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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

Zeb B said:
Plus you can set a Helix down on any flat surface - no stand needed
Click to expand...

This can be a curse in disguise. People will be tempted to just put it down on the ground. Just like with steadi gear - there is a reason why precision gear is mostly mounted on stands. You would not put your steadi arm on the ground now - would you?

Just to be clear - I am not saying that this is bad - not at all. This is indeed one of the unique features that separate Helix from the "yokies"... ;o)

:sifone: Peter
 
Tom Greenberg said:
Thanks Zeb! If you get a chance and wouldn't mind shooting some footage illustrating one hand use with an Epic, I'd really appreciate it. Having a big argument with my business partner about the lack of a top handle on the Helix. He feels that cripples the unit...I (of course) disagree, lol...
Click to expand...

The lack of top handle does make things a little awkward when trying to move the unit around when it isn't turned on. In fact I'm still not sure how to move a fully rigged unit around from place to place. Do other other gimbals solve this in any way?

Ideally we need a way to lock down the axis so that it doesn't flop all over the place just trying to move it. In particular the pan axis. Right now I sort of grab the camera and use my hands and body to keep things from flying into each other. If we could lock down the axis, then a low profile handle on top of the camera could be used to carry it.

For low moves I'm hoping to do the suitcase method as Zeb mentioned.
 
Zeb B said:
Heavy camera package = Steadi arm
Plus you can set a Helix down on any flat surface - no stand needed
Click to expand...

Although neatly packed away, there are exposed wires/electronics on the bottom. I'll probably tape something over them to protect things.

It would be nice to have a "rugged" add on that is essentially rubber bumpers that go places to keep things protected or to cover electronics.
 
Tom Greenberg said:
I'm extremely interested to hear feedback about using it one-handed in "low mode". How heavy is it? Could you hold it this way for a couple minute move? How easy is it to go back and forth from two hand to one hand operation?
Click to expand...

Back and forth looks very easy...

 
Peter Majtan said:
This can be a curse in disguise. People will be tempted to just put it down on the ground. Just like with steadi gear - there is a reason why precision gear is mostly mounted on stands. You would not put your steadi arm on the ground now - would you?

Just to be clear - I am not saying that this is bad - not at all. This is indeed one of the unique features that separate Helix from the "yokies"... ;o)

:sifone: Peter
Click to expand...

Yeah one needs to be careful. Set the unit down wrong or on a slightly uneven surface and it could flop forward and smash your lens into the ground. Or the pan axis can rotate and hit your lens against the side. You can lean the unit back, but you still need to be careful as there are some wires back there.

I am yet to take the Helix three feet away from a padded workbench :)
 
Tom Greenberg said:
Thanks Zeb! If you get a chance and wouldn't mind shooting some footage illustrating one hand use with an Epic, I'd really appreciate it. Having a big argument with my business partner about the lack of a top handle on the Helix. He feels that cripples the unit...I (of course) disagree, lol...
Click to expand...

Perhaps I am not completely understanding your argument but, indeed, the 4th axis set-up can include a top handle as one method for low shooting. Just FYI.
 
Tom Greenberg said:
Thanks Zeb! If you get a chance and wouldn't mind shooting some footage illustrating one hand use with an Epic, I'd really appreciate it. Having a big argument with my business partner about the lack of a top handle on the Helix. He feels that cripples the unit...I (of course) disagree, lol...
Click to expand...
If you get the NATO rail option with your Helix (which replaces the cold shoe), you can always mount a handle for 3 axis mode such as this and pop it off when not needed.
http://www.red.com/store/products/sliding-top-handle
 
Paul Kalbach said:
If you get the NATO rail option with your Helix (which replaces the cold shoe), you can always mount a handle for 3 axis mode such as this and pop it off when not needed.
http://www.red.com/store/products/sliding-top-handle
Click to expand...

That's exactly why I requested Hien to include a swat rail in place of the standard hot shoe, and he kindly obliged, making it an option. I have the RED sliding top handle, and it will work beautifully to give a top side handle on the three axis Helix.
 
