Two Axis Panning Timelapse Head for DSLR (custom made)

[denEdenSelections]

would you sell this to me?

[denEdenSelections]

Hey Mate,

i would like to make one of these myself.

its brilliant.

do you know where i can get the meade ds 494 drive motors?

are they expensive.

please write back, thanks a lot.

[peetre]

Thanks for a great job and video!

[fpsdag]

NEAT!

[coolboarder44]

Wow, this is simply amazing! I've been trying to think something up to create panning timelapses, but never thought to use a telescope mount motor! I'm definately going to keep this in mind for when I have some spare time :)

Just out of curiosity, does your camera have a setting where it takes pictures at pre-set intervals or have you hooked it up to a computer and have software control the rate of capture?

Keep it up!!

Thanks

[milapse]

Thanks! Check out some of my other how to vids. I explain a lot about timelapse...

[PigsCanFly99]

Sidereal = Syd-iir-i-all and not side reel : )

[DAVEtheMAGICIAN]

Just out of interest dude, once you have all of the shots, do you just import them into your editing program one at a time? Also how many pics do you set your DSLR to take per a minute? cheers : )

[milapse]

yes import into after effects, and it totally depends on the situation. There is no one size fits all, Sometimes 1 frame per second all the way up to 1 frame per 30 seconds and everything in between...

[DAVEtheMAGICIAN]

awesome thanks man : )

[Rasenkantenstein]

And another thing regarding Daves question:

if taking a sunrise, for example, do you use the manual mode on ur digital camera or the P-Mode or something?

thanks =)

[milapse]

I'm going to cover that in detail in "part 3" of my timelapse guides (coming up soon). It's not a quick answer!

[Drayg0]

I love how you integrate music into your videos.

[elellilrah]

Hey, here's the quick and dirty video of my pan/tilt head - check my YouTube account because you can't post URLs here.

Thanks for the design ideas, Milapse.

Mine was a bit more expensive with extra knobs and bearings, plus the usual engineering overkill.

[humbungr]

Hi. Thank you for doing cool works :)

I checked with my local telescope supplier - apparently they only sell their gear here (in New Zealand) as part of a whole package including scope and tripod for NZ$1200 to $1700).

Milapse, are you able to mention where/how you got the motor/controller kit, and was that included in the $150 budget?! Wow.

[humbungr]

Summary Cont.

- MILapse Mods: - Design time ~8hr - Build time ~10hr - Total cost: ~US$150 - has camera on the end of a "T-bar" with counter weight on the other end. - counter weight is hung low to pass through the pivot point to match the camera on the top side. - this makes it balanced at any angle. - there is a bit of play in the system, so in high wind will get some jitter. - If you built it out of aluminium and made it tight this would not be a problem.

[humbungr]

Summary Cont.

- Plus a Meade Autostar controller - 494 is the simpler version - 10 separate speeds - 5 deg/sec max. Also 2, 1, 0.5deg/sec. Also 64x, 32x, 16x, 8x, 2x side reel (astronomy term). - can control each axis separately, or togeather. - 497 is a little more complicated - might use it later. - hopes to be able to control the controller with a serial connection.

- All connects to a terminal with connections for 12V power (AA array), controller (and motors?).

[humbungr]

Summary of this video:

- Using a Meade DS Telescope drive motors 'kit' (2-axis) - come with connectors (removable motors), gears and worm drive housing - complete packaged system.

 - he mated the gear with a 14mm bolt (tight fit, but with a bit of hand filing fit perfectly). - There 'are' sources for matching worm and spur combos out there nonetheless... - can also dis-engage the gears (screw one in. place a wedge under the other). - has tripod mount. - X-Axis

[humbungr]

Hi MILapse - awsome work. Do you have a website for this stuff in particular? Being a geek, I took notes, which I thought you might want to throw somewhere:...

[trashisfesch]

great stuff, looks pretty expensive... :)

[milapse]

mostly time... I didn't think it was too expensive.

[trashisfesch]

time...is money. ;)

i really would love to get something like that.

would be push the possibilities to a higher level... but im unemployed at the moment and that sucks... a lot time, but no money to do thinks.

[flummox2000]

Absolutely fascinating. Thanks for taking the time to make this and sharing the knowledge. Your footage is now up there with the best high-end docs and feature films. Love your stuff!

[elellilrah]

Did you machine the entire assembly yourself and then find a source for the gears that will mesh with the telescope motors? Getting slotted guides without a CNC or machining equipment is reasonable impossible with hand tools.

[milapse]

That was the beauty of this meade 'kit'... It came with the gears and the worm drive 'housing' to match. I mated the gear with a 14mm bolt (tight fit, but with a bit of hand filing fit perfectly). There 'are' sources for matching worm and spur combos out there nonetheless...

[elellilrah]

It's certainly much easier to just purchase the Meade kit rather than trying to machine things together, especially gears. You mentioned the Meade DS motors. Do you have a part number and source where you purchased your equipment through? Thanks!

[johnnydc7]

This is awesome! Thanks for sharing it with the TL community!

[MentalLapse]

Love the panning devices. I've been watching them get more sopisticated each video. I've done manual rotation timelapse, but your giving me the bug to make an automatic one.

[dsuggitt]

Let's model this in Solidworks and have it reproduced in aluminum by a cnc machine shop. One issue I see is wind causing vibrations, but other than that it looks smokin!

I'll do the solid modelling for ya!

[milapse]

yes, there is a bit of play in the system so if the wind is jammin' you'd probably see some jitters. Although if it was aluminum and TIGHT... That may take a lot out since it is 'somewhat' transparent to wind.

[caddymob]

Bad ass! Cant wait to see what you catch....

[Azorino]

The biggest problem I see with it is the size. I dont see how Id be able to use something like that in a crowded street environment etc. The biggest problem Ive run into is stupid tourists who ASSUME that a camera just sitting there must not be on. They put there fat head right in the way (have to delete frames) put their fat asses RIGHT up on my tripod because they want to use their 200$ costco camera,

[Azorino]

and one woman was even about to touch my pan handle on my tripod because she thought no one was watching it, until I yelled at her.

[milapse]

I don't think there is any solution to that problem... any setup is going to be subject to disrespect in a crowd.

[Azorino]

Absolutely beatiful. The test footage is great. Really great device! I cant wait for your findings with true computer control.