Portahead 5 brushless stabilizer will be available in the next month

[Andreas Kielb]

This is footage and some making of material from the shooting with the cablecam. The camera used was a Canon 5D Mark 3 in RAW modus. Focal length mainly used was 50 mm, some shots used 35 mm and up to 85 mm.

www.portahead.de

 

[Jarek Zabczynski]

That's pretty awesome. I think it's important to note that the loud whine in the gopro clip is from the giant gyro mounted at the top of the cable rig. I know that sound well!

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Usually we use a V-Lock/AB mount battery on the belt with the standard 4 pin xlr connector as power supply for the Portaheads. There are 3 lemo output connectors to power camera and accessories at the housing for electronics so you might power the Red from there as well. We also did tests with an lightweight v-lock mounted to the side or the red handle with redvolt batteries. The heaviest setup so far was the Scarlet with the new Sigma/GL Optics 1,8/18-35 mm lens and a lightweight v-lock batterie mounted to the side. Probably there was about 5,5 kg of weight on the camera tray but I have the feeling there is some room for more weight. The attached photo was made with two 5208 motors for tilt but we also tested the same setup with one 8017 motor on tilt, which is now the current setup.

There is also the possibility to use a adapter cable for Lipo batteries to our power connetor (4 pin xlr) so that a lightweight onboard battery can be used instead of the battery belt...

Best regards,
Andreas

www.portahead.de

Nice,

yeah, Belts packs won't work, as we'll be doing swapping in more then one occasion, so all power and other accessories need to be nicely thigh up on the Camera/Gimbal itself.

What I also look for, is ease and fast balancing, and a nice clean look, free as much as possible by clutter made by so many cables going all over the late like some rigs I have seen, I won't go for that, I have an issue with disorder, and it just distracts me form working, and also I simply like my gear to look good to also take pretty pictures for all the "Making Of"...

 

[Andreas Kielb]

Nice,

yeah, Belts packs won't work, as we'll be doing swapping in more then one occasion, so all power and other accessories need to be nicely thigh up on the Camera/Gimbal itself.

What I also look for, is ease and fast balancing, and a nice clean look, free as much as possible by clutter made by so many cables going all over the late like some rigs I have seen, I won't go for that, I have an issue with disorder, and it just distracts me form working, and also I simply like my gear to look good to also take pretty pictures for all the "Making Of"...

Thanks! I found out by practice that it is better to have each cable run in a free and flexible loop rather than tighten them to the rods with cable straps. At least if they have to connect devices on different motor axis. Cables do sum up pretty quickly once you have all necessary accessories installed (monitor, video transmitter, remote focus). Of course it's also important to use thin and flexible cables everywhere. Make sure they have no twist at all in the way you route them, especially with thicker cables, like the remote focus motor cable.

 

[Andreas Kielb]

We used the Porta Head 5 recently for a music video together with the Epic: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.276656839175155.1073741835.171264609714379&type=1
The Porta Head 5 is available and might be build on demand within 4 weeks.

The resulting music video will follow soon as well new demo footage in general. At the moment I need to finish vibration dampeners for an upcoming shot were we are going to connect the Porta Head 5 to a jib-arm as a small shotmaker for car-to-car driving shots.

www.portahead.de

 

[Ned Wilson]

If possible try to up the limit to at least 15lbs. My frustration with many of these gimbal makers is they never demo the unit with an Epic rigged the way a professional expects to use it: MB, Filters, Lens Control, On Board Monitor, Wireless Feed, PL Prime, etc. Taping filters to a lens is a bootleg solution. I agree with Ketch, keep all the weight off the camera as much as possible, come up with a belt less simple power solution as a belt precludes handoffs and can lead to truly tragic accidents. The best solution would be a common battery for everything (wireless, monitor, camera, etc) with all the proper D Tap and Lemo outs. The last recommendation is an easy eye level mode. And weather proof the entire unit (dust covers, etc.)

Good luck.

 

[Andreas Kielb]

Thanks, the Porta Head 5 has one 1B Lemo output for the camera and two 0B Lemo conncetors for additional accessories. The belt pack is only one option. It's of course also possible to use a 4S lipo battery on the rig. I can provide a cable for that or also the batteries. Either way, you only need one battery for everything (wireless, monitor, camera, etc).

