Tadaaa - here it is (prototype):

[klausesser]

Tadaaa - here it is (prototype):

by klausesser » Wed May 04, 2011 7:03 pm

1) it´s a beast!
2) it´s built like a tank.
3) it will definitely last for 200 lightyears from home:P:cool:
4) it´s not light : about 4,4kg
5) torque hor: 1Nm, torque vert: 4 (!) Nm - means really heavy lenses.
6) 4 Li accus for about 10000 (!!) positions/releases with one charge.
7) precision: about 0,03°
8) it´s fast.
9) landscape/portrait
10) takes cameras with and without battery grips.
11) uses theh TC controller (with dedicated firmware)
12) will use papywizard (has to be slightly adapted)
13) has serial interface
14) camera is fired by the head (3,5mm jack) or the TC handheld (3,5mm jack).
15) xml for APG is geerated by the controller and can be tranferred via USB from TC to PC.

some pictures and two movies: (sorry for the picture´s orientation)
http://www.s341703522.online.de/IMG_0480 (85mm)
http://www.s341703522.online.de/IMG_0425 (15mm)

more to come.

best, Klaus

Last edited by klausesser on Wed May 04, 2011 7:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[gkaefer]

by gkaefer » Wed May 04, 2011 9:50 pm

is it planned to get some military certification?


you write its a prototype...
whats the timeline to final product?
any changes planned?
some ideas about prices? about available accessories (batteries, rails, some sort of lightning rod planned )?

Liebe Gruesse,
Georg

Last edited by gkaefer on Wed May 04, 2011 9:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[klausesser]

by klausesser » Wed May 04, 2011 10:19 pm

is it planned to get some military certification?


you write its a prototype...
whats the timeline to final product?
any changes planned?
some ideas about prices? about available accessories (batteries, rails, some sort of lightning rod planned )?

Liebe Gruesse,
Georg

Hi Georg!

NASA standard . . - thought to be used on Mars one day . .

Will be black anodized, rails as you need. Espressomachine and 5kW Spot attachable 4 Standard Li accus in the package, 10000 (no joke) positionings/releases on one charge.

Some clever things will be added.

Basically it´s an absolutely professional device. Some real good features which we will talk about soon. Price is just under calculation.

You´ll get a head which is as good as the few well established ones (of around 3-4000.-€) for a reasonable price.

best, Klaus

P.S.: i should mention that motors, gears and electronic boards are made in Germany and are of excellent quality! The unit will be assembled in small numbers by hand. Individual modifications are possible.

Last edited by klausesser on Thu May 05, 2011 9:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

[gkaefer]

by gkaefer » Thu May 05, 2011 2:10 pm

Hi Klaus,

thanks for info.
I'm absolutely interested in...
(because of battery grips capability and heavy lenses and fast movement...)
Georg

[AlexandreJ]

by AlexandreJ » Thu May 05, 2011 2:39 pm

Really interesting !

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Thu May 05, 2011 4:05 pm

8) it´s fast.
.....

more to come.

best, Klaus

How fast compared to Merlin with T&C controller or compared to the Merlin with Papywizard on N800/810 pand Bluetooth connection?

Could you erhaps do a comparative shoot and report the difference when you have the time and motivation?

[klausesser]

by klausesser » Thu May 05, 2011 4:36 pm

How fast compared to Merlin with T&C controller.
Could you do a comparative shoot and report the difference when you have the time and motivation?

A full sphere using a 15mm fisheye on fullframe takes about 40sec including Z and 60sec including N also (by tilting the ensemble like in the last picture i showed, pulling the tripod aside, rise the unit and shooting N individually).

A 298 picture sphere using a 105mm with mirror-lock took me about 23min . . .

Did the same using the Merlin several times - that was much longer. I will run a comparative shoot - but not using the 105mm: above 85mm the Merlin becomes VERY slow. A full sphere usingthe 105mm would take more than an hour - i tested this last year and broke it every time.

best, Klaus

Last edited by klausesser on Thu May 05, 2011 5:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[tived]

by tived » Thu May 05, 2011 5:22 pm

great Klaus,

I can't wait to hear more!

remember postage to Australia ;-)

Henrik

[Gordon]

by Gordon » Thu May 05, 2011 9:42 pm

Amazing technology.

Best
Gordon

[mountaintb]

by mountaintb » Fri May 06, 2011 8:09 am

Klaus, is it the Josef's project we've been talking about???

Best

Thierry

[mountaintb]

by mountaintb » Fri May 06, 2011 8:12 am

I've seen the 2 videos, I want one!!!!

[klausesser]

by klausesser » Fri May 06, 2011 10:42 am

Klaus, is it the Josef's project we've been talking about???

Best

Thierry

Yep! Some finetuning and it will be done.

best, Klaus

Last edited by klausesser on Fri May 06, 2011 10:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

[gbasile]

by gbasile » Fri May 06, 2011 12:09 pm

i could be interested also, is it easy to set up with new camera/lenses ? and what about creating a new shot/pano ?
Georges

[klausesser]

by klausesser » Fri May 06, 2011 12:31 pm

i could be interested also, is it easy to set up with new camera/lenses ? and what about creating a new shot/pano ?
Georges

It´s very easy to set up:

At home you ONCE conect the controller to your PC or Mac (using a VM an Win) and tell it which camera(s) and lens(es) you want to use. The controller creates a list. The list can contain several several different cameras and sveral different lenses (i stored a Canon and a Nikon and about 12 different lenses).
In the field you just choose your camera and lens from the list you have on the touch-display and choose "sphere", "angle" or "mosaic".
In "sphere" mode the TC shoots a sequence related to camera/lens. In "angle" mode you point your camera to an object and tell the handheld which angle it has to cover - let´s say you want 90° h and 70° vert. It starts up left and ends down right taking your aimimg point as center.
In "mosaic" mode you move the head to a start point and an end point and then press "go".

