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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 had mentally prepared myself to be disappointed with at least some aspects of the Movi but after 2 weeks of putting it to the test I can honestly say that I have zero buyer's remorse. It's very obvious that Freefly took the time to get it right before rushing it out the door. It seems highly unlikely that others will be able to reproduce the same level of quality and performance at a fraction of the cost and more importantly, with only a fraction of the R&D time invested.
 
Swedish Chameleon just renamed their gimbal which previously went by the name of "Gravity" to "Newton". The reason is probably FlowCine Gravity One.
I mean, there can't be 2 Swedish gimbals going by the same name, haha. SC: Newton looks fantastic though!
http://snapwidget.com/v/575294476223433114#.UojOCBZWs9x
 
We have had some experience of various manufacturers devices now. Just some observations in no particular order.

Most are very lightweight and I am not convinced will stand the test of time for robustness on location. One issue on once of the more expensive devices is the tubes are getting polished under the thin aluminium mounts, even being a month old the clamp is finding it difficult to clamp on the the carbon tube with out slipping. Two threads are already stripped and clamps needed replacement.

They take a while to balance up, we ended up building some sliding balance weights to adjust the static balance of Epic to avoid sliding the camera around to set up the rig.

These stabilisers are in my view an owner operator device, they need skip to operate well. Out of the box they are not really set up for hire, they are just not robust enough.

Having said that they are great devices and shots can look great.

One last thing, when a similar mount was on an Octocopter, the whole contraption fell out of the air, apparently some sort of sensor issue. Copter and mount bounced and was trashed, lens trashed, Epic had a few battle scars but worked fine. Red thankfully and as with usual profesionalness re built the camera back to A1, quickly and inexpensively. Thats an example how robust these stabilisers need to be.
 
We have a custom built unit that's continually improving. Here's a quick demo from Saturday night.

https://vimeo.com/79732606

I'd have to agree that ours takes a bit of expertise to use, but with each change, it gets more idiot proof.
 
After a bit of experience using an Alexmos based stabilizer and comparing it to the Movi unit, we ordered a Movi. It has a very high level of performance. The GUI usability is one of the most important aspects of it's design in my opinion. We also had it holding a loaded Epic (Zeiss 35 with Bartech FF, Paralinx) out the sunroof of a truck going 100kmh and holding the camera rock solid. The guy holding the rig could hardly keep his body in position the wind force was so high, but the camera didn't waver. I'd like to hear from anyone who's had any other brands working well for them though.

One other thing. From what I understand, the full current going to the motors/sensor etc goes through the Alexmos board, while I'm not sure that's the case with the Movi design. We fried an Alexmos board when a connection came loose on our other rig. Anyone know if that could happen with the Movi?
 
Is there a stabiliser available with a 4th axis to take out bounce i.e. foot steps or up down movement of the operator ?
 
Worked with the dudes from Defy today and yesterday with a G5 rig with the Canon 1DC.

I was not a big believer in any of this systems before, but I am now, and will probably be budgeting for a G10 when they come out.


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And there were several scenes where we did hand-offs that would be impossible for a steadicam to do.
 
hello guys.
We at flowcine, are coming with two new innovations that add a solution to easy rig and gimbal operation eliminating the 4th axis up and down walking running errors.

there will be one invention the SERENE arm for easy rig operation, and one more invention that will do this for all gimbals on the market but in hand held mode (with out easy rig)

Both are coming at middle late January and be under testing with very good results .

we are filing patents as for now.

very exiting stuff.

stay tuned
 
Dave Blackham said:
Is there a stabiliser available with a 4th axis to take out bounce i.e. foot steps or up down movement of the operator ?
Click to expand...

I'll offer a steadicam bracket for my portahead systems to be able to change between handheld or steadicam mode quickly. There will be one solution with all 3 axis enabled on a steadicam sled either in overslung or underslung mode and one with 2 stabilized axis that can go from high to low mode during the take (or to move the camera above tables for instance).

Both setups will be possible with all portahead devices (either with the versions 2 and 5) and the steadicam bracket. I'll make demo videos in the next weeks to show the advantages of removing the foodsteps and also carrying the camera at eye level without getting tired. With a telescoping steadicam sled even camera positions way above the head will be possible (see an extendable sled and ultra high modes here: http://www.tiffen.com/images/content/U2_TiltHead.pdf).

