Grizzly Pro r-THREE

[Mark Von Lanken]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Nelson

...That is the only reason why I thought it could be cheesy, because the cameras will be right where everyone could see them.

This also brings up the question of the mechanical noise generated from the pan heads. In some of these ceremonies, you could hear a pin drop!

So right now, I am just trying to get a gage on how well this system would fit in these scenarios.

Hi Jonathan,

Okay, now I see your concern, but the Pan/Tilt head doesn't scream "look at me".

When you pan and tilt very quickly there is a small degree of noise, but I have never had anyone notice it during the ceremony. Once the main portion of the ceremony has began you probably wouldn't be doing fast pans and the slow pans are very quiet.

You mentioned using it with the A1. You would have to run the exposure in auto. My understanding is that when Sony and Canon designed their HDV cameras they eliminated a feature that allows the Grizzly to control the shutter speed and gain, which is how I control the exposure on my PD-170 with the Grizzly Pro.

Of course you can double check this before ordering, but I beleive Phil, the owner of Grizzly Pro, will give you a two week trial period, and if you are not happy with the unit, you can send the unit back for a refund.

[Jonathan Nelson]

Originally Posted by Mark Von Lanken

Hi Jonathan,

Okay, now I see your concern, but the Pan/Tilt head doesn't scream "look at me".

When you pan and tilt very quickly there is a small degree of noise, but I have never had anyone notice it during the ceremony. Once the main portion of the ceremony has began you probably wouldn't be doing fast pans and the slow pans are very quiet.

You mentioned using it with the A1. You would have to run the exposure in auto. My understanding is that when Sony and Canon designed their HDV cameras they eliminated a feature that allows the Grizzly to control the shutter speed and gain, which is how I control the exposure on my PD-170 with the Grizzly Pro.

Of course you can double check this before ordering, but I beleive Phil, the owner of Grizzly Pro, will give you a two week trial period, and if you are not happy with the unit, you can send the unit back for a refund.

Your right, the website says 14 day refund policy. I am going to go ahead and put an order in for the 2 camera r-three.

I thought about how it would look and realized it would be no different than having me up there operating the tripod. So now, my only real concern is the noise level. The first thing I will do is take it to a local church and test it to see how noisy the unit is. If it is too loud by my standards, I may return it. However, it's price is so good it might be a handy tool to have on hand.

Again, thanks for sharing your experiences with the unit.

[Jon Omiatek]

Originally Posted by Mark Von Lanken

Hi Jon,

I'm sorry for the delay in responding. I had an out of town wedding and then spent a couple of extra days on business and pleasure.

I bought the r-one single head unit. I used the r-three with two cams over the course of a few months and absolutely loved operating two cameras with the system.

When it was time to send it back and buy my own I purchased the r-one for a couple of reasons. The r-one is half the price of an r-three two cam package and secondly. I only own two cameras that will operate with the Grizzly system, and Trisha shoots with one of those from the balcony.

I can always upgrade to the r-three 2 cam setup if I need to at a later date.

By the rj-45 cable, are you referring to the CAT 5 cable. It is a small cable, and no, I have not had a problem with running the cable at churches. You only use one cable per camera and it is very easy to tape down with gaffers tape, or in older churches, tuck between the floor and woodwork.

When it's time to make your purchase let me know. If the timing is right, I may be able to save you a little $.

Thanks Mark... Too late, I already purchased the r-3 with live switching built into the system.

I recently ran into an issue with a chuch who doesn't allow any type of wires, even small ones. I love the fact that I can have a camera in the front of the church facing the congregation. It works really well for parent shots as well as B&G shots when they are facing towards the officiant.

I recently purchase a wireless solution, for the isle shot to transmit back to the r-3 for live switching. I have given my last three brides a live version of there wedding. I record straight to dvd from the r3, switched between three cameras at the ceremony and reception.


Jon

[Bruce G. Cleveland]

Mark do you have your controller mounted on a tripod or something or do you hand hold it. I have a remote wireless from Rader that I use now and the control part is mounted on a tripod and I have a video camera on another tripod next to that, so it would be very hard for me to hand hold the controller.

Bruce Cleveland

[Mark Von Lanken]

Hi Bruce,

I hand hold the controller. I'm usually in another room away from the cameras. I guess you certainly could mount the contoller to a tripod, I just haven't had the need to do so.

[Jon Omiatek]

I used on remote head last weekend with a Lcd monitor mounted to my tripod but you still have to make room for the control box. I have a bogen monitor platfrom that I mounted the controlbox and my battery for the grizzlypro system and lcd. It's much easier to control all camera from one centralized point. I guess it depends on which Grizzly Pro System you buy. I have the 3 camera version and I prefer to control it all from the balcony.

Jon

[Bruce G. Cleveland]

Jon could you post a picture of what that looks like? I just ordered the Grizzly 3 cam unit. Can't wait. I have been using a Rader system for the past 3 years or so, and this is really going to be a step up.

Bruce

[Jon Omiatek]

Yes, I will post pictures. I have an event this Friday. I will take pictures of my setup and I will post some live footage using the GP R3 live switcher. I record it to a dvdeck as well as dvd. It nice to hand clients a ruff cut of there event, the same night. I also have DV Drives connect to each camera.

I would say the picture quality is about 85% of DV. We still edit but it would sure be nice to hand them a dvd at the end of the night and be finished.

Jon

[Jon Omiatek]

Here are some stills from Friday's shoot. I have also included a one minute clip of the system in action.

3 PD170s connected to the Grizzly Pro, live switched to a DVD Recorder and DV Deck. The stills are straight from the live switched dvd. I haven't had time to capture the tapes.

http://www.omiatek.com/dvinfo/tribute.htm
http://www.omiatek.com/dvinfo/Web3mb.wmv