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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 :)

HotLink or Redlink Bridge

Hi Christopher

not sure what is wrong exactly in your setup but it sure looks jumpy.
I tried it with many different lenses and never saw something like that, except in very very bad wifi conditions. If the handmade wifi receiver has a poor or wrong antenna type you may have a culprit here... But as you mention it works better with some lenses than others and you get the same problems using camera's rack focus feature there could also be an issue with the mount / lens itself.

I just did a few new test here using REDLink and a Canon 40 mm which without being the smoothest lens is very usable in both manual "multi turns re-mapped" mode and rack focusing. Handy for many small camera setups or small team, small budget projects. I will try to borrow a 24-70 USM II and test it soon as I've mainly used it with some Nikons zoom recently.

Now you do hear the motor noise while focusing and it shows typical characteristics of photo lenses... and it is not ready yet to replace a good cine lens and any high end follow focus system.
 
Alright, I'm hoping it's not a faulty camera/mount. I have tested it without using fool control or the wifi-circuit and only used the internal rack focus of the Epic; it behaves the same as with fool control.
So either it's the lens or it's the mount or both.

I'm very disappointed with the 24-70mm 2.8 II if it's the lens that behaves like this. This was supposed to be my primary lens due to it's perfect zoom range and aperture. Can't believe that Canons best zoom behave like this.

The lenses I have at the moment and the ones I've tested are

Canon 24-70mm 2.8 II = Behaves badly, skips, no smooth focus racking at all.
Canon 17-40mm 4L = Slightly better than 24-70mm, but still not really workable. Also harder to see if it's worse due to high aperture and wide angle.
Canon 50mm 1.8 II = Very plastic lens so the focus ability is not really good, it cannot even be initiated by the camera and misses marks when rack focusing. Totally unworkable with internal motor.
Canon 85mm 1.8 II = Slightly better than the 24-70mm, but no where near acceptable.
Sigma 35mm 1.4 ART = Best of the five lenses, it gives a smooth rack focus but it randomly skips. Probably the lens that will work the best in this lineup, but I wouldn't feel safe doing actual work when it "might" skip focus in some takes (what if that take was the best take for the actors?).

Do you have any experience with testing any of these lenses? Would be nice to hear if you have. With five quite popular lenses that aren't really good for using the internal motor I'm not sure internal focusing is really ready for high end productions.

I'm curious to know why the Canon 85mm 1.2 is working so much better than the 85mm 1.8 I have, from what I know about Canons lenses the 85mm 1.2 and the 1.8 has the same internal motor, it's just built slightly different (L vs normal). But because both the 17-40mm and the 24-70mm, which both are in the L-series doesn't work very good, the L-series isn't a quality mark for internal motors.
The Sigma 35mm is the best of them all and that's not even within the line of Canon lenses.

So which lenses do actually work and reach a quality of focus pulling that competes with pulling manually? Because if non really reach the smooth operation of pulling manually I'm not even sure why the internal motors are such a big deal? I wouldn't accept watching skipping focus on a big screen, that's never acceptable.
 
If you can, try to make a proper test with a real hotlink or REDLink module...
And if possible see if you can test on a different camera / lens mount combo.

In my experience it does not skip like that in normal network situation and is really usable and smooth when set on 2, 3 or 5 x turns per lens focus range.

That said get a preston with cine primes and you will certainly enjoy a far better experience than an app and internal motors on photo lenses...
 
The lenses attempt to move Large or Micro amounts when it has been communicated with.

If the lens is asked to move to the next location before its had a change to asynchronously move to the last point ... it can sometimes loose where it is (or at least that was experience of the DryOs).

The granularity of the Large and Micro steps - determines the minimum jumpiness.
The rate of change of AF of the lens determines the minimum fluidity.

AJ
 
Mikael Lubtchansky said:
If you can, try to make a proper test with a real hotlink or REDLink module...
And if possible see if you can test on a different camera / lens mount combo.

In my experience it does not skip like that in normal network situation and is really usable and smooth when set on 2, 3 or 5 x turns per lens focus range.

That said get a preston with cine primes and you will certainly enjoy a far better experience than an app and internal motors on photo lenses...
Click to expand...

I'll echo Mikael's comment. In my limited experience with the rack focus feature built into the camera, my Canon 24-70 works quite well and smooth, so there is hope.
 
Mark Phelan said:
I'll echo Mikael's comment. In my limited experience with the rack focus feature built into the camera, my Canon 24-70 works quite well and smooth, so there is hope.
Click to expand...

