There was more insight in this video than the whole of the other 288 videos I watched on this system! I didn’t even know you could calibrate the lenses via an online catalog! I thought the only catalog was in the menu system of the unit. How do you do that?? Also, insight on the c70 and behind lens nd filters was gold!!!! Thank you!
Thanks Justin! The catalog is inside the DJI Ronin smartphone app. You pair it with your grip, then tap on the LiDAR, then you can select the lenses. If you can’t figure it out just let me know. DJI’s setup videos leave a bit to be desired.
We used a demo unit back in May with the BLAZAR Remus and FX3, made a custom 3D printed mount to help us get it closer to the lens height. It was very good then, so we actually bought it ourselves and it arrived today so good to see another video about it! Seems a lot of videos came out in the last few days
There's something I like about the fact you buy this gear with your own money. Plus you seem like a nice, stright up guy who give his honest thoughts. Subbed!
Just what I was looking for - DJI equipment always has quirks, glad you flushed them out for us! I just wrestled with loss of my focus motor pro on the RS4 which turned out to be a faulty usb-c cable, that still seems to work for other purposes but no longer plays well with the focus motor. Thanks for sharing this.
Working with this system as a focus puller i have noticed some of these issues are fixed when you introduce the transmission and high bright combo, though some more small problems are introduced, certain settings not being remembered on reboot of hand unit even when highlighted, no easy switching between subjects if you want to use auto focus from the monitor, some items in the menus mislabeled/ backwards, transmission latency(mostly negated with lidar waveform on high bright) its certainly a game changer but not without its flaws & quirks, mostly software related. I really do enjoy working with it on small budgets compared to a nucleus. The rigging of the lidar unit is weird on anything other than a DSLR, had to get a custom mount machined to work on a cinema camera but once that was fixed it worked flawlessly. The build quality of the hand unit is unfortunately worse than the other hand unit DJI provides with their Ronin4D lidar, I really like the feeling of that one though heavier and no interchangeable batteries
great video! i was thinking of buying the creator combo for the grip and lidar, i want to be able to overide the focus without taking my hand off the grip
legit just bought the irix 65mm and this because of your reviews. Been on the fence for both. Keep it up people will notice your unbiased non shill tuber approach.
Your most valuable comment for me who owns both DZO and New Lidar is 'it tracks humans brilliantly but not objects so well.' I film a lot of auto interiors and I just cannot seem to get it to reliably rack focus on interior elements like vents or steering wheels. Sometimes it holds, other times it doesn't.
As an owner of the 4D for 2 years I am so glad the rest of the world is getting there hands on this tech. for me it was ground breaking and I saw no reason to go backwards I'm waiting for other manufactures to finnaly join them. it feels like back when Panasonic was shooting to cards and people thought that was crazy.
The position not reported back to the hand unit is a pain. I have had a couple times where I wanted to do hand focus on some close shots and when my ac took back over when walking out to get a kind of dolly out shot it jumps back and kills the shot planned. What I never was succesfull with was to get a longer lens running fine like my 50-135 s35 lens from laowa (ranger s35)
Word, solid review! I own the 4D but it's for sure not my A Cam. I prefer three cameras, one fully build (dana, easyrig, interviews), one for lightweight shooting and one stripped down for gimbal work. The 4D is freaking incredible for certain scenarios, despite it being littered with bugs. I still love it. The hardest thing about it though is only being able to do ProRes RAW. I can't understand why that codec is so limited. If it had BRAW, it would be such a better camera. That said, some of the shots I pull off with the 4D would require at least two or more people on something like a RED.
Thanks for sharing man! I’m consider replacing the Tilta M system with hand grip on my rig with this setup. I have the LiDAR Rangefinder RS and it works well with the RS3 Pro, but this setup is much more streamlined. Plus I’m considering the Transmission system with the High Bright Monitor to utilize the top down waveform.
It's very nice to have on the camera without needing a gimbal. I've considered the transmission system as well, but I'm eyeballing a Teradek more strongly, just as that robust "one and done" tool. Kinda like my Flowtech tripods.
I have the Lidar unit on my r5ii (and r5c's) and have a mix or Arles primes and Vespids. I use the Mofage Poco PL to RF with the rear VND/Clear filter. I have been having decent success but I had not really realised that you can Fine tune the Flange distance. I would love some more info on that and that process. I have been enjoying journey here on YT and have gotten a lot of useful information! Also I couldn't agree more about the drive to clean up and simplify rigs!
Thanks! The flange tuning is a setting on the smartphone app. You just click “fine tune flange depth” or something similar, and there’s a slider. Slide until focus is perfect. This is only available for lenses which have been looked up via the database, as any lenses added manually should already be correct based on your physical focus samples.
Thanks for taking the time to make this video. I have one question: How far away can you put the lidar sensor from the camera body ? I have 43" teleprompter setup and need to put the lidar sensor in front of the teleprompter glass.
But keep in mind, the LiDAR is less accurate the farther away it goes from the optical center of your lens. So if you’re using a giant Teleprompter, and you have to have the sensor above it, it is probably not the best solution for you. Maybe you can put it inside the teleprompter?
@@nick_salazar Thanks for the information. Sadly the 300 mm could just be not enough to place the Lidar in front of the teleprompter glass and out of sight of the talents view on the teeprompter content.
