Portable Motion Control

Equipment

Here is a list of the equipment we have. With a link to youtube showing it's operation. Most motion control companies give dimensions for their kit, usually so that you make sure that it will fit into the location. Our equipment will go into the location, if there is space to move the camera then there is space for a portablemotioncontrol rig. If you need to know specific sizes then please give us a call. If we don't have the correct piece of equipment for your job then we will happily make it up for you. If you have a shot we haven't done before just ask and we will happily do a test and put it up on Youtube. Unless specifically noted all this equipment is included in the fixed price deal.

Portablemotioncontrol's Youtube Channel

KT-RIG

The KT-RIG is the core of our equipment and is a combination of some of the equipment listed below. It has it's own webpage HERE .. KT-RIG

KTRIG in the back of a Series IIA Landrover

KT-HEAD

This is a modified Vinten head originally used for broadcast TV in the days of 3 tube studio cameras. It has been completely rebuilt and refurbished with modern motors and drives as a motion control head. It's very fast and very accurate and will happily take a 435 with a 1000ft magazine and a 24-290 Optimo Zoom. In addition to the Pan and Tilt functions this head also has circuitry for the bloop light/camera sync and remote start switch.

KT-DOLLY

This is the centre of our system. Running on regular dolly track at speeds of up to 2 1/2 Metres per second, you can the camera in an almost infinate number of ways with rail or tripods. Combined with a slider it can also perform a lift. It comes with lots of tube and risers. We have now shot a 30m (100ft)long track.

700mm Slider

Slider with 700mm of travel. When used as a lift it will lift the KT head with a 435 and a 24-290 Optimo Zoom Lens. It can be mounted either on the dolly, on a pair of tripods or using tube. It has special mountings for mounting in cars.

CAIRNS RIG

Chris Cairns wanted to shoot some time-lapse at the Warehouse Project in Manchester. He wanted to track back from the front door and originally we had lots of ideas that revolved around making a little winch to pull a truck along a couple of lengths of speed-rail. In the end we decided to build a full moco rig. It can go up to 20ft in length at 50 cm/s. In these photos it's fixed to the bottom of a piece of ducting and the camera is locked off, However all sorts of mounting's are possible as is a small stepper driven head. it will work with a DSLR or Arri 235 easily. We think it's possible to have an unsupported span of 10 ft (3m) to travel the camera through windows or across between buildings etc .. This rig can also do a 20ft lift if required. A great advantage of this rig is that for a very small cost (by cutting a length of speed-rail) we can make a bespoke slider of any given length. For instance we can make a slider the exactly length of the interior of a car. For short lengths we can easily use the regular KT-Rig Head.

Lehels Wheels

No description is nessesary. When we were shooting the Toyota Idents, Jason Lehel said the old set of wheels were the only thing he didn't like about our system. We made these for him and they are beautiful.

TILLY HEAD

The Tilly head is a modified Manfrotto head fitted with stepper motors. Very small and light .. it's possible to put a camera like a 235 or stripped down Red camera onto it .. Obviously there are a number of uses for it, in this example we used the “Virtual axis” function in Kuper to create a straight track in a car. There are other uses .. such as the 180 degree move in the second clip (these are all test shots we made for a commercial).

Sync Boxes

No Conversion box is required to shutter pulse sync with the following cameras

Arri Black cameras (With certain limitations)

Arri Grey Cameras

Arricam Cameras

Aatons

All Analog SD video cameras

Any Camera supplied by me

Some HD cameras Via Our Sync Box. But require testing first.

Sony F35

The Sony F35 outputs a 1V shutter pulse from the test output as a one pulse per frame, including varispeed. We have built a box to convert this pulse to a 5V peak for use with our Kuper rig.

Arri Alexa

John Duclos and I built a box to provide a moco Sync Pulse from the Arri Alexa. This works at all speeds including varispeed.

Red Cameras

We are told that the new RED EPIC cameras will have sync outputs for motion control. Sync and motion control with the RED ONE is only available at 24/25 fps and is complicated to achieve as the only way to do it is to provide a genlock signal to sync the camera to and then to use our HD Sync pulse convertor to sync the rig.

Canon 5DMKII

The Canon 5DMark2 cannot cannot be sync to a motion control rig in movie mode, however we have made a sync box to drive the 5D in stills mode.

Mimics and Output devices

Almost any output can be made up on demand. We have "As Stock" Focus Motors, Drill Chucks(stepper driven), "Naked" motors (Stepper and Servo), Rollover rig, Conveyor Belt, 240v Relay Box's with C-Form Plugs and 3KW capacity, Pneumatic activators, 1khz tone generator, Buzzers, Bells, Blooplights.

For inputs we have a wide range of encoders and remote switches, including infrared beam, foot switchs, lanyard switches. We also have an experimental panbar system.