Best regards,
Andreas Kielb

www.portahead.de
 
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constantine Tirintzis said:
hello guys.
We at flowcine, are coming with two new innovations that add a solution to easy rig and gimbal operation eliminating the 4th axis up and down walking running errors.

there will be one invention the SERENE arm for easy rig operation, and one more invention that will do this for all gimbals on the market but in hand held mode (with out easy rig)

Both are coming at middle late January and be under testing with very good results .

we are filing patents as for now.

very exiting stuff.

stay tuned
Click to expand...

Looking forward to that.

In other news: Swedish Chameleon: Newton just hit the market (http://www.swedishchameleon.com/blogs/news/10806909-release-of-the-sc-newton)

The best looking Gimbal in my opinion. It just has one axis on the pitch, which might make it harder to balance, but it also makes it way more easy to travel with.
Will be going to the Swedish Chameleon office to try it out. Will report back, and hopefully be able to offer a video from the testings :)
 
Jens Rosengren said:
Looking forward to that.

In other news: Swedish Chameleon: Newton just hit the market (http://www.swedishchameleon.com/blogs/news/10806909-release-of-the-sc-newton)

The best looking Gimbal in my opinion. It just has one axis on the pitch, which might make it harder to balance, but it also makes it way more easy to travel with.
Will be going to the Swedish Chameleon office to try it out. Will report back, and hopefully be able to offer a video from the testings :)
Click to expand...

Tried it out today, beautiful. A real sense of quality, and really great at stabilization. It currently has an 8-bit chip, but for just the price of the card and shipping, they will upgrade it to the 32-bit card when its available.
Not sure if I may release test-footage yet, but as I said, I was really happy with the result. Impressive stuff! Does 6KG without any problems!
 
Question: Anybody here that use a mövi together with a steadycam sping arm / west?

We are about to do a project with quite rapid movements and crossing over tables and such. Kind of running between / to and from different table top scenarios and I think a normal steady would not cut it as it would have a problem with the tables and a normal hand held mövi would not be as smooth as rigging it onto a steady arm. Would be great to see such setup or get your opinion about it.
 
Björn Benckert said:
Question: Anybody here that use a mövi together with a steadycam sping arm / west?

We are about to do a project with quite rapid movements and crossing over tables and such. Kind of running between / to and from different table top scenarios and I think a normal steady would not cut it as it would have a problem with the tables and a normal hand held mövi would not be as smooth as rigging it onto a steady arm. Would be great to see such setup or get your opinion about it.
Click to expand...

Hi Björn, do you need that solution especially for a mövi that you already own? I did build a bracket to mount my Porta Head systems overslung on a steadicam sled and might also build a bracket to mount them directly on the arm. That would allow to fly it over a table about 20 - 30 cm far from the body. I had no time to actually test this 3-axis setup yet but I used a similar 2-axis brushless rig which was directly mounted on the steadicam topstage for a shooting on monday (...something like a pre-prototype of the Porta Head 10, we used a FS700). Not sure if I can build a bracket for the mövi as I don't know the dimensions of it's pan motor and handle bar connection. Do you know if it's possible to use the mövi overslung?

I also plan to build a version of the Porta Head 5 with two axis only on an extendable steadicam sled that can fly horizontal or go up and down between head height or ground level while the camera remains horizontal, rotating 180 degrees on the roll axis. Pretty much like the Alien Revolution but with two stablilized axis and without the roll cage. That would allow to fly over tables at a longer distance.

Best regards,
Andreas Kielb


www.portahead.de
 
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Björn Benckert said:
Question: Anybody here that use a mövi together with a steadycam sping arm / west?

We are about to do a project with quite rapid movements and crossing over tables and such. Kind of running between / to and from different table top scenarios and I think a normal steady would not cut it as it would have a problem with the tables and a normal hand held mövi would not be as smooth as rigging it onto a steady arm. Would be great to see such setup or get your opinion about it.
Click to expand...
Yep. Tried it out today. Ghetto style as a bunch of our gear is being used today.
I put a GH2 on the Movi, flipped it upside down and used the ninja star to connect it to the cheapo Came sled.
Works pretty well so far. I'll throw up a few shots tonight.
 
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