I have the kit too, but I only have one cine lens I can use with it - DZO Cyber 35... Lens readout port doesn't work anymore with the newer gear but still works with the original lidar and rs3 combo... And while I love the setup, I'm looking for better cine glass to pair it with. Overall, I've found my one 35mm lens and lidar rs to be very reliable, but I have had issues keeping the rig calibrated at times. I've been looking hard at the Arles, but I can't quite get there with their larger size, need more versitility for gimbal, close quarters, cable cam, etc...
There are lots of issues with this system, LIDAR itself is awesome, but has some baby issues that can be covered via firmware (like walking or dolly back - focus always too slow and unusable, but when pushing in - it's ok), motors sometimes can't calibrate on some cine lenses, especially if they are a bit stiff (has been an issue on some Master primes). The pro grip can't control the motors wirelessly, which in combination with "proprietary" type-c cables makes use of this thing on remote heads/gimbals (yes gimbals that are not RS-line still exist) problematic to say at least. They still did not release longer cables, so a lot of us are using extension cables, which is wild. LIDAR doesn't like being near big surfaces (desk, table, soft box). Flex spot sometimes hunting faces instead of objects etc. Still objects can cause focus hunting, there's no option to switch between MF/AF/AMF but only MF/AF or MF/AMF etc etc etc. Those are things that mostly can be addressed in the firmware, but hardware stuff is done really wrong in a lot of places - beginning with mounting of the lidar itself, the non-standard rosette on Pro Grip, ending on some stuff like NO WIRELESS CONNECTION to the motor in the Pro Grip IN 2024?! No way to power the pro grip externally (it's simply not designed for that use case), location of cable connectors on the motors in conjunction with crappy cables that are generic but in the same time proprietary etc.
what's the distance on that move? I'm curious to test it now, but so far I haven't had any tracking or focus problems when pulling back as long as I lock to the subject first.
@@MrMoviePhoneEx it doesn't matter which distance, it does lag behind all the time when pulling back, but it doesn't when pushing in. It will def. be more visible on close-ups than on wides, but it's still there on wides if one look close enough. It's enough to be visible on close-up portraits, especially shot on dollies or sliders (handheld kind of hides it a bit)
@@MrMoviePhoneEx I suppose 30hz rate isn't sufficient for pull backs, but I think it can be addressed to some extent in the firmware with movement prediction, if it has gyroscope.
Awesome video, Nick! Question for you, I'm looking to pick up the Focus Pro Grip by itself and use it as a right-side handle for my Komodo-X and V-Raptor. I have no need for the lidar unit itself, but I'm in love with the (on paper) start & stop function of the FP Grip for the DSMC3 bodies. My question is will it work by itself without the lidar unit, or is that required for the whole thing to function? I see that Ignite Digi has a cable dedicated for this specific use case, "R/S Cable | Focus Pro Grip to Komodo X & V Raptor". Curious about your thoughts. Thanks a ton!
You don't need the LiDAR, you can use it without just fine, as I describe at the top of the video. But yes if you want R/S on the handle then you do need that specific R/S cable, which you can see I have on my rig as well. It goes from the EXT port on the DSMC3 cameras to USB-C, and works nicely. You would have fingertip focus and R/S on the handle, just no autofocus. I'm not sure where you'd buy just the grip, but if you just want R/S and not even a focus motor, then why not just use the Komodo Outrigger handle which does the same thing?
@@nick_salazar thanks for getting back to me! I would actually be using it with a set of arles primes and sigma cine primes I have, forgot to mention that in the previous comment haha. So it would be for both fingertip focus with a motor and also run stop, just no lidar. I’ll be picking up a few of those cables from ignite digi and the grip as soon as it’s in stock. Thanks a ton for the insight! 👍🏼
I’m waiting too. I have one on order but the Komodo X price drop made me pause temporarily. Would love to see your take as we seem to have a similar aesthetic.
I have the DJI now and it’s 10x better than the SmallRig Wireless Fiz (which I also have) at wireless manual focus. The LiDAR is pretty spot on with my Irix len set. I didn’t get the wireless hand grip (yet).
I used it for a concert shoot and I was surprised how well it did even with the small amount of focus racking with faster movements. It honestly shocked me because it was such a bad lighting situation with a bunch of smoke haze, low back lights with no fronts and a bunch of people to focus between
great review I used the ronin rs3 with the tilta ring include the Red KX. how's that set up? and how does this focus work with more then 4 people in the frame?
I’m not sure what you’re asking me about the Komodo. As far as lots of people in frame, it will usually default to one of them, it’s a little bit annoying to try and get it to pick a different one. But once it is on the person you’d like to prioritize, you just tap the trigger button once, and it will lock onto that subject.
have you considered a easy-flow-rig to help with camera support? Thanks for your insights on this system. I just recently got a set of Nisi Athena Primes and am leaning towards picking up the DJI Lidar
I've used a few different body-mounted support rigs. Easyrig types, Ready-Rig types, slings, Steadicam types, poor-man's Trinity type rigs, etc. Ultimately, I think Steadicam-types are the best for the type of footage I prefer (smoother, floating, as if on rails, no shaky-cam). However I am not a camera operator at heart. I'm not going to dedicate myself to the art of steadicam, which is a dedicated practice. I'll make do with my handheld, tripod, or jib-mounted footage, and hire a dedicated operator when needed. Enjoy your Athena lenses!
