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RED Rock FF Problems?

Discussion in 'Follow Focus' started by William Carnahan, Mar 19, 2014.

  1. William Carnahan

    William Carnahan New Member

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    Been having some issues with my motor. For some reason it will work sometimes and not other times. I thought at first it was a problem with the power, but the same power supply seems to work with a bartec.

    Just curious if anyone else has more experience with that...
     
  2. Andres Torres

    Andres Torres New Member

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    Check the gear on the motor and make sure it's tight. One day my RR motor seemed dead until I fully clicked the gear back in.
     
  3. William Carnahan

    William Carnahan New Member

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    Ok rad, I will check that out today.
     
  4. Zach Rockenstyre

    Zach Rockenstyre New Member

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    Hey Guys,

    I work with Hello World Communications and we have been having problems with the MicroRemote system. About a week ago, we spoke with Redrock at length and tried a couple different fixes including a firmware update on our base station and swapping out our motor cables. Unfortunately, this hasn't resolved the issue. This week, we've gotten two more complaints from our clients that the system was not working. After consulting with the owner of the company and our clients, it seems like the most popular system with our clients on the Movi is Heden's new Carat system. We've got one of them on order in hopes that we can replace our MicroRemotes with Carats in the coming weeks.

    I am curious whether anybody else is having similar problems with the MicroRemotes. The most common problem that is reported is that the motors will spin out of control after being calibrated. We also frequently get complaints that manual calibration will not work in that the motor will not rotate the focus ring during calibration. I personally had this experience just a few days ago helping someone with their checkout. In the past, there's also been complaints that the motor does not consistently hit the infinity and close focus marks on the lenses.

    Has anybody else had similar experiences?

    Thanks,
    Zach
     
  5. Matt Sharp

    Matt Sharp Member

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    I've had issues with the motor not having enough torque during manual calibration, as well as the motor spinning wildly after calibration.

    I have resorted to using auto calibration wether the lens has hard stops or not. For Canon L stills glass you have to stop the motor by hand. It's best to let it spin slightly past the ends, and then adjust the hard stops on the the handheld unit for the correct range.
     
  6. Loren Simons

    Loren Simons Member

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    Matt and William,

    Both the problem with the motor spinning out of control after a manual calibration, and the motor appearing to not have enough torque during manual calibration, have been addressed in the most recent firmware.

    Please contact support@redrockmicro.com and they will get your system updated.

    Zach,

    Please make sure you updated all your basestations with the newest firmware we sent you, that does solve the problems you are having.

    You may also want to check out the electronic backlash feature of the microRemote to ensure you are consistently hitting marks in both directions. Backlash can occur in a lot of places in a camera setup, lens mount, rail mount, motor clamp, and we have developed a unique way to electronically compensate for any backlash you may have in your setup. Please contact our support team for more details.
     
  7. Matt Sharp

    Matt Sharp Member

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    Thanks Loren. I sent an email to support for firmware update instructions.
     
  8. Loren Simons

    Loren Simons Member

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    No problem Matt,

    Sorry you had to come up with a work-around. If you ever have any problems don't hesitate to contact the support team, they'll take care of you!
     
  9. Michael McVay

    Michael McVay Active Member

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    Loren,

    I am having the same issue with my system too. After I do any calibration, it spins like crazy in one direction and nice and slow in the other. I have called support last week, called and emailed sales and spoke to Rachel Howard who said she would help get support in touch with me yesterday. As of now I still have not gotten a call from anyone - and since it is not possible to reach support by calling them I am really stuck. I quoted your above response to Rachel, sent in my serial number on the Base Station, etc. If I simply need a firmware upgrade like you mention above, I would hope someone could simply reach out to me and point me to it. Purchasing a product that does not work upon arrival and then struggling to get support on it is very difficult to deal with. I emailed Rachel again today after nobody called yesterday to tell her that I am going to end up missing an equipment check tomorrow evening for an upcoming project.

    Please advise...

    Michael
     
  10. Brian Valente

    Brian Valente New Member

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    Hey Matt - I understand from our support guys you've spoken to them and they have figured out what you need. If you need anything else please drop me a line brian@redrockmicro.com

    Thanks
     
  11. Matt Sharp

    Matt Sharp Member

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    Got the firmware updated, and it seems to have corrected the spinning freely issue. I only had time to do a quick test on it. Thanks for the response.


    Michael, if you haven't received instructions on the firmware update, you can pm me your email and I'll forward you the firmware response from Redrock.
     
