Canon 5D Mk3 on Freefly Movi MR

[Wendell Adkins]

A little flying around in the snow. All clips straight off the camera with no post processing or stabilization. The cold temps caused some small jitters on the first flight but a small reduction in stiffness settings easily corrected it. So much easier to work with than my Alexmos rig.

Freefly Movi MR Aerial Footage on Vimeo

[Andrew Gough]

Hi Wendell,

Can you elaborate on how the Movi is so much better than the Alexmos controller? I am about to buy one of these rigs, and your input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Andrew

[Wendell Adkins]

Hi Andrew
Last weekend I updated to the latest firmware on my Alexmos rig. It fixed several areas that were really lacking. I can now tilt full up or down in follow mode and it doesn't wig out. It also does a better job of not going bonkers if it gets a good jolt or bump. Several other less significant improvements were also made. The yaw axis still isn't nearly as precise as the Movi and drifts pretty badly. The Movi has GPS to augment position which works really well and should for the price. The Alexmos interface/PID's are a pain in the rear to work with. It literally took me 8 full hours to get the thing working reasonably well after the upgrade. I can literally teach a 5 year old to adjust the Movi in just minutes. It's hard to describe but the Movi is just more precise and predictable, especially when you start flying it around on a copter. For the money the Alexmos does really, really well now. But it is a far cry from something I would be comfortable using on a movie set; where I am totally comfortable with the Movi.

[Andrew Gough]

Hi Wendell,

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I assume that you are using the 32bit alexmos card. I am glad that I ran across your post, because reliability is very important to me. I do not have the time to be fiddling with the rig as I need to set up and go.

It is very hard to find actual user experience on the alexmos rig that mirrors actual production use. Have you flown the Movi?

Much appreciated.

Andrew

[Wendell Adkins]

Personally I think of Alexmos as sort of a science experiment for people who like to DiY and tinker versus a professional production tool like the Movi.

On those rare above freezing days we have been doing a lot of flying with different glass and settings. At wider than 24mm the footage is pretty flawless, even in moderate winds. At 50mm it is very good now (much better than the video above). Both the balance and settings I discovered later were less than optimum. At 70mm its not bad and at 100mm it is about equal to the amount of unwanted movement we had previously on our servo mounts at 24mm.

[Andrew Gough]

Thanks Wendell,

You've been a big help!

Cheers

Andrew