Thanks for your review. I am wondering what aperture from 100mm lens you was using for the video you took. It seems the close focus is pretty good, did you calibrate the lens manually with 1m away? Thanks
Ok sooooooo please let me know where I can find your canon R5c raw workflow video because your footage looks amazing and I’m about to get rid of mine but after seeing your video I need to learn more of how you achieved these looks Talk soon
Thanks! Actually the Canon footage in this film is actually XF-AVC, not RAW. I usually do a CST into REDWideGamut Log3G10, then just regular primary/secondary adjustments, and usually FilmConvert for the final transform into 709 space. Mononodes DCTL checker to ensure good skin tones, but that’s not part of the final image, just a monitoring tool to help along the way.
Btw kondor blue is releasing a rod mounted mount for the lidar. I have one preordered. I would rather have it below to avoid a potential flag on matte box.
Thank you! I design the handles myself. The standard version is available to purchase here: www.fzerocamera.com/plastic - but the one pictured is a custom forward-offset version for use with this specific setup. Let me know if you'd buy it and I can add it to the store.
good video. i got mine a few weeks ago and love it. I wish they include a longer cable for shoulder rigs. if you know where can I get 1 pls let me know.
I don't. Unfortunately this is another problem in the industry ... using the "standard" USB-C connection, but requiring a proprietary cable pinout. DJI, RED, and now Canon have all done it, and it's absurd. The standard pinout is fine for any application, just let us use standard cables!
@@nick_salazarHi Nick. I got one usb4.0 type c male to type c female cable from the local computer store works great as an extension to the original cable.
does having rear filtration add or subtract flange distance? I'm using Kippertie NDs. Seeing your video makes me want to dig mine out and give it another shot.
On the DJI Ronin app, the slider goes from +500 on the left to -500 on the right. I needed to move all my sliders to the right, anywhere from about -50 to about -400, depending on the specific focal length. I had also already shimmed each individual lens differently from how they came from the factory, with the aim of maximum sharpness. Each lens had a specific shim level, possibly with a different goal (like accuracy to the focus marks, or something else, I don't know). I recorded all the factory-setting shim levels just in case I ever need to go back, but so far everything is working well.
The Tilta was very unintuitive, complex menus and operations, and easy to accidentally brush the touchscreen and mess things up. The SmallRig I didn’t touch very much, but it seemed a bit odd too with its setup and the tiny lcd and the odd batteries. I haven’t used their new system but it looks okay. I just got a lot of value from the straightforward setup of the DJI, especially with the hand unit.
Also worth noting that how you power them seems to be important. Use the correct battory (they're not all the same, the 'Pro' batteries might fit but voltages are different) and be careful with power over USB-C. It seems that the device is unregulated and we've personally experianced and heard of other units blowing up and expect they might be making a hardware revision - hence why they're delivering them so slowly at this stage.
To be clear to others who read this, you're talking about the motor (and LiDAR presumably). So far I've either powered from the handle (the native solution, so of course it works), or from the RS3 Pro gimbal, or from my SmallRig VB99 and VB212 batteries over USB-C. The SmallRig USB-C ports use the PD ("Power Delivery") protocol, so they communicate the appropriate voltage to one another and work just fine. Yes, be careful how you power them!
@@nick_salazar The handle grip is what's popping unfortunatly. The handle will start to get very hot / shutdown after a few seconds and the USB output ports will smell like burnt electronics. Some peopole are trying to use the larger Pro batteries (which will fit / boot) or try to run them with USB-C or other power docks / bases. I'd be weary of powring it any way that isn't shown / approved by DJI at this stage. We've seen a rental house have some go as well as owner operators.
Oh yikes! Good to know. I’ve been using my RS3 Pro battery as it’s a bit longer and feels better in hand. I do get a warning message each time but so far no functional issues. Maybe I’ll have to stop. Boo.
@@nick_salazar All good! I'm pretty sure I saw some early videos using the extended Pro battry grip and running with external USB power as well. My guess is that it overloads the powerdelivery and causes some sort of degredation that creates a short / power runaway after prolonged use with incorrect voltage - Hopefully yours is still fine! DJI have been pretty good for replacing burnt out units though and I've heard talk from rental houses of DJI slowing manufacture and a hardware revision coming but that could just be a rumour! Early signes of failure seem to include: crashing / overheating, failure to boot the LiDar unit and forgetting lens profiles followed by failure to boot at all and / or the small of cooked electronics.
Ive sent a whole load of suggestions to DJI about entire ecosystem. This includes focus combo, ronin rs4 pro, and transmission+hibrite with 4d grips and v1 and v2 hubs. They need to make it work as a WHOLE. i got t for my cine and vibtage manual lenses. The DJI app needs a LOT of work. Hopefully they take suggestions and implement via firmware. 🤞
Thank you! One shot was on the RS3 Pro gimbal, at about 9:50 - and it's labeled that way. For the rest, it's just steady hand work with the camera pushed up to my chest as you see at 10:53. Sometimes I add a touch of post stabilization in Resolve, either "Perspective" mode or "Translation" mode depending on what works better for the particular shot. I usually leave the default settings, except that I pump up the "smooth" slider to somewhere between 0.35 and 0.40. Hope that helps!
