Emotimo Tb3 – 3 Black 3-axis Motion Time-lapse Control Camera Robot

US $450

Roseville, California, United States
Jun 22nd

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You are bidding on1. Emotimo TB3 2. Battery 3. Battery charger 4. cable to connect battery to the TB3 5. Canon trigger cable 6. Manfroto quick release (after market upgrade) 7. Aux stepper motor cable for your time lapse slider 8. Soft Case Everything has been tested and in perfect working order! eMotimo TB3 BLACK For those of you who have no idea what’s so great about a device like this, let me throw the term ‘Motion Control’ at you. If you want to shoot videos or time-lapse movies that offer the viewer a more captivating perspective than just a plain old dolly/slider shot, you’ll be wanting one of these TB3’s. The TB3 from eMotimo allows you to add high production values to your footage by moving your camera along two axes while shooting. It can pan AND tilt all at the same time. Combine this device with a slider and you’ve got yourself a powerful three axis rig for making fascinating cinematography and time-lapse photography. Your footage will appear to have been shot with a camera that magically floats through the air. Create multi-gigapixel panoramic photos It’s not just about time-lapse and video. The TB3 also allows you to take multi-gigapixel images such as panoramas. For landscape shooters who want wall-filling image resolution, this feature is a major bonus. When you add in the awesome time-lapse and video shooting capabilities, you’re getting a lot of functionality for just under a $1000 USD. Programming interface Programming the movement of the TB3 requires a small learning curve. The interface is a very basic LCD screen with abbreviated titles and you navigate through this by using the included remote control joystick. It takes a while to get used to but if you’ve ever used a video game joystick you’re already half way there. Two-point or three-point movement and reverse moves You can decide how many points of location your film sequence will have. If you want a simple A to B movement you select a two-point move. You tell the TB3 where you’d like to start and where you’d like to end, and the TB3 fills in the blanks. With a three-point move you can get more creative by adding a less obvious direction to your movement. You could even program the TB3 to go into reverse after you’ve reached point two, or point the camera in the opposite direction, whatever you like. This is great for taking your audience on an unpredictable ride through your scene. ‘Reverse’ moves come in really useful when you’re using a slider and need to save valuable battery life by cutting out the ‘return to start’ move that the TB3 has to do once you’ve programmed in your move. You basically work backwards and tell the TB3 to start shooting from your last position. This is essential when doing vertical ‘jib’ shots on a slider which sucks a LOT of battery power. Ramp When I first saw the word ‘Ramp’ in the interface I thought it referred to Bulb ramping or ‘Bramping’ for time-lapse, but it actually refers to the degree of acceleration used when the TB3 moves to its start and end points. This is a really cool feature as it gives your camera motion a very smooth, but dynamic movement, as the TB3 gradually speeds up and then slows down to its end point. Most of the scenes in my video feature a ramp setting of 70. Lead in-out Another great feature of the TB3 is that you can specify a static ‘no movement’ period to either end of your shooting sequence. This is great if your sequence ends and you then fade up some titles in your video but want to keep the movie playing in the background. Build quality This is a sturdy unit. It kind of looks like something you’d expect to find under the skin of a young Arnold Schwarzzeneger during his debut as the world’s favourite cybernetic assassin. It’s built for functionality, not looks, and I expect it will appeal to the gadget geek in all of us due to its no nonsense appearance. Things I love about the TB3 Super smooth motion– this really is the most important part of any motion control device. It may not look like it in my video, but before the dreadful internet compression butchered my film, I can assure that the footage is buttery smooth. Not all motion control devices are made equal and eMotimo have totally nailed this most essential aspect. Rugged, no-nonsense construction. I filmed time-lapse sequences in all kinds of weather, even heavy rain. The TB3 handled it all with indifference. The cool little sound effectsthat it makes while you pan/tilt the head using the joystick. Tech support– eMotimo is a small company in San Francisco with a very hands-on approach. All of my foolish newbie questions were answered with patience and resolved quickly. Would I buy the TB3? Absolutely. The TB3 has enjoyed something of a cult following among the rockstar time-lapse and DLSR video shooters. It’s not just because eMotimo were there during the early years of the time lapse video phenomenon, it’s because they make a very versatile and rock solid product. When you factor in the sub $1,000 price point and the awesome tech support, I really don’t see any other contenders.