I just got back from McMaster-Carr with materials to make a mount for the gimbal. I'll have my laptop on my workbench so feel free to drop by, say hello, ask a question, grab a beer from the fridge, play with the dogs.....make yourself at home. I'll probably be in the shop tonight from about 6PM to midnight eastern US time.
INTRODUCTION
Freefly Systems Movi M5
http://www.freeflysystems.com/products/moviM5.php
Camera Compatibility Chart
From time to time a conversation with a vendor or manufacturer about advertising will lead unexpectedly to a product review or a talk about product reviews will land MultiRotorForums.com a new advertiser. Our most recent review subject, the Movi M5 brushless camera gimbal from Freefly Systems, came about because I was shopping for a new gimbal for my aerial-media company (Multi-Media, LLC) and was considering the M5 among others. With the first batch of Movi M5's sold out prior to the first delivery it simply wasn't to be (I had a deadline!) but in a follow-up conversation with Freefly Systems they made the decision to both join us as a site sponsor and to provide a Movi M5 for a product review. So here we are!
The backstory to the Movi M5 lies in the Movi M10 and the backstory to the M10 starts with the Cinestar line of multi-rotor helicopter frames and servo-driven camera mounts. Prior to the Cinestar, camera gimbals were best operated by only the most persistent and stubborn amongst us. Mounts made in any quantity had a great chance of providing beautiful photos and maybe some great video but usually only in short clips of a few seconds at a time. Many an aerial moment has been interrupted mid-clip by sudden sways or jitters of the camera and many a late night has been spent trying to eliminate said sways and jitters. If you just let out a deep sigh it's because you were there! More so than any battery ever did, hope powered many a camera gimbal and half the time it was for naught.
Freefly's Cinestar line of two and three axis camera mounts managed to do better than most that preceded them but Freefly's entry into the market was equally notable for how they presented their products and how they presented the company. Freefly Systems was one of only a few companies in the rapidly growing multi-rotor helicopter and aerial media industry that would attempt to elevate their growing line of products to a level more comparable to prosumer grade electronics. The marketing, the support, the presentation of the product as an integrated system; at the time these were rare additions to the actual product itself and in the case of Freefly their products also happened to work as well or better than anything else available. The Cinestar mounts weren't the end of the story though as what Freefly did next would further distinguish them as an industry leader and the manufacturer of what has quickly become an industry standard.
Fast forward to the release of the much lauded AlexMos brushless gimbal control boards and to the insanity that consumed everyone with a camera hanging from their helicopters. New gear was coming from every corner of the globe and while there were examples of remarkable footage, there were challenges and that often left aspiring users at unexpected dead ends. With this new technology we had a lot of hope in what it might enable us to do but it was developing very quickly and many companies were trying to capitalize on it with varying degrees of success. What was needed was something that just worked.
Enter Freefly. While there were many companies
trying to capitalize on the brushless gimbal revolution, Freefly's entrant to the field, the Movi M10, was an instant success that also became an instant standard at all levels of media production.
Both the Movi M10 and its smaller sibling the M5 came with something new that hadn't been seen yet in a production gimbal, the ability to use it as a stabilized hand-held camera gimbal with ingenious operating modes that improved how the gimbals could be used. Carrying the gimbal suddenly became an indispensable alternate mode to flying the gimbal and the potential market was multiplied beyond what just the multi-rotor helicopter community could offer. Freefly Systems had again taken a big step beyond what their peers in the industry had been able to accomplish.
If you're impressed so far, you should be. If you think I'm impressed, I am. In writing this and in looking back at all that we've been through, first as an extension of the RC community and now as our own rapidly growing community of aerial media hobbyists and professionals, it's clear Freefly has provided solutions that have just worked and they're continuing to push the envelope enabling more of our energy to be spent on being creative instead of late night tinkering. Sure, they've gone and started their own forum site but I guess I can forgive them for that.
Back to the review, we're gathered here today with the latest release from Freefly Systems; the Movi M5 brushless camera gimbal. Released on March 15, 2014 it is the second of the Movi series of camera gimbals following on the success of the larger Movi M10. While the M10 can accommodate cameras up to and including the professional-media grade RED Epic and Scarlet, the M5 excels with smaller cameras in the Black Magic Pocket Cinema to Canon 5D range. A more complete range of camera compatibility can be found
HERE.
Note that we're discussing a range of cameras and not just one specific camera. We'll discuss this again later but it's a major strength and as such deserved a quick mention up front.