As motion control systems for small cameras have proliferated, that industry has still not achieved widespread cross-compatibility, a quality which may free users to further exercise their own judgment and creativity, but which undeniably presents challenges. PINE looks to change this, and it’s a project aimed in a fascinating direction. The project surpassed its €40,000 funding goal on Mar 22, 2018, and is now available for pre-order through Kickstarter or directly on their website.   To Be or Not to Be (Proprietary) Proprietary vs. openly compatible — this is a complicated debate that has persisted in numerous technological industries. Whether in computer operating systems, video codec designs, or the choice of connection protocols in film equipment, tech industries have witnessed a constant struggle between the merits of top-down control and those of bottom-up creative and operational freedom. Proprietary… This running stalemate remains unresolved simply because there are serious pros and cons on each side. Tightly controlled systems can be more reliable and simpler to operate. Their discouragement of tampering and improper setup can make them more viable for both rental and resale life-cycles. Proprietary environments also encourage a certain type of market competition, because an innovation adds value to a companies’ own ecosystem more exclusively (though this point faces some interesting qualifications). …Versus Openly Compatible However, proprietary systems are also more subject to cascading break-downs that are not field-reparable. The operational simplicity of closed technology can fiercely backfire in the field. Not only are users generally locked out from understanding the inner workings of proprietary systems, they are encouraged not to try. Economically, openly cross-compatible industries are like fertile soil. They are more friendly to start-ups entering the field, because a new offering of one component can come to market with far less initial capital than an entirely new proprietary system. What to conclude? As in many cases, we are faced with a stalemate only in the abstract. When a particular product comes into focus, things get clearer. PINE is designed for universal compatibility with motors and other devices. PINE: A Universal Motion Controller Camera motion control systems are an excellent candidate for becoming more openly cross-compatible. They are a simple application of established, time-tested technologies, and their main components, the stepper motors in their pan-tilt and slider motors, are generally bought off-the-shelf. The communication protocols between the controllers and motors are relatively simple. This means that users of pieced-together motion control systems would only need moderate technical expertise, and such expertise would be empowering rather than needlessly burdensome. Furthermore, the possible applications of motion control are so numerous that creativity would thrive if users could construct piecemeal systems more freely. According to the creators, PINE, a universal motion controller, “can be connected to any slider or pan-tilt unit with stepper motors,” can control various camera models, and connects to iOS and Android devices PINE’s creators are careful to emphasize that it is not a full motion control system, but a controller that is widely compatible with existing pan-tilt heads and slider motors. Focusing on this aspect of motion control exclusively has allowed the creators to pack in a lot of interesting features and focus on build quality and professional connections. PINE’s professional Hirose connections Features PINE’s features are to include: 4x rugged Hirose HR10 motor connection ports, with adapter cables available for motors with different connection ports. (Importantly, these connectors contain a pin designed for a mechanical limit switch, which, with compatible equipment, could save your motors from accidental damage.) 2x Camera Trigger Ports Smartphone/Tablet control on iOS and Android, but with a fail-safe protocol that will continue your project even if your device dies or disconnects Expandable to as many axes as you want via Bluetooth Low Energy 4.1, with a claimed range of up 100 meters or 300 feet Compatibility with “almost any motorized slider or pan-tilt unit on the market” Its program modes are to include: Giga-Pixel photography 360° 3D scans Video Time-Lapse Live Astro Turntable Intervalometer PINE’s developers have numerous details about these features and functions, as well as example videos, on their Kickstarter page. In case you are in the market for a more full motion control kit, Black Forest Motion have partnered with the makers of the Nic-O-Tilt head to offer a very nice system in keeping with this same focus on open compatibility. The motors attach together using widely compatible, built-in Arca-Swiss plates and receivers, further encouraging users to think outside the box when piecing various components together. Of course, you can also choose from a large and growing selection of motion control products from other vendors based on the details of your particular needs. After all, that’s the whole point of PINE. Conclusion The idea of openly cross-compatible motion control systems is an intriguing one. It is undeniable that ensuring predictable functionality with a plethora of motor devices is a unique engineering challenge, and only time will tell if Black Forest Motion can pull it off. But if they do pull it off, or if they inspire other manufacturers to pursue cross-compatible strategies, I believe we would all have them to thank. What do you think? Is PINE’s ambition to connect to and enhance existing and future motion control components a worthwhile pursuit? What would a product like this mean for your motion control workflow?

