Peter Hoare

Hi Tian, The end to end resolution of any FF system is limited by the resolution of the knob on the hand unit. The motor can't move by more steps than there are on the knob. As most systems use a potentiometer and analogue to digital converter to measure knob position, resolution is limited by the A to D, which on most micros is 12-bits. Axis1 uses a digital knob sensor with better than 16-bit resolution, maintaining the full 16-bit motor positioning resolution. Pete.

This is the one I used: LV4924 Worked fine for me, if it fails, you can google around and find hundreds of them... Pete.

Anyone in the UK or Europe, im happy to have a look, I can almost certainly source the spare potentiometer and have the facilities to machine and modify to suit. If its a problem with worn out gears, obviously I could not replace those as they won't be standard parts, but id be happy to have a look and see. If Don wanted to supply us with spares id be happy to service these motors for him in the UK and europe if that helps. Pete.

Jim even bought ME beer once!! Very generous.

Il be there, exhibiting on the Boxx stand with the Axis1.

Yes, Our motor is compatible with the BDR, and any of the other systems. Pete.

Hi Everyone, The Axis1 is now on sale! Finally! A few years have lead up to this, thanks to all who have offered encouragement or advice. You can buy online here, delivery will be around NAB time. There are parts arriving every day, and assembly will begin soon. http://www.hocusproducts.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=16http://www.hocusproducts.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=16

You coming to NAB Will? Il be there, on a stand somewhere hopefully. If not, Cinegear and the Steadicam expo.

Hi Everyone, Just a quick note to say we will be taking orders for the Axis1 starting February 1st. The system is on the site now, have a look here: http://www.hocusproducts.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=8 Any questions, just ask, happy to help. Pete.

Hi Wolfgang, We are releasing the Axis1 soon, after a long hard slog. I have been doing all the website listings today, ready to put the purchase page live in the next week or so. The price in UK pounds is £3650 including the motor, cables etc. Everything you need to use the system. Pete.

Hi Zoltan, If your gonna be at NAB or Cinegear, il be there, happy to give you a demo. Pete.

Hi Zoltan, hah, hardly a retreat. Development is all done, we are in final stages of testing (in the field and on the bench) and theres a bit of businessey stuff to finish off and we will enter full production shortly. Its a good system, im very proud of it. No lag, very fast (as many of you will have seen at Cinegear or NAB) very accurate and quiet, and very solidly built. Obviously I would say those things, so hopefully you will get the chance to see it for your self soon. We will have it at NAB and Cinegear, and we intend to start sending demo units round in the coming months as well. Pete.

The RS port is 2amp max (thats between both of them) so depending on the motor and the stiffness of the lens, you may or may not go over 2amps. We have had this problem with our system too, I always try and make sure people power off a Dtap....

Haven't confirmed 100 percent yet, but the price will probably include the gears, clamps, cable and a nice little Peli 1060 clear case with a custom insert. Pete.

Whoops, I misread your post. Yes, your right, 1800 dollars is the target for the motor alone. Thanks, Pete.

Peter Hoare showed off his new Axis system (visible here) with a new transmitter and receiver and his new HPM-1 digital motor. The responsiveness was remarkably fast (that's just in my opinion, I'm sure seeing it will impress anyone) and affordable at about $1800? Standard digital motor connections, works with Preston or BDR. Hi Wlliam, Not sure where you got 1800 from, that may be the pound price of our basic system converted into dollars. The Axis1 with the motor, cables and the peli case will be about $5000, but our US sales and service agent, Illya Friedman at Hot Rod Cameras will set the final price for units sold into the US. You were right about motor compatibility, our RX unit will control any digital motor (although you wont achieve the same top speed as you see with our motor) and our motor works with other digital systems, tested with Preston, Varizoom, Cmotion, and the BDR. Thanks, Pete.

This is a quick video we did at Cinegear on the Xenar lenses: We have actually limited the speed of the system in the software as we felt it might damage lenses to move them at the true top speed of the systems capability. We can of course tweak this limit if we feel necessary. I have seen the BDR in action, I don't remember it being as fast as ours, but I could be wrong. Im happy to comply with any tests people want to see to prove it one way or the other. Was good to finally meet you Eric, here is the link to the company that made my steel cards by the way... Im sure they have a US branch but cant seem to find the details online anywhere... http://www.plasmadesign.co.uk/metal-business-cards/ Pete.

Have a look at the Paralinx Arrow. Its fairly new, im sharing a booth with them at Cinegear. Its very small and light, its like a USB stick with an HDMI plug on it, it almost weighs nothing. Its uncompressed 1920x1080 HD with very low latency maybe 2 frames or so. Its cheap at 999 dollars including cables.

Hi Jim, Your welcome to test on our camera at Cinegear if you dont need to do it before then... Pete.

Hi Afton, Thanks for your kind words. I have three systems and will be leaving one behind in LA with HotRod cameras after cinegear, anyone that wants to see it is welcome to borrow it at some stage, use it on a job, abuse it drop it etc. Pete.

Hi Everyone, As Mark said, I didn't ever build the Hofo to compete against anything, at the time there was nothing in that end of the market. Some people can make it work for them in place of a higher end system, but at the cost of the motors mechanical limitations and some noise. My new system which I have been working on for ages now, has recently gone through a name change, from HoFoPro to Axis1. Our 3ch system will be Axis3. I have paired up with an incredibly experienced motion control engineer to bring this product to market, and I am very happy with the end result. We are going through the final stages of testing at the moment and we hope to enter production soon. The motor and receiver unit are cross compatible with Heden and Preston motors and other digital hand units as well such as Cmotion, Varizoom etc. Heres a video of our system in action on an enormous master zoom at NAB. As you can see, its very fast and responsive, and we had no issues with radio. The motor is also almost silent with only two internal moving parts. Some more info regarding the name change and our partnership with the MoCo company can be seen on our soon to be relaunched website: http://www.hocusproducts.com/axis1.php We will have a few units at Cinegear and the stabilizer expo, I will be at the Hotrod cameras stand. Thanks a lot, Pete.

Im pretty flabby and tall, and I got a strange shaped back, and I can fly all the tiffen vests without too many issues. The flyer and Pilot vests are a bit too small, but they fit fine. They looked like a small animal grabbing a huge tree or something, always made ma laugh. Pete.

Il Be there, and Mikko Wilson will be with me likely. So did the swinging motorbikes of death get a bit too much then? ;-)

We use stainless screws in everything we make and have them electroplated black for exactly that reason...

The screws in my flyer rusted and went orange too, you can swap the screws for stainless, they wont rust but they will be shiny unless you get them plated. Pete.