I have a very specific doubt about the Focus Pro / Lidar System, when rigged with the Ronin RS3 Pro / RS4 Pro does it operate just the same as it does with the separate grip? Like, can you have it in AF but then take Manual Control at any time just like the Focus Pro Grip?
Well, let me be more specific. Yes, you can still focus manually on the RS3 Pro, but the focus wheel itself will not move corresponding to the auto focus, as it does on the LiDAR grip. It doesn’t work quite the same as the grip itself. Maybe the RS4 Pro has more seamless functionality.
Curious which Breakthrough variable ND system did you buy? Was it the DFM for RF mount or the one specifically for DFMC2? (Assuming you got the Pl version of the Arles Lenses)
I mentioned this in the video. I just drilled a couple of holes carefully, found some slightly longer M3 screws, and screwed the lidar onto the matte box. Nothing fancy.
@@nick_salazar I did ask my question before I saw the whole videon :) but since I might be a bit daft just coming home from work. Did you drill the holes right into the LIDAR? I was hoping there was a way to just remove the bracket that comes mounted to the LIDAR and just but some kind of mounting point for a cold shoe there
I didn’t do anything to the lidar unit. It already has M3 threaded holes in it. That’s how the cold shoe bracket is attached. So I removed the original bracket then just drilled holes in the matte box, got slightly longer screws than what is supplied with the original bracket, and attached it.
It's a DJI product. Same length, just a right angle at one end, which makes things sit neater than the straight cables. I bought three of them from this listing and they work just fine: amzn.to/3zwRi79
What's the issue you have with mounting the motor incorrectly? I have my motor flipped compared to yours and I had no problem with the autofocus. Though it was only a quick test. I just got mine in and haven't had time to run it through a full range of tests
Are you *sure* yours was flipped? It’s not about which side it’s on, or whether it’s pointing up or down, it’s about which side is facing forward. This system always wants the motor side (the big round bulge) facing forward toward your subject. If you flip it, the autofocus maps the motor in reverse and will pull in the opposite direction from where it should.
@@nick_salazar I had the motor facing the camera. Same side of camera as yours, heard facing up. I did notice the near to infinity scale was reversed, but it corrected after messing with the "reverse dial" option. But also I didn't really test it's accuracy past 4 meters
I think your lidar is too forward and not parallel with your lens. Try adding a nato to 15mm rod adapter and use an 8 inch 15mm rod. Attach the Lidar to the in box DJI 15mm plate. Try that and I want to see what you come up with when both the lidar and your lens are parallel to each other. AND you can use barn doors without obstruction.
I mention the Lidar position in the video. No it’s not perfect but it functions fine. None of the issues I flagged are related to LiDAR position. The LiDAR internal camera reports what it sees, which is fine. So, I’ll keep it where it is :-)
Haha, yeah if you set it up the right way, it can work well. But definitely hear me when I say there are LOTS of weird and glitchy things going on here. They were okay for me, but not for everyone. Make sure you think it through before you take the plunge 🙂
@@nick_salazar yup. I've seen some things that indicate that it's not quite ready for prime time, but still worth looking into for solo creators. Thanks for this video!
![What's Wrong With DJI Focus Pro [Honest Review]](/img/n.gif)
Oh, and the unlabeled footage of my wife painting her nails is Arles + Raptor + LiDAR, handheld.
Quentin Tarantino's favorite part of this video
There was more insight in this video than the whole of the other 288 videos I watched on this system! I didn’t even know you could calibrate the lenses via an online catalog! I thought the only catalog was in the menu system of the unit. How do you do that?? Also, insight on the c70 and behind lens nd filters was gold!!!! Thank you!
Thanks Justin! The catalog is inside the DJI Ronin smartphone app. You pair it with your grip, then tap on the LiDAR, then you can select the lenses. If you can’t figure it out just let me know. DJI’s setup videos leave a bit to be desired.
I finally received my unit a couple days ago. So far, I’ve been pretty impressed as well.
We used a demo unit back in May with the BLAZAR Remus and FX3, made a custom 3D printed mount to help us get it closer to the lens height. It was very good then, so we actually bought it ourselves and it arrived today so good to see another video about it! Seems a lot of videos came out in the last few days
There's something I like about the fact you buy this gear with your own money. Plus you seem like a nice, stright up guy who give his honest thoughts. Subbed!
Thanks!
Thanks for the real and practical overview of the product. Refreshing and appreciated my dude.
Just what I was looking for - DJI equipment always has quirks, glad you flushed them out for us! I just wrestled with loss of my focus motor pro on the RS4 which turned out to be a faulty usb-c cable, that still seems to work for other purposes but no longer plays well with the focus motor. Thanks for sharing this.
Finally a non-sponsored/gifted product review. Real world actual review we can trust.
Thanks! Yeah DJI does a solid job getting influencer reviews of their gear, so it can be hard to find opinions based on real world experience.
