DIY WIRELESS FOLLOW FOCUS

[arrinkiiii]

Want to share with you good fellows this DIY Wireless Follow Focus. And the great Adi (the good man behind this)  is sharing the code.

This Follow Focus have:

     -Lens calibration
     -A->B focal points
     -Variable speed.
     -Also this FF use led switch's for trigger and manage the several option that this FF offers. In the beginning it start with Arduino and Xbee but its change for a Moteino (that is the same of Arduino) with transceiver incorporated, more small and very cheap. Also the first trials it use a servo motor but this make a lot of noise, so Adi change the project for a stepper motor... in my opinion this could change for a motor more thin... stepper motor but like the DC motors. 

I think this awesome WFF could have some upgrade, like:
   
    -Small color screen for program it better
    -The optical encoder can be the dial for programming the main functions of the FF
    -Lens range focus memorize. For not setup the lens calibrations every time you change lenses.
    -Maybe better motor, small/thin/round 
    -Small Gear
     


This is the link for the DIY Wireless Folow Focus:
http://adisoffer.tumblr.com/

This is the screen that i find but can be other:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SPI-1-5-Color-OLED-display-for-Arduino-compatible-PIC-AVR-ARM-/130762865608
(this screen already have a microSD card, maybe for the presets of the range focus for the several lenses.

Optical enconder but with push button
http://pt.aliexpress.com/item/grayhill-optical-encoder-with-button-61C22-01-04-02/1418069718.html

Material

-2 Monteino with RFM12B (transceiver) or other better transceiver, like the RFM69W.
http://lowpowerlab.com/shop/moteino-r4

-1EasyDriver (for control the motor)
http://www.schmalzhaus.com/EasyDriver/

-1 Optical Enconder
www.skycraftsurplus.com/opticalencoderhighresolutionwmountinghardware.aspx

-1 Stepper Motor
http://www.pololu.com/product/1206/

-2 batterys

Code:

https://github.com/soffer/Follow-Focus
You got the code for Arduino + Xbee and for the Monteino

If someone want to change the code and make the code for upgrade with the screen and optical rotary encoder programmable it would be awesome 

Adi will start a Kickstart campaign that i will contribute for is work and sharing knowledge... and of course for is free spirit and  he will share also the schematics/connections for the several pieces of the DIY FF on is website in short time. If you make one you can support him.


 

[Africashot]

What an awesome project!

[ItsMeLenny]

This is the screen that i find but can be other:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SPI-1-5-Color-OLED-display-for-Arduino-compatible-PIC-AVR-ARM-/130762865608
(this screen already have a microSD card, maybe for the presets of the range focus for the several lenses.
 

You can buy these screens cheap as chips in digital photo frame keyrings.
However they are all of different quality.
Some look fantastic where as others are washed out.
Quality is usually based on the brand.

[arrinkiiii]

Yes, indeed  Africashot      A little bit similar with the  wireless FF from Woodland but they use servo motor... that is a bit noisy. This use stepper motor, it's easy to put together and very cheap. I wish to know some code for make some changes and put one little screen for helping with the programming =))
 

Thanks for the info ItsMeLenny, need to check the brands and see in forums what people have to say about this screens... what is the best and affordable. Any change you make one for your self and aply one screen to the rig and change the code?   

[ItsMeLenny]

Thanks for the info ItsMeLenny, need to check the brands and see in forums what people have to say about this screens... what is the best and affordable. Any change you make one for your self and aply one screen to the rig and change the code?   

There's been hacks to get a computer to output a display over them through the USB, that's without any modification to hardware, only a firmware hack. But I think one could rip the screen off any of them, they all look as though they have the same connectors between them, with resistors already on the ribbon cable.

I have 2. One my mum bought from BigW (kind of like Kmart if you don't have one), and it was rubbish.
Then the other I have looks identical but in black, and is even recognized as the exact same thing via USB, but it has a much clearer screen, and I think I bought it for 9 dollars from Joyce Mayne and it actually has a brand on it "kaiser baas". The other with the bad display is "zipp - imported by BigW".
They both are LED backlit, but one uses 2 LEDs where the other uses 1 LED in a different position. Yet the connection for the LEDs are still exactly the same.

Australia is expensive, so depending where you live in the world you make get one for $5? maybe. I'd just keep an eye out and buy an extremely cheap one to experiment on if anything. And if you never pull it apart you can always use it for the useless reason it was actually made.

[arrinkiiii]

You are from Australia? In Portugal it's difficult to find material, you must buy it mostly from china. And the prices that you talking i think they are affordable for a screnn (9 dollars =)) . Good FF cost a lot of money but i think with this modern days/technology we can make almost the same with less money.

