Viewfactor Studios refund info, and a review of the Impero/Inclino

[Alex Kornreich]

For those that are considering a refund, here's some info. I also have a review of the unit below. As a disclaimer, I placed my order in April of 2008:

They offer a check or wire transfer. For a wire transfer, there's a $50 fee. For a check, it's free, but it took me 4 weeks to get mine. I personally went to Viewfactor yesterday, and they had my check ready for me after calling them initially 4 weeks ago.

While at Viewfactor, I spoke to Curt, who I have to say is very nice and helpful. I think the reason he's not updating anymore is because there's just too many variables still up in the air, and he wants to stop disappointing people. However, he's picked up the phone every time I called, so I think that's the preferred method of communication at this point.

Curt also showed me the unit while I was there. While I only spent a limited time with it, here's my impression of it:

The build quality of the controller is fine, and feels fairly solid. However, having used a Bartech for several years, which is made of metal, there's no comparison. The Bartech feels bulletproof and will last 10 years, not sure about the viewfactor. Also, because the controller is almost a perfect circle, there's nowhere to rest your palm while trying to precisely pull focus. You kind of have to suspend your palm while using it, which is a bit uncomfortable.

Finally, there's no stops on the focus wheel. When you reach an extreme, whether it's close focus or infinity, the lens motor stops, but the impero knob keeps turning (you can turn the focus knob an unlimited amount of times). This means you have to keep track of the knob position relative to your marks. If you turn past infinity, you have to keep track of where infinity is, in case you need to turn back to closer focus marks. I found this to be the strangest feature. I apologize in advance if the shipped models do have stops in it. This is what Curt showed me, and I have to assume that he wouldn't show me an unfinished product. There were also a few skips in the motor when turning the impero. While the motor wasn't attached to a lens, the motor didn't always correspond the movement of the focus knob. It happened twice.

Regarding usability, it's fairly complicated. Because it operates off of bluetooth, there's two-way communication between the Inclino and Impero. Because of this, you have to wait for the motor to tell the Impero that its ready. There's a lot of waiting for LEDs on the Impero to blink a certain amount of times, which tells you that the motor is on, it's calibrated to the lens, and it's ready to use. With the Bartech, you turn the BFD on, the receiver on, and you're done. Some say that manually calibrating is time consuming, but if 20 seconds is considered time consuming, then yes, they're right. The viewfactor, with calibrating and waiting for LED communication, takes 5-10 seconds. That's a net 10 seconds or so, and I dont think is worth the extra complexity. If an Impero and Inclino was not given to me without an instruction manual, or Curt standing next to me, I do not think I would be able to set it up again.

Conclusion:

It's a really attractive product with an ambitious feature set. However, all of this added complexity takes its toll. Focus control devices are about reliability, usability, and precision. The last thing anyone on set wants to wait for is an issue with a focus device. Maybe that's not the LAST thing, but its pretty close. They need to just work.

At this point, I'd be very hesitant to bring this to a professional set, ESPECIALLY if I hadn't worked with the 1st AC before. If it's someone I've worked with, and we work well together, then they'd hopefully just deal. But if it's a new AC, they would be annoyed. The fact is that their job is on the line if focus is off. The ergonomics are questionable, the reliability is spotty, and the complicated LED signals and large amount of buttons makes this product difficult to learn.

This is my honest opinion, and as unbiased as I can get. Please feel free to refute anything I have said.

[Pawel Achtel]

Your feedback is fairly consistent with what was presented by others. Thank you for sharing.

Just wanted to add that, if you are overseas, the cheque can take up to 4 months to clear and cost a few hundred of dollars in exchange rates and bank fees. Once I received a US $150 cheque and I had to throw it to the bin because it would be more expensive to bank it!

[Carlo Rho]

Thanks Alex.
I'll call them for my wire refound. It's funny that they ask a 50$ fee for the wire when they earned bank interests on my money for 1year and a half...

[Alex Kornreich]

Agreed, I was quite surprised by the $50 fee. I decided to go with the check just on the principle that I didn't want to lose a single penny on my transaction with Viewfactor. This was the biggest headache I've ever experienced with a vendor.

