Technocrane 30' vibration problem

[Ozgur Baltaoglu]

Hello everyone,

Technocrane is a great tool, and I try to use it whenever the logistics and budget allows for it. I recently shot a commercial on a soundstage in Istanbul where I had to hang actors on wires where they would spend the whole day so Technocrane with a zoom was an obvious choice. I could be versatile and fast.

I designed a shot where we did a straight pull back from a window over a sofa. The lens was 25mm. The distance traveled was about 6-7 meters. The problem was that the beginning and end were too shaky. We talked this over with my DOP and the conclusion was that either the Flighthead was not able to accommodate the large 16.5-100mm (i doubt it) master zoom and/or the operator was not 'sensitive' enough to handle the shot (which is more likely since technocranes don't get rented quite often, so the crews don't have enough manhours).

The speed was set to '6' at first. At that speed the shake was too much to stabilize and strangely on the z-axis too, I don't know how they did it. Then we gradually came down to 3! and even at that speed there was significant vibration during start and stop. The grips kept saying the lens was too heavy and that everybody stabilizes but I have my reservations. I don't think post stabilization is or should be the 'natural side-effect' of a technocrane shot. I mean I should be able to use it like a smooth dolly right?

Supertechnocrane 30' - Flighthead- ArriAlexa - 16.5-100mm Master zoom. --

[Sanjay Sami]

Hi Ozgur

The Flighthead should be able to take the shake out. Sometimes very heavy lenses on a move like that, that land with something in the immediate foreground could create issues. Its difficult to say over the internet. Can you post the footage?

Btw. was the Techno / Flighthead from Setpozitif ? If it was, did you have Hasan Ormanlar or Adnan Aydin on set ?

I have done 3 features in Turkey and both of them are very very good. I have used their SuperTechno and Flighthead without issues in the past. Adnan is one of the best Grips I have worked with anywhere in the world.

[Sanjay Sami]

Get in touch with Adnan Aydin c/o Setpozitif Grip

[Kemalettin Sert]

You can swap the Alexa body with Epic which brings to at least 8-10kg weight down from Flighthead.

Btw they didnt test it before the shooting? We tested everything few days ago before the shooting with Setpozitif to see how their rig working.

Edited November 26, 2014 by Kemalettin Sert

[John David Miller]

While the Flighthead is not great for a Techno, it should've handled a simple move like that. My guess is operator error. Perhaps he had the pan locked off on the fulcrum since you were just pulling straight back. Doing this will make things worse. The cable drives within the crane could've been going bad.

[Kim Alister Worthington]

Clearly an error in the flighthead. Flighthead can handle the optima 24-290 with no problems on a tracking vehicle, let alone a techno 30. Some error in the tuning of the gyros for sure.