Taking advantage of improvements in radio, battery and circuit board technology, the Wireless Main Unit has been shrunk, made more reliable and equipped with new features. The result is the WMU-3. Despite these numerous improvements, the WMU-3 remains compatible with most existing ARRI Wireless Lens Control System components.

The Wireless Main Unit is the heart of the ARRI Wireless Lens Control System. It accepts the hand units for focus, iris (WFU-1), zoom (WZU-1) or camera remote control (WRC-1), and it communicates with the camera and other Wireless Main Units. Up to three Wireless Main Units can talk to one camera at the same time, a useful feature when the assistant needs to pull focus, the director wants to zoom and the second assistant needs to control a speed ramp.

Employing advanced circuit board design and a smaller radio modem, the WMU-3 is half the size and half the weight of the WMU-1, making it much easier to hold for long periods of time on the set.

Even though it is much smaller and needs less power, the new radio modem uses a more robust wireless technology that is less prone to interference and ensures that the connection between camera and assistant remains intact. This new modem is compatible with all other wireless components also equipped with a new modem, but is not compatible with the old style modem. It is possible, however, to update the WMU-1, URM and ARRICAM Lens Data Boxes with the new modem. A WMU-1 with a new modem is called a WMU-2.

A new Lithium-ion battery (WBU-3) provides longer running time and a battery capacity display. If the WMU-3 is used with the Wireless Focus/Iris Unit (WFU-1), the new battery will last up to 16 hours on the film set, which is a full working day even for the most ambitious productions.

A brand new feature is the ability to use two hand units at once. Once the Expansion Bracket is attached to the WMU-3´s right side, a Wireless Remote Control (WRC-1) can be attached to the WMU-3, and a Wireless Focus/Iris Unit (WFU-1) can be mounted on the Expansion Bracket. The assistant now has wireless control over all camera and lens functions from a small and lightweight controller. An added benefit is that left handed assistants can simply reverse the WFU-1 and WRC-1 for better handling.

Various options for future expansions are also built-in. The WMU-3 will, for instance, soon be able to accept the Lens Data Display for the Focus Puller (LDD-FP), thus giving assistants perfect wireless control over the lens while displaying all lens and camera status in an easy-to-read fashion.

With the introduction of the WMU-3, ARRI now offers the lightest and smallest wireless camera and lens control system on the market with unrivaled features.

Ident. Numbers
WMU-3	K2.52240.0
WBU-3	K2.52238.0