The clue is the very easy and quick selecting of what you want or need to do.

Switching cameras/lenses in the field is very quick and comfortable this way: just choose what you want from the list you gave it at home. That´s all.
Even switching from a battery-grip camera to a non-battery-grip camera is very easy: Just slide the horizontal bar to a marker.
The controller provides an extra feature to automatically move the camera look straight downward to see the correct Nadir-point which is represented by a mark in the slider - just slide it so that you have the mark aligned with your center focus field. This is done in seconds.

Picture shows the center mark (Triangle) The bar carrying the mark is fix, the rest including the vertical arm slides lateral.

Last edited by klausesser on Fri May 06, 2011 1:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[UK Pano]

by UK Pano » Fri May 06, 2011 12:53 pm

To reiterate what others have already said, this is a really interesting head and in how the controller works. Keep us posted on any further shots and when it becomes commercially available

[klausesser]

by klausesser » Fri May 06, 2011 12:54 pm

The motors and gears are VERY strong. I had a heavy 600mm Nikon on it - no problem at all. Will try to borrow an 800mm for testing.
As i said before: vertical it´s 4Nm, horizontal 1Nm.

One point must be very clear: this is nothing for weak tripods . . I use my old steel-Gitzo No.5 and that suits very well.
Guess a big Berlebach will do fine also. I´ll test a Carbon Gitzo on weekend.

This device meets professional demands - at a hobbyist´s price. It will not be as cheap as the Merlin of course
And - not to forget: it´s a complete system with hard- and software coming from one hand. Firmware-/programm-updates are sent by email and are easy to apply without more computer-skills than to open a tool and hit "ok" . . .

best, Klaus

[tived]

by tived » Fri May 06, 2011 2:34 pm

it is really sounding exciting Klaus,

how tall will the vertical bar be? can you rotate a large lens? e.g. a 70-200mm?

Henrik

[klausesser]

by klausesser » Fri May 06, 2011 4:44 pm

it is really sounding exciting Klaus,

how tall will the vertical bar be? can you rotate a large lens? e.g. a 70-200mm?

Henrik

25cm to center of vertical axis. Don´t know how long your lens is. Guess you wouldn´t use long lenses for spheres - would you? Longest lens for full spheres i ever used was my old 2,5/105mm manual Nikon AIs. Quite compact. 298 images of 21MPx each is a word . . . - about 5GPx and very sharp@8/11, very few CAs. "Feels" smooth.

best, Klaus

[gkaefer]

by gkaefer » Fri May 06, 2011 5:49 pm

accessory suggestion for addon devices:

1.
I dont like that devices are hanging on their own cabling...
(finally the snap of each cat5 plug is breaking, etc.)
... so I did solve this for my current promote control & Merlin combi by attaching a velcro tape on backside of my promote control device (so I can still open to access battery) and I can attach/detaqche it from/to my merlin.

as I can see the back side of the vertical arm of Josefs Head is very plane so perfect for addon devices like the promote control and alos the TC Handcontroller.

So as accessory it would be great to have some sort of bracket (metal, leather whatever, fixed or detachable) which can hold such devices.

2.
same with fixing cables coming from addon devices and going to cam and to head. Would be great to have some mounting option at the head (vertical arm)where you can fix the cables(and release them again if needed)

Liebe Gruesse,
Georg

Last edited by gkaefer on Fri May 06, 2011 5:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[klausesser]

by klausesser » Sat May 07, 2011 12:20 pm

1.
I dont like that devices are hanging on their own cabling...

So don´t i. That´s why we inteded to have two places for "velcroing" . . - and some more on the backside of the horizontal bar.
Guess that will be sufficient.
To fix cables i usually take Velcro-straps.

best, Klaus

[gbasile]

by gbasile » Sat May 07, 2011 4:07 pm

the ease of use sounds great.
could be interesting instead of a remote to be able to use iphone/ipad instead, with no wire.

[klausesser]

by klausesser » Sat May 07, 2011 7:11 pm

the ease of use sounds great.
could be interesting instead of a remote to be able to use iphone/ipad instead, with no wire.

If you´re willing to write an app - do it! Basically i guess it should be possible to attatch a BT --> serial interface and conrol the head using an iPhone-/Android-app as well as PapyWizard.

best, Klaus

[gbasile]

by gbasile » Sun May 08, 2011 2:22 am

i have no skills for that, i'd love to ;-)

[klausesser]

by klausesser » Sun May 08, 2011 11:36 am

i have no skills for that, i'd love to ;-)

So don´t have i! . . . and also would love to have it Heard it´s rather complicated. I guess reducing it to a wired connection - which can be very long - is clever. The less sources of possible failures the better. I tested the Merlin with the tethered hand-controller several times on a high pole and it worked very well. Didn´t ever miss BT or WiFi.

best, Klaus

[Brines]

by Brines » Thu May 12, 2011 3:52 pm

How does it compare to the Roundshot VR Drive Gen 2? Advantages, disadvantages?

Urs Krebs expects that the VR Drive 2 will have a positioning precision of 0.01°. Is that much preferred to 0.03?

Will it be able to bear the weight of a 17 pound lens?

When will it be available for the public?

Looks very interesting. I appreciate your work.

Best,
Devin

Last edited by Brines on Thu May 12, 2011 3:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.