Remote Pan and Tilt head

Shooter

Shooter

Veteran
Someone posted a thread about their crane (jib) and a remote head (I assume.)

Anyone recall this or does anyone have any info or links to medium / light weight remote heads that are available?
Interested in controllers as well. ie pan, tilt, focus, camera remote function.

Just completed and tested stage two of our camera slider and now considering remote pan and tilt heads and motion control aspect ( Stage 3).
Stage 1 - Design and build manual move slider - done!
Stage 2 - add motor drive ( speed control , mounts, belts etc) - done!
Stage 3 - Motion Control - in development.

BTW: anyone using any motion control software specific to "film making"?

Very excited about where we are with this device to date . Actually already shot two TVCs with it (manual move mode).

I have always had a need for macro and small movements (table top) so the design and build is entirely based on my requirements.
Major difficulty has always been very slow and very smooth. Particularly for close shots such as food and product / pack shot.
The slider will be sweet for general shooting such as interviews and dialogues as well as vehicle mount dolly etc.


Currently we can mount 100mm fluid heads, Weaver Steadman 3 axis head incl. motion control head with Mitchell plate. Slider works inverted and inclined also.

Camera such as AF100 can get a lens height from floor/ table.. 50-75 mm (with plate fittings)

Slider can be carried and mounted by one person . (approx 14.1 kgs without head)
Has practical 100- 250kg load capacity. (linear tracks and bearings : 4 tonne static capacity)
Mounts to standard light stands or overheads.
Sits on flat table, apple boxes or floors.
Mounts to bazooka via Euro Boss adapter
Adapts and adjusts in 1-2 minutes. Can be setup on an incline and levelled laterally.
Extreme slow tracking with smooth start stop. eg. 10 sec per 100mm travel - 10mm/sec or 1/2 inch /sec

Shooting a video of device in operation over next 2 weeks. Will post up when completed for anyone interested.
 
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I have just built a simple rig, a electric motor geared down and with a speed controller to allow me to pull my camera rig across my Los Mandy slider system, roughly 2 meters in length. Its very crude but it works giving me a slow move.

The next project is a sort of motion control whilst moving the camera i want to be able to pan it as well. I am looking at modifying a LEGO mindstorm system, you get 3 geared motors a microprocessor control system and feedback sensors all for £200 new or £140 odd on eBay.
Any pics of your system shooter.
 
Hi Kiwi Shooter...
I believe I mentioned not so long ago about a cheapie motor head I have on the end of my crain (see photo) the motor head is mounted on the end of the crain (yes, that is a Marron Carrel 35mm animation optical cam in the background... from the old multi-image days... anybody need a boat anchor?)
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/album.php?albumid=667&attachmentid=35048

I did a lot of research and was close to buying one of those programmable models designed for telescopes to track celestial bodies with software modified for video cams. I actually bought a more expensive head from an outfit out west only to return it as it was heavy, required AC adapter, and didn't have variable speeds much less ramp up and down... What I eventually got after reading many reviews was this from B&H:
Qty.
64399.jpg

Bescor BEMP101
MP-101 Motorized Pan Head
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Bescor BERE20
RE-20 20' Extension Cord for MP-101 Pan Head Remote Control

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It has varialble speeds, runs of AA batteries, and is fairly light...
Here is a test shot twisting the camera while sweeping with the crain in an attempt to keep the subject centered...
http://www.vimeo.com/27652738

or if you have room in the truck... you could try this... (I'm selling it by the way)
http://vimeo.com/27655169
 
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I have one of those Bescor things . and (IMHO) they aren't very good .. jerky, don't handle much weight and bob
as they pan. You can use them to remotely position with a light camera .. but they can't be used while shooting ..
The tilt has very limited motion.

Shooter, first of all, congratulations on your progress so far. That's an ambitious project.

Just curious, will you be using a wired or wireless connection to the slider? The only motion control software
that I've used was part of a motor controllers embedded processor.


jeff
 
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Thanx for all the great info so far. Appreciate the input.

Will post a few still pix later today withe AF102 mounted on Cartoni and the Weaver Steadman. These light weight cameras are such a dream to rig.

BTW - so far the tests I have done show that the tracking with the non stepper motor to be extremely smooth and consistent at slow and faster speeds(I tested it with the trackers in After Effects. ) .

I do have the need for a stepper mo co system as an option though. (Repeatable moves for CGI).

Controllers will be hard wired , not wireless... Jeff.

For now ...I actually have access to some serious heavy duty moco rigs that work fine with my slider ...but I kind of want to have a lighter weight version that becomes part of my own slider kit (and fixed resource for my packshot / product studio).
 
Thanx fo that info Dale.

That little track around the cheese is the kind of thing I do.

Might check out the Bescor head to see how much I could re engineer it. At that price maybe its a decent solid base structure to work from. Add stepper motors and beef up the gearing etc. does it look like it dissasembles to some reasonable engineering?

Now...software that is film friendly.

There is plenty of industrial mo co software but that requires some programming to purpose skill.
 
Camera Slider pix

Camera Slider pix

Camera Slider. Pictures various with 100mm bowl mount shown. Mounts for mitchell and Weaver Steadiman fit to slider plate.
End light stand spiggots shown in travel mode position. These invert or are swapped out for articulated spiggots that permit incline of tracks and dutching (levelling).

Fabricated in steel plate 3, 4mm plus 6mm aluminium slider plate.
Heavy duty linear motion bearings and linear track
12v DC electrix. Motor 50kg/cm torque

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