Ned Wilson
Well-known member
So I received my new and improved Cinegear WFF motor. First a little background. I was an early adopter of Cinegear as I thought the receiver combined with the motor was brilliant and real weight saver. So I bought it for gimbal work where every ounce counts. The first motor had some issues. Occasional no talk moments where it would stop working and we'd have to reboot. The lag was horrible. Good enough for gimbal wide lens but definitely not for precise long lens work. Then the other annoyance was the Lemo cable fail after two days.
So when they intro'd a new motor as a trade in for the old for 100.00, I jumped at it. Last week they sent me the new motor and a new lemo cable. My AC's who were Bartech and Preston people were intrigued and immediately set to it. First thing I wanted to see was the lag. Huge improvement! There is still lag but better than a Bartech, still not in Preston or Heden territory. We tried it with a Canon 70-200 at 140mm T 2.8 1/2 as a somewhat worst case scenario. Unfortunately as the talent slightly rocked on his mark, my AC had to perform micro adjustments of a millimeter or so on the wheel back and forth. The Cinegear couldn't keep up with this sort of thing so we swapped it for a mechanical FF and were fine. Now granted with a proper cine lens, I doubt this would be an issue as the longer focus draw would help, but for those who on occasion may have to pull on a long stills lens, this is a problem. You're better off going mechanical. A Heden or Preston wouldn't have an issue with this but if you have those on set you probably aren't shooting on still glass.
Otherwise, the lag on the new Cinegear motor is 80 percent better and acceptable for 90 percent of work or more. It's more than good enough for my original purpose, gimbal work. I can now do quick look over racks that before the delay didn't make this possible. Well worth the 100.00 bucks. Regarding range, I've never fully tested this as my Paralinx gives out on range before the Cinegear. My Paralinx in NYC unobstructed gets me 70' at best.
But now for the bad. Three times within a couple hours it just stopped talking to the hand controller and we'd have to re-boot. While this may not seem like a real big issue, how can I justify bringing this onto jobs where a re-set is expensive (stunts, pyro, crowds, etc). On a low budget indie, the worst that can happen is you miss a great performance. Which would really suck and make you look foolish but you can re-take it. But imagine if it were on A cam for a situation where we blow crap up? If my gear failed on that I'd be collecting unemployment the next week.
On a bright note, they sent me a new right angle lemo that's ten times better built and more flexible than the old coiled version. However, they need to take care of the communication breakdown glitch. I'm hoping it can be done with firmware because otherwise I love this unit. You can say I got what I paid for at 1700.00. But considering their commitment to improving a brilliant concept, I'm hoping they can nail this one big remaining issue.
If anyone else has the communication issue chime in and let me know how you dealt with it.
So when they intro'd a new motor as a trade in for the old for 100.00, I jumped at it. Last week they sent me the new motor and a new lemo cable. My AC's who were Bartech and Preston people were intrigued and immediately set to it. First thing I wanted to see was the lag. Huge improvement! There is still lag but better than a Bartech, still not in Preston or Heden territory. We tried it with a Canon 70-200 at 140mm T 2.8 1/2 as a somewhat worst case scenario. Unfortunately as the talent slightly rocked on his mark, my AC had to perform micro adjustments of a millimeter or so on the wheel back and forth. The Cinegear couldn't keep up with this sort of thing so we swapped it for a mechanical FF and were fine. Now granted with a proper cine lens, I doubt this would be an issue as the longer focus draw would help, but for those who on occasion may have to pull on a long stills lens, this is a problem. You're better off going mechanical. A Heden or Preston wouldn't have an issue with this but if you have those on set you probably aren't shooting on still glass.
Otherwise, the lag on the new Cinegear motor is 80 percent better and acceptable for 90 percent of work or more. It's more than good enough for my original purpose, gimbal work. I can now do quick look over racks that before the delay didn't make this possible. Well worth the 100.00 bucks. Regarding range, I've never fully tested this as my Paralinx gives out on range before the Cinegear. My Paralinx in NYC unobstructed gets me 70' at best.
But now for the bad. Three times within a couple hours it just stopped talking to the hand controller and we'd have to re-boot. While this may not seem like a real big issue, how can I justify bringing this onto jobs where a re-set is expensive (stunts, pyro, crowds, etc). On a low budget indie, the worst that can happen is you miss a great performance. Which would really suck and make you look foolish but you can re-take it. But imagine if it were on A cam for a situation where we blow crap up? If my gear failed on that I'd be collecting unemployment the next week.
On a bright note, they sent me a new right angle lemo that's ten times better built and more flexible than the old coiled version. However, they need to take care of the communication breakdown glitch. I'm hoping it can be done with firmware because otherwise I love this unit. You can say I got what I paid for at 1700.00. But considering their commitment to improving a brilliant concept, I'm hoping they can nail this one big remaining issue.
If anyone else has the communication issue chime in and let me know how you dealt with it.
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