Edelkrone – known for its innovative, slick, durable and user-friendly camera motion accessories – has unveiled the SliderONE Pro, the advanced and more versatile version of the SliderONE. SliderONE Pro – What’s New? Although the Pro version is pretty similar to the original version, there are some significant improvements: Built-in motion module, as opposed to the original SliderONE that had a separate motor unit. The new version offers improved motor speed and integration with the slider.  5cm of extra travel, which can be a major advantage if you need camera motion for macro shots. More powerful coreless DC motor with improved position control capability. Increased incline capacity. Thinner and lighter body. Improved vertical layout and time-lapse app features. Interface Watch the product demo below: Time-Warper and Motion-Warper One of the coolest new app features is the time and motion warper. With Time-Warper, you can change the speed of time, but without changing the slide speed. Motion-Warper does the opposite, means time-lapse speed is constant, but the speed of camera motion is changed. The operator controls both warpers using the same interface. These great options reward filmmakers by helping them unleash their creativity when shooting time-lapses, delivering some very cool-looking shots. Watch the video below for further explanation about the Time-Warper and Motion-Warper: The SliderONE Pro also has an increased incline capacity, which allows cool motion shots in the Y-axis. Increased incline capacity The slider is capable of moving as slow as 27 μm/Sec (micrometer per second). Although that’s super accurate and more than enough for most applications, the older version was even slower than this, offering movement down to 10 μm/Sec. For the full specs, check out the picture below: SliderONE Pro Spec Price: $590 (battery not included). It seems that Edelkrone has nailed it again with a super useful product that matches exactly the needs of the independent filmmaking community. The main advantage is that this product will allow you to deliver good and professional results in one-man-band production scenarios. Also, this product is robust enough to handle larger cameras than just DSLRs, such as those from RED and other heavier cameras. Personally, I’m not a fan of sliders because I feel they somehow limit creativity. However, I do see myself using the SliderONE Pro when macro shots are needed. Would you use this product in your productions? Let us know in the comments!

In comes another product by Edelkrone! The company seems to be on a fast-paced and never-ending quest for the most innovative device to add engaging motion to otherwise dull and static shots. Let’s see what the self-sliding, programmable SurfaceONE is capable of! Sliding moves are cool. Or wait, are they? Maybe you want to check out Nino and Li-Lian’s latest episode of cinema5D Essentials on that topic. However, adding motion to your shots is almost always a good idea. But what if you are on location and that bulky camera slider with all its tripods and extra stuff is still in the back of your car? Maybe something more compact could be the right solution. Edelkrone SurfaceONE The SurfaceOne is a relatively small device that’s equipped with two wheels underneath it and a 3/8”-16 screw for mounting accessories on top. You can mount a camera on it and program it with any iOS (9.0 and above) or Android (5.0 or above) device to perform and even repeat a variety of moves – it’s that simple. However, there’s more to it as you can see in the introduction video below. The whole unit is powered by a standard Canon LP-E6-style battery (not provided) that can keep the unit running for about 4 hours at full speed or 48 hours’ worth of time lapsing. All you need is the SurfaceONE itself, a decent phone and – due to the absence of dedicated tracks – a super-smooth surface for the slider to, well, slide on. You will also need some kind of mount for your camera. Edelkrone has been using its own FlexFit Head 2 on all their marketing images and videos, so that will add $159.99 to the already somewhat pricey SurfaceONE, which goes for $689.99. Shooting Modes The SurfaceONE offers a number of different shooting modes, such as Targeted Slide, Free Slide or Auto Pan Mode. And then there’s time lapse, of course. In target mode, a built-in laser pointer determines the correct settings in order to keep your subject dead center while moving. In Free Slide mode the SurfaceONE will slide as far as you want as long as the surface stays smooth. The third mode, called Auto Pan Mode, enables you to create perfectly controlled pans. All these modes are available for time-lapse shooting, too. There are two types of speed adjustment provided: angular speed or percentile speed. With angular speed adjustment you can maintain the same slide feel while varying the distance to your target. The SurfaceONE’s Maximum speed is 8.66″ (220mm) per second, with a minimum speed of about 0.007″ (0.2mm) per second. Watch the video below to get a brief idea of the sound levels of the SurfaceONE. That’s important if you’re planning on using this device to shoot interviews in quiet environments. Pricing and Availability At $689.99, the SurfaceONE is not exactly cheap. On the other hand, it does seem like quite a capable and versatile device, so maybe its price tag is quite reasonable. You have to keep in mind that you’ll need some kind of camera mount or tripod head unless you want to screw your camera directly onto the 3/8”-16 screw, which I wouldn’t recommend. The SurfaceOne will be available around mid September. You can pre-order it directly from Edelkrone.com. Links: Edelkrone.com | FlexTilt Head 2 Do you have any Edelkrone products in your gear bag? What do think of this new device? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments below!

