Motorized Pan/tilt tripod Head

[homing]

I did a little bit of research on the web for a motorized pan tilt tripod head. (The main use is to move a camera not near from my vj setup)

What i've found is the Adorama Video Motorized Pan Head (http://www.adorama.com/VDMPH.html)

Anybody tried it? It seems nice for the price. Or does anybody knows a other product?

Thanks.

[rickmaersk]

http://www.b-hague.co.uk/pan__tilt_power_head.htm

I've used hague stuff before and it was pretty good. They don't sell rubbish. I was thinking of getting one of these and fitting an ultra slow motor controller for some motion control timelapse.

Rick

[many2]

I have never used something like that but I am quite sure you'd get better results with a pan/tilt/zoom/iris/focus camera with presets. I have used those over many gigs and it's just a lot of fun live (these aren't DV camera though so you can't record on them). Pan and Tilt is great but once you've controlled zoom, iris and focus too you get much more flexibility. I know a couple of places where you can rent them in Montreal.

Things I like about you motorized tripod head : it's cheap, it's got a wire (wireless is your enemy in any club-like environment) and it fits any camera.

[sleepytom]

yeah if you have a pan tilt head you also need a lanc controller (such as the verizoom ones) this will give you contoll over zoom and focus too.

many2 is right though a proper PTZ cctv camera with dedicated contoller is better as it gives you presets and the ability to program special moves - they also offer infinate rotation which is not generally an option with pan / tilt heads

[alangeering]

I use a few PTZ cameras, and whilst they don't have full rotation (only 180 or 220 degrees) they have proved to be very useful.

I don't use them whilst they are moving much, but I use them in awkward places where I could'nt put a camera operator.

2 recent examples.

a) Filming a performance in a studio theatre. 160 seats. Space at the back for 1 camera operator. I was able to have 3 PTZ cameras and one manually operated camera. The manual camera catered for wide shots and some CUs. The PTZ cameras, rigged much closer to the action provided closeups and alternative angles. The presets were wonderful.

b) In a musical, the band were hidden away under a scaffold tower and not evry visible to tha audience. SPace was cramped so no camera operator could be inserted. 2 PTZ cameras were enough to catch all the band members, with closeups stored as preset positions, and I could then put the band on screen.

I don't use the cameras for tracking people as I can't easily control the speed at which the camera pans (though I'm thinking about upgrading the control bords in the cameras (I wish I could just update firmware, but this is not posssible).

Alan

[many2]

Another great thing with pan/tilt/zoom cameras is that you can control more than one camera with the same controller. When I did the visuals for the Black Eyed Peas last summer I used two of them at the same time and it was great to make "champs contre-champs" (don't know how to tell that in english) or to have the same subject at two different scales (one close-up and one wide-shot for example). The control I had with those cameras was very smooth and precise, perfect for live movement. A joystick let you move the camera on 2 axis and you can turn the joystick to control zoom. Buttons on the controller let you change iris and focus, or you can set them to automatic.

Next step : find a way to control the PTZ camera controller directly via the Hippotizer serial control out. Since I put the camera feeds as inputs for the Hippotizer, this would make a lot of sense in my setup.

[homing]

Humm Very interesting. I was thinking of the head beacause i already have the camera. But with all the option that you listed, it very interesting.

Okay the motorization is very good, but how is the quality of the image of these cameras. How do they react in a low light environement?

Many2 where did you rented the cam in montreal? Sonovideo?

Thanks again!

[SlinkyTrips]

i can recommend the Canon comunication cameras, you can control them via rs232 and use presets. Go for the upside down version as it has more pan than the regular. The only downside to them is that they run on an included 13v power supply, 12v would make things easier.
________
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[djjef]

I would like to recommend the Sony PTZ camera line. For best quality go with the BRC-300 3chip camera, it even has SDI or Component Video output. Only goes down to 7 lux so that might be a set back.

Best single chip camera I have found is the Sony EVI-D70. Goes to 1 lux and has a 18X optical zoom for reaching out and grabbing some nice images. The unit pans 340 degrees around and can upright or inverted. When inverted all you need to do is flip a little switch on the back to fix the image. Simple, Easy, great little cameras for under 1K on the street.

[Pesh]

i've just spent the day looking at various systems for a job i've got coming up, and am pretty keen on this one:
Panasonic pan n tilt (http://panasonic-broadcast.com/index.cfm?uuid=A130E452C09F11269B89B84D8643F16D&pid=11471&catid=4297&ClassID=58)
camera, lens, head and controller comes in at about ?10k, expensive but nice, anyone got any similar options for me to check out?

[krokodril]

look at other thread:

> Servo Pan/Tilt Camera-Head

best link:
http://www.elv-downloads.de/service/manuals/KS100/392-15.htm

[Meierhans]

Take a look at the old www.midivid.com website if you like midi-servo control better then twiddeling knobs directly.

I guess the only problem for european users may be the shipping cost of 35-$45. I could not find a european dealer with better conditions.

For shure you can`t compare this in any ways to pro PTZ cam (these are more like virtual cam guys..). But not everybody, like me, is pro from the beginning and has pro budget for such tasks. ;)