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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 :)

The Three Axis Gimbal Thread

I am liking this idea of mounting a gimbal on top of a shoulder rig... two benefits 1. Keep lens near eye height (harder with the handheld versions you would have to keep your arms up a lot) and also 2. Transfer some weight to the shoulder, rather than arms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSpDA1Qv7wg

Give me that and maybe an XBOX-style thumb joystick for single operator tllt/pan control

Exciting times, I am keen to see where the technology is in 6 months time.
 
David Kellermann said:
I had a very nice meeting today with Andreas Kielb from http://www.portahead.de/ , discussing what all those gimbals are missing and how they should be designed to perfectly fit an Epic. Not sure how many of you have ever used one of them, but balancing them is sometimes challenging. Also, changing the gimbal from copter to steadicam to hand-held use is not an easy thing to do on set.

Andreas is offering a nice gimbal, which will come out in the next weeks. We tried it today with a DSLR and it works great! Epic footage will be online soon (I'm not working with or for Andreas, it's just that I really liked his rig).

I'm in contact with an other company to design a completely new gimbal (same principle, but completely different design) that should solve most, if not all, existing problems. It'll (probably) be based on ALEXmos boards (nothing new there), but the design will allow you to use it with an Epic incl. a big lens (Master Primes, Coole S5i...) and a small mattebox. You will be able to adjust the rig for different camera weights and sizes without using tools. Changing the rig for different applications (handheld / steadicam / copter) will be a matter of seconds. But it wont be available soon (earliest December), so don't cancel your MoVI oders, if you need a real good solution now ;)

Also, if there's something you didn't liked in a gimbal or thought that something could be a cool feature, please write me a pm. I really want to make the first product I co-design rock!
Click to expand...


Perhaps another group buy =) =)
 
David Didato said:
It seems like the most interesting ones to watch for flying an Epic are Defy, Portahead and BeSteady.
Click to expand...

Only the Portahead can fly an Epic. All of them, if I'm not mistaken, are using the ALEXmos boards. Not to say that they are bad... I'll be using it, too :-) Finding the right settings to make it work smoothly is the problem.

Anyway... if you want a good system now, buy this one + one of the ALEXmos boards. For an EPIC, you'll need need probably additional motors and perfect settings -> Portahead. Or get some upgrades and better motors from brushlessgimbals.com

The built quality of the Chinese gimbal is GREAT! I know, it comes from China, but it's really, really good.

The "tool less adjustments" on the Defy are better than the other products but still far from optimal, in my opinion, since it's still trial and error: moving it up, then down, up... without any possibilities for fine / controllable adjustments.

I'll offer a nice camera operator control panel... not like those RC remotes with an attached monitor.

And yes, of course there will be a group buy :) It's to early to say what the final price will be, and if we start with a group buy or first sell it at a regular price to get close to a ROI and then do the group buy... But it will cost less than a MoVI, will be upgradeable with new controller boards and motors and will definitively offer more integrability into other rigs (shoulder rig / steadicam / Easy Rig / ...)
 
The Cineron was designed for the Epic and has been on a bunch of movies..... they just finished shooting two months of UAV with Cineron for Roger Donaldson's November Man.


 
Aaron McLane said:
The Cineron was designed for the Epic and has been on a bunch of movies..... they just finished shooting two months of UAV with Cineron for Roger Donaldson's November Man.
Click to expand...

The stabilization is amazing! But the Cineron shows exactly what I think is wrong with all gimbals out there... lots of cables hanging around, no precise adjustments possibilities, hard to switch from copter to car mount to steadicam...
 
David Kellermann said:
ALEXmos now enabled something like the MoVI majestic mode:
Click to expand...

Interesting.

I really hope someone develops a 'footstep' smoothing algorithm soon... or a 'footstep' compensation mode that regulates or smooths steps - that will be a killer feature and make that unit stand out from the rest.

Let's call it added 'StepSmooth(TM)' technology - remember, you read it here first, LOL!

That's the one thing I'm seeing in all the gimbals at the moment is the footstep - to greater or lesser degrees dependent upon camera/rig/system etc, so 'StepSmooth(TM) will be cool.
 
Andy White said:
Interesting.

