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  • 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 :)

Ronin And Cinegears Wireless Follow Focus Info

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Bruce Hamady

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My production company has been looking for a wireless follow focus for use with our Scarlet and a DJI Ronin. We wanted something with the least amount of add on parts and cable and at a reasonable price since we don't use it everyday (but didn't want to deal with rentals). We own mostly Zeiss CP.2 primes which are stiff and not easy to turn but also have some rehoused lenses including a Duclos 11-16mm and our DP's favorite GL Optics 18-35mm T1.8. So we decided to try out a Cinegears Single Axis unit which has a combined motor and transmitter. When connected to the DTap of the AB battery we normally use to power the Red, the Cinegears motor has no problem turning any of our CP.2s or rehoused lenses.

With the Ronin, we can balance our Red with a Redvolt installed for power (no monitor) and the GL Optics 18-35mm lens. But if we add our Arri MMB-2 matte box with an ND, we don't seem to have enough back weight to balance unless we remove the ND, which is the whole point of the matte box. With the Cinegears plugged in to the Ronin's DTap. this configuration worked well and for ND we added a 77mm mount ND filter to the front of the lens. But when we tried a Zeiss CP.2 35mm T1.5, which does balance with the MMB-2 and ND, the follow focus would not turn the lens. When we moved the Cinegears DTap cable from the Ronin to an AB battery, the Cinegears turned the Zeiss lens like in our previous tests. I measured the voltage on the Ronin on another DTAP and found it was 11.6 volts on a Ronin battery showing 3/4 charge. That tells me either the battery voltage isn't high enough or more likely, the wires they used to be light weight cannot carry the voltage and current the Cinegears requires to turn a stiff lens. The Ronin batteries do say 14.8 volts but I can't get to the protected pins to see what they measure before they are connected to the system.

So the Cinegears Single Axis Standard motor has the power to drive a stiff Zeiss CP.2 lens when given sufficient voltage and current. It can operate with lower voltage and current but with less stiff lenses. For our purposes, we will probably use the GL Optics 18-35mm lens on the Ronin but I may occasionally may need to use a Zeiss prime. In that case, we may have to deal with having a dedicated battery in the operator's pouch or belt (not on the Ronin for weight savings) with a longer extension cable to the Cinegears motor.

Hope this helps other users.

Bruce
 
I have a very similar setup. Instead of the GL Optics I use the Allstar 18-35mm lens. The Cinegears has no problem turning it, however it completely fails to turn my Allstar 50mm which is a lot stiffer. Haven't tried it with other voltage , gonna do that tomorrow. Thanks for that.

I also have the same problem with balancing, when I use my Bright Tangerine Misfit Clamp On mattebox. Which is unfortunate.

My biggest problem however is, that the Cinegears keeps disconnecting. When I turn the receiver off and on again, it usually connects again but throws the focus to infinity. This ruined about a third of the takes on a shoot yesterday.
Someone mentioned that other bluetooth connections in the room could be a problem, is that possible? And if so, what could be done about that, considering that the Ronin works with it?

Thanks!
Sevi
 
Bruce, thanks for your observations. It would be interesting to test other ff units and see if they behave the same way when powered by Ronin's dtap.
 
I just recently used the Ronin, Dragon and Cinegears together on an 18-35, with the CG powered by the Ronin and it worked great.
I haven't tried a stiff lens yet, but it does make sense that with less voltage supplied by the Eonin, the torque on the motor would be less. One way to work around it is to have either a Vmount or Gold Mount battery mounted in the Ronin handle to power the camera. From that battery plate you could also power the Cinegears motor, with full battery voltage.
 
Jean- The Ronin doesn't have an external power port but I wouldn't guess it would be that hard for someone to make one from the connector on the power supply. Losing the battery may throw off the balance and need to be offset by a counterweight.

Daniel- I've seen a rig where they had an AB battery mounted on the handle and a cable to the camera and accessories. It's pretty heavy now so I'm thinking maybe an AB battery in a waist pack with a disconnect to the accessories for those times I need to use a prime.

I haven't had any problems with the Cinegears disconnecting but I haven't had it in too many 'real world' settings. I'll post something if it starts happening.
 
2 pin lemo to right angle 2 pin lemon

2 pin lemo to right angle 2 pin lemon

Steven,

I'm interested in powering my cine gears from the the two pin lemon connector on the XL battery plate. Can that power connector drive the cine gears adequately and can you point me to someone who makes such a cable? Thanks

David
 
The cinegear standard and extreme motor also work fine on the lipo batteries too.
 
david berez said:
Steven,

I'm interested in powering my cine gears from the the two pin lemon connector on the XL battery plate. Can that power connector drive the cine gears adequately and can you point me to someone who makes such a cable? Thanks

David
Click to expand...
Hi David, can you send this requrement to Cinegears, they can make a cable for you. the motor supports 12V - 28V power input, just like Odyssey 7Q, the motor dose automatic voltage regulator circui.
it also protect itself for wrong power input, it will not burn itself even with wrong power input.
 
