Hi guys, I just wanted to put up a quick post about my experiences so far with the Pro. This thing has been working great. Aside from the pan balance issue it has been well worth the money. If I was going to complain about anything it would be the lack of balancing knobs like the Ronin 2 has for adjusting balance on each axis. When you have a heavy payload on like we did two nights ago, the vertical tilt balance is a little testy to get right. Especially when you are measuring each side to make sure that you keep the cage square. I am still only using one of the OEM batteries to power the unit and it is only powering the gimbal and the Connex downlink. Wayne Mann www.helicamhighdefmedia.com
We spend so much time here talking about Movi Pro problems, it's easy to not mention the amazing things the Movi Pro can do. Do you mean Vertical Center of Gravity balance, or Tilt Balance? I guess I'm so used to balancing the Movi Pro by pushing on the camera that I felt awkward locking and unlocking things when I balanced the Ronin 2. I'm sure you get used to either system, but I like having a lighter gimbal, which is the result of having less "stuff" on there. I don't take out a measuring tool to keep things even on the sides, though. I just feel it and eyeball it. Do you really measure it? There are two ways to do Vertical Center of Gravity adjustments. The easiest is to tip the camera straight up or down, and slide the adjustment until the camera stays in place. The other way, and I use this with longer lenses that would otherwise hit the Pan motor or the bottom of the ring if you tilted straight up or down, is to tip the camera on it's side and adjust it until it will sit there.
Hi Graham, Yes, the vertical center of gravity balance. With a heavy load it is very touchy. I unlock the top bar locks and then tilt the camera lens up and then unlock the bottom locks and move the camera back and forth in a horizontal plane relative to the table that I am working on. Once you get it close is when it gets really touchy to get perfect. I have been balancing gimbals for a very long time and it is nothing new, it is more that the camera packages are getting heavier and heavier. Yes, I really do measure the bottom bar assembly to make sure that it is exactly parallel to the tilt axis. That is made easier if the four vertical carbon tubes are exactly centered in their mounts. I do not use the locking levers for those vertical bars to balance the vertical center of gravity. If those carbon tubes are left centered it is easy to measure from the bottom of those tubes to the bottom of the bottom horizontal tubes to get everything square. If that bottom tube assembly that holds the Movi sensor is not square to the tilt axis you will get unwanted interactions in the system. Meaning if you give stick command to tilt the camera down you will also get some horizontal roll movement at the same time and possibly some pan axis movement. The only gimbals that I have ever had that had no interactions at all were gimbals that had three separate sensors and the sensors for the gyros were mounted on each axis. I have three Movis and none of them are perfect, but neither is my original Ronin. Wayne Mann www.helicamhighdefmedia.com
Fascinating information. Thanks for taking the time to post that, Wayne. I have so many lens and battery changes every day, so I can't imagine taking the time to measure things, but I can see what you mean about getting the sensors perfectly horizontal.