One Moteino with wireless is like 15$  x2
One EasyDriver 10$
Stepper motor 20$

I think is the most affordable wireless follow focus in the "market" and a lot better with stepper motor then servo motor. I start to build one (buying the pieces) but with the facility/cheap material i think with a little bit code we can put a screen for better programming the FF in the field, i think... if not the original setup is already pretty damn good =))

[ItsMeLenny]

Yeah, all of it is Chinese imports, and I wouldn't doubt that there are places where things cost more in other parts of the world.
$9 is pretty good for a screen, I'm just saying, for a 20c product, other places get it cheaper.
Can you order from China off ebay? I do that a lot.

[PhilK]

Interesting ideas!  I'm looking at something similar - here's what I have so far.

Wireless FF - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1608311032/lenzhound-wireless-lens-motor-control-system.  This is a complete system so there's no fun to be had in building it yourself, but should be a solid system for use.

Going down a more DIY path.

9" HDMI screen - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/697708033/hdmipi-affordable-9-high-def-screen-for-the-raspbe.  This is designed for the RasberryPi but works as well as a field monitor.  The latest discussion is there will be space in the back of the case for a Pi, and the ability to switch between inputs so you can toggle between LiveView and the Pi.

Input device - http://retail.contourdesign.com/?/products/22.  This would provide enough input to be useful in the field without using a keyboard and mouse being plugged into the Pi, select what you want to change with the buttons (aperture, focus or whatever) and then dial in the value you want.

The bit I'm missing at the moment is what is exposed in ML via the USB PTP interface - which you should be able to access using ptpcam or libgphoto2.  I've asked in the general dev section but I've not got an answer yet (http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=9723.0).

While my solution isn't wireless it could offer more features.  Feel free to bump my question up at the link above if this is something interesting to you as well!

[gary2013]

wouldn't a brushless dc motor be better than a stepper motor? I have been researching a lot on RC quadcopters and gimbals and somewhere I read that the brushless is better.

[nick.p]

A stepper motor is a brushless motor with less power and more precision. Brushless motors are subject to cogging. They work well on gimbals because they can be wound to move really slowly and that reduces cogging to negligible levels but it wouldn't be practical in this instance because it needs to turn not stay in the same spot.

[gary2013]

A stepper motor is a brushless motor with less power and more precision. Brushless motors are subject to cogging. They work well on gimbals because they can be wound to move really slowly and that reduces cogging to negligible levels but it wouldn't be practical in this instance because it needs to turn not stay in the same spot.

thanx Nick, I did not know that. These RC guys also talked about rewinding motors to gain more torque for faster response in control over their aircraft. I would guess that the FFocus would need slower precise of ease in and out speed. I love DIY stuff. I made a steadycam and a slider quite easily. I was thinking of adding a dc motor belt driven system to a slider for my camera.

[adi soffer]

Hey guys, just wanted to say hello.
I'm Adi Soffer mentioned at the top of this thread, and I'm happy you're enjoying my DIY WFF project.
I was roaming this forum when I suddenly found myself reading about myself - - kind of funny...
Love your thoughts and suggestions :-)
Best
Adi

[arrinkiiii]

@ItsMeLenny
Hi, yes i can order from Portugal. If the amount don't pass, let say, 35€ i don't pay tax's but takes so much time (from china), from america they charge a lot of money in transportation...

What i have ready and also the help that some people are give me, it's better to get one screen that have a library, for you can communicate with the Arduino/Moteino.

Is not the most cheap but have library and have a lot of options, like the type of comunication (UART/I2C/SPI )  For me will me a little difficult to make the code but i will try for sure =))

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-8-Serial-UART-I2C-SPI-True-Color-OLED-160x128-Display-Module-for-Arduino-PIC-/370962965005?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item565f1da20d


@PhilK
It's a good set-up 


@gary2013, nick.p
I think the best motors and the professional rigs use is this https://fmcc.faulhaber.com/?lang=en#jump  with planetary gears. Wish to know the price for one motor =))

@adi soffer
Hi Adi, welcome to ML forum 

[Hdust]

I know this one is an older thread… but did anyone have any success with the LCD?

[arrinkiiii]

Didn't have try it... 

[Hdust]

Spewing, keen to try it out as it would be a nice addition…

[arrinkiiii]

Would be nice =)

[Hdust]

I'm waiting for a screen to arrive, will give it a shot… hopefully I can work out the coding for it though might need to get some help from someone.

[arrinkiiii]

Im no good in code 

[saeed2vfx]

this is my simple and cheap wired follow focus system