Kessler Crane’s Revolution Head

I have been working on my edit from Key West shot with Kessler Crane products, mostly notably the amazing Pocket Jib and a very special Pocket Dolly which I will talk about soon. It’s been taking forever to do as I have been so busy in the US doing shoots and workshops but it is almost finished.

Whilst in Key West I had a good play around with Kessler Crane’s Revolution pan and tilt head. It’s a robotic head that can be used at the end of jibs, for remote operation or for just getting perfectly accurate moves. It’s a joy to use and robust as hell. It survived the elements for many days in the Florida rain whilst doing timelapses but I also did some normal real time shots with it to test out just how smooth it is…and it is…as smooth as a baby’s bottom!! The movement I got from it with my 5DmkII was just perfect…it can take full size cameras as well as my baby!  Using the same Oracle controller that I use with my pocket dolly and cineslider it controls both the motor in real time and in timelapse mode. The head and oracle together cost $1795. For what they do this is bloody cheap. I work with Eric and he is a very close friend so I am biased but I wouldn’t rave about something if it sucked, it would just come back to bite me in the arse! The head on it’s own is $995. You can buy them from the Kessler Crane website by clicking any of the images or here…I have the head on my Miller Solo sticks.

Here are a few test shots I did with the Revolution head…

Kessler Crane Revolution Pan and Tilt head test shots from Philip Bloom extras on Vimeo.

Test timelapse using Kessler Crane Revolution Pan and Tilt Head from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

Shot from my hotel room balcony, testing out the timelapse on the new Revolution pan and tilt head. Those are boats leaving the 4th July fireworks near beginning.

http://tinyurl.com/kesslercrane

www.philipbloom.net

go.htm

31 comments

  1. I very nice tool, for a very specific need,

    and a very specific price, for a very specific user 😛

    Still awesome even if out of reach for the majority.

    Thanks Philip for another glimpse at gear we crave?.

    1. hey greg

      actually, i don’t think it’s that specific. the revolution head can be used for motion controlled timelapses, but also as a remote controlled head on the end of a jib or dolly. the Oracle controller will also control a Kessler dolly or cineslider, giving you a motion head that can dolly laterally with one controller. the Revolution head on a Cineslider can take the weight of even a RED One. i think that makes it very versatile. i built manual systems like this in college, and i’ve had friends build tracks and such for timelapses. spending (wasting) so much time trying to get everything to work by using cheap components and controllers, makes this setup a value in my mind.

      1. Eric,

        Question! Do you know by chance if with one Oracle controller you can control dolly, pan & tilt? Or do you need one for dolly and one for the other 2?

        thanks!

  2. Hi Philip, it looks very well built. Is it easy to pack? Was one of those timelapses when your 7D got damaged? How long was the 7D in the rain? how heavy was rain?

    Cheers, Thanks for all your information and inspiration 🙂

  3. Awesome – amazed at how smooth that 5D video looks! Is the revolution head controllable manually at all or is it totally dependent on oracle control ?

    looked great when you were doing 180s etc with it! what lens were you using?

    thanks for the post – love checking out stuff like this – good to keep in mind for hiring…

  4. Wow, this thing is amazing, my favorite part of it is that it can record a movement, and play it back perfectly! That is something I have been looking for forever, and for around $1800, thats cheap!! Most pieces of equipment like that would cost well over the 4-$5,000 mark. Philip, how heavy duty of sticks do you have to have? How heavy is the whole unit?

  5. This really is the first affordable solution to motion control, repeatable camera movements and opens up so many possibilities for me and lower budget promo’s! Thanks for the info, mate. I can’t seem to find any info on how it’s powered though. Is it mains, v-lock, kesslers own solution etc ? Cheers

  6. Phil,

    That was cool. I got a bit dizzy there for a sec on the first one but I am going to have to add that head to my list of wants. Eric keeps coming up with the coolest stuff.

    Thanks for sharing!

  7. Oooh shit mate ! I just watched the video til I puke…
    Now I have to clean the carpet, thx for that !!!
    anyway was a good test thx for sharing !
    cya

  8. Nice work Philip. Key West is an amazing place, isn’t it? One of my favorites… Thanks for posting the useful info for us all to learn from. Finally launched the island tour in May with positive reviews. Hope you can make it back to Kauai someday….perhaps for Philip Bloom Bootcamp??

    Mahalo

    Jim
    KVIC-TV

  9. What is the tripod model shown and used here ?
    The trade made and model please. Is that a 75mm ? Would it fit with my Manfrotto 504 fluid head ?

    Best regard from a fantastic film festival I Krawkow in Poland

    One young polish director shown a trailer for his next movie. Was shot with a 5D save on a blue Ray and then projected on a movie theater. The screen was 10 meters long and the quality surprised me on such a huge surface. No aliasing or moiré or rolling shotter seen. Hope that he ll find some investiseur or even he ll win the polish best film of enh.pl festival

Leave a Reply