Working with this system as a focus puller i have noticed some of these issues are fixed when you introduce the transmission and high bright combo, though some more small problems are introduced, certain settings not being remembered on reboot of hand unit even when highlighted, no easy switching between subjects if you want to use auto focus from the monitor, some items in the menus mislabeled/ backwards, transmission latency(mostly negated with lidar waveform on high bright) its certainly a game changer but not without its flaws & quirks, mostly software related. I really do enjoy working with it on small budgets compared to a nucleus. The rigging of the lidar unit is weird on anything other than a DSLR, had to get a custom mount machined to work on a cinema camera but once that was fixed it worked flawlessly. The build quality of the hand unit is unfortunately worse than the other hand unit DJI provides with their Ronin4D lidar, I really like the feeling of that one though heavier and no interchangeable batteries
great video! i was thinking of buying the creator combo for the grip and lidar, i want to be able to overide the focus without taking my hand off the grip
legit just bought the irix 65mm and this because of your reviews. Been on the fence for both. Keep it up people will notice your unbiased non shill tuber approach.
Thank you so much! Enjoy them!
I've now used my focus pro combo on 3 shoots and though it can be buggy as hell, it's quite brilliant. Great video...thanks.
Haha, sounds like you and I are having a similar experience with it. Thanks for the kind words!
Your most valuable comment for me who owns both DZO and New Lidar is 'it tracks humans brilliantly but not objects so well.' I film a lot of auto interiors and I just cannot seem to get it to reliably rack focus on interior elements like vents or steering wheels. Sometimes it holds, other times it doesn't.
As an owner of the 4D for 2 years I am so glad the rest of the world is getting there hands on this tech. for me it was ground breaking and I saw no reason to go backwards I'm waiting for other manufactures to finnaly join them. it feels like back when Panasonic was shooting to cards and people thought that was crazy.
Excellent video. Very insightful and to the point.
What were the things that you didn't like about the Smallrig FIZ? Also I'm sure it's not just the lens but that DZOFilm Arles looks incredible.
My god, that footage looks gorgeous and it's AUTOFOCUS. Wild. Really wishing I hadn't spent so much time trying to get the Nucleus Nano II perfected.
Thank you so much! The Arles primes are just SO darn good. Worth the hassle, to me anyway.
very helpful / thoughtful review
The position not reported back to the hand unit is a pain. I have had a couple times where I wanted to do hand focus on some close shots and when my ac took back over when walking out to get a kind of dolly out shot it jumps back and kills the shot planned.
What I never was succesfull with was to get a longer lens running fine like my 50-135 s35 lens from laowa (ranger s35)
Word, solid review! I own the 4D but it's for sure not my A Cam. I prefer three cameras, one fully build (dana, easyrig, interviews), one for lightweight shooting and one stripped down for gimbal work. The 4D is freaking incredible for certain scenarios, despite it being littered with bugs. I still love it. The hardest thing about it though is only being able to do ProRes RAW. I can't understand why that codec is so limited. If it had BRAW, it would be such a better camera. That said, some of the shots I pull off with the 4D would require at least two or more people on something like a RED.
Yeah I really thought about it as a B-cam. But ultimately I grabbed a Sony A9 iii and it's changing my life. It's VERY interesting.
Thanks for sharing man! I’m consider replacing the Tilta M system with hand grip on my rig with this setup. I have the LiDAR Rangefinder RS and it works well with the RS3 Pro, but this setup is much more streamlined. Plus I’m considering the Transmission system with the High Bright Monitor to utilize the top down waveform.
It's very nice to have on the camera without needing a gimbal. I've considered the transmission system as well, but I'm eyeballing a Teradek more strongly, just as that robust "one and done" tool. Kinda like my Flowtech tripods.
awesome footage and great diction - you have a bright future as a reviewer
Thanks for the kind words!
I have the Lidar unit on my r5ii (and r5c's) and have a mix or Arles primes and Vespids. I use the Mofage Poco PL to RF with the rear VND/Clear filter.
I have been having decent success but I had not really realised that you can Fine tune the Flange distance. I would love some more info on that and that process.
I have been enjoying journey here on YT and have gotten a lot of useful information!
Also I couldn't agree more about the drive to clean up and simplify rigs!
Thanks! The flange tuning is a setting on the smartphone app. You just click “fine tune flange depth” or something similar, and there’s a slider. Slide until focus is perfect. This is only available for lenses which have been looked up via the database, as any lenses added manually should already be correct based on your physical focus samples.
Very interested in this, thanks for the note on rear filtration, I use a mofage VND.
Amazing content as always, was waiting for your take on it
Thanks for taking the time to make this video.
I have one question:
How far away can you put the lidar sensor from the camera body ?
I have 43" teleprompter setup and need to put the lidar sensor in front of the teleprompter glass.
The setting goes from 0mm to +300mm in 1mm increments.
But keep in mind, the LiDAR is less accurate the farther away it goes from the optical center of your lens. So if you’re using a giant Teleprompter, and you have to have the sensor above it, it is probably not the best solution for you. Maybe you can put it inside the teleprompter?
@@nick_salazar Thanks for the information.
Sadly the 300 mm could just be not enough to place the Lidar in front of the teleprompter glass and out of sight of the talents view on the teeprompter content.
I have the kit too, but I only have one cine lens I can use with it - DZO Cyber 35... Lens readout port doesn't work anymore with the newer gear but still works with the original lidar and rs3 combo... And while I love the setup, I'm looking for better cine glass to pair it with. Overall, I've found my one 35mm lens and lidar rs to be very reliable, but I have had issues keeping the rig calibrated at times. I've been looking hard at the Arles, but I can't quite get there with their larger size, need more versitility for gimbal, close quarters, cable cam, etc...