A Taste of New York is a new time-lapse film that has been getting a lot of attention since it was published. It features some new and interesting techniques and a lot of motion designing. We had a quick interview with the creators of the video. The times when time-lapse videos were just simple compilations of tripod clips with music in background are long gone. Today’s best time-lapse videos are all about motion, story and sound design – something that Austria-based video production company FilmSpektakel is well aware of. Their latest piece is the third instalment in their independent A Taste Of… series, and this time they bring us to New York City. Peter Jablonowski, Thomas Pöcksteiner and Lorenz Pritz are the filmmakers behind this time-lapse film. They spent ten days in NYC in September 2016, during which they set out to collect a lot of great angles – including from an actual helicopter. They shot 65,000 photos, which took up 2,6 TB of storage space. The final 3-minute video took 36 hours to render on the best-equipped iMac available. Skyline timelapse clip. Image credit: FilmSpektakel One of the most interesting shots in the video is the clip of the yellow cabs. The guys took photos of yellow cabs whenever they got a chance, covering them from as many different angles as possible. They gathered 2,000 photos in total and compiled them into a hyper lapse around a cab in post production. It took them 5 whole days of post work to get this one shot. We asked Peter Jablonowski a few questions about the video: c5D: How did you come up with the idea of going to New York to shoot the next episode in your A Taste Of… series? Peter: We always had the plan to try our A Taste Of… series on an international level, so we were looking for a country or city to do this experiment in. We’ve been to New York two times before so we already knew the city, which made it easier for us to accomplish this project. c5D: I guess that the Yellow Cab clip was the hardest and most time-consuming clip in the video, especially from a post-production point of view. Are there any other clips that were also difficult to shoot? Did you have to overcome any extraordinary obstacles to get the exact angle you wanted? Peter: The helicopter ride was one of the best and at the same time most challenging things we experienced in NYC. We had never been on a helicopter before and flying in between those skyscrapers is pure adrenaline. Trying to take stable pictures while having the doors off is extremely difficult. We first tried it with the help of a single-handed gimbal (CAME-TV Single) which worked fine when the helicopter hovered above one place, but during movement it failed completely because of the strong winds. Most of the helicopter shots in the video are hand-held and stabilized in post production. The helicopter shot was handheld. Image credit: FilmSpektakel c5D: Did you have any problems with the police or other authorities when setting up tripods and all the gear on the streets? Did you have to get any permissions for all that? Peter: Luckily we had no problems with police at all. We were well aware of where tripods are allowed (on the streets, etc.) and where and when tripods they are forbidden. In these cases, we knew how to make do with sand bags, magic arms or even with a stack of tissues. For each location we tried to bring as little gear as possible so we wouldn’t attract too much attention. The authorities were very friendly and appreciated our awareness of the rules and laws. c5D: Any funny BTS stories of your NYC shoot? Peter: Building security kicked us out of our Airbnb after a few nights because it was being let illegally. We didn’t know anything about that, so we had no plan B when security told us to be gone within one hour or else the cops would show up. Airbnb handled it very well and booked us a hotel right next to Times Square, so we were lucky after all to be right in the city center. c5D: Do you already have a plan for the next episode in the A Taste Of… series? If you do, which location do you have in sight? Peter: Yes, we are continuing these A Taste Of… videos, and in fact the next episode has already been shot. To be honest, we are not quite sure when to release it… It will be in a few more months in the future, I guess… Where the next one will take place is still a secret, but if you are following us on Facebook, you could already take a good guess ;-) Getting multiple clips at once. Image credit: FilmSpektakel In terms of equipment, FilmSpektakel used a Sony A7R II, Sony a6300 and two Canon 6D bodies. There is a full list of equipment along with other additional information directly in the video description on the Vimeo link. All episodes of A Taste Of… have received a Vimeo Staff Pick award, so it is really worth watching the older pieces too. Links for those are also in the Vimeo page of the video. Feeling inspired to shoot a time-lapse video now? Do you have any samples you would like to share? Let us know in the comments below!

