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Volt issues yet anyone??


Patrick Berg-Pedersen

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Hello everyone,

My colleague and I both sent our volt brains to Tiffen in LA to receive the latest firmware.  And I must say what Larry mentioned is working really well.  In sticky mode I feel less resistance and I don’t get that bobble, in normal mode I like the feel a lot better than before.  However two things have been happening that I am wondering if anyone else is experiencing.

1.  In normal mode I still get that little bobble when trying to set a new tilt angle.  If I do the “double press” as some have mentioned it helps, but I don’t this this ideal in any capacity.   Has anyone experienced the way Larry describes in his video with the new firmware? 
 

2.  This is a big problem we are both experiencing.  The Level trim keeps drifting.  If I keep the sled in normal mode and operate, it seems to hold pretty well UNTIL I do a large tilt,  or try to put some sort of roll in the shot.  The level seems to drift off slightly here.

if I am in low mode, it seems to just be a complete disaster and I seem to be constantly re-triming to level.  This is a GIANT pita and I am just curious if anyone else other than us is experiencing it.  We were not having this issue what so ever with the old firmware.

We both fly the Betz Rig, both Rigs were dynamically balanced for this test.  We don’t think it’s the rigs or the gimbal, as it was fine on the old firmware.  We have a third friend that has the same sled with a  brain still on the old firmware that we are going to test with in the next bit.

If anyone else has experienced this issue I am interested to hear about it and if there is a potential fix!  Perhaps we just have to go back to the old firmware for now.  

Cheers,

Matt

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Hello, 

About Firmware:

Larry has been an avid person who has is helping up develop the latest Beta Volt Firmware. We have not publicly released the beta firmware as we were working out a few finer details. The 'Bobble' people speak of in Normal mode is fixed now with the Beta firmware. Keep an eye out for when this whole virus thing is over and I'll be releasing a video about the latest firmware and the advantages of it. 

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19 hours ago, Tyson Galland said:

Hello, 

About Firmware:

Larry has been an avid person who has is helping up develop the latest Beta Volt Firmware. We have not publicly released the beta firmware as we were working out a few finer details. The 'Bobble' people speak of in Normal mode is fixed now with the Beta firmware. Keep an eye out for when this whole virus thing is over and I'll be releasing a video about the latest firmware and the advantages of it. 

Hi Tyson,

One question; do I heave to send my Volt in, or can I upgrade it with the latest beta firmware myself? It would be a HUGE problem, and I’m really really dependant on my Volt! And I cannot be without a single week.

 

all the best Patrick

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Patrick,

Please please do NOT become dependent on the Volt. If you have as much passion as you seem to have (referring to your first post on this thread) you should learn to be a good Steadicam Operator without it. You seem to have great respect for Garrett and Jerry and the entire world of Steadicam, to learn without using the volt (as they had and most of us had to) would be a great way to express that respect, IMHO.

Your fellow op,

- Kat

Edited by Katerina Kallergis
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The Volt was never supposed to be a custom tailored monthly-updated boutique solution for every individual operator. Although I think the three knobs give it a lot of personality.

All it ever sought to do was solve the pendulum compromise Garrett made back when he invented this device in 1898. 

You get adjustable bottom heavy on independent roll and tilt, And some friction on tilt if you need it. And a great tilt headroom setting feature without actually moving weights around.

We will keep making it better. And I love a great challenge. But why it needs to swing wildly from low to high and back again with so much as 1.5 degrees of "drift" while it resettles. Oh the horror. Wave requires you to pin-lock, power off, reset, power on when high to low reset

As always will try to learn as I go. 

 

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On 4/21/2020 at 5:43 AM, Patrick Berg-Pedersen said:

Hi Tyson,

One question; do I heave to send my Volt in, or can I upgrade it with the latest beta firmware myself? It would be a HUGE problem, and I’m really really dependant on my Volt! And I cannot be without a single week.

 

all the best Patrick

Hello Patrick, 

You will have to send in your control box to have the update done. You'll be able to hold onto everything else. 
We are looking into options on the east coast to have a place people can send their boxes to be updated. So that should help save a little bit of time for folks on the east coast. 

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"Wave requires you to pin-lock, power off, reset, power on when high to low reset"

Slight correction here. When switching form hi to low mode (or vice versa) with the Wave, you only need to lock the blue knob, make your switch and then unlock. You only need to reset the power if you forget to lock it while switching as in this case, the unit shuts down on its own.

 

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On 4/21/2020 at 9:05 PM, Katerina Kallergis said:

Patrick,

Please please do NOT become dependent on the Volt. If you have as much passion as you seem to have (referring to your first post on this thread) you should learn to be a good Steadicam Operator without it. You seem to have great respect for Garrett and Jerry and the entire world of Steadicam, to learn without using the volt (as they had and most of us had to) would be a great way to express that respect, IMHO.

Your fellow op,

- Kat

Hi Kate,

Yeah, I too thought the best thing was to learn from “scratch”, as I’m not that fond of all the electronics, which can go down in a heartbeat. Especially when it’s not supposed to.

I got so much respect for GB and Jerry, and more. (And you!) GB and Chris are really helping me out, I’ve been blessed to reach such a personal contact with them both. We can talk about everything, not only Steadicam but life in general. Which of course grows my affection to them both. 

These days I’ve been discussing gimbal distance and center post extraction with GB and he says something I’m a little curious about, that the minor post length and distance to gimbal to top stage is the way to go, not like I prefer it, like I love a more extracted post and more distance to the gimbal. The discussion is not ended, at least not for me(...) and I’m stuck liking the center post quite extracted and a bit distance to the gimbal.

(What’s your opinion on this? Never mind how the shot should be, mind how one like to work with it.) 

My passion for this is sometimes a bit more of an agony than a passion, if you get what I mean, I just cannot leave it alone, never. But I guess that’s just how it is with people like us, giving so much of ourselves to this each and every second, awake or at dream...

Thank you for your answer, Kate! I really appreciate that! I want you to know that!

All the best, 

Patrick.

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