There are lots of issues with this system, LIDAR itself is awesome, but has some baby issues that can be covered via firmware (like walking or dolly back - focus always too slow and unusable, but when pushing in - it's ok), motors sometimes can't calibrate on some cine lenses, especially if they are a bit stiff (has been an issue on some Master primes). The pro grip can't control the motors wirelessly, which in combination with "proprietary" type-c cables makes use of this thing on remote heads/gimbals (yes gimbals that are not RS-line still exist) problematic to say at least. They still did not release longer cables, so a lot of us are using extension cables, which is wild. LIDAR doesn't like being near big surfaces (desk, table, soft box). Flex spot sometimes hunting faces instead of objects etc. Still objects can cause focus hunting, there's no option to switch between MF/AF/AMF but only MF/AF or MF/AMF etc etc etc. Those are things that mostly can be addressed in the firmware, but hardware stuff is done really wrong in a lot of places - beginning with mounting of the lidar itself, the non-standard rosette on Pro Grip, ending on some stuff like NO WIRELESS CONNECTION to the motor in the Pro Grip IN 2024?! No way to power the pro grip externally (it's simply not designed for that use case), location of cable connectors on the motors in conjunction with crappy cables that are generic but in the same time proprietary etc.
In other ways it's a consumer tool, it neither will work for you or it won't work for you. No middle ground present
what's the distance on that move? I'm curious to test it now, but so far I haven't had any tracking or focus problems when pulling back as long as I lock to the subject first.
@@MrMoviePhoneEx it doesn't matter which distance, it does lag behind all the time when pulling back, but it doesn't when pushing in. It will def. be more visible on close-ups than on wides, but it's still there on wides if one look close enough. It's enough to be visible on close-up portraits, especially shot on dollies or sliders (handheld kind of hides it a bit)
@@MrMoviePhoneEx I suppose 30hz rate isn't sufficient for pull backs, but I think it can be addressed to some extent in the firmware with movement prediction, if it has gyroscope.
Can it focus on the eyes of the subject or just generally on the face?
Awesome video, Nick! Question for you, I'm looking to pick up the Focus Pro Grip by itself and use it as a right-side handle for my Komodo-X and V-Raptor. I have no need for the lidar unit itself, but I'm in love with the (on paper) start & stop function of the FP Grip for the DSMC3 bodies. My question is will it work by itself without the lidar unit, or is that required for the whole thing to function? I see that Ignite Digi has a cable dedicated for this specific use case, "R/S Cable | Focus Pro Grip to Komodo X & V Raptor". Curious about your thoughts. Thanks a ton!
You don't need the LiDAR, you can use it without just fine, as I describe at the top of the video. But yes if you want R/S on the handle then you do need that specific R/S cable, which you can see I have on my rig as well. It goes from the EXT port on the DSMC3 cameras to USB-C, and works nicely. You would have fingertip focus and R/S on the handle, just no autofocus. I'm not sure where you'd buy just the grip, but if you just want R/S and not even a focus motor, then why not just use the Komodo Outrigger handle which does the same thing?
@@nick_salazar thanks for getting back to me! I would actually be using it with a set of arles primes and sigma cine primes I have, forgot to mention that in the previous comment haha. So it would be for both fingertip focus with a motor and also run stop, just no lidar. I’ll be picking up a few of those cables from ignite digi and the grip as soon as it’s in stock. Thanks a ton for the insight! 👍🏼
Would love to see your take on the C400, the image quality vs red😅
Thank you! Originally Canon was going to send me one to test, so stay tuned!
I’m waiting too. I have one on order but the Komodo X price drop made me pause temporarily. Would love to see your take as we seem to have a similar aesthetic.
I have the DJI now and it’s 10x better than the SmallRig Wireless Fiz (which I also have) at wireless manual focus. The LiDAR is pretty spot on with my Irix len set. I didn’t get the wireless hand grip (yet).
I used it for a concert shoot and I was surprised how well it did even with the small amount of focus racking with faster movements. It honestly shocked me because it was such a bad lighting situation with a bunch of smoke haze, low back lights with no fronts and a bunch of people to focus between
great review I used the ronin rs3 with the tilta ring include the Red KX. how's that set up? and how does this focus work with more then 4 people in the frame?
I’m not sure what you’re asking me about the Komodo. As far as lots of people in frame, it will usually default to one of them, it’s a little bit annoying to try and get it to pick a different one. But once it is on the person you’d like to prioritize, you just tap the trigger button once, and it will lock onto that subject.
@ oh okay thanks so it will only focus on one, let’s say we have a 5 people in a wide shot will it focus infinity or still just one?
With multiple people in shot it will pick a person (usually the closest one to camera) and focus on that person.
have you considered a easy-flow-rig to help with camera support? Thanks for your insights on this system. I just recently got a set of Nisi Athena Primes and am leaning towards picking up the DJI Lidar
I've used a few different body-mounted support rigs. Easyrig types, Ready-Rig types, slings, Steadicam types, poor-man's Trinity type rigs, etc. Ultimately, I think Steadicam-types are the best for the type of footage I prefer (smoother, floating, as if on rails, no shaky-cam). However I am not a camera operator at heart. I'm not going to dedicate myself to the art of steadicam, which is a dedicated practice. I'll make do with my handheld, tripod, or jib-mounted footage, and hire a dedicated operator when needed. Enjoy your Athena lenses!