The Syrp Genie II, the new version of the motion controller by the New Zealand-based company, has been announced during NAB 2017. The all-new Syrp Genie II is a motion control device that improves on the first generation and brings more possibilities in motion control for video and time-lapse. A couple of months ago, we heard about the Syrp Slingshot, a wire cam for dynamic time lapses. Now the company has introduced their new Syrp Genie II time lapse motion controller device. The new Genie consists of two components: Linear drive system that makes up the base of the Genie. It can be attached to any slider on the market and allows you to achieve linear motion control through the string just like the first generation Genie. You can use the base only and attach camera head directly to it if you just want linear motion. Pan/tilt component which can be attached to the base and brings full 3-axis motion control. The new Syrp Genie II claims to be faster, quieter and more powerful than the first generation, and has WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, which serves for communication between the linear base and the pan/tilt module of the product for precise 3-axis control. WiFi is used for high-speed transfer of footage and for communication with the Syrp Genie app. It has two USB-C ports on the linear base and three USB-C ports on the pan/tilt module. It is capable to control camera settings like aperture, exposure time and ISO directly through the Genie app, and works with exchangeable Lithium batteries. We can certainly see that the new locking mechanism is very nice, the linear drive system offers a smaller footprint and the whole system is lighter than the first generation. As a first look, also the pan/tilt head seems like a powerful tool for time-lapse photography as well as video applications with its low noise design, though only a proper field test will provide the necessary insights. On a side note, we have high expectations for products coming from Syrp. Both the Syrp Genie II Linear Drive System & Pan/Tilt Component will cost about $2,000, but will also be available as separate products. Syrp plans to start shipping in November.

HyperZoom inventor Geoff Tomkinson was the first person to start producing digital time-lapse before the advent of DSLRs, and several of his videos have been selected as Vimeo Staff Picks. His technique incorporates hyper-lapse, impossibly long zooms and hidden transitions with the use of layers in 3D space in After Effects. Read on for all about HyperZoom in this guest post from Geoff himself! Geoff Tompkinson The Origins of HyperZoom During my time as the only full-time professional time-lapse shooter producing stock material for ImageBank Film – then Getty – I developed a number of skills. These included everything from how to achieve smooth day to night transitions with smooth colour balance change working with only JPGs as Raw was not then available, to how to build an intervalometer. Most importantly, I learned the ability to use nested resolution comps to enable extreme zoom without the need for expensive zoom lenses. While teaching an After Effects-based time-lapse class in Istanbul, my audience was blown away by a zoom-out shot that started on an ant on a leaf and ended several miles away across a lake in New Hampshire. I realized then that perhaps I should put some effort into a project I had been thinking about for a while, whereby I would effectively be able to ‘travel’ with the zoom. That’s how the HyperZoom technique was born. How to HyperZoom HyperZoom is a suite of techniques, both in the way the footage is shot and in the way it is post-produced. The goal is to make a virtual seamless ‘flight’ through a series of locations. These locations could be in their real positions or they could be many miles apart and made to appear as if next to each other. What’s paradoxical about these videos that feature a huge amount of movement is that for the most part the rule is to not actually move or zoom the camera during capture, as most of the movement is produced in virtual 3D space. The exceptions are when I use hyper-lapse or rotary head shots as part of the sequence, but these camera-moving techniques should also fit in seamlessly with the virtual movement so there is no loss of visual continuity. But why does HyperZoom work? When we look at a photograph of a car for instance, the only way we can tell if it’s a toy car or a real car — if viewing the scene from a single viewpoint — is to move the viewpoint itself and see what happens to the parallax shift between the car and its surroundings. If we shoot the scene as a series of layers related to their depth positions within the scene, we can reassemble these layers in 3D space in post-production. This separation of every scene into depth layers means that editing cannot be done in a conventional editor like Premiere or Final Cut, using After Effects instead in order to move a virtual camera to navigate the layers. The nature of this reassembly means that some scenes also require extreme rotoscoping work. The Making of Upper Austria – An Incredible Journey We were approached by the Upper Austrian Tourist Board back in January 2016 to use our HyperZoom technique to produce a seamless flight through a series of selected locations throughout Upper Austria. For this project, we produced a storyboard and flight plan that would enable us to smoothly pass