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Movi Pro Lens Motors and My Experience With Redrock

Discussion in 'MōVI Pro' started by Chance Norris, Oct 12, 2018.

  1. Chance Norris

    Chance Norris New Member

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    Hello everyone, Hope everyone is having a good day. I know this has been talked about in other threads but let’s talk about lens gears for the Mõvi Pro.

    I’m tired of buying pieces of equipment that fail to deliver what they are promised and want to get a lens gear that works as advertised and still holds its value moving forward into the future.

    A little history of my experience first,

    When I first bought the Mõvi M5, I ordered the RedRock Micro Remote Finger Wheel bundle for $1,882.28. This bundle included the original stiff cables, and collins clamp. Immediately, there was an issue with attaching the Mõvi Rod clamp to my camera setup, because the Mõvi baseplate would not allow the camera to slide back far enough to balance. All kinds of different Redrock parts were purchased to make it work. This solution worked but it was clunky and not ideal. I ended up purchasing a Zacuto mini baseplate that solved the problem for small DSLR cameras to be balanced with rods. I also upgraded to the Microfiber cables which was another $400.00

    The original torque motor had its own problems and was not strong enough to work with my Zeiss CP.2 Super Speeds 35, 50, 85, and CP.2 15mm lens. Even after purchasing this setup, I found my self just using the Nikon D800 with 14-24 F2.8 set to infinity.


    Fast Forward to now,

    Recently, I purchased a Mõvi Pro, Mimic, and Bush Pilot. Now, all those problems above have been fixed like a higher baseplate, improved design with cables, and new options for lens motors.

    I reached out to RedRock after visiting the booth at NAB 2018. I discussed some of the problems I was having, and was told I could send in my current Torque motor and have it upgraded to the newer torque motor for $399.99. This motor was stronger than my current motor and I would have to buy a $150.00 Mõvi Pro cable. Right now, the same torque motor sells for $695.00. Also, the same motor is all over Ebay not even selling for half this price.

    So, I started looking at the SLS motor which buy design seems compact, supposed to be stronger, but I question whiter this solution works based on past experience. I read another thread similar to this where Redrock chimed in and offered up to let the person try out the (3) of these motors. I tried to get the Redrock to do the same but they said unfortunately they don’t have an option like this.

    I will eventually get to my point

    I’m now into about $3000 trying to get a RedRock lens motor to work on a Movi. I’m faced with the option to upgrade, try and sell what I have, purchase the SLS motor, or just go with a higher end product.

    RedRock has an option to send in the old Torque motor for 300 dollars towards the new SLS motor but, they are selling them for 1095.00 when Adorama / B&H has them listed for $900.

    I went ahead and purchased the SLS motor from Adorama for $900.00 but now the item is backordered. When you contact Redrock they say the item is available and ready to ship. Going back between both RedRock and Adorama you can’t get a clear answer when the item is going to ship unless you pay the $1095 it will ship today! It’s kind of sucks now to be into this for $4000 and still not have a good solution for lens control. I'm considering canceling order and looking at other options.

    Let this be a lesson for anyone considering the cheaper option you get what you pay for and I wish I would have looked at one of the other options in the beginning.

    Now let’s open this discussion to talk about the systems people are happy with like Preston, Heden, Chrosziel, and Hocus.
     
  2. Graham Futerfas

    Graham Futerfas Well-Known Member

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    If you're a Movi op, you'll have a hard time to make your money back on Preston. I find that I just need to provide a middle of the road option, and most productions will rent whatever the AC wants in the end. If I'm working with Arri mini, it's often convenient to rent the WCU4 with it, and in fact when I'm the DP, I insist on renting a WCU4 with the Arri because it just makes so many things more convenient (like playback and changing camera settings while on the Movi).

    I personally own a Bartech\FStop Digital with Heden M21 motor. The Heden motor burned out after 3 years and had to be repaired (cost $1200 to repair, with shipping to Sweden, so I should have just bought a new one). PLC Electronics, who makes the FStop digital MDR, has partnered with Heden to deliver an interesting new Follow Focus system that I saw at Cinegear. I live in the US, and have had a few PLC products need repair, and the problem has been shipping to Canada and the extra costs associated with that -- so it's something to consider, if you can buy from a more local company.

    But yeah, if you're buying the cheapest option, then that's what you'll get. The productions I work on probably wouldn't consider a Redrock or DJI Follow Focus system. That said, I've thought of buying a Redrock motor as a backup, just in case.
     
    Chance Norris likes this.
  3. Alejandro Selman

    Alejandro Selman New Member

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    Just to clarify, the offer was to loan out our Commander, and if you’re interested in borrowing it, we can extend that same offer so you can try it out.

    It works with your Mimic and your choice of lens control motor. Commander gives you the ability to control focus, iris, zoom, and gimbal’s pan, tilt, roll, plus run/stop with camera specific cable.

    Regarding our resellers, we don’t have control over how they stock or fulfill orders, so they are always the best contact for updates.
    If you order from Redrock, we're always happy to provide recommendations, inform you of any lead times, and assist you directly.

    Chance,
    It was good to catch up with you today over the phone, and I'm looking forward to hearing back from you soon.

    Graham,
    if you’re interested in our SLS or have any questions, feel free to contact me directly at alejandro@redrockmicro.com.
     
    #3 Alejandro Selman, Oct 16, 2018
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2018
    Graham Futerfas likes this.
  4. Tom Comet

    Tom Comet Member

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    [QUOTE="
    It works with your Mimic and your choice of lens control motor. Commander gives you the ability to control focus, iris, zoom, and gimbal’s pan, tilt, roll, plus run/stop with camera specific cable.
    [/QUOTE]

    FYI - Roll stop will only work with RED and not ARRI as that super power is a MoVI Controller, not Mimic thing (as I learned the hard way). This is not to dis RedRock in any way... Freefly really needs to get the Mimic to talk nice with the most popular camera in pro cinema these days - the ARRI Mini! Step it up boys!
     
  5. Chance Norris

    Chance Norris New Member

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    I want to thank Alejandro @ Redrockmicro for reaching out to me and sending a SLS motor to test with my Movi Pro and Lens Set.

    [​IMG]

    I have (4) Zeiss CP.2’s (3) are the Super Speeds (35mm, 50mm, and 85mm) which are extremely stiff by design. The 4th lens in the set is a 15mm CP.2 which is not stiff at all.

    [​IMG]

    I tested with the SLS lens motor with Movi Pro, Mimic, and Bush Pilot.

    [​IMG]

    The setup was extremely straight forward with the checklist provided by Redrockmicro.

    [​IMG]

    The 15mm lens was tested first and worked fine.

    [​IMG]

    I tested the 35mm, and 50mm with similar results, but had an issue with the 85mm which is the stiffest lens in the set. I was able to get the 85mm lens calibrated after adjusting the motor and performing the calibration a couple of times.

    [​IMG]

    My conclusion after the test is the issue is with the stiffness of the Super Speeds because the 15mm CP.2 worked fine.
     
    #5 Chance Norris, Jan 3, 2019
    Last edited: Jan 3, 2019
    Alejandro Selman likes this.

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