Then again, had I had my $3k since April 2008, I would have probably lost 30% of it in the stock market, so maybe this was a blessing in disguise.

[Rich Schaefer]

Great review Alex, thank You for posting.

[CVB]

They offer a check or wire transfer. For a wire transfer, there's a $50 fee. For a check, it's free, but it took me 4 weeks to get mine. I personally went to Viewfactor yesterday, and they had my check ready for me after calling them initially 4 weeks ago.

When we process your orders we pay a 2.5% fee right off the top in credit card transaction fees. For an order in the range of $2000 thats about $50. We also have to pay our bank an additional $50 for the wire back to customers. For any of you that think we're making money on your money I hate to disappoint but that is far from the case.

While at Viewfactor, I spoke to Curt, who I have to say is very nice and helpful. I think the reason he's not updating anymore is because there's just too many variables still up in the air, and he wants to stop disappointing people. However, he's picked up the phone every time I called, so I think that's the preferred method of communication at this point.

I'm putting together updates that will be posted this evening on the main thread.

The build quality of the controller is fine, and feels fairly solid. However, having used a Bartech for several years, which is made of metal, there's no comparison. The Bartech feels bulletproof and will last 10 years, not sure about the viewfactor.

Bartech makes a wonderful piece of kit. We opted for a custom Nylon enclosure because I personally hate square boxes. We use a nylon 6/6 material (the same as is used on the intake headers of corvettes). It is very durable and light weight and does not feel cold in the winter or hot in the summer. If anyone ever has an issue with one breaking (which is difficult) then we will repair it at no cost to them.

Also, because the controller is almost a perfect circle, there's nowhere to rest your palm while trying to precisely pull focus. You kind of have to suspend your palm while using it, which is a bit uncomfortable.

Agreed.. i have huge hands so I am biased. We will have a screw-on handle available soon after we have shipped substantial volumes.

Finally, there's no stops on the focus wheel. When you reach an extreme, whether it's close focus or infinity, the lens motor stops, but the impero knob keeps turning (you can turn the focus knob an unlimited amount of times). This means you have to keep track of the knob position relative to your marks. If you turn past infinity, you have to keep track of where infinity is, in case you need to turn back to closer focus marks. I found this to be the strangest feature.

I went with an endless turning wheel because of the other features that have yet to be introduced. We are going to have a skater-dolly type system as well as a pan/tilt system that will be able to be controlled by Impero. If the knob only had one turn then moving a dolly 5-10 feet would be very difficult as the movement would be very jerky. That said we are making a marking ring that will limit the travel to 360 degrees as you arent the first to notice the lack of stops.

There were also a few skips in the motor when turning the impero. While the motor wasn't attached to a lens, the motor didn't always correspond the movement of the focus knob. It happened twice.

The motor you were playing with was a return from a few months ago. The new motors and imperos do not exhibit any twitching or random movement.

Regarding usability, it's fairly complicated. Because it operates off of bluetooth, there's two-way communication between the Inclino and Impero. Because of this, you have to wait for the motor to tell the Impero that its ready. There's a lot of waiting for LEDs on the Impero to blink a certain amount of times, which tells you that the motor is on, it's calibrated to the lens, and it's ready to use. With the Bartech, you turn the BFD on, the receiver on, and you're done. Some say that manually calibrating is time consuming, but if 20 seconds is considered time consuming, then yes, they're right. The viewfactor, with calibrating and waiting for LED communication, takes 5-10 seconds. That's a net 10 seconds or so, and I dont think is worth the extra complexity. If an Impero and Inclino was not given to me without an instruction manual, or Curt standing next to me, I do not think I would be able to set it up again.

Alex, I find it hard to believe that a Bartech (on a never calibrated lens) can be setup in less than 10 seconds and ready to shoot. Prestons do the same calibration technique as we do and takes just as long. I can speed up the limit finding if you dont give a damn about if a lens is destroyed or not. Another note is that the Imperos in the field do not have lens limiting enabled yet. The new firmware allows +/- limits to be set extremely fast.

