I recently had a small Movi job where I didn’t have a focus puller. It worked out because it was all wide lenses and stopped down but I was looking for something with a thimble wheel type controller for those type of jobs. I already own a WCU-4 so I’m not looking to spend a lot of money since I am happy with my WCU-4 for normal jobs with a focus puller. Another possible use would be as a separate iris control from my focus control on larger jobs. The systems I looked at so far are the Redrock Handheld Bundle and maybe a Bush Pilot for the Iris stuff. I’m concerned about mounting the Mimic with the Bush Pilot directly to the ring since when the Mimic is super close to the Movi it freaks out. I’ve also seen a lot of posts about people having problems with Redrock focus stuff. I was also looking at the Hocus Smart roller but it’s considerably more expensive and on backorder. Since I’m happy with my Arri focus system I don’t know if I need that nice of a system for these small jobs. I’m open to any other ideas or combo of stuff. I’ll be at NAB so I can check stuff out. Thanks
This might be of interest to you, its been more than a year in the making and I'm sure it will be out shortly after NAB, I actually got the chance to play with it last year. https://shop.redrockmicro.com/eclipse/
I put the Mimic\Bush Pilot on the Movi Ring as a test to see if I could focus myself, and it worked OK. I took the antenna off because of the close proximity. Other people have liked the Remote Live 2 from Ikan. Maybe search YouTube for a video review of it by Stephan Knight? Here's Pics of my Bush Pilot setup:
Hi Justin, let's see: -1x Impact Atom Clamp to mount to the Ring (I love this clamp! I keep three in the kit): https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/831804-REG/Impact_me_100_Atom_Clamp_with_Ratchet.html -2x Ultralight 1/4-20 ball Joints, plus one Ultralight knuckle ( I recommend looking for the 'Sue's Knuckles' version, which has a bit more flexibility in the mounting options) -I needed a 1/4-20 extension to get out past the Freefly mount on the back of the Mimic, so I screwed together two little adapters from Small Rig: 1x 1/4-20 male to 3/8-16 Female, and 1x 3/8-16 male to 1/4-20 female. Those are the little knurled gold pieces sticking out the back of the Mimic in the photo. Probably have a 1/4" lock washer between the Ultralight and the Impact Atom clamp to keep it tight.
I recently purchased this for small jobs: Remote Live 2 Single Channel Compact Focus Control Kit (PD Movie) - $949.99 http://ikancorp.com/productdetail.php?id=1866&model=pdl-f Works very well, easy to use and has a nice small thumb wheel so you can keep your hands mostly on the rig.
I think I'll give this a shot. But was wondering if i wanted to, can I connect this straight into the Movi Pro MDR and use the bush pilot with it also for a puller?
Kazu welcome to the forums. Would you be kind enough to change your user name to your real first name and last name, please? The reasons for this (and how to do it) are explained here: http://forum.freeflysystems.com/index.php?threads/real-names.497/.
There shouldn't be any problem if you remove the antenna in that kind of configuration (I haven't had any issues).
Here is a photo of how I rigged our single op focus setup on the Ring Pro, with the Bush Pilot + MIMIC for NAB. The Pop-N-Locks made it quick work and super adjustable/configurable.
I just have the MOVI PRO, because my RONIN was damaged after using it for 2 years. I loved the thumb controller by DJI for the RONIN . Now using the MOVI PRO, which is a HUGE difference compared to RONIN, there are absolute no bumps in my footage. But, I still miss a thumb controller as single operator to move the gimbal by myself. So I am following this post on having the MIMIC on the ring, but how does this work anyway? Shouldn't you move the MIMIC in order to move the gimbal?? It would have been nice to have the ring in upward position and hold it tight and have the gimbal go upwards or 90 degrees down with a controller only...
The use of the Mimic here is meant for Focus only -- using Freefly's Bush Pilot module. Two companies are making a thumb controller: RedRock Micro's Navigator and Aerial Pixels. https://aerialpixels.com/shop/gimbals/movi-series/movi-pro/movi-pro-joystick-controller/ You can utilize Smooth Lock if you need it to hold an extreme tilt, but you lose Majestic Control.
Thanks Graham. The Aerialpixels one I had for my RONIN before I bought the RONIN thumb controller, that one is not durable, it broke 3 times (cable)...I will check out the redrock...I still hope Freefly is going to make a thumb controller also
Well, I won't say the RedRock Navigator seemed durable when I saw it at Cinegear in June. Maybe it wasn't the final product? I felt like it could break pretty easily, but the whole joystick thing doesn't work for me. Your other options include building your own joystick with the Freefly API and Arduino, but you'd have to make it yourself and that stuff looks way more complicated than a project I've been brave enough to tackle myself, personally. If you can do it, I think you could make one really inexpensively. There might also be a way to mount the Sony PS4 Gamepad and the Mimic to the Ring, which is more durable but also a lot bigger.
You could also use the Pilot Iris/Zoom module with the MIMIC as a single op joystick on the Ring Pro. Go with the standard 30mm rosette mount if you want the module to be horizontal (perpendicular to the ring). This might be handy so that you can support the weight of the gimbal by the ring, and reach up to the joystick with your thumb. Go with the offset Rosette mount if you'd rather mount it parallel to the Ring. With firmware 1.3.2 the dual op adjustments for expo, smoothing and window settings in the MōVI app apply to all pan/tilt inputs, from all sources. So you can really dial in the feel of the force joystick of the Iris/Zoom module. And I recommend mapping the slider to Speed Adj for easy access. Also, the A button is pre-programmed (will be user definable in the future!) to start/stop, so you can trigger any compatible camera connected to the Pro with the proper start/stop or RCP cable, right from the module.
I have been using a pre release redrock micro eclipse Navigator with Atlas motor and also SLS motors. I have to say the wait has been worth it. This combo is pretty amazing and also allows for pan tilt ans roll in addition to fiz.
This has just come out from RT motion. http://www.rtmotion.com/products/smartknob-rf Their systems have always been super solid and light weight and this looks ideal for what you want
Do you think you could post a picture of how you rig this? I currently rig mine like you did at NAB, but interested in the new pilot modules.
I mounted the Mimic/Bush Pilot on the ring with a popNlock, took the Mimic antenna, put a piece of aluminum foil over the top of the whole thing and the RF problems went away and BushPilot worked well. The only hard part of the setup was getting the popNlock adjusted for different hand positions. I wish there were more mounting options for the MoviPro. It would be great if the 13mm post mount was available like the popNlock. It's a much better mounting solution for most of my applications.