Am I missing something in Echo mode? Is it not possible to set the Movi CR down on a flat surface, then manually frame/record the ‘a’ and ‘b’ points by moving the camera(phone) without fighting the gimbal? As far as I can tell right now one has to pick up the whole unit, tilt & pan to get the a & b points. Seems like an oversight if this is so. For instance, if I want to do a time lapse of the night sky with the frame moving say left to right (ala Baraka) the Movi CR would have to be set on a solid surface to record the a&b points, not hand held.
Michael: Just override the gimbal to set your A and B points -- it's the correct way of doing it according to the tutorial. Cheers Andy Forensic Software & sUAV / Drone Analyst : Photographer : Videographer : Pilot (Portland, Oregon, USA): Trees=2, Ground=1, Props=11. The Ground Is The Limit™ ---------- Forensic Drone Analyst : Forensic sUAV Analyst : Forensic Unmanned Aircraft Analyst : Forensic Drone Expert
Ok, so what is being said is just go against the resistance the gimbal is putting out in order to set the a & b points? I find it hard to believe that this wouldn't eventually damage the gimbal, especially as the camera/gimbal snaps back to centre after you set the point. One would think that as in 'Smartpod' mode, the gimbal resistance is disabled to set the camera angle. Am I doing something wrong here?
Yes, just override the holding power of the brushless motors. Nothing bad will happen. I suspect that the Movi control unit can actually detect the override and just lets it happen. Andy Forensic Software & sUAV / Drone Analyst : Photographer : Videographer : Pilot (Portland, Oregon, USA): Trees=2, Ground=1, Props=11. The Ground Is The Limit™ ---------- Forensic Drone Analyst : Forensic sUAV Analyst : Forensic Unmanned Aircraft Analyst : Forensic Drone Expert
Hmmmmmm... okay, so I moved the camera against the holding power of the brushless motors to set an 'A' position of the gimbal at about 10 oclock (in Echo mode), and the whole gimbal just shuts down. I power up and try it again, does the same thing. I followed the process outlined, waited for the prompts.
That's odd. I did exactly what was shown in the tutorial (which I infer you watched) -- at no point does the Movi shut down. I did these steps: Powered up the Movi. Unlatched the pan axis. Tapped on the Majestic icon. Selected Echo A-B. Then overrode the motors to set an arbitrary point A. Pulled the trigger. Selected another point for B. Pulled the trigger. Tapped on Preview and the Movi performed the Echo move. If I understand correctly, your Movi powered down after you did step 5, right? Can you verify that the battery is above, say, 50% -- well, any value that isn't very low! Thanks Andy Forensic Software & sUAV / Drone Analyst : Photographer : Videographer : Pilot (Portland, Oregon, USA): Trees=2, Ground=1, Props=11. The Ground Is The Limit™ ---------- Forensic Drone Analyst : Forensic sUAV Analyst : Forensic Unmanned Aircraft Analyst : Forensic Drone Expert
You are right Andy. I recharged the MCR and it worked. But with all due respect, doesn’t it seem odd that to get the gimbal to do what the the app says will do entails forcing the gimbal? Would love to have a Freefly tech weigh in on this.
Hi Michael: No, it really doesn't seem that odd to me -- it's far faster to override the motors to do the positioning rather that, just as an hypothetical example, using buttons. Overriding brushless motors doesn't do any harm -- at least not on a well-designed gimbal. Andy Forensic Software & sUAV / Drone Analyst : Photographer : Videographer : Pilot (Portland, Oregon, USA): Trees=2, Ground=1, Props=11. The Ground Is The Limit™ ---------- Forensic Drone Analyst : Forensic sUAV Analyst : Forensic Unmanned Aircraft Analyst : Forensic Drone Expert
By the way, Michael, when your Movi was powering down when you moved it by hand, that suggests that the battery might have been very low and, when you override the brushless motors in the gimbal, it certainly temporarily increases the electrical current pulled from the battery. My working hypothesis was that this additional current draw was sufficient to cause the battery voltage to sag and thus trigger the Movi into powering off. Just sayin'.... Andy Forensic Software & sUAV / Drone Analyst : Photographer : Videographer : Pilot (Portland, Oregon, USA): Trees=2, Ground=1, Props=11. The Ground Is The Limit™ ---------- Forensic Drone Analyst : Forensic sUAV Analyst : Forensic Unmanned Aircraft Analyst : Forensic Drone Expert
Andy is correct. As seen in the tutorial video, it is perfectly safe to physically point the heading of the phone to frame your A and B points in Echo Mode. We would not have published the tutorial video if there was any risk to the integrity of the system by manipulating the Movi as shown. The resistance you feel is because the motors are engaged, so that you can also turn the whole Movi and the camera would follow your movements, to allow handheld framing. Also correct: holding the motors away from the "forward" position will draw more current, and if the batteries are very low in the Movi, will cause it to shut down if you hold it off-position for extended periods of time.
