What They Said

The first ever production to use Louma 2 was the second unit of Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix. ( DOP: Mike Brewster ; Operators: Dave Morgan / Peter Versey ; Focus: John Ferguson ; Loader: Ray Meere ; Grips: Dave Rist, John Fleming and Derek Russell )

The 2^nd Unit of Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix were privileged to use the Louma 2 for some of it’s first, if not the first official booking on a production. We used it on the huge Atrium set on a complicated racking, tracking and jibbing plate shot then rebooked it for a series of shots in the famous Hogwarts Courtyard. It is immediately apparent that the Louma 2 has been designed by a team of people who knew what they wanted and are intent on taking crane design and performance to a new level.The Louma 2 seems to be incredibly user friendly. The chassis is well designed to manoeuvre into difficult positions and it is easy to adjust the height of the central column. The command console for the operator is well presented and the computer interface is clear and coherent. The racking speed in and out of the telescopic arm is faster than any of it’s competitors and it’s stabilization formidable. These benefits are important to me because the set-up time and ease of operation are directly transferred to me as more shooting time and the overall enhanced performance opens up more creative possibilities. The fully recordable and nodal head set-up is an important feature which will make the Louma 2 an attractive proposition for use on Visual FX-heavy shoots. I look forward to using the Louma 2 in the future and wish the team all the best for it’s future development and success.

Stephen Woolfenden - (2nd Unit Director - Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix)

I have recently had the pleasure of using the telescopic Louma 2 on its maiden outing on the Production of 'Harry Potter - Order of the Phoenix'. Not only does it look good to the eye, it also performs very well. Its rapid (and I mean rapid!) 24' of travel on the rack is ultra smooth, combined with software enabling you to set stops. You are therefore guaranteed to stop at exactly the same point, whatever the speed of the rack, an obvious advantage! Another advantage is the fact there are no cables running down the arm from the head, minor as this may seem it certainly helps to have a clear view of the arm. The software (which is far too advanced for me to fully understand!) gives many options to alter the feel and control of the head and arm as required, to achieve the shot you are attempting. From my point of view it does everything I expect it too and considerably more!

Its been a long time coming and now, having used it, I can understand why. My congratulations go out to Adam Samuelson and the boys of Louma for a job well done. It was worth the wait. Cheers!

I thought that the crane was very stable given the fact that the shot involved a very fast retraction of the telescopic arm coupled with a track of the base. We shot on a wide lens and then on a long lens, which was very stable. I am pleased to have been the first to use Louma 2 and look forward to using it in the near future.

I used the new Louma 2 on the latest Harry Potter on 2nd Unit with Key Grip Dave Rist and found the arm very smooth. The option to feather the end and start stops I found very useful, also being able to fine tune the weight carriage with a button. The Smart Pan will aid shots for grip as well as operator. All in all a welcome addition to our arsenal of camera cranes.