London hire company Decode is on the verge of launching a mirror rig for commercials, features and promo shoots with Red MX or Alexa cameras. Decode has spent 15 months developing and testing the D-Rex mirror rigs which feature up to a 120mm interaxial separation.
According to company director Samuel Martin the D-Rex will be substantially cheaper than product from P+S Technik or Element Technica.
“We want to help productions achieve quality 3D but not at the expensive of current equipment costs,” says Martin. “The rig is very sturdy and accurate and it can be changed from active to passive in seconds.”
The active lens controls are optional and supplied by Preston. The unit has no internal electronics but relies on a motor which Martin says can be easily exchanged for another should the system breakdown.
“With other rigs you would have to ship the entire unit back to the manufacturer for it to be fixed which is what happened on one of our shoots,” he says. “With the D-Rex the production keeps on shooting with minimal delay.”
D-Rex weighs 15-16kg standalone and when fully loaded with Red cameras anywhere between 38-45kg. The rigs have already been tested on 3D docu-feature Streetdance: Choreographer directed by Martin through sister production outfit 3Dality. This is being shot on a mix of Red’s and EX3’s.
Decode has also supplied 3D kit to commercials shoots for Pantene and Aston Martin as well as documentary destined for Discovery’s 3net. The company is also developing a D-Raptor rig for medium sized cameras such as the Sony F3 and XDCAM and plans to take delivery of some of the UK’s first Red Epics.
Samuel Martin will be presenting his experiences with Streetdance: Choreographerto 3D Masters2011.
www.decodeuk.com
www.3d-tvmasters.com
