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 :)

RedRock Micro's MicroTape Review

K

Kyle Wullschleger

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 18, 2011
Messages
260
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Brooklyn, NY
I decided at under a $1000, I'd give this thing a try because this part of their system was ready to ship. I have zero interest in the rest of their iphone controlled system, and as a Steadicam op, I wanted a cinetape. So I thought, why not?

My review -

It works!

That is all.

Haha, for real, I don't know what else to say except that the build quality is nice and solid, the 9-volt power module is simple and effective. Setting it up was a piece of cake and adjusting for the film plane couldn't of been easier. There is a small phillips screw you have to undo to replace the 9 volt battery. That was a little annoying.

That said, if you're looking for a sonar-based distance readout system for your rig at all... buy this thing! The price is right.



393411_817006386123_63204029_37488367_941102768_n.jpg
 
thanks kyle..what is the advertised range..? and what do you find the real world range to be..?
 
Advertised is 21 feet. It reads accurately to 21. It is jumpy on the long side of the range though, just because the area which it is reading from grows exponentially the further away from the device you are, so It is doing its best to pick up on what is hitting first within it's cone. Within 10 feet, its very accurate to whatever object the camera is pointed at, particularly well with people.

I've had limited experience with an original Cine-tape, but it seems to perform exactly the same from the times I've spent with one. One notable difference is a cine-tape's readout is in a secondary box that can be placed anywhere on the camera, thus spreading out the weight. I don't have a scale, but the Micro-tape is very solid. Not overly heavy by any means, but it does have some weight to it, and you obviously have no option but to keep it above the cameras center of gravity.

The picture I took shows it quite high, but after I took the photo I spent some more time fiddling with its position and have it set right on top of the Matte-Box as close to the camera as possible. Again, I wouldn't say the weight is really an issue, just an observation on the limitation of this all-in-one design.
 
Do you know what voltage range it can work on? IE can i make a cable and power it off of a 24V camera or 12V camera power?
Can the read-out be 'Dimmed'? I'm worried about it becoming a huge reflection issue..
 
I bought one myself as well.
As Kyle said, it's very well built. Regarding the battery box, I thought that it was a joke. The tape is a nicely built, machined very nicely piece of elegant aluminum, but the battery box is an of the shelf 50 cents project box.
I understand that the tape was built mainly to be used with the full focus system, but for us having other solutions for that, I wish it had a more elegant solution.
Other than that it works great, though a bit hard to read in full sunlight.
Regarding the read out box of the cine tape. I agree with what Kyle said about the separate box, although its nice to have 2 read outs as well, one on each side, so if the AC gets a hard time staying on one side of the camera, he can quickly move around to the other side, and you don't have to rebalance your rig...
 
how did you attach it to the o connor matte box, as both have female threads, what kind of screw did you use?
 
It's attached with a cine arm. Monitor arm. Noga arm. Whatever you wanna call it. That way you can position it up, down, forward, backward etc...

No dimming of the display. I'd turn it off in isolated incidents of reflection where it caused an issue.

As far as voltage... I don't see anything in the documentation, would be worth asking RedRock about before purchasing. Although I agree the power box is cheaply made - It works well for me and it has a convenient on/off switch.

378862_820715083863_63204029_37499052_2063137564_n.jpg
.
 
Wouldn't you want the front to be in-line with your imaging plane? From the picture, it looks like you would be getting readings that were inches off from the actual focal point of the lens...
 
Tim Morten said:
Wouldn't you want the front to be in-line with your imaging plane? From the picture, it looks like you would be getting readings that were inches off from the actual focal point of the lens...
Click to expand...

You can calibrate the readings on the unit by offsetting distance from the image plane (I.E. turn on the unit and select offset, measure distance from unit to focal plane of camera, input distance and the unit re-calibrates taking this distance into account). This is done on the Cine Tape as well.
 
Correct, and making the adjustment to calibrate is very easy. Simple push of a button up or down corrects an inch at a time.
 
Bérenger Brillante said:
Luckily cables can be built elsewhere...
Click to expand...

Luckily this is true. Red Rock shipped some to the UK, but neglected to send any cables with it at all.
I haven't ordered one yet, as I wanted to drop in and test one first. But alas no-one is selling them at the moment here in the UK due to them not being able to offer any sort of powering option.

Can't wait to finally try one out.

Matt Choules
1st AC
London, UK
 
Jackson Yeung said:
New info from RedRock:

Unit operates between 9V-24V range.

Impressed!
Click to expand...

More news, I am told the power consumption is approx 30mA. Giving (with a 580mAh 9V) 13.5hrs of operating time.

Does real life usage reflect this?


Does any of the documentation supply a pin-out diagram for the 6-pin Lemo?
 
Hey Matt,

That issue has been resolved, and power cables have been sent out to that reseller, I would go down there and test out the unit for yourself, that is if they still have any left hahaha

In regards to a DTAP cable, we will be offering a pigtail cable so you can attach whichever connector of you choosing. For the time being though, contact support@redrockmicro.com and ask for the pin configuration and they will be happy to respond to you with that information.

Take a look at the buying guide tab for the microTape, as there is a good amount of information there as well, such as run time (well over 24 hours on that 9V), range, and weight.


Loren Simons
Redrock Micro
lsimons@redrockmicro.com
 
Thanks for the update Loren.
I will give Production Gear and Creative Video a call tomorrow and see if I can test one...
 
anyone have any idea how to make the microTape works in conjuction with microBasestation so that i will feed in the correct focus distance ( to target object ) thus automatcalky drive the torque motor for you? i just could not figure out how to do it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top