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 :)

Letus Gimbal

PC Greene said:
I find the juice boxes do well & power Dragon / Helix for a "pretty reasonable" amount of time (45 min guesstimate may be wrong). That said, they do seem to take a while to charge and so getting 1-3 more + 1-2 more chargers seems necessary for round the clock operation. Volts btw last a hot 10-25 (camera only of course) min depending on condition. On a side note, I was able to balance & power Dragon w/ volts in side handle on Helix when juice box was low enough to power gimbal but not camera. while I wasn't initially thrilled to add a third battery type to our kit, I'm glad to do so as an alternative to AB extra weight on gimbal. If you really want v mount or AB on helix, it can be done via Freefly side mount carbon plate or similar rigging.

Thank you,
Click to expand...

Thank you for the thoughtful response. Most of the time, I'm shooting in locations where we don't have the option to use chargers (and no genny ofcourse). Hence, the hesitation with this powersource. I have a ton of v-mount batteries, and if needed, could always invest in light-weight v-mount batteries as they'd be usable in other situations too.

I was really hoping Letus would have been able to do this, but understand the design imperatives. That said, maybe they'll atleast consider the option of a Helix Sr. that can take v-mount but has a slightly larger profile. But I'm sure that's nowhere in the near future... its hard enough getting one product out!
 
Nikhil Kamkolkar said:
Thank you for the thoughtful response. Most of the time, I'm shooting in locations where we don't have the option to use chargers (and no genny ofcourse). Hence, the hesitation with this powersource. I have a ton of v-mount batteries, and if needed, could always invest in light-weight v-mount batteries as they'd be usable in other situations too.

I was really hoping Letus would have been able to do this, but understand the design imperatives. That said, maybe they'll atleast consider the option of a Helix Sr. that can take v-mount but has a slightly larger profile. But I'm sure that's nowhere in the near future... its hard enough getting one product out!
Click to expand...

What about the Double Helix?

Thank you very much

Fury
 
Nikhil Kamkolkar said:
... But I'm sure that's nowhere in the near future...
Click to expand...

I am not sure I'd lose heart on this just quite yet. These folks are pretty remarkable. :smiley:

And, as you look at stabilizer products currently available, there really is nothing else like the Helix. Get your hands on one and I think you won't go back. I shot with a guy yesterday who was a little on the fence about whether to keep his Helix. By the end of a very long day, he was downright giddy about it. His biggest surprise was how long he could shoot with it. Shooting a GH4, he shot quite a few takes of several minute in length throughout the day. And he is a very slight guy and, by his own admission, not a strong athletic type - kind of a physical "wimp." :-) He was also head over heels about the ability to go from "high mode" to low, "suitcase mode" in a single take. So much so I think he may have overused it. LOL
 
Last edited:
Nikhil Kamkolkar said:
What is it about the batteries that would make them so much better than the REDVOLTS, for eg? I find the redvolts are insufficient for my working style and they are running JUST the camera. I can't imagine these batteries running the camera, the letus, the accessories - teradek bolt, wireless FF, wireless audio receiver - and still have any usable duration. Are these batteries more powerful in some way I don't understand?

Not a facetious question, but this is really important to me as the Helix is a product I was really excited about (and have a deposit in), but it will likely get scratched off my list given this impediment.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I've never used Redvolts before so that's something I can't comment on.

Initially I was going to tether a vmount to my waist and use that to power the helix but I'm glad I didn't. What I really like about the JB is that they're really compact compared to a vmount.
 
Note Suwanchote said:
I've never used Redvolts before so that's something I can't comment on.

Initially I was going to tether a vmount to my waist and use that to power the helix but I'm glad I didn't. What I really like about the JB is that they're really compact compared to a vmount.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Don't try to make a Pick-up Truck out of a Sportcar ;-)
 
Note Suwanchote said:
I've never used Redvolts before so that's something I can't comment on.

Initially I was going to tether a vmount to my waist and use that to power the helix but I'm glad I didn't. What I really like about the JB is that they're really compact compared to a vmount.
Click to expand...

I bought the P-Tap to Helix extension cable to be able to power from a belt or backpack, but for consistency of weight distribution/hardware configuration for the many times I want to go untethered (Thank you Terry!), I decided to always rig my Helix with a Juice Box, even if it's unplugged. I found they are significantly longer lasting than a REDvolt, which is pretty good considering they are powering both Helix and camera. And considering that they each have a captive Lemo connector, the price/value is terrific.
 
