C100: Helix Jr. with C100 and 5D3

[jb.]

Funny I was thinking of selling mine too, but after this last week of shooting I ended up really liking it. It really made some great shots and the guitarist and others there thought it was a hit! But yea, having actually experienced shooting from sun-up, to midnight for 5 days straight it became very tiresome and we had to trade turns using it. I have a feeling the C200 will behave better on the Helix because of the lower height, but you still have the weight problem.

I have come to realize I want to sell my Kessler Second Shooter. We are recording a CD while shooting videos and for CD quality, the Kessler makes too much noise, for Youtube stuff its fine or dialogue you might not hear it or it wouldn't matter, but in total silence and sensitive mics it doesn't work. Also I have to set the Kessler very far away from the guitarist and in that case you can hardly see any motion. Up close its very good for getting nice motion.

Get the Second Shooter Plus controller. It's has a quiet mode that I've found pretty quiet. If you want to give me a distance, I can record it from subject position for you.

 

[Michael Thames]

Get the Second Shooter Plus controller. It's has a quiet mode that I've found pretty quiet. If you want to give me a distance, I can record it from subject position for you.

Thanks Jbregar, I have the feeling it won't be quit enough for my needs. Matt Palmer the guitarist hears the hard drive spinning in the computer as we record. I couldn't hear the second shooter in the audio play back, but he could. I used the MK4 capsules (cardiod) which should filter out noise from behind the mics, but I guess the noise from the second shooter was bouncing off the walls. Sure if you want to record it that would be great. Ideal distance would be around 6 to 8 feet. Unless I can place the second shooter close to the guitarist, it really is pretty ineffective as the further you get away the less dramatic the motion. The SS needs to be almost silent to place that close. Last week in most cases I used it as a tripod..... ha!

I suggest to Matt we might try a Mille Vanilli video, but no one wants to see a pre-recorded classical guitarist play, they want the live performance. If we did that then the possibilities are endless. Most of my time is filming take after take not knowing which take will jive with the best audio take, and after filming the 4th take of a 15 minute long piece I tend to get sloppy.

The SS is very good for any kind of product videos, and putting a guitar on that turn table and filming it is very cool.

 

[puredrifting]

Thanks for the feed back.

Yea, had to use the 5D3 with a 50mm lens at 1.4. I do think a 50 mm lens will show more shake than my 11-18, at least that's what I've heard. Yea wish the 5D3 had AF that would have helped.

Hope i can brighten it up in post a little.

But I'm primarily interested in whether the Helix is shaking or me...... I think me yea?

But that's the whole point of a gimbal, it is supposed to isolate the camera from your shaking and wavering. It looks to me like your Simple BGC and Helix settings are way off. Have you had a session with Ken at Letus or sent him any clips of this? The Heliz Jr. is capable of much, much better.

 

[Michael Thames]

But that's the whole point of a gimbal, it is supposed to isolate the camera from your shaking and wavering. It looks to me like your Simple BGC and Helix settings are way off. Have you had a session with Ken at Letus or sent him any clips of this? The Heliz Jr. is capable of much, much better.

That's what I needed to know! To tell you the truth as I said before I tried to convert it over to Slavik's set up only to find the grip extension didn't work, so I took off all the stuff and messed around with the PID setting and fear I did more damage than good. I'll contact Letus.

 

[NorBro]

Once you get those settings dialed in, the balance right, and use a wider lens...it will fly beautifully and produce better results.

Even $10K+ MoVIs aren't going to produce perfect images/movements if they aren't optimized.

 

[puredrifting]

That's what I needed to know! To tell you the truth as I said before I tried to convert it over to Slavik's set up only to find the grip extension didn't work, so I took off all the stuff and messed around with the PID setting and fear I did more damage than good. I'll contact Letus.

It's definitely an investment in time to get it dialed in. Why did the grip relocater not work? I have mine setup with the Zacuto and it works great. I have had many conversations with Slavik B and he related to me that each and every Helix Jr. is going to be slightly different in response to how the motors and the gimbal itself responds to heavy loads. Also, are you aware that the PID settings are completely different for the encoded versus non-encoded motor versions? That's why even though Slavik's posted settings are a good starting point, you may still have to dial in yours with Letus to get it perfect. That's one more reason why I prefer the Zhiyun Crane besides it light weight and size. You mount your camera, balance it, turn it on and it just works and work beautifully. Conversely the Letus, Ronin and MoVis all practically require an engineering degree to get dialed in really well. Same reason I don't do PCs, I want to get work done, not become an extreme gearhead just to obtain functionality from an expensive piece of gear. The Letus are great but IMHO, you have to have considerable time and patience to get them to work properly. My friends with the Ronins report the same.

 

[Michael Thames]

It's definitely an investment in time to get it dialed in. Why did the grip relocater not work? I have mine setup with the Zacuto and it works great. I have had many conversations with Slavik B and he related to me that each and every Helix Jr. is going to be slightly different in response to how the motors and the gimbal itself responds to heavy loads. Also, are you aware that the PID settings are completely different for the encoded versus non-encoded motor versions? That's why even though Slavik's posted settings are a good starting point, you may still have to dial in yours with Letus to get it perfect. That's one more reason why I prefer the Zhiyun Crane besides it light weight and size. You mount your camera, balance it, turn it on and it just works and work beautifully. Conversely the Letus, Ronin and MoVis all practically require an engineering degree to get dialed in really well. Same reason I don't do PCs, I want to get work done, not become an extreme gearhead just to obtain functionality from an expensive piece of gear. The Letus are great but IMHO, you have to have considerable time and patience to get them to work properly. My friends with the Ronins report the same.

I hear you! I'm not good at dealing with these settings either, I would rather not. The Letus seemed to work fine out of the box with the C100 mki. In fact l decided to just set it up with the C100 mkii, and use it that way. Of course the problem is I want to use the two C100's as an "A and B" cam.


I guess I should send in the Zacuto grip relocator to fix, but after reading other people's problems with it I kind of lost faith that they can fix it. Worked OK on the C100 Mki, but doesn't work at all on the C100 mkii.

Not to keep posting boring videos, but here is a quick video I made of Matt playing his guitar for the first time. I used the C100 mkii with the 11-18 lens. Given the fact I was moving around quite a bit low and high, does this footage look more like what the Helix is capable of? I seems more smooth to me. I hate the way the 11-18 distortes the image. I believe I had it at 18mm cause at 11mm it looks too fisheye, still does at 18mm, need to find a good cheap lens. I think the 40mm pancake lens on the C100 is going to be worse than the 50mm on the 5D3 for jerkiness....... no?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9h_PlA6CImQ