through all the locations with no cuts. This involved us traveling all over Upper Austria to recce the locations and decide, shot by shot, how we would proceed. I needed to be sure I could escape from any given location by flying over the horizon. This meant adding more capability to the system so we could fly over mountains and through trees. I was pretty confident I could do this, and the technique developed and improved as the project progressed. It’s very important with a production like this to maintain a consistent lighting angle as the camera passes between and through scenes, and that sky conditions match from one scene to the next. We used the fantastic PhotoPills app to enable us to accurately plan shooting angles, times and date ranges that would work for us. The PhotoPills app The big problem with shooting a video that covers several seasons and hundreds of square miles is always the weather. The sequence order of the locations is often dictated by the particular situations, as we always have to have an entry and exit technique that blends seamlessly with what goes before and after. That’s why post-production is often handled in out-of-sequence sections, and integrated with other sections once they have been shot. This actually makes post-production even harder as we cannot just proceed in a linear fashion through the video. That said, one thing I spend a lot of effort in explaining to clients is that changing the sequence of events or inserting or removing a location involves an extreme amount of work since it can have roll-on effects both before and after that extend to many scenes. This is one of the drawbacks compared to a regular video edit, where these sort of changes are very easy to make. In terms of post-production, we had to install extra hard-drive capability and increase the number of available render nodes. Working with multiple 8K sequences inside After Effects meant that everything had to be done with proxies to enable a more fluid working experience, as these projects tend to get very complex. Partial After Effects project flow diagram A Closer Look at Some of the Scenes The Opening Shot (00:00 – 00:30) This shot took many months and several visits before we finally had the correct weather conditions to shoot it. We also wanted to use the same ship in all three scenes (from above, from behind and inside), but the ship’s schedule meant the vessel would only pass us once per day. Each shot of the ship needed a different day. From a post-production perspective, this shot was quite complex as it required accurate timing of the camera move to fit smoothly into the walking of the cyclists and the use of the smartphone. The extreme resolution requirements for the move towards and through the phone meant that this cyclist sequence had to be shot using four cameras firing in synchrony as fast as they could. As with many other parts of this video, we found working with Mocha Pro for the rotoscoping and tracking work was a great help. The Lentos Museum (01:24 – 01:31) The idea here was to have a long run through the art museum exhibition space and exit the building on the other side. The problem was that there was no window to exit through. I decided, with the agreement of the Lentos, to build my own end wall and window using the same style as the other windows in the building. ARS Electronica and Musiktheater Linz Transitions (01:38 – 02:18) The ARS Electronica sequence used 5 different camera positions and a hyperlapse turn through the final room before freeze-framing into a poster to rapidly move to the next daytime scene. This poster board doesn’t actually exist in this location, and was comped in from a different part of the city and modified to fit our requirements. The final shot in the theatre required a massive rotoscoping job that involved tracking the windows, tables, chairs, menu cards, etc., as the camera passes through the cafeteria into the distant view over the rooftops of Linz. This rotoscoping job alone took several weeks of solid work for what in the final movie lasts for around 4 seconds. Thanks once again to Mocha Pro for providing such great tools to assist with this laborious task. 5Fingers – Dachstein (04:00 – 04:10) In order to be able to maintain fluid motion over and past the platform as if using a drone, we needed to rotoscope the entire platform and all the people moving around on it frame by frame, person by person. Several weeks’ work again for just 6 seconds of video. Finale (05-35 – 05:45) We had decided to finish by flying over the trees towards one of the most beautiful scenes in Upper Austria – The Gosau Glacier. However, we soon realised we would have a better finish if we went into the glacier, then slid across it and retreated to reveal its beautiful sunset reflection in Lake Gosau below. All in all, the project took around 8 months to complete – including the inspired original music and sound design by Vincent Jacq and Xavier Plouchart. We are very grateful to the Upper Austrian Tourist Board for their enthusiasm, support and funding of this project. It was great to be working on a schedule that allowed sufficient time for final polishing as well as technique-development along the way. So there you have it, a close look at the HyperZoom technique by the man himself, Geoff Tompkinson. Want some more HyperZooming? Check out HyperZooming Through Hallstatt, a Vimeo Staff Pick just like An Incredible Journey.