The system is weather proove as all the electronics are covered in a black aluminum box on the rear. The chopper leads in the motors are varnished and protected against rain. I already used the system in light rain without additional protection. If the rain is harder you should put a slipcover around the electronics box and of course also the camera. The motors can remain unprotected.

Last week we used the system for car-to-car driving shots for Porsche on a race track and also on a all-terrain compound. After the all-terrain compound the system was covered with dust all over but I was able to remove it completely with a compressed air pistol. If I used a motor like the GB85 I'm sure the dust would get inside in such cases regardless through the small gap between the motor covers but it would not be possible to remove it completely.

I saw a very good way for holding the camera on eye level here (see also in the attached picture): http://forum.freeflysystems.com/index.php?threads/my-movi-10-and-steadycam-rig.3707/
It's set up much faster than the overslung mode I came up with. I'll create a bracket of that kind soon. It can also be connected through a cheeseplate directly to the steadicam dovetail so that it's possible to use the follow mode to tilt up and down as well.

The upcoming Porta Head 10 will support cameras around 10 kg (20 lbs.) or more. It's designed to be used with a steadicam system as portable device. The two electronically stabilized axis will be roll and tilt. It has a cfk-ring with bearings under the camera to support the weight at a second joint and has enough space for long camera setups. Otherwise the torque of a long and heavy camera will get to high on the rear joints. Later there will probably be another 3-axis system with the the same cfk-ring-support and the new GB100 motors for cameras up to 8 kg.

Here is a small clip a customer made with the Sony F5 and his new Porta Head 5 handheld:

Best regards,
Andreas Kielb

www.portahead.de

 

[Andreas Kielb]

As more systems are being sold some new customers videos are coming in. Here is one rough testvideo we made as I delivered a system to a local company. It's all follow mode but with 3 handoffs altogether from one operator to another while I acted as player. Flo, who enters the picture towards the end, also was camera operator moving the system up the stairs shortly before:

Another video is from René Eckert again with the Portahead and his Sony F5:

www.portahead.de

 

[Andreas Kielb]

I edited some tests I did two months ago in a skatepark. Some of the scenes where shot walking handheld with the system and others while running behind the skaters. The footage is not stabilized in post. It's very important to tune the PID-settings to the camera and remote focus combination which is going to be used very precisely and that's why I changed my sales maxim to direct sales in the meantime, so that I can adjust the settings with the actual camera setup of the customer. Of course it's also possible that I visit you abroad in order to deliver the system and to go through the setup for one or two days. But I guess that makes more sense for more special setups like if you want to use the gimbal not only handheld but also combined with steadicam for instance.

Lens changes don't need PID readjustments as most lens series are very close to each other regarding weight and dimensions. A mechanical rebalance of fore and after is usually enough and an adjustable sliding plate under the camera with quick release makes it possible to change lenses and rebalance very fast. I made big improvements regarding PID tuning compared to my first video from last August. I used the system a lot for car-to-car driving shots which are perfectly stable now (...unlike the driving shots in the first video) but the cars were secret and I have to wait until the videos are officially released before I can publish footage. However, I hope the improvements are noticeable in the videos from this year. I also might offer to tune the existing gimbals of users that purchased systems based on Alexmos boards but have trouble with PID tuning. If somebody is interested, lives nearby or will take the travel costs and accommodation in addition to a flat rate please send me a message.

the second clip is a music video shot with the Porta Head 5 and the FS700 handheld.

also a music video where I was booked with the Porta Head 5 for the indoor scenes:

and a new imagefilm from René Eckert with his Sony F5 (http://vimeo.com/98106782):

www.portahead.de

 

[Andreas Kielb]

The footage we shot with the Red Epic and the Porta Head 5 for Porsche is online in the meantime: http://www.porsche.com/microsite/cayenne/usa/welcome/default.aspx#/intro

There are a lot of car-to-car driving shots in the intro and also in the chapters 3 (off-road track) and 4 (on-road cirquit). The on-road cirquit is a race track which belongs to the Porsche facility in Leipzig/Germany. Here we used the Porta Head connected to a jib-arm from a pick-up camera car. For the off-road track we used the system from inside of another Cayenne supported by bungee cords.

For the aerial shots we used a rc helicopter together with a smaller brushless gimbal and the blackmagic pocket camera. I also did adjust the pid settings of that gimbal according to our tests ahead of the shooting. I'll offer this gimbal for aerial shots soon as Porta Head 1 system.

www.portahead.de