Movi Pro Controller and motors for gimbal, any advice?

[AndreasOberg]

Hiya we just came back from Falklands filming penguins (with some amazing shots!).

We had a new Movi Pro where we use the Mimic to control Pan, Tilt and Roll, but I was not that happy with the smoothness of Pan/Tilt. Because the Mimic is hand held you just transfer shake easily to it.
So we were considering upgrading to a Movi Controller with a joystick. Currently we use RT Motion motors, but i think we have to switch to another brand since it does not talk to the Movi. I guess with the controller you really want to be able to use its focus wheel instead of bolting a RT Motion controller on next to it.

Anyone has advice about the controller. Does it work good? Any problems? Is it easier to use?
Also what motors would you recommend. Some I looked at is Heden, RedrockMicro. Heden seems good but is expensive and a bit too high voltage, Redrock gets a lot of complains online but many use it.

Thanks for any help!
Andreas

 

[Ruff]

Did you try mounting the mimic on a tripod head?

Movi controller has worked solidly since it came out. It works the same as any other joystick on the market.
Had them stop working twice on a shoot. Recently the power cable shorted. We always carry a backup of everything just in case.

We run seperate systems for a 1st AC in terms of motors.

 

[Alejandro Selman]

Hi Andreas,

As Ben mentioned, if you're interested in running a lens control system separate from the MoVI Pro's TSU, please check out our Atlas FIZ System:
https://shop.redrockmicro.com/product/atlas-fiz-kit-2/

Atlas Lens Motors contain the receiver and motor in one housing, so it bypasses the MoVI Pro's FIZ, and works with our Navigator for wireless remote AC Control. Navigator can tether to Freefly's Mimic by connecting it directly into Com 1 Port for control of the MoVI Pro's pan, tilt, roll, and start/stop with camera specific cable available from Freefly. Navigator features a joystick for gimbal control and two control knobs for focus and iris control.

Feel free to email me at alejandro@redrockmicro.com if you're interested in learning more.

 

[AndreasOberg]

Did you try mounting the mimic on a tripod head?

Movi controller has worked solidly since it came out. It works the same as any other joystick on the market.
Had them stop working twice on a shoot. Recently the power cable shorted. We always carry a backup of everything just in case.

We run seperate systems for a 1st AC in terms of motors.

Hi Ben, thanks for your reply. And fantastic work on your website.

I know you could mount the movi controller on a tripod but our 2560 is quite heavy, about 16kg and we needed to move around quickly in the terrain so I thought it was just too aquard. I thought with a joystick it would be easier to carry and I quite like joystick input.

Yea, we are only two so would not be able to have a 3rd AC sadly. But then Marc MacEwen does everything himself for Planet Earth (!) and looks perfect so 2 still feels like luxury.
Sounds great that they are quite solidly built. I think we would maybe have the Mimic we have as a backup.

Anything else we should think of?
We were considering pairing them with Heden motors, maybe the L version that is 135g.
Best,
Andreas

 

[AndreasOberg]

Hi Andreas,

As Ben mentioned, if you're interested in running a lens control system separate from the MoVI Pro's TSU, please check out our Atlas FIZ System:
https://shop.redrockmicro.com/product/atlas-fiz-kit-2/

Thanks for the tip Alejandro, I will consider it, but already have a full RT Motion system so will probably keep that one for a separate system.
Cheers,
Andreas

 

[AndreasOberg]

Ok, this is what I ordered
- Movi Controller
- Heden Light motors with 1.0Nm that integrate with the Movi.

The movi controller seems nice, but the focus wheel is not super precise (does not have much dampening) and also the record button is placed in a place that is hard to reach if you are pulling focus and controlling with the joystick at the same time. Shotover has the same problem that caused us much grief for BBC Blue Planet. I think what I will do is the one that operates the camera can trigger Record On/Off with a start/stop trigger.
Still I think this setup will be a big improvement for us so looking forward to try.

RT Motion that we have used before are great built but they drive me insane that they always forcefully will try to find start/stop on lenses and if you use DSLR lenses then this causes big problems because the lens focus wheel just keep spinning forever until you stop it with your hand. We mostly use RT Motion with our Canon 50-1000 and then it is fine, but with the Movi this behaviour gave us a lot of grief. Heden should hopefully not have that issue.

Andreas

 

[Daniel Kelly Brown]

RT Motion that we have used before are great built but they drive me insane that they always forcefully will try to find start/stop on lenses and if you use DSLR lenses then this causes big problems because the lens focus wheel just keep spinning forever until you stop it with your hand. We mostly use RT Motion with our Canon 50-1000 and then it is fine, but with the Movi this behaviour gave us a lot of grief. Heden should hopefully not have that issue.

Andreas

I have a friend that 3d prints focus gears for dslr lenses with hard stops on them for motors that auto calibrate. If you want you can pm me and I will try and link you up with him.