Hey everyone. We got our movi in the other day. Got it setup and had no problems at all. Took it on its first shoot and loved it. Today we mounted our red rock micro wireless follow focus and started getting a lot of buzzing after we finished up testing everything out. (we balanced) I started messing around with the settings and had to turn stiffness way down. We stripped off the additional pieces we added and the problem was still there. Attaching a couple videos to see what everyone thinks I'm screwing up. Thanks!
Your stiffness settings appear to be too high. Looks like you're at 70% Auto Tune, which is probably too high. I Auto Tune at 50%, and even then I often get stiffness values that need to be decreased a bit. What stiffness values are you getting on Pan, Tilt, and Roll? If you go in the Tuning part of the app while the motors are buzzing, you can see red indicators of Noise in the motors. That will let you know which motors to decrease, but from your Movi's screen it appears to be the Roll axis that's working too hard.
Interestingly enough it defaulted to being so stiff when we built it.Only became an issue once we put our wireless follow focus on. Problem remained after.
One more thing: You need to 'Write' your Configuration settings in the app before powering down the Movi, or it will revert to its last-saved settings when you power back up. So if you change tunings, I would suggest getting in the habit of writing your settings to the Movi if you haven't already.
Also worth checking all the mounting points and hardware for your follow focus system are tight, a loose fitting somewhere will vibrate and ruin your day.
Graham and Chris both are spot on -- you're hearing one or more the MoVI Pro's motors oscillating because it/they are being a bit to over enthusiastic in stabilizing the gimbal. Getting the gimbal tuned and stabilized is, in every sense of the phrase, a balancing act (both mechanical and electronic). As Graham pointed out, if you use Autotune with too high a number the whole assembly can oscillate (high frequency) or vibrate (lower frequency). If you touch the gimbal, that acts as a mass dampener and alters the gimbal controller's perception of the "mass in motion." The recommendation is therefore always to tune the MoVI in the context in which you intend to use it. 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
Hi Jim, I often tune the Movi when it's docked or sitting on the Ring's feet, but I put a hand on it to dampen it a bit. This seems to work. The Movi Pro starts the Auto-Tune sequence so fast that I have to put a hand on it, push the Auto-Tune button with my other hand, and then decide if I want to bother bumping the Movi by adding the second hand to it. Lately, I've given up, and only put one hand on it for tuning. I've seen advice to tune it like you use it, even if that means hand-holding it while tuning it, but I've found the Movi doesn't like to be disturbed when it's auto-tuning. If it's moving or bumped at all, the auto-tune will likely fail. I've had to find wind-breaks to stop the wind blowing on it, and I've had to take the Movi out of the camera truck to tune it because people were walking around bouncing it. That said, I sometimes have to manually tune a motor that's vibrating or buzzing. In practice, I'm usually on a film set and in a hurry, moving from handheld to mounted on a stand to swinging from a rope with lens changes every 15 minutes.... I don't auto-tune it every time things change. If a motor's buzzing, or something's oscillating, I jump in the app and make a quick adjustment and send the Movi on its way.
Graham: You're absolutely correct -- during autotuning the gimbal controller is actually doing what I suppose would be called "micro-waggles"™ of the gimbal and then detecting how those decay and adjusting the tuning parameters accordingly. Hence the "tune it as you use it" -- and also that explains why, when introducing any extraneous vibrations while it's micro-waggling™, can fool the autotuning processing. When you put your hand on the MoVI it has a mass dampening effect that approximates what it's going to be like (more or less) when you hand hold it. Doing a quick autotune is indeed a valid way of dealing with the situation when a motor starts spazzing out (if you'll forgive my use of the technical term of art). 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
So Andy, is that an official yes place a hand on Pro while auto tuning? A still, non jarring hand. Thanks
It's more of an official "tune it like you plan to use it," Jim. So if you plan to hand hold it with both hands, tune it like that. If you plan to hand hold it one handed, tune it like that. 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
Sorry to revive a dead post. How did you get on Nate? I'm having very similar issues. Can't seem to get the buzz to go away and I'm sure I'm just missing something in the setup. I'm using blackjack firmware but previously had the same issue with v1.5. I was hoping the update would fix it or at least make it easier to adjust manually for a novice. Hi Graham. When you say you jump in and make a quick adjustment what do you change? I can reduce the buzz often by dropping stiffness but I have to drop it so low that the gimbal isn't really stabilising much anymore.
When it's buzzing, you should see it in the app. There are red meter lights that flash under the motor that's over-tuned. There, you can increase Filter or Reduce stiffness. Depending on the weight of the camera, you may not need a lot of stiffness. That said, it should still stabilize. Other things to look for: Make sure your cage clamps are all tight. Make sure you're using the top bar on the cage to bite the camera as well as the bottom. Make sure your Hold Strengths aren't too high. If you're using the ring, make sure it's not sitting on a slippery surface and has some dampening (carpet is better, having your hand or a sandbag on it will provide dampening) Can you post screenshots of your settings?
Thanks. I have double checked all the cage/rigging to ensure all is tight. Here are some screenshots. These settings bring the buzz down but don't completely eliminate it, and for my money I'd prefer the gimbal stiffer as with these settings it doesn't stabilise all the movement. Not the noise normally isn't as high as the screenshots. When I took those the camera wasn't actually mounted. For reference, the camera package is about 5.5kg.