Motor Test
 

The motor ran about 15+ hours, no problem. So motor problem is not an issue here. Thanks.

Quyen

Quyen,

I got a bunch of .5cc syrings and they are too small in diameter for the grommets, so I will have to upgrade to the full 1cc size! It slides too easily up and down and therefore too hard to get a good focal length.

Leo,

Sorry that I gave wrong syringe size. I still don't know why I said .5cc. Hope you can get the 1cc one, thanks.

Quyen

Voltage
 

Some asked me what kind of battery / power supply / voltage do I use for this set up, here are my answers:

- I use 1 1.2v rechargable battery, 2 battery will cause a lots of noise yet don't solve grain problem as good as 1 battery.

- If you want to use 2 rechargable battery which is 2.4v, use 1 resistor about 15-25 ohm (I am using 18 ohm) and connect it in serial with the motor.
(+ resistor motor -)

- Use 50 ohm variable resistor will be the best choice since you can find the best voltage setting for your system with different shutter speeds.

I wonder if anyone has successfully built this adapter?
Hope this info will help you further in building a working one for yourself, thanks.

Quyen

I have ordered one of Le's adapters and even though I haven't received it yet (a few more days, hopefully), I just want to thank Le for the great customer service he gives. So far every email I've sent him, he's replied almost immediately with answers to all the questions I've had. If the product lives up to expectactions (and I've bet $200 that it will!), then I have to say it's one of my best experiences as a customer so far.

Thanks Le!

version 2
 

Hi all,

I wonder if anybody has finished this adapter yet? I have another version which is slightly different than the original one. It's round instead of square. Use basicly the same material as the square one, just slightly different design, works good. More to come.

http://www.nuocsong.com/nhatho/adapter/ver2_1.JPG
http://www.nuocsong.com/nhatho/adapter/ver2_2.JPG
http://www.nuocsong.com/nhatho/adapter/ver2_3.JPG
http://www.nuocsong.com/nhatho/adapter/ver2_4.JPG
http://www.nuocsong.com/nhatho/adapter/ver2_5.JPG

Quyen

Dude
 

That looks really Awesome.... very nice...

I just record some seconds of video using new adapter. Motor noise is there, will improve it later.
http://www.nuocsong.com/nhatho/adapter/test.mpg

That comes up as an empty file for me...

Neat stuff, Quyen. You are very innovative.

Hey, I noticed you are located in Portland, my former home. Beautiful summers up there!

Sorry Bill, the link is fixed. Weather is nice here. Thanks.

Quyen

Good job, looks very nice!

Quyen,

I must have a been a pain in the *** getting that sheet metal around the plastic, I applaud you for that - and all of the smooth edges, you really have put alot of work into this. Good job.

Hey Quyen,

I was looking at the pdf guide and you say that you used :

http://www.surplusshed.com/pages/item/l3385.html

But this is a rectangular and your guide shows that it is a round end to it. So is it the wrong?

Leo

The Surplusshed item is inside the tube so it's not visible. Thanks.

Quyen

Sorry, I meant that the tube is round and the achromat is rectangular, but I guess the tube is bigger than the achromat.

I downloaded firstshot.zip

I can hear the audio but no picture???

I have installed wmp10 and downloaded this 38mb file from a telephone modem so any help will take away a lot of pain. :( please

Owen,

There are 2 parts in the firstshot.zip. 1 is .mpa and 1 is .mpv. The .mpa contains only audio and .mpv contains only video. check the .mpv file in there to see if it can play in wmp10, thanks.

Quyen

If you are totally unable to play it, let me sum it up for you. Quyen's work deserves an audience.

CAUTION - SPOILERS BELOW



Purple flowers in closeup

Focus racks back to purple flowers at medium distance; the flowers that were in closeup are now out of focus.

Focus racks back some more to more purple flowers at long distance, and some trees on the horizon. Flowers that are in foreground and medium range are now out of focus. Looks real nice!