Drew Geraci from District 7 Media, who has been a guest on our ON THE COUCH series before (click here) is certainly best known for his timelapse work, particularly the intro of the enormously popular Netflix show “House of Cards”. He’s taken his timelapse skills and applied them using the new app Prisma (free on iTunes), which isn’t just another photo-turned-painting processing app on the phone, but rather a complex set of algorithms that produce really stunning results that do actually look like a painting. In a tedious process, he has processed thousands of images one-by-one using his phone and stitched them together to create an amazing animated timelapse. Read the description of his workflow in his own words and watch the side-by-side video of the original timelapse and the processed images below!   From Drew: After seeing so many stunning still pictures created in the Prisma App, I decided I wanted to take it to the next level and introduce motion. I had recently returned from a trip to China with hours of timelapse and drone footage collecting dust and decided this would be the perfect project to incorporate them in to. Each frame of the 1 minute and 20 second video had to be processed via the Prisma App which took almost 80 hours to complete. The processing/rendering was at the mercy of the servers. Most of the project had to be completed between 11pm and 4am EST because the app would freeze or shutdown due to overloaded serves or too many users on at the same time. Thankfully the algorithm used to create the painting-like scene(s) was very consistent when it came to processing the images. The total video was approximately 2500 frames and took a bit of ingenuity to stitch together. By the end of the project (which took around 5 days to produce) my fingers were numb and eyes bloodshot. The worst part was the constant repetition of taking the photo, processing the photo, moving 1 frame forward, and then saving the image. Sometimes I would forget to do a step and have to start over completely. It was mind-numbing work to say the least! The easiest way for me to create the video was to physically take a picture of the video (on a 4k monitor) using an iPad and save each photo directly to the iPad. Once all of the photos were taken, I used my PC workstation to directly pull the images off the iPad and onto a local hard-drive to continue the processing. All in all, I’ve very excited to have the project complete and out on the web. I’m looking forward to producing some 4k content once the desktop app arrives. Until then, 1074×1074 is good enough for me!

Watch previous episodes of ON THE COUCH & ON THE GO by clicking here! Visit our Vimeo and YouTube playlists, and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes! Please visit our sponsors’ websites to keep new episodes of ON THE COUCH coming! Thanks to G-Technology and Røde Microphones. Drew Geraci, Claus Andersen, Greg Crosby We start off part 2 of episode 29 of ON THE COUCH by talking about how Drew actually produces his timelapses (like the intro of House of Cards for David Fincher). He explains how he has moved on from Canon DSLRs to the Sony a7RII and a7SII, using intervalometers instead of internal apps (which is possible on the Sony cameras). He points out how much better the latitude on RAW images from Sony cameras is these days compared to the Canon counterparts. Still from one of Drew Geraci’s time-lapses. © District 7 Media Claus dives deeper into how he is organizing online communities via Facebook, helping people finding answers to the questions they have around their cameras or filmmaking goals. Greg from our sponsor G-Technology explains the newest additions to G-Technology’s product range, among it the Shuttle XL RAID series, which is made for outdoor use (and which we used to produce my recent wildlife documentary “Through The Thick” in South Africa – click here if you missed it!). He also talks about the ever-evolving range of card readers that G-Technology is providing for their EV series products, which means you don’t need to use any additional cables to connect your media to your hard drives anymore. He also talks about the new G-Rack 12, a new rack-mount NAS system with 12 bays, providing up to 120TB of storage for data-intense productions. G-Technology Shuttle XL RAID with ev slots for expansion (2.5″ hard drives or RED / CFast Card Readers) Please visit our sponsors’ websites to keep new episodes of ON THE COUCH coming! Thanks to G-Technology and Røde Microphones.