Cinevate: DSLR Rigs, Camera Sliders, Follow Focus and More

You've waited, you've submitted contest entries...and you've speculated. At long last, we're pulling the veil off. First of all, a bit of history. The project came about entirely because Patrick Moreau over at stillmotion.ca requested something to improve on what they were using for a camera keeper (known to the video crowd as a "slider"). The keeper has been around for a long time and is very commonly found on movie sets. These units are very expensive and designed to carry very heavy loads. Most of our customers have no need for a 75lb capacity keeper, nor do they wish to spend $5000 on one.

So several months ago, after stewing on Patrick's request all summer, there was a 4 am ephiphany followed by 3D CAD drawings within 36 hours and CNC machined parts 48 hours later. The rest of the story is littered with a pile of discarded parts, bearings, designs and many long hours tweaking. What you see is the result of all that craziness. So what is it?

1. At the inexpensive end is a kit that will complement existing Proteus rails systems. In other words, the "trucks" and 100mm spaced rails blocks that convert a Proteus rails system to a 45cm or 60cm slider rig. This same rig will also accept a "Proteus" 100mm bowl as you see in picture 4. Run the trucks flat with provided O-ring "tires" and you've got a super simple table top dolly. This system will come in about around $300.

2. The next step up from that basic kit is just adding our new 100cm (36in) solid carbon rods to the kit. This provides for a super-light kit that breaks down with no tools. It is designed to fit in a backpack and be assembled in seconds. The entire kit weighs in at around 2lbs!

The above two variations are best suited for camera loads under 10lbs. Regardless, every moving part uses actual ball bearings for super-slick movement. It works sideways, upside down and becasue it uses our Proteus links, features a ton of variable mounting setups. For heavier rigs, read on!

3. That same system features interchangeable "tires" to allow running the system on cables. Unbolting the bearring/tire assemblies and replacing them with the cable wheels takes about 5 minutes. Expect a complete mounting system and remote motorized drive system for the cable system. The last three pics show our camera tests with the inverted rig. That rig was about 30lbs.

4. Finally, the crowning jewel of the Pegasus system is the "heavy lifter", referred to by the machinists as the Millenium Falcon This unit runs on hardened/chromed steel 5/8" rods that will be sold in various lengths..the standard being 1 metre (36 inches). It uses highly specialized (and interchangeable) bearings at four corners and will accept our 100mm bowl, or a flat plate for direct mounting of a tripod head. The bowl allows you to do shots including side facing "escalator" movements and because it uses our Proteus links, can be mounted at crazy angles for virtually any shot. Again, it can run sideways, upside down and everything in between. The complete Pegasus heavy lifter system with 100mm bowl will run about $850!

Finally, the entire system uses mounting/support blocks at both ends similar to our universal rails blocks, but 100mm spaced. They are removable in seconds and use new "high torque" toolless fasteners. Each block can accept a 5/8" standard grip spud so you can support one end on tripod, and use a C-stand, 2nd tripod, or whatever else you have on hand to support. In other words, near infinite mounting heights and options.

We're expecting to have the entire system available in 10 days for shipping

Dennis this looks beautiful. Great job on the machining and designing.
Goodness it looks so good!

Does the winner get the whole system or a part of it?

The "winner" will receive the heavy lifter with 2nd, and 3rd getting the full carbon, and partial carbon kit respectively. As far as the machining, pretty much every one of these projects has become intensely collaborative. This means the machinists, Mike (machine shop big cheese), Tyler (design engineer), and the Stillmotion crew get all the credit. I'm just the guy who wakes up with strange ideas at bizarre hours

Very Nice, very handy some nice motion, sick of tripod pans... pictures 1 & 3 are what I thought it was, but there was a little red hering in the posted contest pic...with the guy with tatoo, where it said never before seen...with the rails on a tilt, and then I also saw the slider was alread out, so I thought that can't be it either, I had an initial title which said CINEVATE RAIL SYSTEM, changed to Cinevate Camera support, to be more all encompassing...

The Fly by wire is a great addition, do you have more details on how the wires are tensioned.
Maybe a little over kill to have the bowl & tripod head on the wires, or does the weight stop this thing bouncing up & down too much

Can't wait for details on pricing the right kit set-up for my needs.

So something like this?

THIRD PLACE
2. The next step up from that basic kit is just adding our new 100cm (36in) solid carbon rods to the kit. This provides for a super-light kit that breaks down with no tools. It is designed to fit in a backpack and be assembled in seconds. The entire kit weighs in at around 2lbs!