  12. Michael McVay

    Michael McVay Active Member

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    Thanks Matt...appreciate it.

    Red Rock did call me today and they think it is a bad cable. Apparently the right angle connector that plugs in the motor is not supposed to be able to move at all after it is plugged in. They got a bad batch of cables at some point they said. Mine could turn 360 degrees after it was plugged in. So they sent me an RMA to send back the motor, cable and base station. Apparently they looked up my serial number and I should have had the latest firmware on it, but they wanted to double check that as well.

    Looks like I am going to be without it for a while. The RMA said to expect up to 30 days to get it back.

    I just bought this 60 days ago as I was thinking ahead about my Movi Controller after seeing it integrated with the RRM follow focus at the AUVSI show in Orlando. Unfortunately I had not even opened the box until my Movi Controller arrived...at which point I was beyond the 30 day return period (i bought it when it was in stock at B&H to avoid the 6 week order delay). Lesson learned...open and test your new gear as soon as it arrives.
     
  13. Michael McVay

    Michael McVay Active Member

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    Thought I would post an update on my RRM Follow Focus. Sent it in as requested by RRM and got a message from Brian about sending me a loaner system while mine was in being looked at. This was out of the blue as I had not been offered that initially when they asked me to send mine in, and a couple days after confirming my shipping address, etc I had a box at my door with everything I needed to be up and running. I had thanked Brian for arranging everything for me and he told me to give the service guys all the credit - either way it was a fantastic gesture on their part, got me out of an equipment jam and takes the pressure off the turn around time on getting mine back.

    Its a great feeling when someone goes above and beyond for their clients - thank you very much RRM (Brian, service and anyone else who helped me with this).

    Michael
     
  14. Brad Allen

    Brad Allen New Member

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    Hey Guys,

    I've been working on a micro budget feature for the past 6 months that we've been using the Red Rock FF system on in combo with our M10. M10 has been awesome but the RedRock has given us so much grief over the shooting period. We're now on our 4th unit as all the others failed after a period of time and had to be shipped back. Support is about to send me instructions for a firmware update today as we are still finding problems with this 4th unit (such as manual calibration not working, torque being really poor even on the highest setting, the system loosing it's calibration after being set and manual calibration not translating correctly through to the remote).

    At this point we've actually paid more in rentals to keep the production running while the unit has been off in RMA land than what the unit is worth. Hopefully we'll manage to get through the last 5 shooting days without having to RMA it again, but just wanted to share our experience so you guys know you aren't alone.

    As sad as it is, it's nice to hear we're not the only ones facing issues! :)
     
  15. Brian Valente

    Brian Valente New Member

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    Brad how are you powering the microRemote?
     
  16. Michael McVay

    Michael McVay Active Member

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    Hi Brad. I would be curious to know if you have a solution for the base station losing its calibration. I experienced that one the day I unboxed by loaner unit and again yesterday on multiple occasions. What I have been able to observe, is that the base station goes through a power cycle - which requires a new calibration after it is done starting back up.
     
  17. Brad Allen

    Brad Allen New Member

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    Hi Brian,

    Nothing too exotic on our end - just a D-tap from a V-lock battery :)
     
  18. Brad Allen

    Brad Allen New Member

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    Hey Micheal,

    No solution on my end so far for calibration dropping out. Support is telling me it's possibly an auto shut off to protect the base station when it's drawing too much current. However, I'm not sure why it would be drawing too much. It only really happens on lenses that are a little stiffer to turn that the others that are in the kit. So my limited guess work says that the motor trying to turn those lenses is drawing too much current? I honestly have no idea - in real world terms they aren't particularly tough lenses at all to turn. The bartech's we've been hiring to get us through the down periods have never complained once.
     
  19. Michael McVay

    Michael McVay Active Member

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    Brad,

    When mine lose calibration it has been due to a power cycle of the base station. Essentially the base shuts off for about a second, turns back on - which requires a re-calibration. I am going to try some different power sources / cables to see if the problem is in the power supply before it gets to the base station, the connection at the base station or something in the base station itself.

    I'll let you know how it goes. Good luck with yours.
     
  20. AJ Lodge

    AJ Lodge New Member

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    Hey Everybody,

    Redrock is is readying a new firmware update: the microRemote 2.0! It addresses issues above and adds some features as well. We don't yet have all the documentation but it will be available with the official release.

    If you are interested in early access, PM me for details!
     

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