DIY Equipment

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Here's a very quick introduction on the parts that come with the new Servo City MPT1100-SS Pan & Tilt System. The complete kit is already assemebled for approx $650 US dollars. To start operating, you plug in a 12V DC power supply into a joystick remote. Either use the included AC wall adapter, or use your own battery. All power and controls are sent over a single CAT6 cabling to the head unit - couldn't be easier. From the remote you can adjust max speed for the Pan and Tilt individually. The Joystick remote can also control speed depending on how far you maneuver the joystick. There is some noise at the highest speed, but when slowing down the movements the noise is greatly reduced.

MPT1100 Motorized Pan Head Tilt VideoMPT1100 Servo City Pan Head

Right now the design supports mounting to a 90mm bowl found on some jibs. I'll have to ask them about some of the more common smaller jibs that mount 1/4-20 direct to cameras or 3/8" Fluid heads. If you didn't catch the second 'auxiliary' input on the controller, this will support future upgrades to control other items. I believe they are working on motorized remote Zoom and Focus controls through this system. There's also a link on the product page to the User Manual PDF File. I suggest taking a look at this also. You can find out more about the ServoCity.com MPT1100-SS Pan & Tilt system over at the product page (Click Here).

Servo City Pan Tilt HeadServo city Motorized Pan Tilt
find-price-button ServoCity.com MPT1100-SS Pan & Tilt System

tekkeon-mp3450i
find-price-button Tekkeon MP3450i 5-12V Battery Pack

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Eric Ferguson writes in and shares his DIY LED Umbrella Light which uses the Cheap Flexible LED light strips (seen here on eBay). These strips can be purchased in short length to rolls of 600 LEDs in a single strip. [Thanks Eric]. Another DIY LED light panel project using flexible LED lights can be also be found (here).

DIY LED light rollLED strip Flexible Can

Unlike the DIY LED light panel which would require you to cut LED light strips down to different sizes along with some soldering, Eric used an entire 600 LED roll wrapped around a simple can. The wrapped can mimics a bare bulb by throwing light off the sides. From there he's using a simple umbrella to refocus the light. Below are some images of the light OFF and then ON.

non-onLED-on

The flexible LED light strips work on simple 12V batteries, and can be found super cheap via eBay (click here).

White Flexible 600 LED light can
find-price-button Flexible LED light Strip

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Home for the day, so I decided to see if I had the skills to fly the Skyler MiniCam Video Camera Stabilizer while riding a Gyro-Stabilized Motorized UniCycle called the SoloWheel (found here on eBay).

Skyler-MiniCam  Solo Wheel Steadicam Segway Self Balancing Gryo Stabilized

Just in case something disastrous were to happen, I felt comfortable trying this test out with Canon's latest EOS T4i (not the 5D Mark III) and was a good excuse to see how the Auto Focus would work with the Sigma 20mm F/1.8.

Canon T4i VariAngle LCD  simga-20mm

Besides not being a very skilled SoloWheel rider, the breeze against the Vari-Angle LCD threw the little Skyler off balance. So it wasn't a truly successful test, but at least I didn't eat pavement...

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Portable camera sliders are great, but they can't replace very long tracked dolly movements. Here's a recent DIY Seated Video Track Dolly project from Vimeo member TLA Productions. If you're planning on tackling one of these projects, here's a video with some tips to make your platform more stable, and some considerations about working on uneven surfaces.

I've actually built one of these before, and the most critical part is assembling a good wheel set. The wheels really have to be drilled perfectly to sit on the track exactly the same. Not an easy thing to do when you have a 16 wheels. If you drill just a few millimeters off, you'll notice it once you're going down the track.

For DIY projects, you'll most likely be using off the shelf pipes instead of professionally laid out tracks. For this, the swiveling design wheel set is the best because it can move and correct for misaligned tracks or imperfect alignment of your wheel mounts. A good set of swivel assemblies can also be used on curved tracks. Keep in mind you'll have to dish out more for a decent set of wheels and high quality bearings. There's a few good looking assemblies on eBay (Click Here).

Swivel Dolly Track Wheel Caster Set AssembliesDIY Wheel Dolly Track Swivel Set
find-price-button DIY Track Dolly Swivel Wheel Assemblies

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Ok, so I have the new Canon EOS T4i, and what always bugs me about these LP-E8 chargers is the long cord that's messy to pack up. A while back Kay shared this tip with the Canon T2i chargers, and it still applies to the Canon T3i and Canon T4i. If you had just a few of these chargers, you can see how messy those long cords would be on a single power strip. This little tip keeps things easy and neat, and easy to pack up. These plug adapters for Apple chargers can be found for about $3 bucks + Free Prime Shipping (Click Here).

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find-price-button Apple AC Wall Adapter

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plasti-dip-lens-gear-follow-focus

Tommy Williamson had problems getting his D|Gear Universal Lens Gear to stay on the Canon 50mm F/1.8 lens. Who wouldn't? That focus ring is pretty slim. His solution was to dip the tips of the spokes in Plasti-Dip (normally used to coat the handles of tools). The Plasti-Dip is some very durable stuff, and comes in a variety of colors. [Thanks Tommy] The Black on Black looks invisible and keeps the unit looking the same. If you ask me, this should be something offered coming right from the factory. Pretty simple idea, but seems to make a world of difference to prevent the spokes from slipping out.

plastic-dip
find-price-button Plasti-Dip Multi Purpose Rubber Coating

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[Update] This is a new OPEN LOOP system that is not yet available. NOT CLOSED LOOP. Sorry, for the confusion.

New Motorized Pan & Tilt head from Servo City. I used these guys to pick up some parts for the DIY motorized Juicedlink Slider project (here), and at the time they didn't have quite the Pan & Tilt head available for the end of a Jib / Crane. After discussing with them what I was looking for, they mentioned they were working on a new 'Open Loop' system that would allow me to operate the camera through the joystick control.

So here it is. It's a new Pan & Tilt 'Open Loop' system with Joystick control. Construction is top notch, and I don't know of a cheaper system out there. The product is not yet available, but it will be in a few weeks at ServoCity.com (Click Here).

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There was an interesting article posted on this blog a few weeks ago about using a Motorola Lapdock as a DIY external HDMI display for your DSLR camera. There's a bunch of comments about how to go about doing this here: http://cheesycam.com/lapdock-as-hdmi-monitor/

Currently these Lapdocks are running for about $80 dollars on Amazon (seen here), but if you were curious and wanted to grab one at a better price, today 1saleaday has listed them for $59.99 via eBay (Click Here).

Motorola Lapdock Sale
find-price-button Motorola Lapdock HDMI Display

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Just a few days ago I pointed out the Vello LCD Sunshade for articulating LCDs. A few comments pointed out that they were looking for a simple hood that attaches to a Zacuto frame. I'm guessing because they don't have a swing out LCD that the Vello can attach to. Today I run into this other simple LCD hood / shade on eBay that can attach to both 3" swing out LCDs or to standard rear LCD monitors.

As simple as these things are, if you've even had to cover your LCD with your hand, you'll know how helpful it can be to help set color and exposure in the bright sun. It attaches over the DSLR body through bungee straps which doesn't look overly complicated for you to DIY. Some firm cardboard, a bit of cloth (heck even duct tape), and a stretchy garter should be enough to make your own version for any size LCD. You can see more images of how they have it put together at the product page (Click here).

Simple DSLR Video LCD SunshadeSimple LCD Sunshade Hood
find-price-button 3" DSLR Video Camera LCD Video Sunshade Hood