SBUS controller for BMD Micro Cameras - available now

Brilliant! Love it.
Great job.

Looks great Kim, but €50 for a 1/4 threaded hole? For €300 cost of the controller, you should consider including the mounting hole as part of the kit.
Cheers

Kim is a cool guy...just sayin'...

OK Kim, you win! you can put me down for one, with the 1/4 mounting hole on the bottom for €350. Got to support your hard work in developing this controller. BTW is looks great, and has the functionality I was looking for. A 1/2 meter cable is pleanty long, and any chance of sourcing a smaller DB15 connector housing?
Thanks again. Cheers.

a smaller DB15 connector housing?

I agree, maybe he did it for ruggedness but a low profile connector would be great,
like the ones made for flat cables for example.

The middle plastic shell looks good, kind of what I had in mind, still has strain relief, which could be improved by putting a little shrink tube around the cable where it exists the connector shell. Thanks, will sent you an email, had trouble with email address, pls let me know you get it alright.
Cheers

Hey Kim, is the cable flexible enough to be used with gimbals without disturbing the balance too much?

Kim, when it rains, it poors, but in your case it Snows, big time! Good luck.
Cheers

Kim, it's a good thing you're not into model railroads. I can just see your home, with lighted trains running through town and country, farms and forest, settings in every room in your home!


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Kim, I got something for you, what you need to get the Speed Booster support, is a Wooden Camera Micro cage, and I have one for you, brand new, Merry Christmas. I will get Jason to send me the replacement foot for the Metabones Speed Booster (you do have a Metabones BMPCC/MFT Speed Booster, right?
PM me your postal shipping address. M

The WC Micro Cage has two screw hole mounts on the front, that line up on the the replacement foot (which I helped to develop), and you screw to the foot mount to the cage, the put your bracket under the Micro,csge, which does not add any significant amount of bulk (just a bit), and gives you bith 3/8 and 1/4 minting holes in too and bottom of the cage. A very solid setup. Later you can add the WC PL mount when you get your S16 lenses!
Cheers

Kim, it's a good thing you're not into model railroads. I can just see your home, with lighted trains running through town and country, farms and forest, settings in every room in your home!
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Rick what a brilliant idea! Think I will break out my LGB track, and see how far in the cottage I can get, with a run round the Christmas Tree. Thanks for that.
Cheers

OK, on the mic menu, have you tried selecting external mic high level, and see if SBus can control this level? I would think it would control the levels on the active selected menu, mic or line.

The red cable looks great, love the flexibility. Keep up the good work!
Cheers.

Looking good Kim! Happy Holidays.
Cheers

Looking good Jason, happy holidays.
Cheers

Kim, A dual Micro Studio/Cinema camera version with a 12-VDC input to externally power both the camera and the remote (it would need a regulated 12VDC power source, like a 12VDC regulated DTap to BMCC power plug (IndiePro makes one). On the Cinema camera, external power would be optional, as you can use the DB15 to power the remote as you are now. I think it would be best to have a small micro switch on the back of the remote to switch between DB15 camera power and external power.

Making the case a little larger to accommodate the DC/DC power converter to get 5VDC from the 12VDC, would be OK, as your current case is very small, and with the larger case you could offer different control layouts, like two pots that can be configured for Focus, Iris/Zoom, and switch the ISO, SA/Gain and WB.
This would cover all the bases as far as I can see.
Cheers

OK, good news. I like the size of the current box, but a slightly larger one would be OK. So, let's build a remote for the Micro Studio camera, with the 12VDC input to power both the camera and the remote. BTY, This would also work much better for me, as I could use the remote for both cameras. Sending you a PM.
Cheers

The Iris stepping issue will depend on the lens. My MFT Panny/Leica, the steps are about 1/3 EV to 1/2 EV.
The new PL 12-60 zoom is supposed to have a smooth stepless Iris designed especially for video work, but zoom is manual, not Servo controlled.

I will do a test with the pot set to to Iris control. My tests with the Pot set for focus, have been excellent, more accurate and easier to pull focus than the focus wheel in the AF100 (using the Panny Leica lenses.)
Cheers

Looking good Kim. Congrats on solving the power issue with the LANC power source. Looking forward to the new remote to use with bo Micro cameras.

The prototype you sent works great with the Micro Cinema camera. I finished testing it with different MFT lenses, and it works great with very smooth and start/stop only remote with a Big focus knob, like a flow focus, and you have an electronic follow focus for MFT and adapted Canon Audo lenses that will rival a mechanical follow focus! You could piggy back (with a cable) the focus only controller to the existing remote, giving you two rotatable controls, one dedicated for focus, and the other switchable for Iris, zoom or ?
Cheers

Yes, that would be an issue. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Cheers.

