Hi all, as promised i would like to give a short review of the new Heden Carat follow focus. The system arrived in a neat case complete, including a M-26 VE motor, 4 gears, rx/tx, 2 scale-rings, and all cables... Weights and dimensions: Tx: 130 x 80 x 30 mm, weight: about 420 g Rx: 70 x 60 x 30 mm, weight: about 125 g Motor: 25 x 40 x 116 mm, excl. gear and clamp, weight: about 250 g The build quality is superb and what one would expect from a company which is in business for about 50 years now. The wheel knob feels similar to an Arri Wcu-4, and calibration can be done automatically, which doesn´t work on the most dslr-lenses, or manually, also lens- and knob limits can be programmed very easily. The calibrations and last settings is still valid after turning on and off, even after battery-change. That saves much time on set. The rx can be powered by 12-30 volts with included d-tap to lemo cable, the tx is powered by a standard 9V battery. I did some range - tests since i was a bit sceptic, because the wireless protocol is bluetooth, what i didn´t think to be reliable and safe. But i tested ranges up to 350 m outside and about 150 m in buildings which is more than enough in average set situations. The reconnect after losing range is very fast (< 3 sec). The system works flawless and very fast and accurate, the latency is nearly non existent. I must admit that the motor is quite heavy, but very powerful and silent. It worked on big Optimo-zooms as well as old Zeiss Distagon units. I am fortunate to own a smaller Heden motor (M21-VE) also, which i am using most of the time on the MōVI, since it is much smaller and weighs only 150 gr. All in all i am very happy with my decision! Open for further questions and discussions….. Best, Wolf
Hi Justin, i paid about 4100,00 $ for the complete package, but it may be higher now, since they had an IBC special deal, i was fortunate to get... I think it´s sold by Abelcine in U.S.…. Best, Wolf
Hi Wolf, It sounds like the ff to buy, do you not miss having the second channel? Iris as well as focus? Thanks
Hi Ben, no, not really. But in case i have a c-motion 2-channel in the shelf ;-) The Carat can also control the Fujinon Cabrio Zoom on all three channels…. Best, Wolf
Because it´s much smaller and lighter…. and the c-motion is out in rental quite often, and i wanted a system for the MōVI exclusively. Wolf
Thanks Wolf, that's good advice. I will go for the carat. The only other contender was rt motion, but they seem to be moving office and it's impossible to get hold of them. Thanks Ben
Did some additional tests yesterday, and: The Carat is much faster and more responsive than the C-motion 2-channel. So the 1st ac chose it to be the main ff device for our upcoming feature film, to be shot 85% on the MōVI. Wolf
Hey Wolf, could you explain in more detail your tests and findings for the tests you did on c-motion vs the carat? Which c-motion was it?
Hi Nick, sorry but this testing was nestly 1 1/2 years ago and i can't remember the details. The Heden is faster and more accurate and i still love it. But i'm also looking forward to get my WCU-4 with C-Force motors together with my Alexa mini in about 4 weeks.... Best Wolf
does anyone have a difficult times contacting Magnus? Does anyone know where to buy potentiometer for Heden? It's a fast response remote focus but very slow response customer service...