Premium Members Dean Smollar Posted November 4, 2010 Premium Members Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 Hey everyone! I just got home from the Createasphere Expo in Burbank, where I got to try out a working test model of the RedRockMicro Wireless system. At the booth, they said this was the first time that they've let people really get their hands on it (which is understandable, seeing as how they kind of pulled it out of the spotlight for a bit after NAB and didn't release it on their projected "End of Summer 2010" date). Interestingly, the first two people at their booth were me and Nick Davidoff, and they let us both try it out. The guys at RedRock are really funny and cool; when they handed over the remote to each of us, they said, "Don't break it!" with little grins. At their booth, they had it hooked up to a 5D with a Zeiss ZE 50mm Prime lens. The first thing that impressed me was the base station. It is very compact extremely light weight and seems like it would be easy to mount anywhere; the one we saw was clipped onto one of the rods behind the 5d. It is capable of automatic calibration, and it works really well for a low budget system. One power line in, 3 lines out (labeled motor, accessory, and direct). They had it being powered off Anton Bauer mounted behind the camera, and it was running both the motor and their rangefinder at the same time just fine. Oh, and speaking of motors, they confirmed that, in addition to their own motors, it IS compatible with M-One and Heden motors (the motor they were using on the demo unit was Heden). When Nick asked if it would work with Preston motors, they said that they hadn't tested it but were optimistic that it would. The remote was really interesting. They had both units there (hard mount and Iphone/Ipod mount), but they were only working the demo with the hard mount. I had heard there was a slight delay in communication from remote to motor, but I didn't see one while operating. The follow focus is side mounted to the screen, but you can set it for either left or right hand operation. It runs on AA's, and they claimed that you could get days out of one set of batteries (though I imagine you lose a little bit more life when you add the Iphone/Ipod). There was a bit of what felt like friction resistance on the remote; I'm not sure how I feel about that. Also, the marking ring popped off a couple of times; they assured us that production models would lock in better. All in all, I was impressed with what I got to try out. They were hesitant to price it out, but one of the guys at the booth gave an estimate of $1500 for the remote, base and 1 motor (THEY WERE VERY CLEAR THAT THIS WASN'T THE OFFICIAL PRICE, but my guess is it probably won't stray too far from that), and they said the Rangefinder would be $495. I would have liked to test it out with the full setup (the Ipod remote, one of their motors & the Rangefinder), but what I got to use felt pretty polished. I'm glad they didn't rush it out to market in the summer, because they probably still have a few tweaks left to make, which is also why I'm hesitant to compare it to any of the other systems on the market. It would be nice to hear what some AC's out there think of it; if I were to add this to my package instead of a Bartech (which is guaranteed to be reliable), I want to make sure the guy who actually has to use it will feel comfortable with it. Dean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Sydney Seeber Posted November 4, 2010 Premium Members Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 i was under the impression the $1500 was for the hard wired version only and did not include a complete kit. If they are in fact selling a complete wireless FF for less than 30% of what was already considered a budget model, there must be some severe limitations. OR maybe I missed something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Dean Smollar Posted November 4, 2010 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 i was under the impression the $1500 was for the hard wired version only and did not include a complete kit. If they are in fact selling a complete wireless FF for less than 30% of what was already considered a budget model, there must be some severe limitations. OR maybe I missed something Sydney, I'd heard many different numbers ranging from 1-4k before today in regards to this system. There have been so many rumors about this unit going around that it's hard to say what the final price will be. I personally think it will end up being in the 2-3k range for a system, but that's just my guess. My main point was that i felt comfortable using it in the demo aside from a little resistance on the follow focus (compared to how smooth a Bartech is). The guy at the booth definitely said he "estimated" $1500 for the remote, the basestation and one RedRock Motor (which I didn't get to try) but wouldn't commit to the number (which makes sense), and he was very frank about the price of the rangefinder. I got the impression that their motor might not be as strong as an M-One or even a Heden, as they didn't seem comfortable endorsing it with EVERY lens out there. However, it is not a short throw system like the HoFo, and the compatibility of other motors is a plus for people who already have them. Personally, I'd like to get an M-One no matter what remote I go with, and it's nice to feel like I have options: the Bartech, which is a fantastic piece of machinery, and the RedRock, which has the potential to cost half of that. In the end, I'd personally rather not go with a system unless I'm certain that the AC's I'd