Interesting mod, what zoom servo are you using Kim?

if you tune the SB many zooms can be made parfocal

the speed booster...

Kim, the zoom changes focus while zooming because the zoom lens is not Parfocal. I think Tommaso is saying that in some zoom lenses used with a Speed Booster, the Speed Booster can be adjusted to correctmrhe lens back focus, increasing the accuracy of the lens focus, to mskemis closer to being Parfocal. This however, does not work with all still camera zooms, only a few of them, like the Sigma 18-35.
Cheers

Yeah indeed Denny thanks!

24-105 is tricky but 18-35 can be absolutely made parfocal.

btw OMG Kim you da man! ;-O

Sweet Kim, you have the Micro camera correcting the focus shift during a zoom, like some of the Canon cameras do. Very nice for use with auto zooms. Would this work also with a MFT Panasonic-Leica's new 12-60 zoom? You would need to build a table for it, to get this to work?
Cheers

Ah, good point Kim, thanks, kind of thought that would e the issue.
Cheers

Hi Kim, I was wondering if there's any chance of a larger unit being available with a standard size follow focus wheel on it?

Nice Idea

Kim, the new Micro Cinema/Studio remote arrived today, looks great, and works now with both Micro cameras. Will post some test tomorrow or over the weekend. Would you like a Wooden Camera Micro cage for your Micro Studio? I have an extra one, with your name on it!
Cheers

Nice Kim, looking good. Connecting the camera and Soeed Booster together is very important to eliminatemthe MFT lens mount play. I use the Wooden Camera replacement foot on the Speed Booster, whichmboltd to their Micro Cage.

Ref. The Nikon SB, you are correct, in that it is only a mechanical adapter, no electronic lens control including focusing or Iris.
Cheers

All the SBUS controllers out there are pretty shoddy for one handed ergonomics. I'm trying to get focus/aperture/start-stop with Letus gimble and need something that can be clamped to the gimble handle and used with a single hand. The only controllers that I can find with this kind of form factor are lanc controllers from Manfrotto, Varizoom, and others. For instance:
https://www.manfrotto.us/remote-control-lanc
https://www.varizoom.com/product/vzrock-c100/

But Lanc controls are laggy and inferior to SBUS in all kinds of ways. Please can someone make an SBUS controller with this kind of shape. A dial for focus would be even better...

Hey Kim, in the video you posted, I don't see how you would control the focus dial with your thumb. Seems like in order to have the thumb positioned for record start/stop, you would have to position the focus knob towards the bottom of the handle, making it difficult to reach.

This image shows how the Manfrotto and Varizoom controls mount on a handle. All the controls are easily accessible to the thumb.

https://cdn3.bigcommerce.com/s-bnj6z/im ... 03.jpg?c=2


This design by Varizoom is interesting because a left side dial and right left rocker are both accessible to the thumb. The third top dial looks difficult to access without a second hand or letting go of the handle.
https://www.varizoom.com/wp-content/upl ... PZFI-5.jpg

This design by varizoom does away with the rocker and keeps only the left side focus dial. It would be perfect if it had aperture and start/stop on the face of the controller.
https://www.varizoom.com/wp-content/upl ... ZPFI-3.jpg

A perpendicular dial, similar to where these rockers are, would also be good.

Im interested in how you could rewire these to SBus

Kim, Imagine you are supporting 5+ kg of camera and gimble with that handle, and trying to keep a steady shot. The way that you reach for the focus knob would not be practical. Changing grip really isn't possible at all mid shoot. You have to be able to keep your grip firmly closed and only move your thumb and index finger.

I've uploaded a short video of the manfrotto lanc controller on the Letus JR gimble handle.
Ideally the handle would be longer so that the bottom of my hand wouldn't extend below it,
but you get the idea. There's also a screw socket on the top (and bottom) of the handle,
so I could screw in a small handle extender/mount for the controller.

Here I've attached an extension to the handle via screw socket. My whole hand can fit on the handle while the controller sits on the extender. I could further improve by widening the handle with some tape or cloth so that the controls are less elevated. This set up mimics a handle with built in controls. The ideal would be to have some buttons around back to control with the index finger (for aperture or whatever), and a dial instead of a rocker for more controlled focus.

Hi Kim, your controller is more usable than I thought. it's still something of a reach from record button to focus dial but much easier in horizontal top orientation. I'd put the record button adjacent to the focus dial, and a button or switch in back of the unit so it's accessible with the index finger. Maybe make that one a toggle between focus, aperture, and zoom - the three most useful functions by far.

I've been messing with another sbus controller that makes the dial also a push button for record. The advantage is it's more compact and the thumb barely has to change positions to toggle between focus and record. disadvantage might be inadvertently pressing stop while focusing.