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Turntable suggestions for jewelry video?

C

Carl Edwards

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Hi Everyone,

I'm in need of a turntable for commercial Jewelry work and was hoping someone might have a suggestion for a good option. Doesn't need to hold much weight as it will only be used for jewelry, but it needs to be extremely smooth because of the scale. I ordered an inexpensive one from B&H that was just awful, couldn't even use the footage it jumped so much. Thanks for any suggestions.
 
Excellent question, Carl. Thanks for pitching in, Steve.
Let's keep the suggestions coming everybody.
 
Several years back, I did a job filming jewelry and was in the same place as you are.

Back then the only thing one could find were turn tables for 3D work and they were prohibitively expensive. The job was low budget but this is what I used https://www.amazon.com/Kopykake-Variable-Speed-Karousel-Turntable/dp/B004BBN330

It has a variable motor and worked great.

This is the final product https://vimeo.com/36669800 (BTW, the shots of the raw gems were done with a manual turntable but the shots of the cut gems and jewelry were done with the cake decorating table)

Good luck and I hope this helps,

- Jan
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys!

Jan, That looks perfect. I think that might be the ticket for me. Looks like the footage you got from it turned out great. Thanks again.
 
Jewels are one of the most challenging things to photograph. Peace be with you! ;-)

Jan Balster said:
(BTW, the shots of the raw gems were done with a manual turntable
Click to expand...
I am being unfairly picky here, because this is old, but it does have the hallmarks of being turned by hand.
 
Consider also Mark Roberts Motion Control.

The most important consideration is the resolution of the motor. If you plan on using macro lenses, the cheaper the motor the more you will see the motion. Bad motors look like click, click, click when you put it under a 100mm macro for example.

You need to get very high resolution motors that do not reveal their movement when they are at slow speeds.

The longer the lens you use, the slower the motor has to be, because smooth motion becomes much more important with small objects like jewelry.

If you go to a local rental house, you probably can get a decent model mover on rental for the day. Use good motors or you will see the choppy motion of crappy motors on small objects like this.

David
 
Last edited:
David Battistella said:
Consider also Mark Roberts Motion Control.

The most important consideration is the resolution of the motor. If you plan on using macro lenses, the cheaper the motor the more you will see the motion. Bad motors look like click, click, click when you put it under a 100mm macro for example.

You need to get very high resolution motors that do not reveal their movement when they are at slow speeds.

The longer the lens you use, the slower the motor has to be, because smooth motion becomes much more important with small objects like jewelry.

If you go to a local rental house, you probably can get a decent model mover on rental for the day. Use good motors or you will see the choppy motion of crappy motors on small objects like this.

David
Click to expand...

exactly what David said, go for a MRMOCO !
 
This is the one you want...

No joke, it has a seriously precise motor and gear box and works with MRMOCO flair and milo.

The more low cost options are usually not much better than an egg clock.
 

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