The Internal Focus Motor Thread

[Jacek Zakowicz]

Jacek, what's the proposed price point for this unit?

Also, how do the focus puller see the distances? As a focus puller, you need to see distance marks in some way otherwise you can't measure your points.

There is a removable marking ring on the unit and you can see the distance reported by the lens on the screen/VF

 

[Jacek Zakowicz]

Excellent job Jacek! What is the range of the wireless operation? And what frequency does it operate on?

Cheers!

:sifone: Peter

The wireless modules are rated 100m.
It opeates on 2.4GHz band.
They are testing today with a copter so I'll let you know a little later...

 

[Christoffer Glans]

There is a removable marking ring on the unit and you can see the distance reported by the lens on the screen/VF

How is the latency and can you do fast focus changes without it lagging behind too much?
Could you PM me the price or temporary price perhaps? Thanks!

 

[Jacek Zakowicz]

How is the latency and can you do fast focus changes without it lagging behind too much?
Could you PM me the price or temporary price perhaps? Thanks!

For speed AF motors are the limitation. Unless you are trying to stress test by whipping the focus knob silly the motors in "L" lenses keep up fine.
The cheap (canon kit) lenses are slower.
We got the latency down to 2ms so no perceivable delay-wired or wireless.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

So if I do some crash-focus, or whatever it's called, it will be able to keep up as fast as when I auto-focus with my DSLR?
And it isn't "jerky"? I mean, when I pull focus manually it's smooth transitions, so there's no "jittery" feel of the changing focus?

 

[Jacek Zakowicz]

It's very smooth- we'll demonstrate that in the updated video.

 

[Elizabeth Lowrey]

All very good news, Jacek. Since you indicated that at least some of your first stock will be firmware allocated for RED cameras, what is the order procedure and when are you prepared to start taking orders? Has your website been upgraded to permit automated ordering online?

 

[Jacek Zakowicz]

just email me.
We'll revamp the website when the videos are done.
working on them a we speak...

 

[Jacek Zakowicz]

Excellent job Jacek! What is the range of the wireless operation? And what frequency does it operate on?

Cheers!

:sifone: Peter

Got the word back from the copter dudes- they are getting 300+ft range and no interference with the flight controller...

 

[Christoffer Glans]

Is the knob able to have clear "ends" so you won't turn past infinity or close range? What I mean is that when using PL lenses your own marks won't change on the knob however you turn it, because the focus has a clear stop. On EF-lenses however (like the L-lenses) the focus comes to a stop but you are able to keep turning which would render your focus marks obsolete.

 

[Peter Majtan]

Got the word back from the copter dudes- they are getting 300+ft range and no interference with the flight controller...

Thank You Jacek!

 

[Jacek Zakowicz]

Is the knob able to have clear "ends" so you won't turn past infinity or close range? What I mean is that when using PL lenses your own marks won't change on the knob however you turn it, because the focus has a clear stop. On EF-lenses however (like the L-lenses) the focus comes to a stop but you are able to keep turning which would render your focus marks obsolete.

OptiTron has hard stops so the marks are always good once calibrated.
And that goes for every copy of the same lens..

 

[Dan Kanes]

Jacek - I want to buy one of these. How can I?

 

[Christoffer Glans]

OptiTron has hard stops so the marks are always good once calibrated.
And that goes for every copy of the same lens..

How is the short throw for this? It would be nice if it's calibrated so that micro adjustments are possible.

 

[Jacek Zakowicz]

How is the short throw for this? It would be nice if it's calibrated so that micro adjustments are possible.

We will go into the advanced features after the basic video is ready.
You can very easily remap any amount of focus travel to the full 300+ degrees on the OptiTron.
you can have 1 ft (30 cm) of focus set to the full rotation with one button - set your start (in) point, set your end (out) point press and ready!!
5 second operation. I think it will be useful for macro work.

 

[Jacek Zakowicz]

Jacek - I want to buy one of these. How can I?

Dan you can order any time. Everyone is waiting for the final video and the edit guy got very busy the last few days. I'm busy with production so can't get to it...

 

[Mikael Lubtchansky]

Thanks Giles Harvey from Luttrell TV for this BTS of a MOVI shoot using foolcontrol OS X to pull focus with a griffin power mate knob...

I just ordered the bluetooth version that was recently released to check all works fine with foolcontrol... will be easier than holding the macbook air while waiting for the iOS version

tweet -> https://twitter.com/GDHarvey/status/492953705122373632

 

[Loic Parent]

Thanks Giles Harvey from Luttrell TV for this BTS of a MOVI shoot using foolcontrol OS X to pull focus with a griffin power mate knob...

I just ordered the bluetooth version that was recently released to check all works fine with foolcontrol... will be easier than holding the macbook air while waiting for the iOS version

tweet -> https://twitter.com/GDHarvey/status/492953705122373632

Perfect ! as soon as your tell us it works with fool control i'm ordering one!

 

[Mikael Lubtchansky]

foolcontrol can basically accept keystroke commands so it works with a wide range of controllers and probably with that new bluetooth powermate (will confirm once received)

Just look into the shortcut help panel and map the ones you want...
- Left / right arrows for focus (with modifiers for greater precision) also controls playback jog
- Up / down arrows for aperture
- R for record toggle I think
- Z for magnify
- M for mark frame
- A->L for focus marks
etc

 

[Dan Kanes]

M if you can get the Bluetooth Powermate paired with an iphone running FC that will be a huge win