SECOND PLACE
3. That same system features interchangeable "tires" to allow running the system on cables. Unbolting the bearring/tire assemblies and replacing them with the cable wheels takes about 5 minutes. Expect a complete mounting system and remote motorized drive system for the cable system. The last three pics show our camera tests with the inverted rig. That rig was about 30lbs.

FIRST PLACE
4. Finally, the crowning jewel of the Pegasus system is the "heavy lifter", referred to by the machinists as the Millenium Falcon This unit runs on hardened/chromed steel 5/8" rods that will be sold in various lengths..the standard being 1 metre (36 inches). It uses highly specialized (and interchangeable) bearings at four corners and will accept our 100mm bowl, or a flat plate for direct mounting of a tripod head. The bowl allows you to do shots including side facing "escalator" movements and because it uses our Proteus links, can be mounted at crazy angles for virtually any shot. Again, it can run sideways, upside down and everything in between. The complete Pegasus heavy lifter system with 100mm bowl will run about $850!

Dennis Wood wrote:...the Pegasus system is...

AMAZING!

Excellent and awesome Dennis! Just what I've been looking and waiting for. Will do many if not all the things the CamTram can do at a much lower price point...

//Leo

Where's the "add to cart" button?

If you hang your camera unpside down, do you still need to use the flip module?

Also if the rails are positioned at say a 30 degree angle, so you could move up an incline while dollying...the tripod head would need to be at 90 degrees from normal position so you can controll the Yaw, is there something else that would help to enable the camera to be attached 90 degrees on the base plate, can the friction on the rails be adjusted? so you could lock it off?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyfEwYaWe7Y

I want a pega-sus. Now if Cinevate could sus out a way of producing a precise and cost firndly remote pan-tilt head for the cable cam setup, I'd be even happier.

Another fine Cinevate product! But does it come with a bloody fork??

Wow that looks cool. I have been so out of the loop lately.
So the next item will be a table top dolly like the skater dolly that can handle 45lbs?

I'm definitely interested in #3:

"3. That same system features interchangeable "tires" to allow running the system on cables. Unbolting the bearring/tire assemblies and replacing them with the cable wheels takes about 5 minutes. Expect a complete mounting system and remote motorized drive system for the cable system. The last three pics show our camera tests with the inverted rig. That rig was about 30lbs."

What kind of specs and price point are we looking at?

kind of the amazing, pagasus its an very very awesome crastmanshipo from cinevate works...maybe is best than other by the point of the price is very cheap, its start to be.... one cuestion the ex1 or ex3 that is on the pics Dannis the system that u guys used to slide it, is the first one from 4lb to 10lbs or it is the heavy version for 30lbs.....is now on the purchase section?? am looking to get one of this....

u need an distribuitor to south america, maybe can i be....do u like the idea? have u thinked about it?....Dennis ur product are very very awesome, and in mex i dont know how many have u sold, but a really really recomend cinevate are quality products... am us citizen, and sorry for my bad english but all my life i been live in mex....and am learning now english! ...


congratulations David and co.

The upsidedown version looks a lot like a chair on a ski lift.

Quick question, now that the pegasus is out, are the grip rods (posted earlier) the robs that are used for this rig (specifically the heavy lifter system)?

Also, can the heavy lifter be modded for the cable wheels?

The Heavy lifter cannot be modded for the cable wheels (yet) however the carbon based "truck" system will run both systems. However, the 100mm bowl used on the HL system is identical to the Pegasus Carbon version so you can add the Pegasus truck kit/cable wheels and you're good to go. The rod that we use for the Pegasus HL is about 30 times more expensive than your average grip rod. It's solid steel, precision ground, then chromed for a perfect finish. We do stock stainless steel hollow grip rod now, however it doesn't work very well at all (read terrible) with the Pegasus HL. The tolerances on the hollow tube are just fine for grip rod, but nowhere close to what's required for the bearing system used on the HL system.

On another note, the HL rod system will be offered in longer lengths too..up to five feet.

Btw, here's the first ever Pegasus BTS shots: http://www.stillmotionblog.com/?p=1015 The floor dolly shots were done with the Pegasus Carbon system ...but running the system in it's table top/floor mode. In this configuration the trucks are run with their rubber tires right on the floor...no rods required. A Cinevate Video University clip is desperately required and planned for next week. It would have been done earlier but our entire pre-production Pegasus product line is in Toronto for Stillmotion's workshops.

Cheers,
Dennis

Will there be an adapter available for those who don't have 100mm bowls for their tripod heads? I think mine is either 72mm or 77mm.

Probably you have 75 mm. There are a lot adapters already available. But I think i read somewhere that an adapter is included or available. But Dennis knows more.