Check out the new DitoGear DryEye kit here
I recently chatted to Patryk Kizny of DitoGear, to reveal the origins of DitoGear and what’s in store in terms of future products. He kindly agreed to an interview which you can read below.
Check out The Chapel above – it is extraordinary. The OmniSlider is a powered slider with a motion control remote which makes the kind of HDR timelapse seen in The Chapel possible. Very impressive stuff.
DitoGear have also just released a new gadget which stops DSLR lenses from fogging up on long timelapse sessions outdoors, a great idea and quite essential for shooting in humid or cold places. Meanwhile I’m gearing up for my full review of that in 2 weeks along with my pet project – the anamorphic Tron-golf movie I hope to have accompany it! We have seen a lot of slider timelapses and there is no way I will top The Chapel! This will be something a bit different.
EOSHD: When did DitoGear start, and what’s the story behind the company?
Patryk Kizny: The story behind DitoGear brand is quite short, yet intensive. In march 2010 I built my first timelapse dolly prototype for personal use. It can be still found at my film production company blog. I started thinking about developing more advanced system and already had a few talks behind my with some firends enginners and electronics specialists.
At the end of August 2010 I shot a short timelapse film, “The Dalescapes of Time” and uploaded it to Vimeo. That’s how I met Bob, who contacted me a few days later. That time Bob had already built a prototype of a timelapse slider which was very similar in concept to what I was thinking about.
Bob had already invested about 3 months in developing his prototype. Things just clicked and a few days later we met and decided to join forces to run the business together.
In the middle of September we tested the first pre-production units of the sliders. In October we started sales.
As I have quite extensive background in branding and marketing (which have been my core business for years) I took a challenge of building a new brand for DitoGear as well as I am responsible for sales and business development. Bob handles the production and his skills and passion for designing new equipment are simply amazing. Also, it’s his duty to put everything together and deliver on time. And that’s not easy as a lot of people and companies from different sectors are involved in development of the products.
From time to time we get together to shoot a showcase film – such as Autumn or The Chapel for example.
EOSHD: Will you be releasing a shutter release cable compatible with the GH2?
PK: Oh yes, definitely. Why not. Coming soon.
EOSHD: I see you used the 14mm Samyang F2.8 in Winter. Is it a good lens?
PK: Yes, it’s a great piece of glass. I use it very often. A little bit worse than Canon 14mm 2.8L, but unbeatable under the USD 2K range, very inexpensive.
EOSHD: Can you tell us anything about the future plans for DitoGear and the OmniSlider?
PK: There’s a lot of plans. The OmniSlider will have one or two more major firmware revisions. We’ll add some more features especially dedicated for Stop Motion artists and refine the current set.
Another important upgrade that is coming soon is introducing the interchangeable crank and motors system. The prototypes are being tested now and we’re planning on hitting the market with these really soon. This is the most often demanded feature from our clients and it is very important for us to listen and improve the product.
So you will not only be able to switch between a motorised and manually operated cranked version, but also we’ll have a set of different motors available.
Currently the steppers are in use. They are very precise but have some drawbacks. The next option are precise DC motors with encoders. These will be quieter and also completely vibration-free. Finally, we’ll have really silent BLDC (Brushless DC) motors. Much more expensive, but should be almost silent.
We are also introducing the new entry-level slider. It will be lightweight, ultra portable and modular.
So you can work on different track lengths from 0.5m to 100m and take it everywhere with you. Important if you want to go to really remote locations.
The controller will not be as robust as the one we designed for DitoGear OmniSlider, but the price will be very competitive – we plan on setting the retail prices around USD $1000 or maybe even in sub $1000 range to make it available to wider audiences. This will be officially confirmed with the product launch.
That was for the short terms plans. Looking further into the future, the next plans include developing a modular multi-axis motion control system. We’ll have the pan-tilt head as well as timelapse / video crane in addition to the dolly. It will be based on a bit less compact, probably double-rail design to allow for working with really heavy cameras.
It will have much more powerful computing unit inside to handle all operations and allow us for building really intuitive, flexible and convenient user interface based on keyframe approach known from expensive moco systems.
EOSHD: Thanks for the interview Patryk.
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