Premium Members Ari Gertler Posted February 12, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Who out there has used or owns one of the new M-One motors that works with the BFD? How have you found the motor to be? Any problems? Does it fit in some tighter situations that the FMG6 has difficulty in? How is the power? Looking for some personal experience opinions. Thank you, Ari Gertler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericoh Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Hi Ari, I know that Matt Marek owns the M-One motor. He's incommunicado right now as he is in India doing a work/travel thing otherwise I'd know he would post a response. Anyway, I've seen it and yes it will fit in those tight spots as it is an upright motor and is quite slim in design. Matt speaks very highly of the M-One and has commented several times on how fast and powerful the motor is pulling any lens no matter how tight, with great accuracy. He said it only failed to pull a particularly stiff lens once on a very, very cold Canadian winter night shoot (he was on an exterior night shoot for several nights using the M-One). He did mention that when they tried a Preston, it had just as much difficulty. it was so cold that night that the lens barrel was even difficult to turn by hand!! The M-One has certainly withstood the test of the Great White North. B-b-best w-w-wishes (shiver) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members JamieSilverstein Posted February 12, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 I own two of them, and I love them. They have been accurate, damn fast and strong, they set up well and are nicely thought out. The complete package, which includes motor, gears, rod adapters and I think a dog bone, is all you need to get going right out of the box. Nothing like plug and play. I couldn't be more delighted with a product. Nope Don isn't my brother in law, I don't work for him and he isn't having my baby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Alec Jarnagin SOC Posted February 12, 2004 Moderators Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Ari, The M-1 is nothing short of fantastic. It brings the Bartech to a whole new level; at last the missing ingredient is here. While I have not used Primos in the Northern depths of Canada, I have used them here in NYC and they have performed without a hitch with the M-1. A weeks back I was working with an AC I had never worked with before and at days start, he confessed to me he was not a huge Bartech fan (smart guy; he did it in private and assured me the conversation would remain between us). I asked if he had seen the M-1; he had not. By lunch time, he was sold. Without me soliciting anything, he was raving away about the system. Two days ago, I was on a multi-camera shoot when one of the ACs began asking my focus puller about the Bartech. Again, he had been turned off the system by seeing another motion in action (or perhaps I should say inaction). My first let him play for a moment. No exaggeration, his eyes were bugging out of his head as he watched the M-1 toss a Primo around. Upon checking the accuracy, he officially declared, "the Bartech back in the running," as he wanted to buy a single channel system for himself. Okay, enough testimonial. A few facts: The gears pop off instantaneously; no tools required; furthermore, the potentiometer is located directly behind the gear, assuring accuracy. The only minor draw back to this is that it prevents the motor from being "ambidextrous," in the sense you can't mount the gear on either side of the motor. Since the incorporated sliding mounting bracket can be mounted on either side of the motor though, this is not really an issue. Besides, the motor is a slim vertical mount one by nature. The connector is a five pin Lemo (the same as on most analog motors - Heden, CP, etc - I believe the FMB-6 was different though). This connector also pivots to get the Lemo connector out of your way. The motor is sold through Don Wetzel and his company Palomar Engineering. If you own a Bartech already, he designed the casings for it, so you are familiar with his work. Also, back in the day, he worked with Jim Bartell at CP. And yes, the M-1 was designed from the ground up to work with a Bartech and the results are clear. Finally, I have found that Don is a pleasure to do business with. Like Jim, he is interested in keeping costs down by relying on his customers to "spread the word." I'm in no way affiliated with him (or Jim), but these two guys are great and I highly encourage anyone in the market for a focus system to check them out. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Jeff Muhlstock SOC Posted February 20, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 I am having a problem with my M-One. The motor seems to start to vibrate in certain resting positions. Additionally, My AC has reported the need for double marks, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Sounds like come sort of clutch trouble?? Has anyone else come across this issue yet? Having some trouble getting Don on the phone. Jim B, have you seen this? I should note, that the motor has given me trouble free operating for almost a year. This is my first bad report on it. Prior, I have been very happy with it. