I recently got approached to produce a concept design for a camera system and I am asking for some advice.
I think first of all It will help if I explain my background first. I am not a motion media expert at all. I don't work in the industry and have only a small understanding of the field. My main area of experience is designing and building custom machinery for the food processing sector, the marine industry and automotive. A lot of this equipment tends to be partially or fully automated with a growing dependence on robotics. I am an avid 35mm SLR still user and after years of being amateur I now do semi-professional work as a side career, more out of interest than anything. I tend to get engineering projects that are one-offs and application specific.
An acquaintance who works as an indie producer (documentaries, historical short films, promo, etc) based in New Zealand complained to me about his reliance on rental gyro-stabilised helicopter mounted camera systems for his aerial shots. Apparently they are expensive to rent, very expensive to purchase and this system he has to use (NZ doesn't have much competition) comes with a owner/operator who likes to take over the shot. He asked me if it was possible to produce a system that could be sold for USD~$200,000 - $250,000. If so he would buy one. I thought there would be plenty on the market to cater for his needs, but the only high performance units I could find with the capabilities he wants require heavy capital investment.
Researching servos, ring couplings, rotary encoders, gyros and control system for this showed that it is at least feasible to make a fully stabilised high performance unit. The unit will have full continuous highspeed panning and roll. Tilt will be limited by the lens projection interfering with the overhead framing. I've also done a preliminary design of the basic structure and format of the frame, plus some materials calculations. I have worked a lot with encoders, high speed servos and controllers and PLC's. Gyros are new to me, but my electronics guru has designed systems around them before.
Our aim is to pick one camera system that offers the most versatility and building the platform around it specifically. The one system that has my interest at the moment is the Scarlet 2/3", especially with it's modular nature. This coupled to a B4 mount canon HJ 22ex7.6B Series (Just as an example) would provide decent zoom range and speed. This is the main reason for choosing the 2/3" format and b4 lens mount as lens changes in mid-air make the insurance company frown apparently. As I understand it the Scarlet system has its own wireless remote control modules. This leaves only power feeds, lens control, servo controls, monitor out and gyro feedbacks to engineer through the rotary joints.
Am I on the right track with this system, or is the Scarlet too good to be true? Is the choice of 2/3" because of much smaller B4 ENG/EFP lenses sound, keeping in mind Shallow DOF is not a requirement?
Right now we are only in the concept stage and may never get beyond that. I've lost count of the projects that have stalled half way through. But if we do decide to spring some capital to make a prototype then spending up to $80,000 on the camera and lens is fine (I was surprised the R1 is so cheap as well, the more I learn about this company the more it impresses me) plus another $150,000 for components, fabrication and barebones testing software.
Even if it doesn't get off the ground it is always interesting to conceptualise, it keeps the designing mind active.
Thanks for your time. You don't have to be gentle if I got my ideas about the Scarlet system completely wrong. If you have any suggestion I would be very happy to hear them. I do need to pick a camera system soon in order to tighten the platform design down onto some decent blueprints based on it dimensions and weight.
I think first of all It will help if I explain my background first. I am not a motion media expert at all. I don't work in the industry and have only a small understanding of the field. My main area of experience is designing and building custom machinery for the food processing sector, the marine industry and automotive. A lot of this equipment tends to be partially or fully automated with a growing dependence on robotics. I am an avid 35mm SLR still user and after years of being amateur I now do semi-professional work as a side career, more out of interest than anything. I tend to get engineering projects that are one-offs and application specific.
An acquaintance who works as an indie producer (documentaries, historical short films, promo, etc) based in New Zealand complained to me about his reliance on rental gyro-stabilised helicopter mounted camera systems for his aerial shots. Apparently they are expensive to rent, very expensive to purchase and this system he has to use (NZ doesn't have much competition) comes with a owner/operator who likes to take over the shot. He asked me if it was possible to produce a system that could be sold for USD~$200,000 - $250,000. If so he would buy one. I thought there would be plenty on the market to cater for his needs, but the only high performance units I could find with the capabilities he wants require heavy capital investment.
Researching servos, ring couplings, rotary encoders, gyros and control system for this showed that it is at least feasible to make a fully stabilised high performance unit. The unit will have full continuous highspeed panning and roll. Tilt will be limited by the lens projection interfering with the overhead framing. I've also done a preliminary design of the basic structure and format of the frame, plus some materials calculations. I have worked a lot with encoders, high speed servos and controllers and PLC's. Gyros are new to me, but my electronics guru has designed systems around them before.
Our aim is to pick one camera system that offers the most versatility and building the platform around it specifically. The one system that has my interest at the moment is the Scarlet 2/3", especially with it's modular nature. This coupled to a B4 mount canon HJ 22ex7.6B Series (Just as an example) would provide decent zoom range and speed. This is the main reason for choosing the 2/3" format and b4 lens mount as lens changes in mid-air make the insurance company frown apparently. As I understand it the Scarlet system has its own wireless remote control modules. This leaves only power feeds, lens control, servo controls, monitor out and gyro feedbacks to engineer through the rotary joints.
Am I on the right track with this system, or is the Scarlet too good to be true? Is the choice of 2/3" because of much smaller B4 ENG/EFP lenses sound, keeping in mind Shallow DOF is not a requirement?
Right now we are only in the concept stage and may never get beyond that. I've lost count of the projects that have stalled half way through. But if we do decide to spring some capital to make a prototype then spending up to $80,000 on the camera and lens is fine (I was surprised the R1 is so cheap as well, the more I learn about this company the more it impresses me) plus another $150,000 for components, fabrication and barebones testing software.
Even if it doesn't get off the ground it is always interesting to conceptualise, it keeps the designing mind active.
Thanks for your time. You don't have to be gentle if I got my ideas about the Scarlet system completely wrong. If you have any suggestion I would be very happy to hear them. I do need to pick a camera system soon in order to tighten the platform design down onto some decent blueprints based on it dimensions and weight.