Motor is turned off, and we can see the grain. Motor is turned back on, no grain.

Hope this helps!

;-)

funny, couldnt get that mpv playing on anything but womble mpeg video wizard. from there i rendered an output and all is good now. :)

thanks for the work Quyen Le, very nice demonstration, it was a bit like sex (u know, cause i got modem, harhar harhar har).. i dont mind the look of that grain on a v2k, gives it a bit of a dvx feel idunno, maybe you might consider your next motor attachment to have a variable speed option to get that flavour without being too static if you know what i mean. :)

Bill, i noticed that after reading your post im still learning about all this so it wasnt obvious to me from the getgo what was happeneing? now i know. :)

Owen,

The newer version will be available late this month or next month that has an LED, Variable switch, power plug and will be in black color. When it's available for sale, it's on our website, thanks for your advice anyway.

Quyen

Owen,

You mean my post wasn't totally useless? Curses!!

The funny part is, it was intended as tongue in cheek humor and not to be helpful!

Hey Quyen,

I got the 1 CC syringes - but the grommets 3/16 X 5/16 X 1/16, they are too big for the syringe and slides up and down too easily. I really thought that with the better syringer, the plastic piece would be bigger too, but I guess just the outside casing.

Does the plastic holder for the white syringe part, press in tightly on the grommets and therefore on the syringe? This would make it alot easier to set the FL because it would stay in one place.

Leo,

Mine stays really tight and won't move even if I don't apply glue. I think you got the wrong size of the grommets. What you can do is apply some glue on the plastic parts to make them thicker, then they will stay in place. After you find a proper focal plane, put some more glue to secure it, hope this helps.

Quyen

Bill, will look forward to your next useless post cause i got some use out of the previous, better luck next time.. :) cheers.

Quyen Le, how much will the variable speed option cost/estimate?

Owen,

We are still searching for nicer looking parts. We don't know if they make nice looking potentiometers with knobs at low wattage in the range of 0-50 ohm or 0-100 ohm. We also don't know how much the parts will cost or we have to make an extra mold. I think we will have an answer for this next week, thanks for asking.

Quyen

For thos who are looking for cheap parts , try:
http://www.goldmine-elec.com
They got pager motor for very cheap.
I just receive mine, (G13566 and G15241) and they are incredibly small.

out of topic: they got another hidden marvel for those interested to build
a teleprompter. Head-up display glass for 10 $. (G13586)
It is a piece of glass, coated for reflecting like a mirror on one side.
The big thing is this is not 2-way mirror (where you loose about 50% of the light). Here it is totally clear. they are cut exactly the right shape for this use.
You would pay hundreth of $ for such thing elsewhere.
nice to build a portable teleprompter with a Pocket PC or Palm gadget.
(there are some readers program like iSilo , able to scroll text on a pocket PC)

I just finished my LED lamp too, i will give you the recipe to build one very easy.

I am interested in the LED light thing, let me know how you did it.

also, for those interested in page motors, always check charity shops for old pages and mobile phones, usually very cheap.

http://www.nuocsong.com/nhatho/adapter/LED.JPG
This is a very simple design. Hope it helps.

Quyen

Sorry Quyen,

I meant a full lighting rig, with the LEDs!

Sorry it is a bit out of topic , but here are the info.
heatsink to glue the LEDs on:
http://www.radianheatsinks.com/standard/hs1591eb.html

Leds (8 x luxeon star white 1 Watt should be enough)
http://www.ledsupply.com/led-catalo...te-luxeons.html
8 Leds are ok to grab a decent picture in a total dark room, but it is not perfect.
If you can , choose 4 white cold LED and 4 whit warm LED.

1 driver for LED (take the DC 700mA dimmable version 3021-D-E-700)
http://www.ledsupply.com/led-drivers-buckpuck.html

If you got some old LCD screen to scap, there are valuable plastic sheet and plexi glass to get from.