Thanks for your review. I am wondering what aperture from 100mm lens you was using for the video you took. It seems the close focus is pretty good, did you calibrate the lens manually with 1m away? Thanks
Most shots here are at T1.4 to T1.6 or so. I used the automatic profile calibration, but adjusted the "flange offset" manually.
bros biceps are crazy haha thanks for the review, man. Very cool to know the little quirks it has
Haha thanks for the kind words!
great review, planning to get one!
Great footage and video Nick! 🔥
Thanks! In this video you can see I am using a run/stop cable I bought from you guys (I believe it’s made by ZITAY). So handy.
Ok sooooooo please let me know where I can find your canon R5c raw workflow video because your footage looks amazing and I’m about to get rid of mine but after seeing your video I need to learn more of how you achieved these looks
Talk soon
Thanks! Actually the Canon footage in this film is actually XF-AVC, not RAW. I usually do a CST into REDWideGamut Log3G10, then just regular primary/secondary adjustments, and usually FilmConvert for the final transform into 709 space. Mononodes DCTL checker to ensure good skin tones, but that’s not part of the final image, just a monitoring tool to help along the way.
Outstanding review.
great video!
Btw kondor blue is releasing a rod mounted mount for the lidar. I have one preordered. I would rather have it below to avoid a potential flag on matte box.
Keep doing what you’re doing my brother,,. Where do you get the left-hand handlebar? Unique
Thank you! I design the handles myself. The standard version is available to purchase here: www.fzerocamera.com/plastic - but the one pictured is a custom forward-offset version for use with this specific setup. Let me know if you'd buy it and I can add it to the store.
good video. i got mine a few weeks ago and love it. I wish they include a longer cable for shoulder rigs. if you know where can I get 1 pls let me know.
I don't. Unfortunately this is another problem in the industry ... using the "standard" USB-C connection, but requiring a proprietary cable pinout. DJI, RED, and now Canon have all done it, and it's absurd. The standard pinout is fine for any application, just let us use standard cables!
@@nick_salazarHi Nick. I got one usb4.0 type c male to type c female cable from the local computer store works great as an extension to the original cable.
does having rear filtration add or subtract flange distance? I'm using Kippertie NDs. Seeing your video makes me want to dig mine out and give it another shot.
On the DJI Ronin app, the slider goes from +500 on the left to -500 on the right. I needed to move all my sliders to the right, anywhere from about -50 to about -400, depending on the specific focal length. I had also already shimmed each individual lens differently from how they came from the factory, with the aim of maximum sharpness. Each lens had a specific shim level, possibly with a different goal (like accuracy to the focus marks, or something else, I don't know). I recorded all the factory-setting shim levels just in case I ever need to go back, but so far everything is working well.
Hi , thanks, have you found a solution for a longer control cable? I want to extend for a boulder rig setup.
What specifically didn't work for you with the magicfiz and tilta? I plan to mainly use this for manual focus
The Tilta was very unintuitive, complex menus and operations, and easy to accidentally brush the touchscreen and mess things up. The SmallRig I didn’t touch very much, but it seemed a bit odd too with its setup and the tiny lcd and the odd batteries. I haven’t used their new system but it looks okay. I just got a lot of value from the straightforward setup of the DJI, especially with the hand unit.
Also worth noting that how you power them seems to be important. Use the correct battory (they're not all the same, the 'Pro' batteries might fit but voltages are different) and be careful with power over USB-C. It seems that the device is unregulated and we've personally experianced and heard of other units blowing up and expect they might be making a hardware revision - hence why they're delivering them so slowly at this stage.
To be clear to others who read this, you're talking about the motor (and LiDAR presumably). So far I've either powered from the handle (the native solution, so of course it works), or from the RS3 Pro gimbal, or from my SmallRig VB99 and VB212 batteries over USB-C. The SmallRig USB-C ports use the PD ("Power Delivery") protocol, so they communicate the appropriate voltage to one another and work just fine. Yes, be careful how you power them!
@@nick_salazar The handle grip is what's popping unfortunatly. The handle will start to get very hot / shutdown after a few seconds and the USB output ports will smell like burnt electronics. Some peopole are trying to use the larger Pro batteries (which will fit / boot) or try to run them with USB-C or other power docks / bases. I'd be weary of powring it any way that isn't shown / approved by DJI at this stage. We've seen a rental house have some go as well as owner operators.
Oh yikes! Good to know. I’ve been using my RS3 Pro battery as it’s a bit longer and feels better in hand. I do get a warning message each time but so far no functional issues. Maybe I’ll have to stop. Boo.
@@nick_salazar All good! I'm pretty sure I saw some early videos using the extended Pro battry grip and running with external USB power as well. My guess is that it overloads the powerdelivery and causes some sort of degredation that creates a short / power runaway after prolonged use with incorrect voltage - Hopefully yours is still fine! DJI have been pretty good for replacing burnt out units though and I've heard talk from rental houses of DJI slowing manufacture and a hardware revision coming but that could just be a rumour! Early signes of failure seem to include: crashing / overheating, failure to boot the LiDar unit and forgetting lens profiles followed by failure to boot at all and / or the small of cooked electronics.
