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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 :)

RTmotion mk3 wireless follow focus

Mine MK3 "Stereo" Package 3-Motor arrived Hong Kong and just released from import department, will going to try next week...
 
Hi Guys,

Ok i have been using the RT stereo rig recently. It's good, it is potentially fantastic. There are one or 2 problems that i feel need to be ironed out, but i am sure that will happen. I have a bit of judder in my motors on slow pulls. Big fast racks it whirrs through nice and smooth, but lets be honest how often are we racking 2 feet to 30ft. Most of what we use these goodies for is less dynamic than that. The build is solid as i have already said in previous posts. RT are developing their gear big time at the moment and growing, from what i can tell, so they are not going to dissappear like another company who i ordered a FF from some years ago..ahum...anyway anything else you want to know, give me a shout.
 
Thanks heaps for your comments Robert!

Have RT issued a user manual for their system? So far they've been very scarce and brief on their website about the fine details of how their system function, what firmware features it has etc.

Also annoying is that their website photos seem to be CGI, and somewhat different than what the final product has come to look like, judging by the image we recieved earlier in the forum. If you can bring yourself to posting a few decent photos of the components of the rig, as individuals, and as the compete system, that would be the very best way for all of us to get a decent first impression. For instance, very few of us have seen the underside of the hand unit (never know what might be there...). This can also shed some good light on the physical design decisions the company has made.

The few photos of the reciever unit speak well for themselves, and so that leaves the performance of the motor for scrutiny. You have mentioned some judder at slow speeds. This is interesting. As you so accurately also comment, fast racks from MOD-Infinity are a rare practice in reality, and it is the slow smooth pulls that really test the performance of the motor. The website claims the motor is torquey enough to move stiff cine lenses. I should hope so. How fast is the auto-calibration? And how is the manual calibration implemented? How quickly (and accurately) can a manual calibration be performed by the user?

Another user on this forum mentioned the turning distance of the focus ring being quantified by a linear 0-999 scale in the hand unit's firmware. How useful have you found this, if at all? Has RF interferance been an issue?

Thanks mate!
 
Ok Guys. I spoke to Kris tonight from RT Motion tonight and he tells me there is a significant firmware update on it's way. Let me say that the unit is useable on set as it is. Today i spent a day exploring the RT Motion stereo , and the judder isn't as bad as it seems, it isn't always there and when it is it is slight. I think with this next update it will be eliminated altogether. I think these guys are on it, and developing the system at a rate of knots. I have attached some pics and slung my iphone 3 in there for comparison. To answer your questions more fully zoltan, the unit calibrates a 100mm Lomo in about 15 seconds, bear in mind its a decent size barrel. The thing i like is that it's not too harsh on the lenses, i find the Preston units fairly aggressive in the way they calibrate and sometimes whince when i hear the thunk of the endstop hit during calibration, in contrast to this the RT Motion system is very gentle on my optics, which in the long run saves me a few quid in service costs on my old re-housed Century cooke speed panchros.
The unit is very very well made, super solid and made to last. I haven't performed a manual calibration and i'm not 100% sure if that is at all possible at the moment, maybe in a future firmware update? I don't find the linear scale that useful maybe i would if i spent more time using it, but its just not my style, i prefer to use my eye or mark a disc. The controller runs on Canon LPE 6 batteries, i put one in last night and so far it has run the controller for over 8 hrs and is still running.
I have scanned the manual in, and will post a link to download from my dropbox, i am waiting for Kris to get back and see if he is cool with that. Hope all this helps. By the way i do not work for RT Motion and am in now ay connected to them.
 

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Just curious if there will be a "basic" MK3 package available? Im guessing given currency it'll be a little over $2000 US. Great piece of equipment from what I've read. looking forward to more reviews!
 
Thanks for your response Robert!

Your photos speak a thousand words. I'm very keen to get my hands on at least the hand unit, and explore the firmware capabilities. I also wouldn't mind taking apart the motor if I could get away with it. I obviously won't be asking you to do that.

The receiver unit looks fantastic. It definitely presents heaps of flexibility for mounting. Unlike a BFD or Preston, one does not have to commit to any permanent mounting point.

