Patent ID: 8540438

Claim:
A system for positioning a camera head, the camera head coupled to a provided camera crane, the camera crane includes a base, an arm pivotally coupled to the base at a proximate end-portion of the arm, and the camera head pivotally coupled to a distal end-portion of the arm, the system comprising: a first detector that detects a magnitude of a first angle between the arm and the base; a second detector that detects a magnitude of a second angle of the arm with respect to a direction of gravity; an actuator mechanically coupled between the camera head and the arm; and a processing circuit; the processing circuit detects a rate of change of the magnitude of the first angle; and the processing circuit moves the actuator a linear distance in accordance with the magnitude of the second angle at a rate that corresponds to the rate of change to position a camera mount of the camera head parallel to a plane.