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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Another Remote FF thread...

CVB said:
BTW.. the white disk is actually a drum. I have found that its a little easier to write the numbers down. With the flat design it seems like the knob is always in the way. Maybe thats just me :)
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I like the drum because it makes it harder to accidently wipe your marks off. I find I constantly rub the top disk on the bartech with my sleeve by accident.
 
Concerning the illuminated barrel: this is a "must have" feature. But it should be possible to turn it off.

Concerning the buttons Z, F, I: they are way too prominent now. I believe once a unit is established as a focus control, it will be used as such and nothing else. Otherwise there's too many possibilities for errors like being in the wrong mode or shifting the marks by turning the barrel in a different mode. I suggest making them a small recessed three position switch or a small push button which cycles through the modes. Maybe you even want to hide the switch/button inside the battery compartment, having only the LEDs on the surface showing you what mode has been selected.

My 5 cents...
 
The scheme as its set now is that you hit the "Pair" button on the receiver then hit a "Pair" button on the rear of the remote. Once the receiver and transmitter have been paired then you need to tell the receiver which axis you would like to control. I could just put two recessed rotary selectors to select the axis to control for each input... assuming I find a nice way of doing the Iris slider. Would that work?

For the illuminated knob, that shouldn't be a problem. I was just trying to keep the current consumption low so you wouldn't have to keep replacing batteries. With the current design you should be able to run the transmitter for 8-10 hrs on three high end AAA batteries.

joelnet said:
To me this sounds amazingly helpful but I don't have a clue how you can achieve this. Do you crop on the fly by talking to the camera?
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To get rid of the lens breathing isn't easy. You basically need to generate a lookup table for every focal length of the lens. So if you are at 55mm and then do a rack focus you need the data to tell the zoom motor how much to compensate for every position change of the focus at that particular focal length. You are effectively zooming while focusing to get rid of the breathing.
When you are in between focal lengths.. ie 55.5mm then the system has to interpolate between two different datasets. The math isnt too bad, its just the setup to get the data is a pain.

I'll be working on getting an automated solution early next year so we can get a lens and characterize the breathing... then we can provide the data to everyone online such that you can download it to your controller. Luckilly I did vision processing on robots back in school :)
 
CVB said:
To get rid of the lens breathing isn't easy. You basically need to generate a lookup table for every focal length of the lens. So if you are at 55mm and then do a rack focus you need the data to tell the zoom motor how much to compensate for every position change of the focus at that particular focal length. You are effectively zooming while focusing to get rid of the breathing.
When you are in between focal lengths.. ie 55.5mm then the system has to interpolate between two different datasets. The math isnt too bad, its just the setup to get the data is a pain.

I'll be working on getting an automated solution early next year so we can get a lens and characterize the breathing... then we can provide the data to everyone online such that you can download it to your controller. Luckilly I did vision processing on robots back in school :)
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Now this is something I've been dreaming of. Curt, I think I can learn to love you:biggrin:
 
lol, I didn't even mention what we have to do when you adjust the zoom while doing a rack focus :)

Everyone seems to think that they don't need motion control, heres an idea we are thinking about... how about auto vertigo effect? Since we have control over zoom, focus, and Iris we can provide a simple encoder that you can put on your dolly that will automatically adjust the lens as you do a push in to get the classic vertigo look. That would probably be a few months after we ship though... we can't do everything in a few months.
 
Unfortunately no... This involves money going away from me. :bye2:
 
CVB said:
To get rid of the lens breathing isn't easy. You basically need to generate a lookup table for every focal length of the lens. So if you are at 55mm and then do a rack focus you need the data to tell the zoom motor how much to compensate for every position change of the focus at that particular focal length. You are effectively zooming while focusing to get rid of the breathing.
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So, that'd only work on zooms, right? With a prime lens, you'd be on your own...
 
I could be wrong but I always thought that the high end primes don't have noticeable lens breathing. I've only seen it in still and ENG type lenses. I think all lenses have breathing, its just a matter of the magnitude.
 
CVB said:
I'll do my best to get a slider in there but like I said before - pots suck. If I can find a solid state solution that would allow me to put a mechanical slider in place that is sealed off then I'll go that route.
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Slider would be the best option for this. Another different spinning ring would be an okay option for this. If it does not have a seperate system on the controler for the iris it would be quite a big flaw.