Now that we've al been curious about the hardware itself, I'd ask if the footage you've shot with it so far is smooth? Some cruder motors I've come across (like an old generation Heden) tend to be rough on the lens (too much torque perhaps), and a slight shake comes through in the image. Have you had any problems like this with the RT motor?
 
Just received our first Mk3 FIZ, very pleased with build quality and operation. Motors are particularly impressive small and powerful, well designed for auto calibration. The Motor Control unit is very small, and hand controller feels nice in the hand and we like the OLED display. All cables are well built to as high a standard as we see from other companies. Highly recommended.
 
That's pretty incredible.

Of course I'll withhold my true judgement until I get my hands on one. But if the system really performs as well as most people are saying, then I'd reckon that Bartech and Hocus Products have some major catching up to do.

Thanks for the comments Dave!
 
Zoltan Jonas said:
That's pretty incredible.

Of course I'll withhold my true judgement until I get my hands on one. But if the system really performs as well as most people are saying, then I'd reckon that Bartech and Hocus Products have some major catching up to do.

Thanks for the comments Dave!
Click to expand...

I should also mention that pre sales support has been very good also, I don't see why this should change for after sales support. The company are very proactive and Im impressed by their response so far.

Two cameramen and a focus puller were in our facility and viewed the unit, I could see they were all trying to find where the problems were or anything that might not be up to other much more expensive units standards. They didn't find anything and also noted even the Zoom control is the exact same component fitted to the most expensive FF unit they use. Ill post more reviews here but we will be ordering more RTMotion units for FIZ and 3D rig control. The only issue is the units are back ordered as they are so popular.
 
Bit more of an update on my RT Motion unit. On the last 2 jobs it has been out on there has been a problem with it dropping out while we used a jib, around 10ft above head height. Granted we were on the roof of a building in a fairly built up area, that could have had a fairly busy airspace. We did have members of the crew asking for a bartech, which they felt would not be having such problems. I have fed this info back to RT Motion.
 
Interesting to hear Robert. Still, I'm sure the BFD wasn't perfect when it was released (though admittedly, I'm not familiar with the Bartech's history). I can sympathise with the crew desiring one at the first sign of weakness from a new system, but I'm really rooting for the rtmotion to pull through. I've read some very zealous rants on other forums from people defending the BFD. Very arrogant and defensive in tone, 'love-bombing' the inventor personally, more than the product itself. I'm thrilled among other reasons that the rtmotion at least incites some much needed competition in this market. Hocus products still seem to be labouring on a single channel system which is yet to see (as far as I've observed) a commercial release. I'm curious to see if this signal drop-out is a hardware or software failure, and if a bartech would indeed have had superior performance. Keep the comments coming. Thanks mate!
 
I'm just feeding info back as requested and staying impartial. I'm in for the long run on the RTmotion rig, and it is so near being brilliant. It's just that last 10%. I did mail Kris from RTmotion late last night to feed back the issues and he returned my email at 1.30am. I will say i ordered some wide gears 18 days ago, which i still haven't received, even though they were showing as in stock. I was assured they had been sent 3 times each time they never arrived, which is a bit of a pain. But Kris and Kerry at RTmotion are thoroughly nice people, and i am sure the only reason things don't get sent is because they are putting time and attention into getting on top of things.
 
Has anyone heard anything about stock from them for the MK3 for the last couple months? I've been on a waiting list since early April but have heard nothing. I also emailed them a month ago and got nothing back. But to their credit they do ask on their site to not ask for availability.
 
I've observed a few changes on their website in recent days. They've updated the concept photos of their systems in the "Shop" section, as well as removed any reference to date availabaility (which previously cited 1st August). I really wish they'd at least make a user manual public. I won't hold it against them for now that their product keeps seeing delays. It's obviously not a development delay since many in this thread have already reported of recieving and using the systems already, and have posted images. Still, once they get on top of things, a more robust attempt at marketing on their part would be appreciated. The website is rather elusive of details of the products, relying on vague buzzwords like "auto-calibration", and "intelligent wireless". The home-page popup still states customer response from "Aug", which, judging by the other changes on the website, is an old message that got overlooked in the update process.
 
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