Curt Pa* said:
I too have gotten my CineGears Multi Axis kit! I’m VERY impressed with the build quality!
The Hand-controller is SOLID! It feels great! It feels like it should have been more expensive, to be honest! The motors are quiet. I own Fuji Cabrios. I placed all the servo controls on the Cabs to ‘manual’ and then put the motors on the opposite side of the lens, so I didn’t detach the Fuji servos. The CineGears motors had no issues with my Cabrios, the RDC 17-50 or the RDC 18-85. Setting ‘stops’ on Canon EF lenses was quick and simple. The same for Nikon still glass too; both AIS and auto-focus.
I like that if I’m getting help from someone on set (that might not be familiar with this system) that all the cables are distinctive. For example, the cables have Lemo connectors on the motor driver side, while having TA5’s on the motor side.
There’s NO WAY to ‘hook it up incorrectly!” The power cable is a larger Lemo connector on one side and a D-tap on the other side. I have the longer ‘straight’ wire power connector, but I see they now sell a ‘coiled’ D-tap cable too! That would be perfect! Perhaps we can get them to make ALL of the cables coiled? That would be great too. I’ve been asked… and the motor box does LOOK heavy! But… looks are deceiving! I weighed it and it clocks in at 0.8 pounds! (The motors weigh in at 0.6 pounds, each, respectively.) That’s not bad at all! I’d like to see if we can ‘spin’ the rod connection attachment 90°. Perhaps that can be modified in the future; I think it would be just adding two holes for the connector in the opposite direction. There is a quarter/twenty thread on the top, so connecting it to a Noga arm, or something similar is pretty easy! I had no problem with about 600′, line of sight with the hand controller operating the motors! I too have a gimbal and recently tried several single channel systems. I had the C-motion single channel system at the same time as the CineGears arrived, and I must say… the motor and cable for the C-motion was actually heavier! It weighed in at 1.1 pounds! (The CineGears was 0.8 with cable!) As impressed as I am with the multi-motor system, I think I’d like to try the single motor system for Gimbals! Having the wireless interface built into the motor itself is absolutely GENIUS! The new controller looks pretty darned cool too! Steven emailed me a picture of the controller connected to a rail system, and that looks SWEET! It will be PERFECT for my “mission control station” (gimbal controller and follow focus).
I truly love how Steven He and CineGears truly want to make this a great system and are VERY receptive to feedback from us, the customer! Not only has Steven returned ALL of my emails… he’s actually CALLED me several times to offer assistance! Is that great customer service or what!?!?! It’s amazing that this system is so affordable! You’d expect it to be much more expensive! If you’re on the fence about buying it, remember you can try it with a money back guarantee! Who else offers that out there? I’m glad I gave them a chance! It’s really a very nice system! It truly takes our productions to the next level!