Bryan, it would help you guys to make that public - in your tutorial via offtext however. If I hadn't the tech gurus from AVT here in Germany who explained me long before this post that it's okay to do so, I were afraid too. Noone like to destroy its gadget baby by handling to gross
Hi Frank: I realize your posting was addressed to Bryan, but could you clarify what you mean by "in your tutorial via offftext," please. "Offtext" is not a word I understand. Thanks Andy Forensic Software & sUAV / Drone Analyst : Photographer : Videographer : Pilot (Portland, Oregon, USA): Trees=2, Ground=1, Props=11. The Ground Is The Limit™ ---------- Forensic Drone Analyst : Forensic sUAV Analyst : Forensic Unmanned Aircraft Analyst : Forensic Drone Expert
Offtext means either voice over or simply subtitled - however. In the main making clear "Yes, you CAN grab into the motors and don't damage anything"
Ah....I did find one other reference to it -- it looks like it's a word in German (or Schwiizerdütsch) -- sorry, I should searched for it before I asked. The only reference that Google found is here and the translation is "The off-text is the spoken text in a video post where the speaker is not visible." It's a useful word, but I don't think it's widely used in English -- but that could be my ignorance! EDIT: The term used in the USA, just for the record, is "voice over" (abbreviated to VO). While I think the tutorial is pretty clear on how to set the A-B points, your comments (and those of other folks) suggest that it's not widely known that you can override the gimbal's brushless motors without doing any harm. Freefly technical support reads the forum regularly, so I'm pretty sure Bryan will have seen your comments. Cheers Andy Forensic Software & sUAV / Drone Analyst : Photographer : Videographer : Pilot (Portland, Oregon, USA): Trees=2, Ground=1, Props=11. The Ground Is The Limit™ ---------- Forensic Drone Analyst : Forensic sUAV Analyst : Forensic Unmanned Aircraft Analyst : Forensic Drone Expert
I’ll add my two cents. I came here because I had the same concern as Michael, the OP. So thank you for clarifying that aspect. I do have another question. The tutorial differs quite a bit from the demonstration on the gomovi.com page (under Shooting) where Thadd(?) is shown selecting the A and B points by angling the Movi and hitting the trigger (presumably Tilt is unlocked). Is this an alternate way of doing the same or will it produce different results?
The guy in the Tutorial is Tabb Firchau, the founder and President of Freefly. You're quite correct, Michel: You can either move the gimbal by hand or frame the shot by moving the Movi itself -- either way, when you press the trigger the Movi CR then memorizes the position that the gimbal is in. Andy Forensic Software & sUAV / Drone Analyst : Photographer : Videographer : Pilot (Portland, Oregon, USA): Trees=2, Ground=1, Props=11. The Ground Is The Limit™ ---------- Forensic Drone Analyst : Forensic sUAV Analyst : Forensic Unmanned Aircraft Analyst : Forensic Drone Expert
Yup. He's "the man," "the big cheese" etc. He's one of the pioneers of using single-rotor helicopters to shoot video, and then switched over to multi-rotor Cinestar 6's and 8's and, currently, the ALTA 6 and 8. He is also a pioneer of the early computer-stabilized gimbals on the Cinestars....he didn't do it all single-handed, of course -- he's got a very talented team of people. Check the Freefly's Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freefly_Systems -- I've been using FF products since 2012; hard to believe how fast things have changed. Andy Forensic Software & sUAV / Drone Analyst : Photographer : Videographer : Pilot (Portland, Oregon, USA): Trees=2, Ground=1, Props=11. The Ground Is The Limit™ ---------- Forensic Drone Analyst : Forensic sUAV Analyst : Forensic Unmanned Aircraft Analyst : Forensic Drone Expert