It's a really attractive product with an ambitious feature set. However, all of this added complexity takes its toll. Focus control devices are about reliability, usability, and precision. The last thing anyone on set wants to wait for is an issue with a focus device. Maybe that's not the LAST thing, but its pretty close. They need to just work.

I agree. I am fixing firmware issues that are 90% of the problems we currently encounter.

The ergonomics are questionable, the reliability is spotty, and the complicated LED signals and large amount of buttons makes this product difficult to learn.

You held the Impero in your hand for less than a minute Alex, not only that it was a returned unit that I was in the process of debugging. Also keep in mind that we have not released the second firmware for the system that takes care of every issue that has been mentioned to us over the past few months. Your a nice guy and I appreciate your comments on this but I disagree that its complicated. Our system is no more complicated than a Bartech or Preston. The new Preston unit has a total of 16 buttons (to our 12) and all sorts of menus to dive through. Same with C-Motion. Bartech has a couple potentiometers and a few buttons but the calibration procedure has to be learned and definitly takes more than a few minutes to get the hang of. All systems on the market have a learning curve associated with their use.

[Mitch Gross]

The new Preston unit has a total of 16 buttons (to our 12) and all sorts of menus to dive through. Same with C-Motion. Bartech has a couple potentiometers and a few buttons but the calibration procedure has to be learned and definitly takes more than a few minutes to get the hang of. All systems on the market have a learning curve associated with their use.

Not be nit-picky and I'm not taking sides in anything here, but the new ARRI system has just a few controls that are incredibly easy to understand and use. The manual is more a pamphlet than anything and there's a big ol' "Cal" button for calibrating the lens scale. So not all units are so complicated or have a huge learning curve.

I think I learned ow to use a Bartech BFD in about 10 minutes about 10 years ago. Takes me maybe 30 seconds to refresh myself when I pick one up once every six months or so.

[Jim Bartell]

Alex, I find it hard to believe that a Bartech (on a never calibrated lens) can be setup in less than 10 seconds and ready to shoot.

Actually, he didn't say 10 seconds, he said 20. And I absolutely guarantee a lens range of travel can be set up in that time. I've seen it and done it. Obviously, this doesn't include marking the knob or mounting the motor, but I'd guess that takes about the same amount of time on everyone's units. This only applies to calibrating the motor travel.

Bartech has a couple potentiometers and a few buttons but the calibration procedure has to be learned and definitly takes more than a few minutes to get the hang of. All systems on the market have a learning curve associated with their use.

I have shown people how to use the BFD in 5 minutes and that was all the training they needed. It was designed to be as intuitive as possible. And we don't need to initialize the transmitter with the receiver or assign each motor a bus address. You plug the motor in, calibrate it and go.

[Tony Lorentzen]

I'll say this shortly. Using the Viewfactor is a nobrainer and so is setting it up. I'm sure it Will be more difficult to learn as more features are being introduced but the basic functionality of the system is just as simple to learn and use as any other system out there. Curt's point about the system being made of plastic is very valid. At first I didn't like it but he has a very good point about weather considerations and weight. Holding an Arri or Bartech in low temperatures is not a joy as the metal sucks the cold which is then transferred to you hands. Weight is also a major factor here if you're holding the thing for the better part of a day. I'm looking forward to some kind of hard stop solution though - that is a much needed feature.

[Joel Kaye]

Not be nit-picky and I'm not taking sides...The manual is more a pamphlet than anything and there's a big ol' "Cal" button for calibrating the lens scale. So not all units are so complicated or have a huge learning curve.

To be fair, the Impero has a big CAL button too.

1) Power on, hit the Cal button and watch the lens set limits and go focus.

There's the whole manual if you just want to focus with an Impero.

It just happens to do a lot of other cool stuff - and yeah, you'll need to learn a little more if you want to use a little more.

On the Birger Impero they've already programmed a 4 rotations of the Impero to 1 rotation of the lens. That basically turns a Canon lens into a PL lens as far as focusing goes. OK, I actually think it's better than a PL lens setup for several reasons. I'm glad I don't have a hard stop forced on me. If Curt comes up with an optional way to do it then that's extra cool.