Nick Fury said:
What about the Double Helix?
Click to expand...

Heh. Too bad that's a joke, cos I actually like that name for a Helix Sr. that *can* be handheld but is really designed to be used with fully-outfitted (read: heavy) cameras with the fourth axis on a steadi-arm.

OK, anyways, I totally get the advantages of a smaller profile/weight with these juicebox batteries. I just have a small wallet right now. So gotta weigh the weight of the gimbal with weight of the wallet too, you know what I mean? ;)

I'll remain on hold. See what gives.
 
Nikhil,

it's pretty simple, if you do need extra run time of a juice box, you're going to not power the Red Scarlet/Epic from them and use your tradition v-mounts and add a LBS or two...

Terry does reminded me with the GH4, they do offer power adapters for the Sony F55 and BlackMagic, if someone is just a SteadiCam Op and looking to fly other setups... F55 is 5lbs, blackmagic is almost 4lbs... (DSMC Red is 5lbs too)
 
Just got mine in a few days ago and it is an absolutely amazing piece of design and engineering!

I did find a few inconveniences...
Anyone using the D-tap to Lemo cable with Global Media Pro batteries? My cable won't plug into the D-tap port on the batteries and was wondering if anyone else was experiencing this issue.
 
Some D-tap connectors are just a hair over the standard size & wouldn't fit our GMP batts either. Solution was to buy & solder new connectors...

Thank you,
 
Before I send my Letus/Camera in we (my brother and I) shot this doc. All the shots are done with the gimbal at 85mm with a speedbooster which is equivalent to~131mm at FF. Since our lemo cable has an issue he tethered a charger to the backpack as you can see in the photo below. The last image isn't graded just outputted to rec709.



 
Note, how much does the above rig weigh, and how long are you able to shoot with it continuously? How many minutes/hours have you been able to shoot with the Helix in a single day before fatigue really takes over? Just curious as to how long others are able to go.
 
Elizabeth Lowrey said:
Note, how much does the above rig weigh, and how long are you able to shoot with it continuously? How many minutes/hours have you been able to shoot with the Helix in a single day before fatigue really takes over? Just curious as to how long others are able to go.
Click to expand...
That particularly iteration is about 16.5lbs (sigma). It depends on the height I'm holding it but about 2-3 and 1-2 at above my head. In the photo below my brother said that with the 85mm (which is lighter) he can probably hold it for about 4-5min. I've done a full wedding before with about 5-6 hours worth of gimbal use. Exhausting and fatiguing since there's not necessarily any down time.

ive bought a new EVF that just came and will report on that soon.
 
I was at Shane Hurlbut's Illumination seminar today and he spoke about how he tapped into Operator fatigue to come up with that 'shake' operators create due to fatigue, as a storytelling device, for a film he shot. He used the movi but the concept applies. I guess 'fatigue' is not necessarily a bad thing!
 
Mark Liwanag said:
Just got mine in a few days ago and it is an absolutely amazing piece of design and engineering!

I did find a few inconveniences...
Anyone using the D-tap to Lemo cable with Global Media Pro batteries? My cable won't plug into the D-tap port on the batteries and was wondering if anyone else was experiencing this issue.
Click to expand...

What's the solution to this? I also own Global Media batteries...
 
Nikhil Kamkolkar said:
I was at Shane Hurlbut's Illumination seminar today and he spoke about how he tapped into Operator fatigue to come up with that 'shake' operators create due to fatigue, as a storytelling device, for a film he shot. He used the movi but the concept applies. I guess 'fatigue' is not necessarily a bad thing!
Click to expand...

This shot would not be any better with a stabilizer, story telling wise. The guy filming moves pretty good. Talk about 'run and gun' ....
Shot on 5D, btw, no extras , just real people in Karachi . The film is beautiful, frankly a Red camera would not add much either.

http://youtu.be/bITBfeJbBSc?list=PLyQ9qeSdN0oYujy9MOsXVAEQmyXcCiXSm
 
Nikhil Kamkolkar said:
I was at Shane Hurlbut's Illumination seminar today and he spoke about how he tapped into Operator fatigue to come up with that 'shake' operators create due to fatigue, as a storytelling device, for a film he shot. He used the movi but the concept applies. I guess 'fatigue' is not necessarily a bad thing!
Click to expand...

So we've now gone from shaky footage, to stabilized footage with a Movi-device, to shaky footage from holding the Movi itself? Is that progress? There is definitely a story being told here but it is not the one Shane intended.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top