be handing it to would want to use it, but I feel like if I were pulling focus I would be okay with it (then again, that's not my job). At the end of the day, even though I'm just making enough each month to break even as a Steadicam operator, when I get a WFF (which is the very next purchase I will make) I'm not going to pick the one that's most convenient for my wallet. I'm going to pick the one that's most appropriate for my market. Unless the RedRock can knock my socks off, I'm going with a BFD, and so far it's impressed me. Either way I'm selling a bunch of stuff in order to afford it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Brian Freesh Posted November 4, 2010 Premium Members Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 Just for reference, a BFD TX/RX is $2100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Dean Smollar Posted November 4, 2010 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 Just for reference, a BFD TX/RX is $2100. So then would a BFD with a quality motor come out to around $5000? Because that's the impression I've gotten from the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Brian Freesh Posted November 4, 2010 Premium Members Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 An M-One is $2500, the Heden M28 is $2100 I think. Speaking strictly Analog of course, I dunno how the BDR and digital motors fit in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Sydney Seeber Posted November 4, 2010 Premium Members Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 it's like 5100-5300 for a digital BFD setup (I think) and about $4500 or a little less for an analog single (M1) motor setup. Or at least as best I can tell. There are quite a few guys in the market now who are making something similar with the price point a little less but not all that much less, and in each case there's been a trade off in value, or at least it seems that way to me. That's why the $1500 price point doesn't bode well to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Dean Smollar Posted November 4, 2010 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 That's why the $1500 price point doesn't bode well to me I remember when it was first announced they said the remote would be $500. That changed really quick, and I have no trouble believing that with everything they say their system is capable of that it'll end up being much higher than $1500. The quoted price will probably change many times before they finally lock in on the release date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Eric Fletcher S.O.C. Posted November 4, 2010 Premium Members Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 in addition to their own motors, it IS compatible with M-One and Heden motors (the motor they were using on the demo unit was Heden). When Nick asked if it would work with Preston motors, they said that they hadn't tested it but were optimistic that it would. Then they are talking out of their A**. Since the Preston is a digital motor they would have to know if it would work or nit, since digital encoders are VERY different than analog. My bet is that the red rock unit is a repackage of someone elses hardware Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Jens Piotrowski SOC Posted November 4, 2010 Premium Members Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 in addition to their own motors, it IS compatible with M-One and Heden motors (the motor they were using on the demo unit was Heden). When Nick asked if it would work with Preston motors, they said that they hadn't tested it but were optimistic that it would. Then they are talking out of their A**. Since the Preston is a digital motor they would have to know if it would work or nit, since digital encoders are VERY different than analog. My bet is that the red rock unit is a repackage of someone elses hardware agreed Eric, digital motors will not work on an analog unit, smoke and mirrors......if you don't have the money for a Preston or Cmotion, BFD is the way to go.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Dean Smollar Posted November 4, 2010 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 in addition to their own motors, it IS compatible with M-One and Heden motors (the motor they were using on the demo unit was Heden). When Nick asked if it would work with Preston motors, they said that they hadn't tested it but were optimistic that it would. Then they are talking out of their A**. Since the Preston is a digital motor they would have to know if it would work or nit, since digital encoders are VERY different than analog. My bet is that the red rock unit is a repackage of someone elses hardware agreed Eric, digital motors will not work on an analog unit, smoke and mirrors......if you don't have the money for a Preston or Cmotion, BFD is the way to go.... I third that; I'm selling some stuff soon with the intention of going with the Bartech. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Jess Haas SOC Posted November 4, 2010 Premium Members Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 I remember when it was first announced they said the remote would be $500. If I'm not mistaken the release date was also supposed to be in 2008 :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Sydney Seeber Posted November 4, 2010 Premium Members Report Share Posted November 4, 2010 oh yeah... Did they have last year's iPhone in that thing still? Because based on this here video http://vimeo.com/13287420 the new one aint gonna fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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