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Bruce Hamady said:
My production company has been looking for a wireless follow focus for use with our Scarlet and a DJI Ronin. We wanted something with the least amount of add on parts and cable and at a reasonable price since we don't use it everyday (but didn't want to deal with rentals). We own mostly Zeiss CP.2 primes which are stiff and not easy to turn but also have some rehoused lenses including a Duclos 11-16mm and our DP's favorite GL Optics 18-35mm T1.8. So we decided to try out a Cinegears Single Axis unit which has a combined motor and transmitter. When connected to the DTap of the AB battery we normally use to power the Red, the Cinegears motor has no problem turning any of our CP.2s or rehoused lenses.

With the Ronin, we can balance our Red with a Redvolt installed for power (no monitor) and the GL Optics 18-35mm lens. But if we add our Arri MMB-2 matte box with an ND, we don't seem to have enough back weight to balance unless we remove the ND, which is the whole point of the matte box. With the Cinegears plugged in to the Ronin's DTap. this configuration worked well and for ND we added a 77mm mount ND filter to the front of the lens. But when we tried a Zeiss CP.2 35mm T1.5, which does balance with the MMB-2 and ND, the follow focus would not turn the lens. When we moved the Cinegears DTap cable from the Ronin to an AB battery, the Cinegears turned the Zeiss lens like in our previous tests. I measured the voltage on the Ronin on another DTAP and found it was 11.6 volts on a Ronin battery showing 3/4 charge. That tells me either the battery voltage isn't high enough or more likely, the wires they used to be light weight cannot carry the voltage and current the Cinegears requires to turn a stiff lens. The Ronin batteries do say 14.8 volts but I can't get to the protected pins to see what they measure before they are connected to the system.

So the Cinegears Single Axis Standard motor has the power to drive a stiff Zeiss CP.2 lens when given sufficient voltage and current. It can operate with lower voltage and current but with less stiff lenses. For our purposes, we will probably use the GL Optics 18-35mm lens on the Ronin but I may occasionally may need to use a Zeiss prime. In that case, we may have to deal with having a dedicated battery in the operator's pouch or belt (not on the Ronin for weight savings) with a longer extension cable to the Cinegears motor.

Hope this helps other users.

Bruce
Click to expand...

Hi Bruce,

The Cinegears Motor can be powered by Redvolt,12V/3.8A power source, a Redvolt to Cinegears Motor cable is required. the cable is available now.

1421893067455213501186.jpeg
 
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I've used it on stiff lenses with a Movi Lipo velcro'd to the top of the camera.
 
I'm using the ronin and cinegears on a shoot for the last two days and I've had a ton of problems with the cinegears losing connection or jumping or lagging while focusing. Have tried recalibrating and remapping the lens over and over. Not sure what the problem is but have lost a number of shots because of it.


Have watched all the instruction videos I can find and am following them but still having problems. Any suggestions?


Vince
 
Hey Vince!

Have you tried another unit? Sometimes using the P-tap on the Ronin doesn't work that well. If you want to try a different cinegears on your Ronin sometime let me know. I'd be willing to help you out with it.

Cheers!
 
Hi James,

Thanks for the offer. Cinegears worked better today. Stayed pluged into the dtap not the battery plate and reset the handset when we had troubles and it worked much better.

Vince
 
Well you still shouldn't be getting troubles with it. I think there might be something else going on if it's working much better using the Dtap instead of battery plate... Glad it's working better though :)

Anyways, the offer still stands if you want to have a look with another unit. I'm in North Vancouver so not too far away.
 
I've been benchtesting a similar set-up: Ronin, Cinegears with Scarlet and Canon CNE Primes. Tried powering the Cinegears from both the D-tap on the Ronin and an external Anton Bauer plate and every once in a while, the controller will stop working ... just for a few seconds and then it will kick back into play. Reached out to both Cinegears and DIYFilmTool where I got the package, but no response yet.
Wondering if it's the controller, the stiffness of the lens (I'm running the standard motor, not the Extreme) or something else?

Thoughts?
 
Damian Horan said:
I have three of these units: two express plus remotes and one espresso remote with the high torque motors. All three constantly lose connection between the remote and motor whenever there are other wireless or radio signals around. The inability to choose which frequency you are operating on is a gigantic flaw in this system and does not allow you to use these units in a professional environment. With the amount of wireless signals and radio signals on a standard movie set, it is unrealistic to expect someone to constantly unplug and reconnect the remote with the motor 45 times until you find the one working frequency. It's a guessing game and there's never enough time on set to guess.
Click to expand...
Hi Damian,

Cinegears products were used on many film/TV production set, It were also test at NAB Exhibition set, New York B&H store.. there were no unstable connection or constant lost connection.

May I ask you to send your units back to us, Cinegears technician can check them for you.

Thanks,
 
Steven, the disconnection is becoming a known issue amongst several users now. Mine will be going back on Thursday. On my last job, it disconnected at least a third of the time in NYC. I have a much more high stakes job tomorrow and have to rent a Preston as I cannot rely on the Cinegear. I really hope this can be fixed.
 
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