leslie Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 On 6/4/2020 at 3:21 AM, BTM_Pix said: The lens control protocols of those cameras don't lend themselves particularly well to direct positioning but having said that neither does the Pocket6K and we managed to develop a solution for that in the PBC so it will happen but not immediately. A universal version that supports motors would be ahead of it in the queue as it can be used for both manual lenses on cameras that don't have particularly appropriate external control like the Panasonic but also of course for manual lenses on BM cameras. what sort of motors are you talking? i'm about to lay my hands on a couple of bigish stepper motors for experimental purposes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Andrew Reid Posted June 6, 2020 Administrators Share Posted June 6, 2020 On 6/4/2020 at 1:56 PM, BTM_Pix said: The Panasonic/Leica cameras don't support the lens being driven externally to a specific position so everything must be done with offsets. This is manageable of sorts but it only has two values to move the lens by which are by single steps or by 10 steps which makes trying to provide a smooth transition difficult. You can see how rough this is by using their own ImageApp to control the camera over wifi. Over time, it may be that they provide a better way to do this (and also by Bluetooth LE rather than wifi as its a better way to do it) but I wouldn't hold my breath. Is it the same with EF lenses via Metabones adapter? Or does it have a more fine grained focus position with those lenses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Members BTM_Pix Posted June 6, 2020 Author Super Members Share Posted June 6, 2020 21 hours ago, leslie said: what sort of motors are you talking? i'm about to lay my hands on a couple of bigish stepper motors for experimental purposes. As there is no point re-inventing the wheel it will likely be commercially available focus motors from Nucleus as they have ones for both compact and cine lenses. 8 hours ago, Andrew Reid said: Is it the same with EF lenses via Metabones adapter? Or does it have a more fine grained focus position with those lenses? The way it drives them is the same but the number of positions it can drive too is, quite often, more limited than the native MFT lenses but that is at the EF end. This is why I had to develop the calibration function and database on the PBC when you use it with the Pocket6K as you have a lens like the Canon 50mm 1.4 for example that has around 35 focus positions whereas the Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 has something like 120. The MFT lenses vary too but not quite to the same degree and you at least get feedback from them of the range so its far easier to deal with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Andrew Reid Posted June 6, 2020 Administrators Share Posted June 6, 2020 That's good to know then, that it recognises the Sigma 18-35 and makes use of the full 120 focus positions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Members BTM_Pix Posted June 6, 2020 Author Super Members Share Posted June 6, 2020 14 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said: That's good to know then, that it recognises the Sigma 18-35 and makes use of the full 120 focus positions? Yes, its the PBC that does the work driving the lens via the camera so it is exactly the same as it is now with the difference being that it translates the distance position from the AF adapter against the calibration points it has for the lenses. What could possibly go wrong Andrew Reid and Silverwings007 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sebastian_ Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 Really look forward for this fantastic piece! Will be definitely a game changer for using autofocus in motion! Is there any website or blog, which I can check regarding news on the product? Will this system also work on e.g. The Panasonic S1H or Leica SL2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sebastian_ Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 On 6/14/2020 at 2:47 PM, sebastian_ said: Really look forward for this fantastic piece! Will be definitely a game changer for using autofocus in motion! Is there any website or blog, which I can check regarding news on the product? Will this system also work on e.g. The Panasonic S1H or Leica SL2? I have just read the post about Pana/Leica native lenses. Would it be possible to use these cameras with the Titla Nano driving the lenses (e.g. Zeiss Milvus ZE)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Members BTM_Pix Posted June 21, 2020 Author Super Members Share Posted June 21, 2020 Yes, with a motor add on (which won't necessarily be a Tilta one but could be) it will then be a generic product that can be used on any camera with any lens rather than being specific to the Blackmagic as it currently is. A motor option will not be far behind the release of the Blackmagic version. Parker and Silverwings007 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groovinfilms Posted June 22, 2020 Share Posted June 22, 2020 Honestly, if this could add auto focus via a motor onto my Aviascope on the bm4k, this (for me) would be the last piece of the puzzle. Will be following this with great interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caleb Genheimer Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 @BTM_Pix How is this coming along? I know the whole world has kinda come to a halt, but I’m curious. I would throw in a slightly unorthodox feature request for addition at some point: control of two focus motors simultaneously. This would make it useable for 3D rigs, and for synchro-focus of an anamorphic adapter and taking lens (although the latter would require disparate lens profiles for each lens to be running simultaneously, rather than a simple duplicate motor control output.) I’m sure there are other potential uses (2 camera shoots, etc,) but it’s something I wish Tilta did NOW with their kits having multiple motors. Emanuel 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Members BTM_Pix Posted July 12, 2020 Author Super Members Share Posted July 12, 2020 Its still coming along. Or should I say they are coming along