3D Steadicam

[David Luckenbach]

Pedro, Nice work regarding your 3D postings.

 

Thought I'd post a pict. of the 3ality 3D platform on a GPI PRO steadicam. 1st AC Mark Santoni and a engineer are prepping the rig for

the 'untitled Spider-Man Reboot' as it is called.

 

We are flying two RED 'Epics' with Arri Ultra Primes while recording to a card. The whole package (sled + 3ality platform + 2 Epics + 2 lenses + 3 Dionic HC Batteries + Misc. electronics ) is weighing roughly at 76 lb. with Vest and Arm it is 100 lbs.

 

The challenges are: Balancing the rig, Wireless transmission, Power consumption, WEIGHT, Side-to-side balance when the interaxial is adjusted during the shot, Line-of-sight to the monitor and I'm sure stuff we haven't come across yet. The photo's are of a steadicam in the early stages of prep so ignore things that are taped on, loose wires, etc. You may notice the battery component on the bottom of the sled s a little different. This is a prototype design that GPI is working on for mass production.

 

I also flew the PACE rig on "Pirates 4" with 2 RED's.... I find both the rigs way too heavy, ball busters to say the least, hats off to anyone that has a smile on their face when carrying one of these rigs around.

 

Thanks

Dave L.

[RobVanGelder]

I am very interested in this camera: the Ikonoskop A-cam DII, and the prototype 3D version that they are offering.

The single chip camera is now shipping and I think a very nice HD package could be made with this.

Even with 2 separate cameras the weight issues will nearly disappear.

There might be some adjustment needed on the DATA-side, with 220 mb/sec in Raw it is something to consider.

 

Has anybody more news about this?

[Lawrence Karman]

A tip of my hat to you guys crazy enough to hump that weight around. Hope you are getting well paid for it.

[Pedro Guimaraes SOC]

 

Hey Pedro, thanks for a great thread.

 

What's the IA (IO) on this little baby? I wonder if a super lightweight setup could be achieved with these to work off the Tango (under 6lbs.)

 

This is about the best we could get on the parallel rig a few years ago at Paul's first workshop in '09.

 

I think 1.5" IO. You would have to run 2 sdi cable down the "arm" of the tango....but yes could be made to work.

 

Although For the kind of shots you can do with a tango....I have to say majority of the time I think we would require less than 1.5" IO.... but it would be interesting to test. If anyone in LA has a Tango and wants to play.....contact me.

 

It's really about finding creative shots that make the most of the tango while working within the constraints of the fixed 1.5" IO.

 

testing...testing...

[Pedro Guimaraes SOC]

Pedro, Nice work regarding your 3D postings.

 

Thought I'd post a pict. of the 3ality 3D platform on a GPI PRO steadicam. 1st AC Mark Santoni and a engineer are prepping the rig for

the 'untitled Spider-Man Reboot' as it is called.

 

We are flying two RED 'Epics' with Arri Ultra Primes while recording to a card. The whole package (sled + 3ality platform + 2 Epics + 2 lenses + 3 Dionic HC Batteries + Misc. electronics ) is weighing roughly at 76 lb. with Vest and Arm it is 100 lbs.

 

The challenges are: Balancing the rig, Wireless transmission, Power consumption, WEIGHT, Side-to-side balance when the interaxial is adjusted during the shot, Line-of-sight to the monitor and I'm sure stuff we haven't come across yet. The photo's are of a steadicam in the early stages of prep so ignore things that are taped on, loose wires, etc. You may notice the battery component on the bottom of the sled s a little different. This is a prototype design that GPI is working on for mass production.

 

I also flew the PACE rig on "Pirates 4" with 2 RED's.... I find both the rigs way too heavy, ball busters to say the least, hats off to anyone that has a smile on their face when carrying one of these rigs around.

 

Thanks

Dave L.

 

Thanks you for contributing your experience with the new 3ality rig!

 

For those of you that don't know, The 3ality rig is called the TS5. It is very new and 3ality is not a very "public" company. I hope to soon be able to test it out myself. This is their first "smaller" beamsplitter. They are are calling it their handheld/steadicam model. I will reserve further judgments until I get a chance to take a look at it and evaluate it properly.

 

3ality is a industry leader and has a great reputation for making great 3D images. They use advanced electronic systems in thier rigs and they have done a lot of broadcast 3D projects.

 

here is another look at the rig in handheld mode.

