View Factor DFF + Bonus

[Cail Young]

Correct me if I'm wrong here... The point behind the square port is to be able to rotate the knob from farther away and not accidentally bump the camera. When you use the whip it adds flex and results in less control of the knob. Why wouldn't you just change out the short cable for a longer cable? If its something where its a feel thing then I understand.

Speed cranks use the same socket; also if your knob mounts to a rod and you don't want to rip it off for a quick handheld or tight spaces situation a whip is quicker to attach...

 

[Brook Willard]

Oo, having just looked at your dimensions image, you'll want to put a guard around the calibrate/reset button.

 

[chuck colburn]

I've never understood why the control knob with it's making disc don't tilt up and down to allow for easier reading in odd positions.

 

[CVB]

Yeah, Chuck makes a good point... having both a single rod attachment and a double rod attachment [clip on for the double... maybe a Speedy Clamp for the single] would be good. They don't all have to come with the kit, but having all the options out there would be great.

The square focus whip port thing is more of a feel feature. Yes, pulling the FF off of the camera is a better idea... but I guarantee you ACs will complain about not being able to plug in a whip.

Don't forget to have a "witness mark" that marks on the disc line up with... an adjustable one if possible. Many ACs don't mark on the disc, but those that do will need an adjustable witness mark. Also consider a wedge ring [that is viewable from in front of or behind the FF]. If you've used Indie Rentals' FF4, you've seen the wedge ring. It may not be called a wedge ring, but I'm no AC.

I'll keep thinking. I'll ask a few ACs as well. If you ever need anybody to test your toys... *cough* :wink:

Yeah, I'll see if we can have a few different options for mounting. The square port isn't a huge deal, I can put it in there but I just like to know why I'm adding something rather than just blindly going forward. We have a witness mark on the new design.. Also some adjustable stops. The wedge is possible, I'll look into it.

The calibration button is recessed a bit so it can't be brushed easily. It also has to be held down for two seconds to respond.


Chuck - What if we make the mount for the knob on a swivel of some sort? BTW... the knob has a 1/4-20 fastener location on the back so it can be mounted to a red arm.

 

[Fredrik Callinggard]

Makes me feel sad that I've ordered the FF4

 

[Mike Prevette]

The square port needs to be there for speed cranks, and whips. The idea of pulling it off the rods for a quick handheld shot is ridiculous. Seconds matter, and no good AC worth their Panchro would be willing to slow a production down because the "non standard" FF doesn't have a stupid port.

Another must is some form of reference bump, or notch on the FF knob surround. I rarely marked the knob, instead I would use muscle memory and place my index finger or thumb on the knob so it hit the bump when the lens was at it's mark, and then do all my pulls in relation to the bump. That enabled me to "feel" where the lens was at, and I could keep watching the action and adjusting to it. IMHO it's a necessity.


It needs to be rock solid on the rods, so I'm not sure I love the idea of a tiltable wheel design.

 

[CVB]

The square port needs to be there for speed cranks, and whips. The idea of pulling it off the rods for a quick handheld shot is ridiculous. Seconds matter, and no good AC worth their Panchro would be willing to slow a production down because the "non standard" FF doesn't have a stupid port.

Another must is some form of reference bump, or notch on the FF knob surround. I rarely marked the knob, instead I would use muscle memory and place my index finger or thumb on the knob so it hit the bump when the lens was at it's mark, and then do all my pulls in relation to the bump. That enabled me to "feel" where the lens was at, and I could keep watching the action and adjusting to it. IMHO it's a necessity.


It needs to be rock solid on the rods, so I'm not sure I love the idea of a tiltable wheel design.

Mike, there is a reference bump... it might not be visible in the pics we took. On the topic of the square port, I agree that seconds matter - on our production design the whole assembly pops out of the cradle with the flip of a lever. We'll have the square port there for everyone that wants to do it the way its currently done with FF's.

 

[Finner]

Hey Curt

Like mentioned the speed crank/whip port is important. I am 99% sure it is the same port size that accepts a 1/2inch rachet driver so you can just check it with the extension arm of a 1/2inch one.

Also it has the reverse and varriable movement control for stills lenses right?

The suggestions from Brook and all the others cover any issues I can see.

Looks really good Curt.

 

[david farland]

I love criticism... it makes our products better...

Can help out there Curt.
Get yours and say an Arri FF4 and start throwing them at a brick wall.
See what part on yours brakes first. Fix it and start throwing again... probably using the same Arri ...that's machined like a handgun.
Next, Arri tell me they rarely hire out the bevelled marking disks but made them because people asked.
Also the guy kept a selection of 'no name' white disks that were inferior in some way,i.e wouldn't clean, turn yellow etc so research this real carefully.
I expect (hope) you can change the gear ration for different lens diameters and maybe incorporate a two-speed ratio & reverse setting here also.
Make sure you're got a 'fat' gear for external focus lenses.
Also the square socket on the focus knob is required for a speed lever and lastly do you need an extension for the focus knob for those big nasty matte boxes.
All the best,
Dave

 

[CVB]

Hey Curt

Like mentioned the speed crank/whip port is important. I am 99% sure it is the same port size that accepts a 1/2inch rachet driver so you can just check it with the extension arm of a 1/2inch one.

Also it has the reverse and varriable movement control for stills lenses right?

The suggestions from Brook and all the others cover any issues I can see.

Looks really good Curt.

Yup.. The reversing and variable gearing controls are on Impero. I have the geometry all modelled up for the knob (I borrowed an Arri FF from a friend)

Can help out there Curt.
Get yours and say an Arri FF4 and start throwing them at a brick wall.
See what part on yours brakes first. Fix it and start throwing again... probably using the same Arri ...that's machined like a handgun.