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members JimBartell Posted February 20, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 It sounds like trouble with the potentiometer. They are extremely complex little devices and a possible failure source. Also, they would cause exactly this problem. Another possible source of trouble is inadequate power supply. Also make sure the gear has no "slop" in it's interlock with the lens. If you see this with the motor not engaged in a lens don't worry about it. The lens supplies the necessary load to prevent this from occuring on a camera. Jim "brain wracker" Bartell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Peter Abraham Posted February 25, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 25, 2004 My AC has reported the need for double marks, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Couldn't be that Kevin whacked the unit by accident on a backstroke while holding a Titanium Driver in his hand, now could it???? :P I'm psyched to try this out- I forsee mounting a BFD with this motor on my Mini, for A-Minima shoots. Peter Abraham, E.M.T. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guillermo nespolo Posted February 25, 2004 Report Share Posted February 25, 2004 i wish i have one ...until now i been working with a heden 26p and starting to have problems whit the potenciometer geting lose....(before that no problem) the good thing about the bfd its that u can start working with a use heden 26p (mine was made in 1987) and work your way to the m-one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Michael Stumpf Posted February 25, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 25, 2004 I also own the M-one motor. It is very strong, fast and quiet. It easily turns stiff old Zeiss lens' that my FMG-6 can at times have trouble with. BUT, the darn this is so heavy. It's AT LEAST 1.5 times the weight of the FMG-6 For that reason, I still use my FMG-6 as my primary motor (when only one is needed) and only throw on the M-One if I have a stiff lens (which isn't too often). I don't like carrying around unneeded "dead weight" so if the FMG-6 turns the lens (which is 98% of the time) it is the motor I use. But, I wouldn't hesitate ordering an M-One motor if you need one. It is a great motor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members jorge agero Posted May 18, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 the m-one and srIII-HS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Daniel Stilling DFF Posted May 18, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 The M1 on a 435/Hawk anamorphic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Gross Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 I'm looking at that heavy anamorphic with a lens support floating underneath it and it doesn't look like it's connected to the rods at all. I wonder if one could even fit a modified dogbone in there without some custom machining. I'm a firm believer that if a lens comes with a lens support then it needs to be supported. Any issues or solutions here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Daniel Stilling DFF Posted May 19, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Busted!! Don't tell the rental house!! :o) Actually it just happened that all the lenses had different sizes (what a joy!!), and the 75 couldn't be suported. On all the other lenses the motor mount could be mounted in a way that it was exactly underneath the suport mount, hence supporting the lenses very well, except the 75. I guess you could have something machined for that, as the arri suport didn't fit on my rods, but how often do you fly Hawks?? I ellected to go like this, and never had any trouble... Daniel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Gross Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Don't tell the rental house!! :o) I'd be more worried about not telling the DP or the Producer, as they might have a rather harsh reaction when watching the dailies as they discover that the top third of the frame was soft because the lens was sagging in the mount! Probably not a major concern, but the PL mount is theoretically going through a lot more torque and inertial force flying on a rig then sitting aroun on a tripod or dolly. Of course the whole point of the Steadicam s to reduce such forces on the camera... Anyway, I've seen mounts pulled out of whack by heavy lenses left unsupported, so this is something one should think about for long term jobs. The Elite anamorphics have lens supports way out in front and Alec Jarnagin was going to operate a feature I was to DP (it still hasn't happened) where we were going to have the rental house machine something custom for the rig. If only for me to sleep better each night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members JamieSilverstein Posted May 20, 2004 Premium Members Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 Just another note concerning the M 1 motor...... I recently had the same troubles with one of mine that Jeff reported and I called Don to ask him what to do... He had me send it immediatly and he repaired the problem (potentiometer adjustment) promptly. He didn't charge me and was gracious enough to send me replacement rods for my Palomar extension bracket. I love the motors and I love the service! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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