But that's just it, it skips focus and behaves just as bad when doing in-cam rack focus. If you check out the video I linked to then you'll see just how bad it is. If your 24-70mm behave better then that then I think I have a problem with my mount or camera.
 
Christoffer,

I did watch your clip and you're right, it's bad, definitely some issue. My 24-70 is not working like that at all, but smoothly as one might expect. Yes, I would say there is something amiss somewhere in your rig and if I had to guess, my first look would be at the lens. Primarily because it looks to be a mechanical issue versus software. But since you say it's happening with other lenses, then the mount might be the second place I'd look, possibly the contacts. That's my read on it.
 
maybe I can get the 24-70 II next week and make videos with it and the 85mm f1.2 for comparison
 
Thanks for the test! :smiley:

The first one is much much better than what I can achieve, but I see the same things in the second one. I get that it's impossible to do everything as good as smooth manual focus pulling but in the end, the money I put on tech that enables focus pulling through wifi with the internal motors is not very well spent if it's not acceptable for professional work.

In that case it seems better to either get a great manual follow focus that enables some remapping of the short throw, or a wireless gearhead with the same capability. Some say that such a setup isn't good with still lenses, but with the right gear ring around the still lens focus ring it will both compensate for short throw and also be stable. The important thing is that the focus change need to be smooth and consistent.

maybe I can get the 24-70 II next week and make videos with it and the 85mm f1.2 for comparison
Click to expand...

Would be great to hear your results. The 24-70mm is such a good lens to always have on your camera that it's a shame if it doesn't perform well.
 
Question to anyone who owns a RedLink Bridge: with a little surgery, do you think it would be possible to secure Red's Accessory V-Mount or Wooden Cam's A-Lock to the back of the RedLink, allowing one to piggyback a Wooden Cam Quick Back with battery to it? I realize this may not be the most solid solution, but the problem with the HotLink for me is that it uses the CTL port, which I would like to save for other accessories.

Apologies is this has already been addressed.
 
Andrew Young said:
Question to anyone who owns a RedLink Bridge: with a little surgery, do you think it would be possible to secure Red's Accessory V-Mount or Wooden Cam's A-Lock to the back of the RedLink, allowing one to piggyback a Wooden Cam Quick Back with battery to it? I realize this may not be the most solid solution, but the problem with the HotLink for me is that it uses the CTL port, which I would like to save for other accessories.

Apologies is this has already been addressed.
Click to expand...

not a good idea at all imo.
best if you want to use the REDLink is to attach rails or a L plate to the bottom, top plate or to a side rail and attach battery on this.
Several people have made custom parts to do so but attaching something as heavy as a battery on the REDLink module is not something I'd recommend at all... I'd be confortable velcro-ing an audio receiver maybe but that's about it.
 
Tommaso Alvisi said:
Christoffer...any update?

Have you tried the 24-70 Mark I ?
Click to expand...

No updates, I upgraded to Dragon and the problem remains. I'm gonna borrow another EF mount and try, but I think it's the same on any camera. The Mark I I've heard works better, but it would be nice to hear someone else try another 24-70 Mark II.
In the meantime I will put money into a Bright Tangerine revolvr instead, feels like more solid investment.
 
Hi all, can anyone recomend a USB power source? I'm very keen on the Hotlink and I'm looking for a trusted and proven USB power solution for it...
 
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...hypercore_98s_98wh_14_8v_v_mount_battery.html


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1046443-REG/switronix_jpx_v_epic_jetpack_x_v_mount_for.html

i use the Redlink.

i just attach this vmount jetpack to rails off the back of my camera, works very well with the Wifi module sandwiched between, both these items have USB, the jetpack stores power to work with out a battery on it, and should power your hotlink fine.


if all you need is power for the hotlink, you can use those little usb power brick things (cell phone chargers) but i dunno i would stick with real camera gear
 
how reliable is Redlink? My hotlink drops connection all the time, sometimes it restores connection, but most of the time "unable to join ....."
 
Paramon, have you tried contacting offhollywood support for help ?
Is that using ad hoc mode or connected to a router ?
You should definitely try to change wifi channel if you kept it at default as it may be interfering with other surrounding networks.
 
Mikael Lubtchansky said:
Is that using ad hoc mode or connected to a router ?
You should definitely try to change wifi channel if you kept it at default as it may be interfering with other surrounding networks.
Click to expand...
ad hoc and outdoors, very close proximity, i mean it is within 2-3 feet, it is great when it works, it lets me keep gimbal setup to minimum, but man, it's been frustrating in front of the clients.
i'll try to re-setup it again
 
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