I really hope someone develops a 'footstep' smoothing algorithm soon... or a 'footstep' compensation mode that regulates or smooths steps - that will be a killer feature and make that unit stand out from the rest.

Let's call it added 'StepSmooth(TM)' technology - remember, you read it here first, LOL!

That's the one thing I'm seeing in all the gimbals at the moment is the footstep - to greater or lesser degrees dependent upon camera/rig/system etc, so 'StepSmooth(TM) will be cool.
Click to expand...

You wont need StepSmooth(TM), if you can simply put the gimbal on a steadicam or easyrig. Smoothing footsteps isn't really possible anyway, since it's mainly an horizontal movement that can't be fixed through adjusting an angle... and that's what those gimbals do.
 
David Kellermann said:
You wont need StepSmooth(TM), if you can simply put the gimbal on a steadicam or easyrig. Smoothing footsteps isn't really possible anyway, since it's mainly an horizontal movement that can't be fixed through adjusting an angle... and that's what those gimbals do.
Click to expand...

Lots of practice will smooth those steps out.
 
Hey guys,

I'm creative director at BeSteady. David Didato invited me to the group to pitch in and help answer any questions you guys have. We're really close to announcing details of our BeSteady 'FOUR' this week and we'd love to hear your feedback.

In the meantime if there's anything in particular you guys would like to know, or features you'd like to see on our stabiliser make sure you let us know.

Also, I wanted to clarify that we're not using standard AlexMos electronics. In fact Alexei Moskalenko is designing custom electronics for us that incorporate some pretty cool features :)
 
Prokopi Constantinou said:
Hey guys,

I'm creative director at BeSteady. David Didato invited me to the group to pitch in and help answer any questions you guys have. We're really close to announcing details of our BeSteady 'FOUR' this week and we'd love to hear your feedback.

In the meantime if there's anything in particular you guys would like to know, or features you'd like to see on our stabiliser make sure you let us know.

Also, I wanted to clarify that we're not using standard AlexMos electronics. In fact Alexei Moskalenko is designing custom electronics for us that incorporate some pretty cool features :)
Click to expand...

Has anyone ever considered putting the 2 joystick type controls on the handles so that the user can control pan and tilt with their thumbs? Would be something like Majestic mode on steroids. Just a dumb thought.
 
It would be super easy to do. There really isn't much to these rigs. You can build on your self for under a grand.

Nick
 
Matt Ryan said:
wow, that looks pretty good. Wish they would add a hand control for single operator pan and tilt. I don't understand why no one is doing that...
Click to expand...

Portahead will do it, afaik.

I personally think that it's close to impossible to control both camera movement by hand and camera angle by joystick. My system will instead rely on a much improved remote system.
 
David Kellermann said:
Portahead will do it, afaik.

I personally think that it's close to impossible to control both camera movement by hand and camera angle by joystick. My system will instead rely on a much improved remote system.
Click to expand...

Hi, we'll add joysticks to the handles for single operator mode as we think this is a more precise way of controlling the rig compared to having the rig just follow the movement of the handle bar with a delay, at least for slow speed movements. The follow frame mode in the Alexmos software will be usable, regardless. For running shots like in the Rock-Steadi video above, the follow frame mode will work better because of handling reasons.

There are 3 configurable profile presets in the alexmos software. At the moment I'm planning to use the presets like this but I can also create different presets based on your personal preference (like including the follow frame mode):

Preset 1: two operator mode with wireless RC control
Preset 2: single operator mode with analog joysticks at the handles
Preset 3: wireless RC control mode but with reversed motor directions for overslung mode with the pan motor below the camera

The overslung mode is mainly thought to put the rig on a steadicam sled. I'll offer a steadicam bracket which can be used instead of the handles and will give a easy and fast way to change between the handles or to mount it on a steadicam. Mount it on a steadicam sled will solve 3 problems at once: it will remove the foodsteps, help to carry the rig in general and also to hold it at eye level for longer takes.

The pan motor will be disconnectable with a lemo connector and the pan axis fixable so you can use the system in 2-axis configuration as well. That will allow for whip pans on the steadicam or also handheld.


Andreas

www.portahead.de
 
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