Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
  • 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 :)

foolcontrol for iPhone...

Thanks

Nope. The aperture setting in the focus page is just a convinience for not going back to main page (also has a '15 sec max aperture' button for proper focus check while not recording). Marks are only for focus now and on most lens the aperture motors have much larger steps than the focus one so rack iris might not* be smooth anyway.





* edit : typo
 
Thanks! Looking forward anyway :o)

Mikael Lubtchansky said:
Thanks

Nope. The aperture setting in the focus page is just a convinience for not going back to main page (also has a '15 sec max aperture' button for proper focus check while not recording). Marks are only for focus now and on most lens the aperture motors have much larger steps than the focus one so rack iris might be smooth anyway.
Click to expand...
 
mikael Have you been able to hack the bluetooth griffin powermate to use as a controller?....I wish someone would just do a basic bluetooth wheel controller for iOs... Maybe Mark from Off Hollywood could make such a hardware.... ;)
 
Not yet, I ordered 2 but they got lost in the mail :-(
They sent me two replacement ones (good on them, and with tracked shipping this time) and they should arrive tomorrow but I've moved to another location now so I will only be able to try them next week... will let you know...

FWIW I got some very positive feedback from some of the beta testers regarding usability of the virtual focus wheel with various lenses. That user interface is very precise and probably far superior than what I might be able to achieve with those bluetooth devices... but we will see.
 
Trent Lillehaugen said:
Nice job, was able to play with the focus control a bit this morning. It might be nice to have a programmable speed for the racking between markers.
Click to expand...


Thanks Trent. Just coded this and it is indeed nice ! Will add this feature to to the foolcontrol OS X markers too...

I must say the responsiveness of the touch interface along with the colored marker that keep their position whenever you add hard stop limits to increase precision over a smaller range or by multiplying the number of turns dynamically along with custom speed rack focusing makes this follow focus controller truly unique and no mechanical or electronic ones will ever be able to offer such features or ease of use... now where is my layer I might need to issue a patent for all those combined stuff !
 
Really enjoyed working with Foolcontrol on iPhone today. We were testing a number of weird and wonderful Dragon configurations for IR wildlife work. Everyone who tried it was amazed at the effectiveness of the focus control via the iPhone touchscreen.

Mikael's software is very nicely implemented for this, and of course we benefit enormously from the fact that the Apple touch screens are exceptionally good. Setting reduced end points and using multiple 'turns' is genius. Its honestly totally usable as a follow focus, even held in one hand working with your thumb.

Plenty of other cool stuff in there too - not least the curves. Finally an instantaneous, interactive way of making live grade adjustments.
 
John Marchant said:
Plenty of other cool stuff in there too - not least the curves. Finally an instantaneous, interactive way of making live grade adjustments.
Click to expand...

Yup. It is so awesome to just quickly tweek the look - in non-destructive meta-data - without offloading media - and before you even roll. Direct to camera in realtime - no wires.

Once you try it - you will forget how to spell CDL.
 
This is awesome. I am very glad to read that it will work over ethernet. This means we can use it over our fiber optic transceiver. Or setup a wireless repeater and have the iPod/iPad back at video village for the DP dial in a look. Lots of possibilities here. This is what the redmote should have been on day 1. :)
 
Wow, impressive ! I love where this is going.

I'm even starting to think that follow focus on touchscreen might be a little more than a gadget ;)

How about adding vibrating marks ? This should be possible on iphones...
And a lot of other stuff that would be made possible by an iphone app pops to mind... Maybe I'll make a list ;)
 
How about a "focus check mode" that would automatically switch your iris to wide open and compensate with the shutter to keep a similar exposure ?

For example, you're shooting at f8.0 at 1/50 shutter. You activate "Focus check mode", your iris opens to max aperture, let's say f2.8 and your shutter goes to 1/400th to compensate. And maybe, while we're at it, it also activates the 1:1 zoom.

When you're done, just get out of that mode and boom, everything is back to normal again ;)
 
He he he

Thanks Nils... Thought about using vibration to confirm some actions (obviously to avoid using sound alerts around camera) but haven't implemented it yet... i'll try it asap when you approach a focus mark... :-)
 
Another exciting thing might be the ability to calibrate the app for non-parfocal zoom lenses (=most of the still zooms).

