Lens Motor for Red....

Curt,

Maybe it already is this way, or it is impossible to do so, but let me just think out loud a bit.

Is there any way that you could separate brains, brawn and batteries into three pluggable parts (wireless/computer, motors, batteries) that all connect together to form the unit with the remote separate?

That way, if motors die, we can just replace that--or if you come out with even more silent motors--we can upgrade those without buying everything else.

If we want to use direct power, we remove the battery and replace it with a direct power plug. Or, when you come out with better control system, we can just replace the brain and not have to buy another whole unit to get the new features.

Again, I may have no idea what I am talking about, but I'm offering up an idea to take or leave and just "keeping with the Red Philosophy"

Best Regards,

Thom
 
penfever said:
Hey, CVB, that's a very attractive looking dongle you've got there.
Sorry for my ignorance, but is it for automating focus-pulling?
Also, I'm sure you're doing everything you can as far as price goes, but selling a 5.5k accessory for a 17.5k camera might be a little chancy. I suppose 3.5k is in the ballpark, though.
Why might you need three instead of one?
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I have toyed with the idea of developing motorised focus/zoom/iris pullers and what is being created here isn't an easy task. I'll admit the one I have designed in theory is by no means as complex. From what I've seen it looks and sounds very impressive, I particularly like the wifi conectivity - something beyond my skillset. I don't think the price is too bad - like any good cosumer I love to get everything as cheap as possible but in the grand scheme of things this is a cottage industry and you pay for quality. If the final piece is made to a high standard then I would hope I could afford it, I think the problem possibly facing this is that many people buying Red are not considering focus pulling as their most immediate priority and as such will make do with a cheapo one to begin with. This is understandable but don't forget that if you own one of these and you are renting yourself and/or equipment out you can charge that little bit extra - if it cost $1000 then you wouldn't be able to charge as much :)
 
Do you use motor friction brakes Curt or are these unecessary at the types of speed the motor will be used at?
 
Calling 5500 $ too much is foolish if you know how much chrosziel´s aladin with 3 channels costs, or the cmotion lcs, the arri w-lcs, service vision´s F.I.Z. or any other new system on the market.

I don´t know if there´s a NEW ( not 2nd hand ) 3-channel system for less than 20 K. I believe the cmotion with focus, iris and zoom control costs more than 25.000 US$.

Priyesh
 
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Yes, my company would be very interested in your unit, especially at this price point. Pretty much would be happy to replace the Big F*#king Device with anything smaller!
 
CVB said:
...Currently we are making our own wireless remote...our system is full 802.11b so you can encrypt the data and never have to worry about channels again....
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Does this have any latency issues? - for live follow focus, other control, any significant lag in control would be a problem.

I too would be interested in a single motor package - what would the estimated cost of that?
 
Great ideas Thom, we were thinking about integrating the battery and wireless but we ditched the idea because we wanted to use the units with our moco system and the logistics didn't work out. Maybe the next version :) . I could see how that would benefit the steady cam operators out there. As for the modularity... Thats something that Id really like to try out... it would be nice to change out gear boxes and motors/brains easily.

Homer... yup, there is going to be a friction break that will be adjustable... since this thing goes so fast it would be crazy not to. We also have digital means of detecting the limits on the lens ( the motors auto calibrate to find the limits) but that doesn't prevent someone from detaching and then re attaching the motor.

Eric... the latency shouldn't be a problem - Thats one of the things we will be keeping an eye on. If you are running only one motor the system will be about $3500.
 
Hi Curt!

You know you can count on me as your customer.

BTW

1) SLR (Nikkor) and PL lenses included?

2) 225g per motor?

Cheers :beer:
E.
 
CVB said:
Yup... first and foremost we designed it to be used with our motion control setup. We are also including inputs for step and direction so you can use it with a kuper moco system (this firmware might not ship with the unit but we will have some cool upgrade features in place)
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This is amazing... I know Kuper users who will be dying for something like this! A product like this has been a long time coming...
 
i'm sorry if i didnt catch this before.

but does this thing come with a dial remote too? or is it just the motor.
 
Curt, have you ever considered an infrared system for judging the distance to the subject and having the motor's configured to a specific lense then refocus? Have you researched it at all? any ideas of plausability of it or cost?

If you can get the specific distances setup for a lense at different settings then it ought not be too hard to adjust the focal distance to suit. Calibration of specific lenses and the delay between refocus via the laptop would be a great idea, hell have a touch screen so that you can tell it what to focus on :) - Do that and you'll win an oscar
 
Homersapien said:
Curt, have you ever considered an infrared system for judging the distance to the subject and having the motor's configured to a specific lense then refocus? Have you researched it at all? any ideas of plausability of it or cost?
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Homer.. yup, got that covered too :) We've been researching ways to do that for a couple years. I can't get into it too much but we're using UWB instead of IR and we may have something to show at NAB if everything works out the way we hope it will.
 
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Hey Curt,
I like the idea of motion control and repeatable pull capabilities, but most of the 1sts I know like using the dial to pull remotely and I know I like the microforce controls for zoom. It seems that having only a programmable interface and not the standard physical one might make me lean towards renting a Preston FIZ for jib and steadycam shots and not buying a unit. What would you say to me to sell me on your device, besides price?
 
SF Geek said:
Hey Curt,
I like the idea of motion control and repeatable pull capabilities, but most of the 1sts I know like using the dial to pull remotely and I know I like the microforce controls for zoom. It seems that having only a programmable interface and not the standard physical one might make me lean towards renting a Preston FIZ for jib and steadycam shots and not buying a unit. What would you say to me to sell me on your device, besides price?
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SF... we are going to be shipping with a physical remote... You won't have to use a laptop to control it. The only difference between our remote and whats out there is the physical size and the fact that the controls are linear solid state sliders vs. the mechanical dials. I ask that you reserve judgement until you see the system, you shouldn't have to use a Preston FIZ if we do our jobs right :)

Luis... were working on Mirus (the pan-tilt head) and are trying to get it finished... there is a lot more complexity and software on that monster. If everyones interested enough I'd be happy to go over what it can do. Maybe another thread ;)
 
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