FreeFly MOVi - very expensive handheld stabilized system

feha

@P13DM the princip is same as for this little GoPro , just needs bigger construction. Would like to have one for GH3 :-)

rsquires

Of course as a one off purchase this looks ludicrously expensive (to the indie crowd) but in the scheme and budget of a feature film I'd say it's fantastic value for money. Even on commercials you could make your money back in a few jobs, by saving on tracks dolly crane ( to a certain extent) . Obviously there will be people who make it cheaper but I think the game changing aspect is more in the shots it opens up to you with the smaller form factor. So many crazy camera moves spring to mind I find this really inspiring. In the short there are fantastic low angle street shots in front of cabs in New York that would have cost the budget to have setup let alone shoot on a traditional car rig etc. So the revolution I see is in how you can use this to totally change the way you shoot.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

So the revolution I see is in how you can use this to totally change the way you shoot.

Again, it is not so. Even cheap crane mounted on dolly moving on flexible rails will make much more stable and fluid footage.

Main target here is situations like Rambo's. Shooting from copters, moving cars, etc.

PhilC

Looks good huh, as I understand as well as acting as a gimbal and can also be controlled as a motorised head on a crane etc. Once it is also hooked up to a Steadicam style of vest I see it as an amazing piece of kit. If people want or need it they will buy one, and I guess it should be one of the cheapest on the rental market which would be the best route for the indies!!!

yeehaanow

@ Vitaliy That's BS. There is nothing worse than a cheap crane and flexible dolly track when you have a heavier camera like the 1DC or Epic. And you still have to SET IT UP. With the MoVi you can run-n-gun.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

That's BS. There is nothing worse than a cheap crane and flexible dolly track when you have a heavier camera like the 1DC or Epic. And you still have to SET IT UP. With the MoVi you can run-n-gun.

Yep, you have to set it up. And I mean here mostly people who shoot of cheap HDSLRs, not Epic users. For most indie guys it is simpler to plan the shot, rather to depend on very costly solution requiring very skilled operators. Plus shooting on this thing with Epic is possible for short amount of time only.

stip

With the MoVi you can run-n-gun.

Actually THAT is BS. That's what they want you to think and you totally fell for it. Look at the footage again. There are so many screwed up shots in there, with heads cut off and poor framing. It's partly because you cannot use this thing on eye-level, but mainly because it needs a lot of practise to coordinate the operator's moves and the remote control of the camera's pan/tilt. And all of that only works if you have a really good focus puller or else you will end up having to redo that 'spontanious very cool fly around the whole place' move dozens of times.

The campaign wants you to believe that you just pick it up and it works it's magic, but it doesn't. It's seems like a great tool for certain scenarios, not more but also not less.

yeehaanow

Any camera will work with it, including cheap HDSLRs, and it will still save a mountain of time to get similar/same shots. It is costly, but I wouldn't say it takes a lot of skill. It's the same skill for the guys that control the gimble on my copter. Most of them can pick it up in an hour. It can be programmed to be very "soft" to the touch so even noob's will have success.
For the heavier cameras, there will be mounting solutions. Someone will have this on a steadicam before long.

disneytoy

A home made 3 axis would be a boon for an indie. Imagine hand holding an in car shot. or maybe all those skateboard videos. You can extend the usefulness for stylized shots. Imagine hand holding a truck-in where the camera does a complete 360 degree on the Z axis and lands perfectly level. That would be a very costly shot. I do think a vest would be helpful against fatigue. It really is all up to finding proper motors. all the electronics and MEMs are already out there. Check the OpenPilot forum.

feha

If DIY made for GH3 for me would be great, i don't use bigger cameras :-)

kellar42

Cheesycam is starting to list the cheapo options but not giving many links other than the zenmuse. Looks interesting. Exciting to think of some possibilities on a GH3 but I agree some issues with framing and what not. My plan has been a cheap jib, a handheld rig and a $5,000 hexacopter solution, I think I continue in that direction when it comes to moving the camera for now, unless we see something that really works for GH size cameras in the $1,000 or less range along these lines.

rsquires

@Vitaliy_Kiselev Of course a dolly and crane will give you more controllable footage but the setup time is far greater per shot and you are locked into it once you set up. This sort of system allows for much much quicker setups and more spontaneous camera work. Also a shot that they suggested could not be done using existing methods would be to chase a small child through a narrow gap in a fence seamlessly following it through to the other side without break away sets and scene shifting. One operator passes the camera through the gap to another op on the other side. This is the sort of shot that is now much more capable of being achieved in limited budget. Anyway I believe it opens up far greater options for a low budget production if the cost of the gear is amortised over the films budget.

lsrieck

I am a Scorpio Stabilized Head tech. We don't call them gimbals. The Mōvi looks interesting but trying to see price difference vs Zenmuse. There are also advantages for home built with Alexmos etc. Really, $15,000 isn't much for our business - we use $400,000 heads, but I want to get my money's worth. Will be at the NAB show if anyone there wants to talk. Planning visiting Freefly and I will be at Service Vison's booth.

Andreask

The real beauty of this device is that it is so small. Imagine the MöVi or a similar device on a shot of this kind (starting 1:45 min):

Soy Cuba is from 1964 but still a classic with extraordinary shots.The camera was handheld and passed from one operator to another or connected to the cablecam trollies ascending from street level, through the building and at the other side again on a cablecam and above the street. Thogether there were two flights with a cablecam system and the system was connected with a magnet to the trollies for fast coupling. I would use carabiners for higher saftey and together with my cablecam I can imagine to get something like this done. The stabilized third axis would also help on the cablecam to point the camera correctly and beeing stabilized like in the MöVi video.

Here is some additional information about the movie: http://www.rogerdeakins.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=850

There are different projects around worldwide for brushless technology, some of them are open source. I also develop a brushless gimbal of this kind as so I might be a little overexcited about it...

www.andreaskielb.de

disneytoy

Zenmuse with Zeiss 24mm 1.8 lens

feha

This could be attached to the rig ...

kellar42

New update from Laforet with answers to common questions. http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2013/04/07/movi-update-answers-to-common-question/

My new thought on all of this is which inexpensive gopro solution will also work for the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema camera and how soon can someone market them as a ready to shoot solution!?

Vitaliy_Kiselev

bheath

Very similar to rthe great Russian Arm Flight heads. At least the camera moves so. I wonder how long of lens can be used effectively?

Vitaliy_Kiselev

disneytoy

Finding quiet and responsive motors is the key. Same for the focus. I winder about the lens type focus motors. Fast an quiet. I wonder if that technology is in higher torque motos. Someone here will find the perfect motor for us DIY. I did see a Russian video showing how to re-wind a motor for this purpose. Don't know any of the reasons. Will see if I can find the video again.

Found it:

перемотка двигателей, AlexMos Simple BLGC