 

 

 

As you mentioned it is not so small or light....making things...interesting to say the least.

 

There is alot of as you put it "electronics/etc" that go into making most 3D rigs work. This is where the ATOM is interesting...they are building in all the electronics inside the frame of the rig. This will clean up alot of the "cable spaghetti" that happens on 3D setups.

 

ALL THE CHALLENGES, you describe as common 3D steadicam challenges that rig manufacturers are hoping to address with every new design....unfortunately I wish more of them would get some talented operators to help with the design BEFORE they put the rig into production!

 

BTW,

I haven't seen many smiles on any operators while operating any of these setups! As far as me....I'm always smiling!

[Pedro Guimaraes SOC]

I am very interested in this camera: the Ikonoskop A-cam DII, and the prototype 3D version that they are offering.

The single chip camera is now shipping and I think a very nice HD package could be made with this.

Even with 2 separate cameras the weight issues will nearly disappear.

There might be some adjustment needed on the DATA-side, with 220 mb/sec in Raw it is something to consider.

 

Has anybody more news about this?

 

It is indeed and interesting camera....haven't seen any here in hollywood yet. Like I mentioned in above posts, the main issue with thier twin lens configuration is the fixed IO. and with PL mounts that fixed IO is probably around 3.5-4" !!! which let me tell you is ALOT.

 

That really limits the use of that camera and most importantly on a steadicam.

 

Now 2 of thier 2D camera bodies is an intresting idea. Unfortunatly they chose to make thier camera body "long" which might create some challenges....then again I'm not sure of the measurements.

 

I would love to try them out! Let us know if you ever get your hands on one.

[David Willert]

Hey Pedro!

 

Also a big thnx from me. Very informative post, will surely be re-reading it in the future. Also nice to see how it develops, think it will stay very much updated, since like you said, there is news almost every day. Ill be just observing and learning ;)

 

 

cheers,

 

 

David

[RonBaldwin]

 

 

As you mentioned it is not so small or light....making things...interesting to say the least.

 

love to know how much that thing weighs. What's in the backpack? Lunch?

[Pedro Guimaraes SOC]

More RED/3D/steadicam delight,

 

 

Joey and guys over at Element Technica were nice enough to invite me back to test fly the 2 new configurations in their lineup. Both of them utilizing the small Neutron rig.

 

13lbs. bare no cameras. The p+s Freestyle bare weighs 15lbs.

 

 

This light weight combined with the lightweight scarlet and mini primes and small heden motors and a new 8-motor Camin (or upcoming ET lens control) result in the lightest and highest resolution 3D rig.

 

Also the only rig you can spin 360 with your gimbal all the way to the top!

 

Also the only 3D rig I have been able to dynamic balance! (least of which I can actually spin it on the post!)

 

truely small and a total game changer when it comes to what we can now do with 3D steadicam. While still shooting beautiful RED 3k images.

 

 

Well, see for your self. Here is a quick video I put together.

 

 

or youtube

 

[Pedro Guimaraes SOC]

Next we tested the new feature where you can swap mirror boxes from the bigger Atom?Pulsar! This allows us to use EPICS and PL mount primes on a neutron. I used superspeeds but Ultraprimes would also work.

 

here is the side by side

 

 

Approx. 3lbs heavier only.

 

Since if you notice the mirror box rods are not even exposed the box is essentially slid all the way in which helps eliminate any flex coming from rods.

 

With the epics mounted, you can still spin the rig 360 (it's alot closer) but still clears.

 

 

If compared to ATOM/Epic combo this should be at least 10lbs. lighter!

 

 

**A note about the battery hanging off the back.

 

As with all beamsplitter steadicam wee need weight back there to counteract the front heaviness of beamsplitters. What you see is essentially a placeholder for the upcoming "balance unit", ajabox(genlock), Downconverter, Modulous transmitter and CAMIN/MDR lens control receiver.

 

All those items necessary to shoot provide just the perfect weight to restore proper balance. Since I didn't have any of that stuff I used a dionicHC.

 

 

It's important to note, if I was prep'in these setups for an actual job there is lots more room for tweaking and improvement.

 

Here is the video of the Neutron(Pulsar box), Epic, Pl lens combo.