Do you think it would be possible to tell the camera to add an offset depending on a focal length ?

For example, the 70-200 Canon zoom does not hold focus on its whole zoom range. Would it be possible to calibrate it (once and for all, during prep) and tell the camera that there is an "x" offset at 70mm, an "y" offset at 80mm, a "z" offset at 90mm, etc... and the software would interpolate these so that you're able to zoom through the range without losing focus ?
 
Nils Ruinet said:
How about a "focus check mode" that would automatically switch your iris to wide open and compensate with the shutter to keep a similar exposure ?

For example, you're shooting at f8.0 at 1/50 shutter. You activate "Focus check mode", your iris opens to max aperture, let's say f2.8 and your shutter goes to 1/400th to compensate. And maybe, while we're at it, it also activates the 1:1 zoom.

When you're done, just get out of that mode and boom, everything is back to normal again ;)
Click to expand...

Right now there is a 'open aperture for 15 sec' button in the focus page... It opens it up and revert after 15 sec when not recording... i could add the shutter change too... Will have to make sure all works fine with motion mount when reverting back but why not... Being a bit bright doesn't really bother me when checking focus. Right now there's a button for 1:1 magnify on that page and you can also do a pinch gesture for this but will see about adding an option to auto magnify on focus check...

Thanks for the feedback and ideas :-)
 
Mikael Lubtchansky said:
He he he

Thanks Nils... Thought about using vibration to confirm some actions (obviously to avoid using sound alerts around camera) but haven't implemented it yet... i'll try it asap when you approach a focus mark... :-)
Click to expand...
Thanks, cool :)

I was also thinking about the sound alerts you mention, which might be interesting too, if used with headphones (like the small ones that come with the iphone). It could be a more precise help than the vibrations : the sound could change when getting close to the mark. Louder, higher pitch, or faster clicking like a Geiger counter...

Haha, that might be stupid, but maybe it could work ;)
 
Nils Ruinet said:
Another exciting thing might be the ability to calibrate the app for non-parfocal zoom lenses (=most of the still zooms).

Do you think it would be possible to tell the camera to add an offset depending on a focal length ?

For example, the 70-200 Canon zoom does not hold focus on its whole zoom range. Would it be possible to calibrate it (once and for all, during prep) and tell the camera that there is an "x" offset at 70mm, an "y" offset at 80mm, a "z" offset at 90mm, etc... and the software would interpolate these so that you're able to zoom through the range without losing focus ?
Click to expand...

Possible in theory but might be a bit tricky because offset might not be consistent at every focus distance... So would have to create a huge table to interpolate depending on focal length AND focal distance you are at... But with programming nothing is impossible and upgrades are free :)
 
Robert Hofmeyr said:
Hi Mikael, your app looks great!

Now we need something like this: http://store.redrockmicro.com/microremote.html (see about half way down page "Microremote Black") but without the extra wireless, start-stop etc. Just a wheel that attaches to the iPod/iPhone. Or maybe these guys could make a larger knob: http://www.tunadjgear.com
Click to expand...

interesting find on that tunadjgear! a bigger knob would indeed do the job... as far the redrock micro one....yeah that would be nice...but they have been "working" on this think for 5 years" and never released it....I wonder if they are even still working on it....lol.... maybe the hardware can be licensed to use with foolcontrol
 
John Marchant said:
Really enjoyed working with Foolcontrol on iPhone today. We were testing a number of weird and wonderful Dragon configurations for IR wildlife work. Everyone who tried it was amazed at the effectiveness of the focus control via the iPhone touchscreen.

Mikael's software is very nicely implemented for this, and of course we benefit enormously from the fact that the Apple touch screens are exceptionally good. Setting reduced end points and using multiple 'turns' is genius. Its honestly totally usable as a follow focus, even held in one hand working with your thumb.

Plenty of other cool stuff in there too - not least the curves. Finally an instantaneous, interactive way of making live grade adjustments.
Click to expand...
Thanks John

Was also quite surprise myself on how accurate and reactive it was when I actually connected the user interface to the camera for the first time... Not sure if any external gadget eating batteries or not allowing the iPhone to charge by blocking the connector would actually improve the system.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top