LARGE MOVES | GEAR GROUP
LARGE MOVES As drones and robots start offering the movement choices of more traditional engineering, we see what’s new in the larger movement world
WORDS JULI AN M ITCHELL
Chapman Leonard CHAPMAN-LEONARD.COM
Black Unicorn BLACKUNICORN.TV
Filmotechnic FILMOTECHNIC.COM
A 43-FOOT TELESCOPIC CRANE, THE Chapman Leonard Hydrascope comes with your choice of a two-axis or three-axis remote head. It also comes with an Ultra CS base, with a telescopic centre post for easier mounting and unmounting – it can also be mounted on the Raptor base. This is a heavy contruction vehicle for use on land as well as water, and has a special sliding weight system for counterbalancing underwater. Also, helpfully, the telescoping crane system is entirely waterproof. The Hydrascope will arrive at your chosen location complete with two trained technicians – to help you convert to this new crane – and will arrive in an enclosed trailer. Chapman Leonard say that the set-up is very easy and comes with a 30V Chapman battery included. There is Preston lens control available, and the system accepts a standard Mitchell mount. Verdict This is a big unit that fits through a metre- wide doorway with a caster wheel set-up or 1.2m with a single hard tyre set-up (add 5cm or so for clearance ).
THE BLACK UNICORN CRANE IS A gyro-stabilised arm with its own stabilised head design. This type of crane is designed to be mounted on a suitable vehicle and has been designed to solve a huge range of complex operator’s tasks when shooting stationary and moving objects. It’s easy to see why, as such a large arm produces dynamic shooting and drama to any scene – sometimes, there is no replacement for something as large as this. A big part of the movement of the Black Unicorn is from its remote control. With it, the crane can operate with any panoramic gyro-stabilised camera platform, up to camera systems weighing more than 85kg. Vehicle and crane can shoot at speeds over 180km/h and half that off-road. The remote control is done from the cabin of the vehicle, but you can also de-mount from a car and put the crane on a boat or a train, for example. Pan and tilt are gyro-stabilised. Verdict The Black Unicorn is a giant of large- movement engineering. The speed of movement on a vehicle and panning (four to five seconds for 360˚) is impressive.
Verdict All of Filmotechnic products are of the highest quality. There’s no coincidence that many of their credits are from car companies. axis gyro-stabilisation with back-pan compensation, RF wireless capability, digital auto horizon, which always keeps the camera level even in high ‘G’ turns, (although auto horizon can be turned off for greater control of the roll axis). The pan axis travels through 360° with back-pan compensation; the roll axis travels through 270° with auto horizon. THE FLIGHT HEAD V’S THREE- OR four-axis gyro-stabilised design from Filmotechnic looks to eliminate all bumps and vibrations, resulting in an extremely smooth and stable picture (10 - 500mm film lenses). The Flight Head V (FHV) provides complete control of the camera and lens functions, and is operated via joystick or hand wheels. Besides its specific role with the Russian arm, the Flight Head V is also a great head for Super Techno cranes, shock absorbers, camera cars, chase cars, boats and remote dollies. The FHV offers this three- or four-
MAXIMUM REACH
13M
PAY LOAD PANNING PAN SPEED
120KG
PAY LOAD
UP TO 40KG
STANDARD MITCHELL MOUNTING BASE 2.5M MINIMUM REACH
360 IN 4.5 SEC 360 DEGREES
HEAD WEIGHT
24KG
TILT AXIS
THROUGH 200 DEGREES
OCTOBER 20 1 8 | DEF I N I T ION 49
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