FIZ Motors?

Hi Mark, welcome to the Forum. The Movi Pro is an awesome machine! I can totally understand why you might be confused about the integrated FIZ.

You would have to supply the motors and buy the cables from Freefly, but there is an integrated 'brain' on the Movi that can receive FIZ motor commands -- basically the receiver for a wireless focus system. According to Freefly's knowledge base, it can work with Redrock, Heden, and Hocus motors. The cables plug in underneath the camera to a little control box called the Tilt Stage Unit. There are ports on there for Focus, Iris, Zoom, DTap Power, and camera control. You'll see these Molex cables in the Freefly store:

http://store.freeflysystems.com/collections/movi-pro/products/movi-pro-lens-motor-cable

At the moment, there is only one wireless controller\Handset option for those motors: the Movi Controller. It's not particularly convenient for many of us who work on set with camera assistants\focus pullers. I'm still using my Bartech\FStop\Heden motor system and powering it with a Lipo battery from my old Movi M15 kit.

A firmware update is coming very soon that will allow the Mimic (the wireless controller that comes with the Movi Pro) to control the motors with gesture control. Turn the Mimic to control the iris, or flip it forward or back for Focus. Kind of a cool idea, and Tabb says it works better than you might think. This firmware update is hopefully coming this week, according to Freefly's Facebook page.

Speaking of, if you'll go to Freefly System's Facebook page, they have some great Facebook Live demos that Tabb has done. I can't figure out how to embed it here, but he posted a video on December 15th that you might find useful. There are others on there, too, and they're really helpful if you want to learn more about your Movi Pro. Tabb did several long demo videos in November and answered questions.

https://www.facebook.com/freeflysystems/

Hope that helps. Good luck!

 

Hand unit won't, only motors will. U need a movi controller or the mimic firmware update coming soon (though I doubt it will serve as a replacement to professional fiz system). Tabb was messing with a hand unit/mimic 3D printout a while back, but no word on that yet, officially letting out the breath I was holding in.

 

hey im interested in buying a movi pro. i have never used a movi before. how long do you think it would take me to learn how to use it and how can i go about learning?

 

How good are you with cameras? That's a big part of it.

As a DP with a lot of experience, it took me at least two months just to order and receive the basic gear in that I needed (Movi, wireless focus, wireless video, monitors, Ready Rig, etc.), and the Movi takes a month or two of experience to become proficient. I'm still learning new things about it, and I had an M15 for a year and then got the Movi Pro three or four months ago. After six months of owning the M15, I felt solid with it, and over a year and a half in, I feel like I really know what I'm doing with it.

It's a journey, for sure, but it's been a lot of fun to work with and I love to see Directors and other DP's light up when they see what creative shots are possible with the Movi.

The Forum here is a good way to learn, but you just have to try out different cameras and camera builds to really learn it. My local rental houses have been very accommodating when I want to bring the Movi in to try something with a specific camera or focus unit.

 

Im not that experience with cameras, i usually direct and or produce with DPs that save my life haha, but idk i live in miami it seems like its a good investment. I plan on financing it and paying it through renting it and or operating it i just dont know were i can learn to use it. Is it really hard to learn if you own it?

 

It just takes some patience and willingness to learn and make it work. I won't rent my Movi to other people unless I go with it, because they don't know how to use it, and there's definitely a learning curve. I tried to rent it out to friends in the beginning, and I'd get 7am phone calls from people freaked out because the Movi was panning back and forth and they didn't know how to fix it. I also don't like working with other peoples' Movi gear, because I have mine set up the way I like it and all the accessories I want.

If you don't have much experience being in the camera department, it may not be a great fit. Movi Operator\Tech is similar to Camera Operator and Camera Assistant. You need to know a lot about all the different cameras, wireless focus units, monitors, wireless video systems, etc. If you like that sort of thing, then it can be a lot of fun.

 

id say 6 months to learn everything if your have other stuff going on. 2 months if you dont.

and then there is about a year or two of trial and error before your actually decent. unless your just that smart.

 

what do you think is the best way to learn? once i buy it is there anyone i can hire to train me or any good courses online?

 

what do you think is the best way to learn? once i buy it is there anyone i can hire to train me or any good courses online?