Geared Heads!

Ryan Patrick O'Hara

Ryan Patrick O'Hara

Veteran
So I just bought a Worrall geared head yesterday, and will be picking it up tomorrow. I'm really excited.


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I first learned about two-three years ago on an ancient (and sadly a p.o.s) Worrall head that my film school had abused, not maintained and discarded into a closet. I took it completely apart, cleaned it up (the best I could) and reassembled it. I practiced twice a week for about 3-4 a pop. I eventually got pretty decent at it and moved on to operating on Panaheads, Arri-heads and etc.

I'm super excited to now own one and practice whenever I want. I'll probably post some cool long digital exposures online and make some cool designs with a laser pointer! Anyway, thought I'd share as I'm super excited to pick it up tomorrow or friday.

On the same note, I just revamped my article on geared heads. If anyone cares to jump into the deep end, like I have, you can see all my research compiled into this PDF file. I'll be making a comparison chart in the future, but for now you gotta scroll back and forth. Trust me, information on Geared Heads is rare!!! This is three years of research and making phone calls. Rental houses in Hungary and France won't even return my emails! lol. This PDF will be the most comprehensive and accurate geared head info you'll ever find... seriously. Only inside the mind of Joe Dunton may there exist more info in one place.

Check it out here:
http://www.RyanPatrickOHara.com/download/gearedheads.pdf


I'll post some pictures my Worrall head and our REDone soon.

Despite the Worrall head being larger and heavier, it can take a much heavier payload, tilt +-42 degrees (most can only go +-30 without a tilt plate) and is a tank for the ages.

Now I just gotta design my own hot wheel system... :happy:
 
Congratulations Ryan,

This brings back memories of spending hours on a geared head with a laser pointer, trying to follow a figure 8 drawn on the wall......it took many years of therapy to get over the nightmares.

Thanks to that I can tap my head and rub my stomach, with my left or right hand or backwards in any direction.

PS: This is a real tip, if you are right handed try brushing your teeth with you left. Because of the up/down/circular motion it will help develop independence. I used to practice this when learning to play the drums so I could achive 4 way independence...and it really works.....and prevents tooth decay.

Enjoy and thanks for the fantastic research paper.
 
For general filming, I presume the advantage is really smooth pans - so long as you turn the wheel at a constant rate, of course.

They're wonderful for stop motion animation, allowing perfect smooth camera movement so long as you turn the wheel a consistent amount between each shot - almost impossible to do with a fluid head.

Alas, all the ones i've seen are horribly expensive - I have a long term project to build one out of Lego Technics :) - should be possible, as I only need it for a lightweight camera...
 
Huy Vu said:
Can you explain the advantage of a geared head versus fluid head?
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You'll find with a geared head there is no "bounce" on the end of a pan or tilt when you come to a sharp stop. You really notice it when you try and tilt with someone from a seated to standing position. In rehearsals you'll work out it's two and 3/4 revolutions for example and then you'll get a dead stop with no after-wobble.

John (owner of a CP Mini-Worral) Brawley

Cinematographer
Sydney Australia
www.johnbrawley.com
 
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Also is excellent for extremely long lenses. Takes much of the unintentional human 'shake' from the camera. Geared heads can usually take much larger camera loads, and repeatable action is more mechanical then intuition.

Can also be adapted as a remote crane head or timelapse/stop motion head. By removing the wheels and adding computer controlled motor adapters, it's simple.
 
I am so jealous! Thanks for the research paper also. Great Work.

Now you know, since you are going have a geared head, you are going to be very popular with all your friends looking for bad ass camera support. It is like owning a pick up truck and having friends that have to move. Just wait for the phone calls...."Dude, if you, and your geared head, ain't doing nothing this weekend......". I know you'll get more than a case of beer and some pizza for the Worrall!.
 
Very nice option to have!
But a luxury for most indie people, who first should by a good fluid head.
Good way to build your skills in the event you get the opportunity to operate on the studio shows.
 
RyanT said:
Alright, forget everything else. This is what I need to know.

How heavy is it?
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The head is an original style Worrall. It is one of the most heavy duty heads, designed to hold large blimped mitchells and other cameras. It can take up to 200+ lbs of payload.... so it's a heavy guy. 67lbs :cheesy:

Most other kinds are 40lbs, some of the mini versions like the NCE Jr., Worrall Jr, and Mitchell Mini come in around 30lbs. The Gearnex is one of the, if not the, lightest which I think is around mid to high 20's.
 
In a case, it's probably 90lbs. Most guys can probably lift 90lbs but try doing it for a while with an unwieldy box off center in front of you, you'll kill your back. Your poor ACs. :lipsrseal
When I first came to LA and worked as a second, I was eager and dumb enough to get on shoots where I lifted Arriheads in their huge blue cases without any help from location to location and spot to spot up staircases and down hills, I'm really lucky to still have a good back. Always ask for help! Same goes for Fischer dollies for all you grips, always get 4 guys, not two, no matter what the DP or 1st AD tells you to do.
Sorry if this has turned into a crew rights manifesto.

200lbs is WOW. I think the Arri head is only rated for 150 or something like that.

Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
it's a heavy guy. 67lbs :cheesy:

.
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I bought a second geared head and it's super sexy. Weighs a *little* less, and I'd say operates a little smoother at the highest speeds. It's a Moy Samcine... basically a standard Moy that Sammy's (a big rental house in the UK) took and made custom adjustments/improvements to.

No good pictures of it yet, although I do have some from set:

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Love this little guy. Operating is so smooth and easy. I can't imagine those slow pans or tilts with a fluid head arm. Just makes life easy!

-ryan
 
Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
The Gearnex is one of the, if not the, lightest which I think is around mid to high 20's.
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I was given a gearnex to use on a show im doing right now to see how I liked it.

Given they are the first company to make a new geared head in a long long time i was pretty disappointed with it.

The design seems to lack any real *feel* and was very still. With a RED on and balanced up with a 25-250 HR angeniuex the actual camera body would hit the tilt wheel limiting the range.

It also had gear ratios that seemed a bit low. I struggled to pan a couple of guys walking on a 180mm shot and worse, there was an unacceptable amount of play in the tilt mechanism. You could clearly see direction changes on screen and certainly feel them.

I only used it for a day but that was enough for me. I wouldn't consider it a serious head.

Such a shame because the price is great. But i kinda wished it cost a bit more and was a bit better !


http://skitch.com/johnbrawley/njfd4/gearnex
 
Yes. I've been a big fan of gearnex since they are the only geared head manufacturer to create a head since about 10 years + ago. I recently played with two of them at the HD expo (createsphere) and I wasn't too impressed either. They were good, but lacked that same feel you described. I thought the wheels were suspect. Odd feel... It was a good build and size.... but lacked the complete fluid operation. Maybe needed more weight. Tiny cameras were on them. It made me happy to keep my two geared heads and use them.
 
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Updated GearNex

Updated GearNex

Hey Guys,

I highly recommend visiting CineToys, the maker's of the GearNex, at NAB booth #C7338 between 4/12 - 4/15/2010 or FilmTools in Burbank and trying our updated model. We where using off the shelf gears before and after reviews like yours, we now have made custom grounded and polished gear sets for the GearNex unit which previously was not available. The new gears allow for a free spin in pan as well as a fast repositioning in neutral. The new tilt gears allow for a payload centering assist. The gears are more precise with less backlash and twice as fast to keep up with the faster action.

We also added bearings to the end tilt plate for a smoother tilt wheel operation. The rollers have been upgraded for better performance as well as the custom bearing hand wheel knobs. We have upgraded other items but those probably don't matter to the end user except that it helps the overall performance.
 
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