Epoxy glue dual-components PATTEX ALU to fix LEDs on Heatsink.
you can use the one for PC (Arctic silver, the glue not the grease ) but it is very expensive
look like this: a dual syringe with mixable resin , containing micronized aluminium
http://www.tedpella.com/14443.jpg
I think PATTEX is german stuff not distributed in USA.
Try LOCTITE Epoxy Adhesive 3805 Steel and Aluminium Epoxy Filler
Before gluing LEDs make sure the polarity of each is disposed in a way that
cabling will by short and easy.

some battery elements Li-ion 3.6V - 2 A (4 are ok)
http://www.batteryspace.com/index.a...TS&Category=739
you can find better , a kit with charger a 8 cell block (16V)
http://www.batteryspace.com/index.a...ROD&ProdID=1287
3.6 li-ion element are nice since the voltage for a led is around 3.4-3.5 Volt.
put 4 leds in serie and 2 series in parallel.

The result is a very light lamp, giving very diffuse light, you can switch on and off without risking a filament break.
People can look at it without being dazzled.
Stay cool enough to stay in the hand (but get hot anyway)
You can choose to mount the leds on a ring around the lens of your camera for MACRO.


Good luck

Shooting the Moon
 

http://www.nuocsong.com/nhatho/adapter/moon.mpg
The video was captured using Letus35 with 500mm FD lens at f32. under 2 seconds of video. Motor noise is improved. Thanks.

Quyen

So you are shooting at f32. Means that the LETUS has no restriction on the Aperture? Am I correct?

Yes, the test video with Canon FD 1.4 go to the minimum aperture of 16, with FD 500mm it can go to 32, so I can say it has no restriction. Thanks.

Quyen

Hey Quyen,

Can you change the GG you supply with your unit with a Nikon D focusing screen? That might really increase the image brightness if it were possible!

shooting at f32 directly aiming at the moon is like shooting at f32 directly aiming a ligthbulb.
It gives no information about the quality/limits of the gg, since there is a lot of light involved there.

Mandy Leo,

I can change the GG to Nikon screen but I doubt that it will be brighter since my setup has very little light loss.

Giroud Francois,

The purpose of the moon shot is for checking motor noise only, not to show any performance there. You are right about this. Thank you for pointing this out.

In my test video shows some shot at f16 without any vignetting (minimum on FD 50mm f1.4) so I think I can refer to this to say that my adapter has no aperture limitation or restriction. Thanks.

Quyen

Quyen, Your adapter as you shipped it to me is absolutely silent. I can only hear the motor when it's six inches from my ear, and even then it's a quiet noise. I have to feel it to determine if it's on or not.

that is really nice but 6 inches is probably twice the distance from the adapter to the camera microphone (and unfortunately, this one is pointed just right over the adapter).
So we really need a total silence.
i am just asking myself if some trick with magnet could make a really cool system.
just imagine a ring with 4 magnets (noon,three, six and nine hours.) with the positive (or neg) polarity pointed to the center of the ring.
now you put infront of each magnet, another one with same polarity, so they repulse each. this would be a perfect way to suspend something inside a force field, allowing very easy vibration and then quiet system.
gluing the motor with soft silicon should help too keep noise down.

Magnets have to be so exactly placed so they exert force directly in the center of the opposing magnet, otherwise they'll slip off in a perpendicular axis.

Magnets would be a very fishy way to go and I can see it being (1) difficult to set up and (2) difficult to keep in place.

Don't be fooled by the apparent simplicity and powerful force of magnets. Their application has to be extremely precise. Also, the force of magnets follows a logarithmic scale, so as you get closer to the magnet its power increases exponentially instead of in a linear pattern.

Actually I find the idea of magnets to be a brilliant one. There are some elegant and simple solutions to the stumbling blocks you (Ben) mention.

The "keeping in place" would be the easy part. For me the question comes down to, is it worth the trouble?