as there will now likely be two different options. I'll endeavour to show something of each of them in the next two weeks and the plan is currently to open pre-orders for them at the end of August for at least one of them. Component supply for prototyping has been a major issue as the design has been changing. Dual and offset is certainly doable but outside of the initial scope. Emanuel and majoraxis 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caleb Genheimer Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 I’ve actually looked into it a bit deeper, the Tilta motors can do it. A friend sent me video evidence today (he has multiple motors.) You can pair two motors to one control, and you can auto-tune them to the travel of the hard stops on their respective lenses. I think it may take some tomfoolery if the two lenses in question have different minimum focus distances, but that’s surmountable. The bigger question is the linear vs logarithmic layout of some lens focus scales, but most seem to be in similar ballparks. Speaking of which, the Nucleus Nano really doesn’t read out distance marks for this reason... it’s just on a scale of 0-100. Might be nice to have control of those motors along with some math to display actual focus distance measurements, even if it requires a bit more setup. I’ve got a bit of spare cash knocking about in my LLC, so I’ll watch for the pre-order situation to develop. I’m very hopeful for an elegant and natural looking autofocus/assisted focus system, especially to pair with the odd 16mm film project that I tackle here and there. Pulling off a video tap has proved to be dangerously unreliable, and while a good 1st AC can easily remedy the situation, that’s not always in the cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Members BTM_Pix Posted July 13, 2020 Author Super Members Share Posted July 13, 2020 Yeah, a constant linear offset won't be sufficient in most cases so our calibration will be with a connected tracked map of each motor. The calibration procedure for this system connects observed focus with measured distance at multiple points rather than the overall scale, as opposed to the PBC on its own which only needs two point to map this to range of the focus wheel. Display of distance on the unit, whether you are using electronic lenses on the P4K/P6K or manual lenses on motors (which will be included later), is something that you will get for free anyway. The precision of the Nucleus Nano system is actually 0-999 by the way rather than 0-100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groovinfilms Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 On 7/13/2020 at 7:54 PM, BTM_Pix said: Yeah, a constant linear offset won't be sufficient in most cases so our calibration will be with a connected tracked map of each motor. The calibration procedure for this system connects observed focus with measured distance at multiple points rather than the overall scale, as opposed to the PBC on its own which only needs two point to map this to range of the focus wheel. Display of distance on the unit, whether you are using electronic lenses on the P4K/P6K or manual lenses on motors (which will be included later), is something that you will get for free anyway. The precision of the Nucleus Nano system is actually 0-999 by the way rather than 0-100. Just wondering if the version 1 at the end of Aug will be able to also be used with the Nucleus motor at a later date OR will the Nucleus version be significantly different?? I'm hoping to be able to use this for native lenses and an anamorphic setup which of course would require the motor control. Cheers ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Members BTM_Pix Posted July 15, 2020 Author Super Members Share Posted July 15, 2020 9 hours ago, groovinfilms said: Just wondering if the version 1 at the end of Aug will be able to also be used with the Nucleus motor at a later date OR will the Nucleus version be significantly different?? I'm hoping to be able to use this for native lenses and an anamorphic setup which of course would require the motor control. Cheers ! Initially it will be for the electronic lenses of P4K/P6K but the motor driver interface is a separate module so it can be added to the system later. As a system, the PBC controls the camera and acts as a hub to wirelessly integrate the other modules such as the two AF adapters and the motor driver module so you can pick and choose which ones you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groovinfilms Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 On 7/15/2020 at 8:44 PM, BTM_Pix said: Initially it will be for the electronic lenses of P4K/P6K but the motor driver interface is a separate module so it can be added to the system later. As a system, the PBC controls the camera and acts as a hub to wirelessly integrate the other modules such as the two AF adapters and the motor driver module so you can pick and choose which ones you need. Great, thanks for the reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emanuel Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 Tease me up! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdB_Gam-igg&lc=UgwKhekRV1OUO4XU1g94AaABAg.9BCNLNjbN0-9BCRvBZWuPO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Members BTM_Pix Posted July 17, 2020 Author Super Members Share Posted July 17, 2020 Well, the current Ursa Mini Pro can already be driven by the PBC so this one will be no different as it also has BLE with the same protocol. Which means that as a consequence the two AF system add ons will also be able to work with it, with the PBC controlling all the other functions such as ISO/WB etc remotely too if required. If people use the EF mount, then the focus can be driven electronically but PL mount would obviously require motors. ntblowz and Emanuel 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitra Posted August 1, 2020 Share Posted August 1, 2020 Just got referred to this thread from a Facebook group. Great to see there's been progress on the AF adapter. Just looking through the photo you posted on the thread...does the AF adapter now have a screen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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