HVX Iris/Focus/Zoom cat5 extension!

Jarek Zabczynski

Jarek Zabczynski

Veteran
Hey guys. Just something I wanted to share. I was looking for a way to extend the Iris/Focus/Zoom controls of my HVX to about 100 feet. Varizoom has extensions but they are ridiculously overpriced. So I began looking for options. I ultimately decided to take a gamble and try to make my own. Since I was making it myself I wanted a way to make the length adjustable. I decided to adapt standard cat5 cable with the proper jacks for my bebob controllers and when all was said and done....IT WORKED!!! :D

The hardest part was finding those darn 4 pin 3.5mm jacks. Soldering was a bit of a pain as some of the connections were kinda tiny, but it was well worth it. I can now use any length of cat5 between my connections. Works great and cheap! I also went ahead and did the same for my pan/tilt head controls.

I'm shooting a concert next week and plan to have one of the cameras on stage between the band. I'll get great shots and won't have to have a cameraman on stage looking all awkward. :D

Cheers!!! :D

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Jester... that's just AWESOME. As I was reading this I'm thinking.. man if he could do this for some pan/tilt controls he'd really have something there.. and BINGO. You finished up with that. That's just awesome.


What type of pan/tilt head do you have? Could you give detailed instructions on this.. or maybe you might want to make some for people. I know a my church would probably be pretty interested and I'm sure others would be as well. I have some extensions that were expensive. A 100' one would be really really expensive.


Cheers for posting!
 
I've done this out to 50ft with standard cables (my pan/tilt head came with a 50 ft extension), but I love your idea of adapting cat5 cables. makes extending any length so much easier.
 
Great idea. I bet with a little bit of guidance, most people with the ability to crimp Cat-5 ends and minor soldering skills would be able to duplicate your success.
 
PatrickR said:
Great idea. I bet with a little bit of guidance, most people with the ability to crimp Cat-5 ends and minor soldering skills would be able to duplicate your success.
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I used cat5e if it matters. Technically, you can probably adapt any cable with up to 8 leads on it to cat5. Not extremely difficult if you know how to solder. You just gotta keep track of what wire goes where. Gotta love color coded wires! :D Though the orange/white stripe and the brown/white stripe look identical in certain light, almost messed me up at one point.
 
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Justyn said:
Jester... that's just AWESOME. As I was reading this I'm thinking.. man if he could do this for some pan/tilt controls he'd really have something there.. and BINGO. You finished up with that. That's just awesome.


What type of pan/tilt head do you have? Could you give detailed instructions on this.. or maybe you might want to make some for people. I know a my church would probably be pretty interested and I'm sure others would be as well. I have some extensions that were expensive. A 100' one would be really really expensive.


Cheers for posting!
Click to expand...

I thought about marketing these. If anything I'd just make the adapters from whatever into cat5 and then you get the length you need. I dunno, what would be a fair price?
 
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