We're doing our own version of Mil-Spec... its a mix of dumping it in water for 10 seconds, dropping it from 6 feet on a concrete floor, and strapping it to a paint shaker. I used to work in the testing labs at a large consumer electronics company... I have my fair share of "break it until it doesn't break anymore" experience.

Next, Arri tell me they rarely hire out the bevelled marking disks but made them because people asked.
Also the guy kept a selection of 'no name' white disks that were inferior in some way,i.e wouldn't clean, turn yellow etc so research this real carefully.

Thanks for the info. Our current design path is powder coated aluminum disks - They should be really thin and the finish will be similar to that of a dry erase board. The main benefit is that we can bust them out in crazy volumes and they will be much less expensive then a machined ring of plastic. I'm also looking at a few different plastic materials in case that idea falls on its face.

I expect (hope) you can change the gear ration for different lens diameters and maybe incorporate a two-speed ratio & reverse setting here also.
[/QUOTE] The gear ratio is variable and there is an easy method for changing it on the fly... I discussed it on our forum so feel free to check it out.

Make sure you're got a 'fat' gear for external focus lenses.

The motors don't ship with a wide gear but we'll make sure that we have one you can buy separately. The motors will ship with 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, and 0.8 mod gears

 

[Mike Prevette]

Nice work Curt!

how much and when?

 

[CVB]

Nice work Curt!

how much and when?

A couple options...

Wired option:

Inclino Motor with power cable: $900​

Impero Micro w/mounting bracket and comm cable: $350​

Total: $1250​

Wireless option:

Inclino Motor with power cable: $900​

Impero Standard and comm cable: $750​

Total: $1650​

Taking orders Week of Feb 25th, Starts shipping End of April 2008. The wireless impero standard will lag by about a month so the second option won't be available until the end of May.

 

[Fredrik Callinggard]

A couple options...

Wired option:

Inclino Motor with power cable: $900​

Impero Micro w/mounting bracket and comm cable: $350​

Total: $1250​

Wireless option:

Inclino Motor with power cable: $900​

Impero Standard and comm cable: $750​

Total: $1650​

Taking orders Week of Feb 25th, Starts shipping End of April 2008. The wireless impero standard will lag by about a month so the second option won't be available until the end of May.

Hi Curt,

Congrats it looks great! You've stated before that when ordering the Impero standard there won't be a problem of upgrading it when it's time for the Pro. Is this still the case?

Thanx

fred

 

[Brook Willard]

Curt, how does the total wireless setup function? Am I accurate with my cable "diagram" below?

Camera----FIZ brain----motor 1----motor 2----motor 3

Or is there anything else that has to be hooked up? Or does it have to be hooked up in a different way? Just trying to grasp the way your wireless setup is built.

 

[CVB]

Fred... the motors will work with any one of the Imperos... Micro, Standard or Pro.

Brook... One motor max on the aux connector on the camera. If you need to run two or three motors then you'd have to run off the D-tap on the battery (we'll have cables for that). The motors have all the brains... the impero just tells the motor where to go. They also have all necessary voltage conversion on board - you put in 12V-24V and the motors will do the rest.

So here are current the options:

1) Battery DTAP---->Motor1---->Motor2---->Motor3---->Impero_Micro
2) Battery DTAP---->Impero_Standard_Wireless_Receiver_Unit---->Motor1---->Motor2---->Motor3
3) Camera---->Motor1---->Impero_Micro
4) Camera---->Impero_Standard_Wireless_Receiver_Unit---->Motor1

Here are some pending options:

5) Camera---->Supergrip---->Motor1--->Lens_Encoder_Module (The supergrip attaches to the camera and gives you meta data on your footage)
6) Battery DTAP---->Supergrip---->Motor1---->Motor2---->Motor3 (The supergrip attaches to the camera and gives you meta data on your footage)
7) Camera---->Impero_Standard_Wireless_Receiver_Unit---->Birger Mount

The motors all have the ability to be controlled by an Impero Micro(wired) but since we only have two connectors per motor we can only run the last one in the chain with the Impero. We could probably run Y-cables to allow you to run an Impero on each motor. We will probably have a slider version of Impero at some point so it would be cool to run that on the Iris motor. The wireless Impero can run all three of the motors but one at a time.


I'm sure theres tons of options we haven't explored. Hope I haven't made things more confusing

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

Hi Curt,

Looks fantastic.

How silent are your motors?

ANY sound issues at all?

 

[Fredrik Callinggard]

Fred... the motors will work with any one of the Imperos... Micro, Standard or Pro.

Hi Curt,

That I've understood. My question was directed to wether there will be an "upgrade" from the standard Impero to the Pro, considering you will most probably come out with the standard first (and I'll most likely get that in the wait for Pro)?

Thanks,


fred

 

[M. Bergeron]

ANY sound issues at all?

I would be interested to know that too. From the video it seemed quite loud.

 

[Brent J. Craig]

A square hole for a speed crank is essential, like Mike Prevette said a lot of us 'Zen' types pull focus by muscle memory.

Not sure I'm sold on using 6 little allen screws to adjust the motor bracket. Seems time consuming.

It would be great if the wireless version had some very simple way to hang off the rods. Basically so I can leave it there for the DP to focus when I go off to craft. It's annoying to come back from a break and see that they have pulled all your motors off because you didn't leave the focus controller nearby!

 

[Matthew Rogers]

Curt, two questions... Should your motor be considered the RED motor, or is it different? How will you be taking reservations next week? With a deposit or like RedRock and just signup on a list?

Looking forward to this system! I think you will be selling many to more than just RED owners.

Matthew