Wireless FF and Iris

[Guest]

These cameras can already do auto focus and iris, they now need to develop a wireless control system that will allow the video people to control the focus and iris remotely. This technology would be cheap and easy to implement with bluetooth or something similar. Then the control device could even be a smart phone.

 

[morgan_moore]

every one is trying it

Impero, Redrock, DiYers with Arduino

etc

 

[Guest]

Ah, but those are external, I am talking about one that controls the dslr internally. The camera body can already control focus and iris, why buy a whole external rig?

Now ofcourse there could be issues since the dslr focus motor may not be smooth slow or quiet, but they just have to beef out the autofocus motor correctly. This may not be so easy a remedy for lenses that have their own internal motors.

Anyways, something for the companies to work towards.

The external rigs do have the advantage of being adaptable to many different platforms.

But for a cheap alternative, I could work with a focus mechanism that controls the camera body wirelessly. There are many rack focus possibilities, or when flying on a merlin and such, it would be nice to have a remote focus puller.

 

[Jordan Scott Price]

Do you mean as a utility for filmmaking? (Controlling the iris remotely, that is; pulling focus from a remote I could understand and has been done externally, but since most DLSR's do not have autofocus while shooting, I don't think it would be possible.)

And do you mean like a remote that controls the DSLR's ability to stop down or open the iris? That could work, but remember that not everyone uses lenses with the electrical contacts for the camera to control the iris. All of the lenses I use for film are manual focus lenses with an aperture ring, so my 7D has no capability to control the iris.

You could rig something to the aperture ring, perhaps, that would rotate via a motor, stopping down or opening the lens, but the aperture rings tend to be very close to the camera body, so it would be tricky.

Again, why would you want this? There are few instances where you would want to change f-stops mid-take; unless you are talking about ENG/run-and-gun stuff. Are you?

 

[morgan_moore]

Ah, but those are external, I am talking about one that controls the dslr internally. .

No the ones in 'development' use the internals of the camera and len, not the RR but the other two that I know of..

I dont like linking to 'the other place' but..

http://www.cinema5d.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=19746

And (not that these people have the best rep for acctually delivering)..

http://www.viewfactor.net/ have blogged or tweeted of something about creating a USB interface for their, (non existant?) Focus controller

S

 

[Guest]

No the ones in 'development' use the internals of the camera and len, not the RR but the other two that I know of..

I dont like linking to 'the other place' but..

http://www.cinema5d.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=19746

And (not that these people have the best rep for acctually delivering)..

http://www.viewfactor.net/ have blogged or tweeted of something about creating a USB interface for their, (non existant?) Focus controller

S

Yes, that is exactly what I was talking about. Good, I have been wondering for a long time now if I was the only one who would think of something like that. I am glad to see some are actually producing it now.

I found it interesting that the guy, "Slippers", mentioned smooth rack focus. This was a concern for me initially. We'll see if the dslr and lenses can pull that off well enough.

 

[Guest]

Do you mean as a utility for filmmaking? (Controlling the iris remotely, that is; pulling focus from a remote I could understand and has been done externally, but since most DLSR's do not have autofocus while shooting, I don't think it would be possible.)

And do you mean like a remote that controls the DSLR's ability to stop down or open the iris? That could work, but remember that not everyone uses lenses with the electrical contacts for the camera to control the iris. All of the lenses I use for film are manual focus lenses with an aperture ring, so my 7D has no capability to control the iris.

You could rig something to the aperture ring, perhaps, that would rotate via a motor, stopping down or opening the lens, but the aperture rings tend to be very close to the camera body, so it would be tricky.

Again, why would you want this? There are few instances where you would want to change f-stops mid-take; unless you are talking about ENG/run-and-gun stuff. Are you?

If you follow the links that morgan moore posted in his reply above, you will be able to read about the benefits. Although, the geared focus is still more versatile, and it is probably even smoother on focus pull.