware off right now.
The exciting part, is that you can get nice cheap electronic stabilisers that can give your movies a smooth look where is needed. All the rest are yet to be proven by extended use and experience. Regards.
Click to expand...

Quite a bit of wisdom here, methinks! Thanks for all of your contributions to the dialog.
 
PC Greene said:
Optical encoders built into the brushless motors provides feedback to the control system so it is constantly "aware" of the precise physical position of the motor(s).
Without this, the system is constantly "guessing" as to where the motor actually is.

How much this (or the benefits of GPS on fast moving gimbals) translate into real world benefits won't be known until differing systems performance can be compared.

Thank you,
Click to expand...

Thanks for taking the time to explain this. Much appreciated!
 
constantine Tirintzis said:
building motion control systems ,I would say that its not always a matter of components use on a system that makes this a good reliable device. You can have a sensor less system with no encoders to work very well, and a system with encoders to work bad, and the opposite. 99% of all these systems use the same motion card Alex mos, the same sensors, and more or less the same software, some twick their software etc etc.
Its down to the expertise of the company in electronics , doing this correctly, and apply all the upgrades correctly so you can get a reliable and accurate system.
What you need to care about more is, to get a good working system that is reliable, make sense to your camera set up and your style of shooting, and learn how to use it to produce the best out of it. And since all those systems are new and not tested 100% in the field, you cannot make any comparisons yet, other than talk about specifications that have been announced. One of the most important factor in this technology is operating and get to know the system, and personal skills. Seeing a really good move from one system, and a medium move from another , doesnt prove always that one system is better that the other, and a lot of people think , that there is no skill needed, you just grab the thing and it does the rest.
There are also a lot of untested , non , proven methods you guys are just about to get to know, and you assume that will be kick ass with out real tests, in fact all you got so far is some pictures or small videos of system configurations. Some of you are even jumping into steadicam adaptation with out being steadicam ops, and think that you can buy a vest and an arm, stick your gimbal up there, and voila, everything is good. My personal advice will be, that you will need steadicam training, which is not done over a week, and in real pro shooting you will get to face a lot of challenges, you are not aware off right now.
The exciting part, is that you can get nice cheap electronic stabilisers that can give your movies a smooth look where is needed. All the rest are yet to be proven by extended use and experience. Regards.
Click to expand...

Well stated. Funny how little we know of any of the proposed gimbals. Gear sluts we are
 
It is so silent over here.... you can almost here them at Letus assembling those Helixes :)
 
@Terry... Ehm.. If it gets delivered I shoot some sample footage... :)
 
Ya know - it dawned on me that there was actually some footage from the beta version at NAB. I had seen it early on but decided to go back and check it out. It's hard to make any definitive comments based on it but doesn't seem too bad for the state of development at the time.

While we wait for new footage, check out the old stuff again:

http://letushelix.com/beta-version-sample-footage/
 
Does anyone know how the tilt motor gets power and signal? From all the renderings it appears its connected to the frame with no wires running to it. Are the renderings mechanical only and wires will be run outside of the frame or is everything internal on the frame?

Just curious.
 
Philip Lanyon said:
Does anyone know how the tilt motor gets power and signal? From all the renderings it appears its connected to the frame with no wires running to it. Are the renderings mechanical only and wires will be run outside of the frame or is everything internal on the frame?

Just curious.
Click to expand...

It's an excellent question and I hope Hien or Aaron will jump in to comment.

From what we see in this video,

http://vimeo.com/91366669

the prototype has a small twisted wire running from the bottom (pan) motor to the side (tilt) motor. In this version it just somewhat dangles but the Helix features pages says:
  • Wire routing grooves in frame for clean design
.
Since the system breaks down to be modular, there will have to be plugs on the wiring so the different modules can be unplugged and disconnected but it looks like the wires will be tucked int the frame for a clean design.

All in all, I think the folks at Letus are too fussy to have wires dangling loose. :-)
 
Thanks Terry, the wires in the video didn't look horrible to deal with but something running in the frame would be slick as long as its serviceable.



Terry VerHaar said:
It's an excellent question and I hope Hien or Aaron will jump in to comment.

From what we see in this video,

http://vimeo.com/91366669

the prototype has a small twisted wire running from the bottom (pan) motor to the side (tilt) motor. In this version it just somewhat dangles but the Helix features pages says:
  • Wire routing grooves in frame for clean design
.
Since the system breaks down to be modular, there will have to be plugs on the wiring so the different modules can be unplugged and disconnected but it looks like the wires will be tucked int the frame for a clean design.

All in all, I think the folks at Letus are too fussy to have wires dangling loose. :-)
Click to expand...
 
Terry VerHaar said:
While we wait for new footage, check out the old stuff again:

http://letushelix.com/beta-version-sample-footage/
Click to expand...
Not great, because the horizon isn't level; it dips to the left a bit. It least it's at a more or less consistent un-level angle rather than wobbling side to side. This indicates to me that it probably is just a matter of being setup not perfectly balanced. Personally I like Dutch tilts (I don't see this demo as a Dutch tilt; just not level). and would like to be able to manually override with a thumb controller or wireless remote what should normally be a locked-in level roll axis. Yes, we really need to see new footage.
 
I need some help.

As part of the preparation for the flood of customer service to come, I am sending Alex of Basecam a full final Helix. The problem is that we always have bad experience shipping anything to Russia, via FedEx or UPS or DHL. USPS does work, but too risky, especially for this kit. Anyone is heading that way that is willing to hand carry it to Alex?
 
Tempting. lol

I am not sure you could trust me to get it there. ;-)

EDIT: Wait... there's a "full final Helix."? WooHoo!
 
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