@@nick_salazar yea that rs3 battery is a ticking time bomb
Ive sent a whole load of suggestions to DJI about entire ecosystem. This includes focus combo, ronin rs4 pro, and transmission+hibrite with 4d grips and v1 and v2 hubs. They need to make it work as a WHOLE. i got t for my cine and vibtage manual lenses. The DJI app needs a LOT of work. Hopefully they take suggestions and implement via firmware. 🤞
The test shots are beautiful. How are you stabilizing the footage?
Thank you! One shot was on the RS3 Pro gimbal, at about 9:50 - and it's labeled that way. For the rest, it's just steady hand work with the camera pushed up to my chest as you see at 10:53. Sometimes I add a touch of post stabilization in Resolve, either "Perspective" mode or "Translation" mode depending on what works better for the particular shot. I usually leave the default settings, except that I pump up the "smooth" slider to somewhere between 0.35 and 0.40. Hope that helps!
Oh, and sometimes I'm just on a tripod of course 🙂 I use a jib sometimes too, but that isn't in any of these shots as far as I recall.
I have a very specific doubt about the Focus Pro / Lidar System, when rigged with the Ronin RS3 Pro / RS4 Pro does it operate just the same as it does with the separate grip? Like, can you have it in AF but then take Manual Control at any time just like the Focus Pro Grip?
On the RS3 Pro it does NOT. I’m not sure about the RS4.
Well, let me be more specific. Yes, you can still focus manually on the RS3 Pro, but the focus wheel itself will not move corresponding to the auto focus, as it does on the LiDAR grip. It doesn’t work quite the same as the grip itself. Maybe the RS4 Pro has more seamless functionality.
Curious which Breakthrough variable ND system did you buy? Was it the DFM for RF mount or the one specifically for DFMC2? (Assuming you got the Pl version of the Arles Lenses)
Yep it’s the RF to PL DFM with X4 VND.
Great job. Thanks
How did you mount the Lidar on the matte box? id like to change the mount on the Lidar somehow, is it something you made yourself?
I mentioned this in the video. I just drilled a couple of holes carefully, found some slightly longer M3 screws, and screwed the lidar onto the matte box. Nothing fancy.
@@nick_salazar I did ask my question before I saw the whole videon :) but since I might be a bit daft just coming home from work. Did you drill the holes right into the LIDAR? I was hoping there was a way to just remove the bracket that comes mounted to the LIDAR and just but some kind of mounting point for a cold shoe there
I didn’t do anything to the lidar unit. It already has M3 threaded holes in it. That’s how the cold shoe bracket is attached. So I removed the original bracket then just drilled holes in the matte box, got slightly longer screws than what is supplied with the original bracket, and attached it.
@@nick_salazar ok :) I think that I get how you did it. Smart!
Where did you get the right angle cable to use with the lidar unit. Look longer than stock
It's a DJI product. Same length, just a right angle at one end, which makes things sit neater than the straight cables. I bought three of them from this listing and they work just fine: amzn.to/3zwRi79
get the Arri follow focus system if you want the best of the best :D
What's the issue you have with mounting the motor incorrectly? I have my motor flipped compared to yours and I had no problem with the autofocus. Though it was only a quick test. I just got mine in and haven't had time to run it through a full range of tests
Are you *sure* yours was flipped? It’s not about which side it’s on, or whether it’s pointing up or down, it’s about which side is facing forward. This system always wants the motor side (the big round bulge) facing forward toward your subject. If you flip it, the autofocus maps the motor in reverse and will pull in the opposite direction from where it should.
@@nick_salazar I had the motor facing the camera. Same side of camera as yours, heard facing up. I did notice the near to infinity scale was reversed, but it corrected after messing with the "reverse dial" option.
But also I didn't really test it's accuracy past 4 meters
@@nickxc Hm, that didn't work for me. *shrug*
@@nick_salazar I've also had no issue changing the motor mounting direction, with the use of reverse dial
I think your lidar is too forward and not parallel with your lens. Try adding a nato to 15mm rod adapter and use an 8 inch 15mm rod. Attach the Lidar to the in box DJI 15mm plate. Try that and I want to see what you come up with when both the lidar and your lens are parallel to each other. AND you can use barn doors without obstruction.
I mention the Lidar position in the video. No it’s not perfect but it functions fine. None of the issues I flagged are related to LiDAR position. The LiDAR internal camera reports what it sees, which is fine. So, I’ll keep it where it is :-)
SW
Are you allowed to say DJI is "plasticy" when you print your own "plastic fantastic" handles? 😀
Of course I can! Plastic is great for some applications, flimsy in others.
'... I've literally handed the unit to my 10-year old daughter, and she was immediately and successfully pulling focus...'
$OLD 😅😅😅
Haha, yeah if you set it up the right way, it can work well. But definitely hear me when I say there are LOTS of weird and glitchy things going on here. They were okay for me, but not for everyone. Make sure you think it through before you take the plunge 🙂
@@nick_salazar yup. I've seen some things that indicate that it's not quite ready for prime time, but still worth looking into for solo creators.
Thanks for this video!