Terry VerHaar said:
Perhaps I am not completely understanding your argument but, indeed, the 4th axis set-up can include a top handle as one method for low shooting. Just FYI.
Click to expand...
Yes Terry, I agree that you can do that, but first of all it takes $1200 of additional hardware to do that, and secondly, it is not as easy as just grabbing the already-present top handle on a yoke system. Don't get me wrong, I love the helix and am defending it in this argument. My partner feels like he will use a gimbal primarily in low mode with one hand and sees two hand operation as a more painful, hard to manage configuration. I am trying to argue that helix is just as easy as a yoke system to use one-handed.
 
Scott Pultz said:
Although neatly packed away, there are exposed wires/electronics on the bottom. I'll probably tape something over them to protect things.

It would be nice to have a "rugged" add on that is essentially rubber bumpers that go places to keep things protected or to cover electronics.
Click to expand...


Agreed, you could almost have some lightweight extended feet you could attach to the bottom of the third or 4th axis to set it down without rolling forward on the lens or back on itself.
 
I think that both designs have positives and negatives. I haven't seen a yoke system work well on a Steadicam, and the Helix has great promise here.
 
Scott Pultz said:
That will work for moving the helix, but it won't help you when operating it in stabilized mode.
Click to expand...

Scott, I'm not sure I understand what you mean on this. The handle is attached to the non-moving part of the Helix back end. To me, that means you can use it to move the Helix while it's stabilizing. I can see that if you are in single operator mode and want to carry the Helix as low as possible with that setup that it might be difficult to keep your right hand on the smart handle for tilt. But I would think it's still very viable for anything knee height or above where you want to carry the bulk of the load in your left hand and just use the right for slight ballast and tilt control. Is that not correct? And then for two operator mode, it's obviously a moot point.

My thought was that if you want to do extended low shooting or move dynamically between low and high, you'd just use the swing down method where the tilt becomes pan and the pan becomes tilt. For some slightly higher shooting, you would have the option to carry by the NATO rail. I thought the centered handle on the NATO rail would also be useful for hand offs and dynamic moves where you might be docking the Helix to some other hardware.

ETA: Okay, a light bulb just went off where there was darkness before, LOL. I forgot that when the Helix tilts, it's also tilting the back end. Never mind.:-)
 
Scott Pultz said:
It would be nice to have a "rugged" add on that is essentially rubber bumpers that go places to keep things protected or to cover electronics.
Click to expand...
This is a great idea Scott! Hope they make something like this.
 
Elizabeth Lowrey said:
Scott, I'm not sure I understand what you mean on this. The handle is attached to the non-moving part of the Helix back end. To me, that means you can use it to move the Helix while it's stabilizing. I can see that if you are in single operator mode and want to carry the Helix as low as possible with that setup that it might be difficult to keep your right hand on the smart handle for tilt. But I would think it's still very viable for anything knee height or above where you want to carry the bulk of the load in your left hand and just use the right for slight ballast and tilt control. Is that not correct? And then for two operator mode, it's obviously a moot point.

My thought was that if you want to do extended low shooting or move dynamically between low and high, you'd just use the swing down method where the tilt becomes pan and the pan becomes tilt. For some slightly higher shooting, you would have the option to carry by the NATO rail. I thought the centered handle on the NATO rail would also be useful for hand offs and dynamic moves where you might be docking the Helix to some other hardware.
Click to expand...

I believe that if you carry the helix from the nato rail for a move, the pan and tilt motors are no longer stabilizing anything. The movement of your hand would then affect the pan and tilt directly. The roll axis would be still active though.
 
Philip Lanyon said:
I believe that if you carry the helix from the nato rail for a move, the pan and tilt motors are no longer stabilizing anything. The movement of your hand would then affect the pan and tilt directly. The roll axis would be still active though.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I edited my post after you engaged reply.:-)
 
Scott Pultz said:
Although neatly packed away, there are exposed wires/electronics on the bottom. I'll probably tape something over them to protect things.

It would be nice to have a "rugged" add on that is essentially rubber bumpers that go places to keep things protected or to cover electronics.
Click to expand...

Footies requested last week and in the works :-)
 
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