Hi all,

I have a new second shooter. I notice when doing a slide with pan, that the centerline fluctuates... moves to the left and right of center throughout the slide.
I have already tried the lash compensation and it makes a difference for how well the overall slide keeps toward the center, but it doesn't help with the random right to left fluctuations.

I am following Kesslers suggestion to mount a laser to the head and place a target 15' away, set the keyframes for 1 and 2, keeping the laser point in the center.... when I run the slide (20 seconds with 20% ramp), the laser point drifts as much as 2+ inches to each side of the centerline.... actually wiggles right and left quite a bit.

Any thoughts?
Matt

Wow this sounds horrible. Maybe you have a defective unit? I keep trying to search for reviews on this thing but find very very little on it online.

http://support.kesslercrane.com/hc/comm ... nd-Shooter

UPDATE:
Well then, I totally disassembled my CineSlider, re-set the belt tension, re-set the rollers, and now the Second Shooter seems to be tracking much more accurately.

Of interest, I made a 3-minute video that shows my tests regarding the accuracy and repeatability of the Second Shooter.

You might find this interesting...
https://vimeo.com/159949340

I assume in timelapse mode it is much more accurate?
because this would be useless if it drifted that much in TL mode!

Hi Scotch...

I could be completely mistaken, but I really believe that the drift evident in my test is exceptionally low, kind of remarkable actually. You are looking at probably the equivalent of a 1000mm lens +/- in my test. Definitely a worst-case scenario for any slider, and from 14 feet away, it only drifts (on average) less than a half inch.

For a point of reference, most of the time on a slider you will use a wide to medium wide lens. Try videotaping with a 1000 mm lens while you walk, then try videotaping with a 28mm lens while you walk. The 1000 would be totally unacceptable but the 28 would look very smooth in motion.

Same thing here with the slider... I think. I also think it wouldn't matter if this was stop motion or continuous... but I could be wrong about that too... just brainstorming here.

Anyway, onward and upward!
Matt

Been testing my SS unit and it doesn't seem nearly as accurate as yours

My latest test has been to mount just the pan/tilt to a tripod and set a diagonal move across a wall.
If I start scrubbing, the start and end points shift about 1/2 to 3/4 an inch on either side, and the start point is always off as well.
Eventually both points are off.

I compared it to my eMotimo and the eMotimo is more accurate in terms of maintaining the start and end position.

For a slider move, both drift in video mode at close range. At about 10ft away they are ok, but SS drifted a lot more than your unit, and start and end points also changed.
My slider is the ifootage shark s1 that I made custom motor brackets for, which is why I tested just the pan/tilt locked down to isolate the problem.

Seems like eMotimo is actually better at TL for consistency and framing, too bad it's too loud for video use.