 

 

or youtube

 

 

 

 

 

 

After this test and my on set/location experiences with the neutron this year, I'm inclined to say that this is clearly the leading 3D steadicam combination. In terms of regular steadicam operation and stereography. The fact that the ET rigs talk to a Sony MPE for 3D broadcast work(they can control the rigs from the broadcast truck and the Sony software corrects any alignment and lens tracking issues), all the upcoming integration that ET is planning with other vendors regarding metadata and other cool features....well they are clearly leading the field right now.

 

Thanks to ET, Red and HD Rentals for letting me borrow some lenses.

[Alfeo Dixon SOC]

I think 1.5" IO. You would have to run 2 sdi cable down the "arm" of the tango....but yes could be made to work.

 

Although For the kind of shots you can do with a tango....I have to say majority of the time I think we would require less than 1.5" IO.... but it would be interesting to test. If anyone in LA has a Tango and wants to play.....contact me.

 

It's really about finding creative shots that make the most of the tango while working within the constraints of the fixed 1.5" IO.

I think Tiffen only has three so far... when I did Ídolos in São Paulo, I had the only other Tango while Ruben had the 1st one at IBC, but just saw a production model a few weeks ago visiting the boys at the Georgia workshop.

 

Whats the power situation for it? No problem on the SDI cables, its the thicker power supply cables that would possibly booger it up. In terms of IA, I'm thinking no closer that 6' and if anything a small parallel rig with one motor that could change the IA.

[Michael Tsimperopoulos SOC]

Then again...who needs glasses ? :blink:

 

[Pedro Guimaraes SOC]

There is a new "lower cost" rig out there, around $9,000

 

Therefore there is a good chance that we might run across this rig on the lower budget shows. The owner brought it by my prep the other day for me to check out.

 

14lbs. Looks pretty good. Doesn't have pitch control but unless I get a chance to use this rig on an actual job then I will reserve my opinion until I have more experience on it. Naturally you tend to get what you pay for and there is some flex and probably some other issues that might be found once there is more field expirience with this rig. For now it looks intresting.

 

http://hurricane-rig.com/

 

The private owner here in LA is awaiting delivery of his Sony F3 cameras, as soon as he get them he said he will meet with me again for a test flight.

 

Should be a good lower budget package option.

 

Here's a few pics I snapped.

 

 

Convergence and IO plate.

 

Bottom camera has a roll adjustment.

 

I was too busy preping a 3D music video that I was operating steadicam on for me to build it out with cameras and test fly it. Too bad since I think it might fly well. I'll find out soon once he gets his new cameras.

[Pedro Guimaraes SOC]

There will be a event held by the Steadicam Guild at HDRentals this sat. here in LA.

 

(Guild members only)

 

Paul Taylor will moderate and I will also be on hand to help out pitch in and also demo the new Cmotion Lens control the Cvolution with 8 motor receiver.

 

I believe the event starts at noon.

 

located at,

 

http://www.hdcamerarentals.com/

 

There will be 3-4 3D rigs to fly and practice with and I'm sure other cool stuff.

 

That's all the info I have....if you know more post it!

[Pedro Guimaraes SOC]

Great news!

 

The guys over at Element Technica called me to test fly the Neutron Rig with the Scarlets and the new balance compensator today.

 

I was anxious to test out the compensator unit since it's the first design to execute some ideas I always though would work better than what P+S and Pace are doing.

 

This compensator unit will attach to the rear of any element technica rig (neutron, pulsar, atom) and allows the stereographer to change IO and convergence during a shot and not upset the balance on your steadicam!

 

 

 

Kudos to Element for listening and coming up with a working prototype that works better than I had imagined! Certainly better than any other rig out there! Watch the video and see for yourself.

 

Due to precise calibration of the counterweight during the initialization of the system it maintains balance during convergence and during IO changes.

 

The unit is still a prototype so there are wires hanging out the design is not finalized. We are using the battery as a counter weight and also to possibly power the top camera and access.

 

The idea of a unit that goes on the back is perfect since we need weight there anyway to counterbalance the front heaviness of the rig.

 

 

 

The test was a complete success! I was amazed there there was virtually no movement at all! I flew the rig while he changed IO+conv. and I can hear the motors and feel something thru my gimbal but little to no movement tilting the camera. There is little torque effect when initiating the movement. They might soften the motor curve a bit to help with that. So there are a few tweaks to be made and improve performance even more.

 

well see for yourself....watch the video.

 

Notice....my rig was balanced and on the balance post the whole entire time.

 

vimeo

 

youtube