Remote follow focus for £150/$300

Are the hard stops incorporated yet? This is a must as my bartech would straight up strip the lens off of its mount without guidelines.
 
It dosn't have hard stops, it has electronic ones. You turn the knob to one end of the lens's movment and press the button. It then stores this as the end position. You can then turn the knob the other way and set the other end.

Once this is done the knob wont allow you to move further than the lens can move
 
Heres an updated spec list:

Transmitter:

Range of about 500 meters (1600 feet)
Uses obscure frequency and digital encoded signal for little or no interference
Powered with a single 9v battery
Programmable end stops to avoid damaging the lens or motor
Low battery indicator
Drywipe marking ring
Will remember settings if you turn it off and on again. Will remember settings for approx. 40 years without power.


Receiver:

Powered with either 9v battery or 12v accessory power (from steadicam sled etc)
Indicator to show signal strength
low battery warning
Light weight and small


Motor:

Light weight
Strong motor, 30kg/cm torque
machined motor mount and gear hub
Once limits are set on transmitter, motor will not go past the lenses physical limits
 
Just working on the electronics and transmitter system now... Give it a few weeks and il have some better photos
 
Big development, prototype radio board is designed, about two weeks ahead of schedule. Just got to make it now...
 
Well the only differnce in the transmitter is the electronics and an aerial.

The reciever is a simple board in a case.

I estimate another £100 for the wireless system. Dont forget, 500m ;-)
 
just got back from overseas (offline for few weeks). still interested :)

Avenger007 said:
Are the hard stops incorporated yet? This is a must as my bartech would straight up strip the lens off of its mount without guidelines.
Click to expand...

just made me think, have you tried the RFF on a letus?
ie: the 'old' nikon lens mount being "loose"...
when using primes (lighter lenses) shifting focus by hand is enough to move the lens on the mount (as it doesn't fully lock - nikon mount). wonder how the remote, or just regular follow focus performs with this old letus mount.

anyone have any experiences of this?
letus adapter + old letus nikon mount + follow focus of any sort = problems at all?
 
Charles Lowthian said:
just got back from overseas (offline for few weeks). still interested :)



just made me think, have you tried the RFF on a letus?
ie: the 'old' nikon lens mount being "loose"...
when using primes (lighter lenses) shifting focus by hand is enough to move the lens on the mount (as it doesn't fully lock - nikon mount). wonder how the remote, or just regular follow focus performs with this old letus mount.

anyone have any experiences of this?
letus adapter + old letus nikon mount + follow focus of any sort = problems at all?
Click to expand...

My brevis mounts do this and my M2 mounts do it to the extreme. I have to lightly feather the focus a lot of times. A remote system will do the same due to the torque it uses to turn the lens under a relatively quick pull. A very light turn likely won't show in the shot. My SG mount is the only one that is close to being secure but still slips slightly on nikon lenses.
 
lol, I think the tight as a ducks arse phrase is abit of an english one. We used to use it all the time when i worked in a theatre. It was usualy said in a farmery west country accent :-D
 
Charles: I have a Bartech+Letus, no problems. I am not sure how old my mount is.

Hoarp: It seems you are adding more functions as time goes along, you might want to consider the following:

-Camera run/stop
-Reverse run
-momentary/continuous switch
-mounting brackets
-making an iris model (and adding double mounting brackets for 2 units)
 
Hi,

The camera run stop is a good idea but Im really aiming at the indie market, Im not expecting this thing to be used with arriflex 35mm cameras, im aiming at the redrock, SGpro, Letus, Brevis etc users. Im not saying that its not arriflex quality, it is most certainly capable of pulling focus on 50k cooke superspeeds, im just aiming it at the indie as an affordable and durable solution to a big and otherwise expensive problem. Because of this a start/stop dosn't really seem necessary.

An Iris model could be made pretty easily with no major problems. If i find there is demand for this then I can make them.
 
Just for laughs:

I did a shoot over the weekend and had a ps technic adapter with a skater dolly. I rented the unit with the ps technic FF and iris model. It also had an on-board lcd monitor on the FF as well as a remote for controlling the skater dolly. I had to convince the AC not to use it to race the camera down the hallways. I was tempted myself.

If you can build that, I will buy it.:evil:
 
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