CVB said:
It will be able to do that... what if I make it hard to accidentally switch the axis... maybe a lockout switch to prevent accidental button presses?
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The problem I see is not as much an accidental button press as when the first has to do an iris change and forgets to switch it back to the focus setting and when you go to roll they change the iris when they think it is on focus. This will forsure happen if any of the iris/zoom/focus can be switched to work with any one control system. After this happens a few times to a focus puller they will soon hate and refuse to work with the system. A lot of film procedures have multiple back up procedures to protect a person from making mistakes and work very well. A multiple use control focus wheel is big big trouble and I would recomend to steer clear of that option. Also you need both markings of the lense focus and iris on the controler and having them on the same barrel (disc) would be very confusing.

Other then the seperate iris control issue I mention I do very much like the design and functionality of the system you have so far. It is very simple and very good. I have worked with pretty much every remote system on the market throughout the years and from what I have seen so far the size, simplicity and functionality of the system you show here if it works well I would say could be better then them all.

I like the barrel illumination idea but a seperate iris control is of much higher importance. Both would be great.
 
CVB said:
BTW.. the white disk is actually a drum. I have found that its a little easier to write the numbers down. With the flat design it seems like the knob is always in the way. Maybe thats just me :)
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This is a great option and I like the thick drum to mark on idea. A really great option would be the ability to make quick drum changes. This way the 1st could mark all the lenses focus distances on the switchable drums with permanent marker and have a drum for each lense that sits in the case beside the lense it is for and the focus puller can just make quick marks on that disc with a wet erase marker for some shots. This has two big advantages 1 for the focus puller it will save them a lot of time 2 for you because you can sell extra drums for $10 each and make some extra cash.


One more thing that bothers me with the system. Environmentally AA batteries in this system are a bit of a crime against our world. Please consider selling them with a charger and three chargeable rotateable battery packs instead. I and I am sure many others would be happy to pay more for this. I know people have the option of buying a AA rechargeable system but I would love to see it not even giving the chance for people to use throw away AA's.
 
Preston would be the best in my mind. The Arri is also good. One of the big problems I have found is when it gets quite cold lenses become stiff and the remote motors have trouble having enough torque to spin the focus or iris. Another problem when the lenses are stiff is that some motors have tiny knobs to tighten the motor to the rods and thus when the lenses are stiff it becomes hard to clamp down the motor to the rods tight enough that they dont tilt out and then skip gears.
 
Finner said:
Preston would be the best in my mind. The Arri is also good. One of the big problems I have found is when it gets quite cold lenses become stiff and the remote motors have trouble having enough torque to spin the focus or iris. Another problem when the lenses are stiff is that some motors have tiny knobs to tighten the motor to the rods and thus when the lenses are stiff it becomes hard to clamp down the motor to the rods tight enough that they dont tilt out and then skip gears.
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Do you remember the temperatures when this happened?
 
CVB said:
I could just put two recessed rotary selectors to select the axis to control for each input... assuming I find a nice way of doing the Iris slider. Would that work?
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Much better. :)
But I'd still prefer to have them behind a closed hatch so that it's absolutely impossible to switch them by accident.

CVB said:
For the illuminated knob, that shouldn't be a problem.
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Cool! But don't forget the on/off switch to save power. :wink:
 
kalone said:
Do you remember the temperatures when this happened?
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It all depends on the weight of the grease the tech put in the lense but often a strong wind and temperatures below -5c can start to give you grief.
 
Brook Willard said:
Have you ever used C-Motion's system? I thought the Preston was a godsend until I worked with this thing. The C-Motion is remarkable.
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No I have not. In fact it has been quite a few years since I pulled focus so I am a little out of the loop. I have not even seen a C-motion unit though.
 
I hadn't heard of it until I found it in my hands. I'm certainly not an AC by trade, but I've spent a lot of time pulling focus over the last few years using all of the systems out there. This one took the cake hands-down.

I have some hilariously cheesy video detailing their products that I'm uploading right now. I'll post it in a few minutes. It has the absolute worst talent I've ever seen. Ever. So look forward to that...
 
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