Back at work for 2014 and converting our Movi from MR back into hand held. Just testing with a 5D3 and 24-105 lens so very light but i discovered pan motor vibration when I was holding the top handle in a low position. As soon as i touched the handle with my other hand the vibration went away. When I held the movi with 2 hands on the vertical grips at chest height I get no vibrations. Pan stiffness was set quite high - around 60. I then drop it down to 30 which elimates the vibration. Im 99% sure this is normal and my pan stiffness was just set to high, but I find it odd that i the vibration only happens when I hold the movi with the top handle. Can someone tell me im not crazy and am doing everything correctly? Cheers
Have you flown this configuration often? I've done similarly-weighted configs frequently, and I can say that 60 on the pan motor is not particularly high. The first thing I would assume is that the pan balance is off. With the gimbal off, when you pick up one side of the crossbar, does the gimbal spin around? Try opening up the graph on the configurator, choose "motors" and check the percentages (when it's not oscillating, holding onto the side handles or something). It shows you how hard each motor is working when it's in resting mode. An out-of-balance rig will show a value consistently higher than 5%. 3% or less is the money. Keep in mind that if you bump the rig those values will jump, or if the rig is swaying back and forth those numbers will stay up, so try to steady the rig as much as possible, then check.
Hi Austin cheers for the reply. No this i the lightest camera i've put on the gimbal so far. Before this its been fs100, c300 and Epic. The pan was definitely balanced correctly but I will go back and try what you've suggested. Putting the blackmagic 4k on the gimbal end of the week, it'll hopefully weigh a bit more.
Hi Joe, I had a similar problem with my 5D with the 24-105 lens. I added a camera plate to the MoVI slider to give it more weight. Also i found an improvement when switching to just a 24mm lens. Could the fact that the zoom moves cause the motors to vibrate. Just a thought. Definitely checking out the graph mode. Thanks for the tip Austin. Robert
If you change the zoom setting then you may need to rebalance since elements inside the lens are shifting.
I balance the 24-105 at 70mm and then finesse the stiffness settings to make sure that the MōVI doesn't oscillate when at either end of the zoom. The balance definitely shifts as the glass moves, though. Andy.
Hi, In addition to was Austin mentioned, the 'motor percentages' should be viewed when the stiffness settings are at their Default setting, (PAN 10/ROLL 10/TILT 5) BEFORE you have adjusted the stiffness settings, not after. Then see if they are at or around 5%. I would suggest just selecting 'Default Config' or 'Default Settings' in the drop down menu before viewing the Motor % screen. Chris
Cheers Chris. Yes Tim, i have access to one of the BM4k beta units. We'll have a 2nd unit in a few days with updated boards too. Heres a pic, excuse my messy build, i was in a rush to get things balanced/prepped before the camera had to leave on another job.