camera mount project

[darryl]

got this mostly done- still need to polish up a few parts. This first pic shows the left and right side views. The vertical adapter is in place.


On the left you can see the two camera mounting bolts for horizontal use- the bolt on the right is for the camera shown, and the bolt on the left, which is not protruding, is for my other camera. On the right, looking close to the bottom, you see some knobs- the bottom one with the setscrew hole showing is the adjustment for front-to-back level, and the round disc to the right is the side-to-side level adjustment. Other knobs are to tighten these axis so there is no play once adjusted. The top knob here holds the camera on, and the one below that holds the vertical adapter in place.

In the left pic below, you're looking at the front/right side of the mount, but the back of the nodal tray. This shows the bolt to hold the rebel xt when in horizontal use. The blue plastic holding the aluminum tray rotates within the white plastic base which is just above all those knobs. On the right the tray has been adjusted all the way out- this would only be done when the zoom lens is on.


In these bottom pics- on the left the camera has been mounted horizontally, and the vertical adapter has been lost- I mean put away in the camera bag (hopefully). The base that the camera is bolted to can tilt forward or backward by about 15 degrees. I know this will impact the stitching together of images to some extent, but we'll see what happens. At any rate, I've got some adjustability to compose the images as I see fit. On the right is a close-up of the sliding tray and its securing knob. Very evident also is the knob that holds the second camera. It's hanging low at this point because if it protruded, it would interfere with the lens on the xt. It can be raised into position easily by threading it upwards through the blue washer that you see recessed in the horizontal base. Three of these fixation knobs have this washer, and it acts as a keeper to keep the bolts in place when no camera is mounted. You might notice that this bolt is off center- it has to be because the casio p+s has its mounting hole off to one side of the lens axis.
If you go back to the right side of the first picture, the empty hole you see is for mounting the casio. There's a spacer required for this to put that cameras lens in line with the center of the rotating table. Those parts can't be attached all the time as they get in the way of the camera thats shown.


Adjusting the tray to eliminate parallax error is going to be more effort for the small camera since its lens moves as you adjust it. With the camera shown, it seems like I can get away with one adjustment point with the kit lens. I don't know about the zoom, but I'm sure I'll find out. There's room on the side of the tray for markings that would align with an index mark, so eventually I'll find the correct settings for all modes and mark them there. Notice I didn't etch any degree markings on the base just yet- I'm going to play with this for awhile and see if I really need those.

[LastOldDog]

Nice knobs.

[darryl]

This has been quite a knobular project. Oh, and by the way, see those curtains in the background? First person to come here and take them away gets a prize. They're making me sick.

[Evan]

At least they aren't pink. The knobs I mean. The curtains too.

How do you intend to explain to people where you bought that adapter? They aren't going to believe you if you tell them you built it from heat treated plastic sewer pipe. It sort of has a Fisher-Price look to it.

[Your Old Dog]

Nice job! You know they got paint for plastics now at the local hardware don't you? (hint, hint) Evan's got a point!

Don't know why the setup for your point and shoot camera should be all that difficult. Most times when you want a panorama it will be because the image won't fit into one shot. That usually means you'll be set on the wide side of the lens. Why not just pick one spot for the lens (wide), find the nodal point for that focal length and make a registration mark on your head. Why do you need the extreme flexibility to use all the various focal lengths available to any particular zoom lens? Just pick 2-3 focal lengths and go with that. Otherwise, you're going to spend a lot of time looking for nodal points when you could be shooting.

I like the idea of proofing in plastic. Could be done in aluminum but would have cost you a small fortune! I think you did a great job.

[Mcgyver]

so that's what all the knobs were for! looks good darryl

[pntrbl]

That does NOT look home made. To use a word you coined yourself, totally knobular dude! Really nice work.

SP

[Ken_Shea]

Darryl,
Very Nice work, I was also wondering what all the knobs you were making were for.

To me it has a hi-tech medical use look to it, looks great.

Thanks for sharing, I really enjoy looking at all the neat things others are making.


Ken

[nheng]

Darryl, Very nice job! Don't let them rib you about the colors. It looks like high tech medical or printing equipment of Euro design origins. Den

[darryl]

Thanks for the kind words. One of my first thoughts was it looked like fisher price- it didn't take long for someont to mention that. As far as the medical equipment look, I think I like that description better.
Yes, I could paint it, but why? If I wanted it to look like faded John Deere, I could have used the sickly green colored pvc. Come to think of it, even faded the Deere looks better than the sewer pipe color.

YOD, I agree with you on the nodal point adjustment. I don't want to be messing around a lot with that instead of shooting, but I do want to get it sort of calibrated so I know where the settings are that I'll be using. I probably will be using the p+s in the zoomed out position as you suggest, so it will mostly be a matter of finding the right setting for that and being done with it.
I'm going outside today to check this out.

I do like working with this plastic, for one because it's easy to machine. I also have a large supply so I can make mistakes or ill-fated projects and not be out of pocket for materials. It's probably ideal for proofing for these reasons- but if you had to buy it in the 1 inch plus thickness, it would likely cost a fortune.

My major score was the 12 ft long pc of 2 ft diameter blue pipe. I was told that if I could get it out of the ditch it was in, it was mine. Turned out to be almost 600 lbs, and I had to roll it uphill then get it lifted into the van. Nothing a dedicated scrounger couldn't handle, though

[slim_jim]

How did you take the photos if the camera is clearly in the photos,
Perhaps hit the button than quickly place it on the mount. But then that would require moving faster than light.

[Guido]

Therein lies the whole secret of the mount. Hard to read a book by just looking at the cover.

Good job, Home Machinist, -----happy new year everyone.

G

[darryl]

Yes, in fact I train every day to have fast enough reflexes to do that with one camera. Took me awhile to get my fingers to move that fast screwing the knobs around. And because I'm not TOTALLY perfect, I had to use a mirror

Naw, I just used the casio camera. It's so handy, but man I can't keep the batteries charged- the lithiums sure got the nimhs beat on that account.

[Peter Sanders]

Hi
Absolutely beautifully made!!!!

That is one PROFESSIONAL looking camera adaptor. I like the colors.

Painting plastic is not too practical IMHO because of the wear factor, especially on the edges of knobs etc.

How did you set up the levels? With a larger/longer level as a reference?

If I may make one minor critique though, when you post your images could you leave a little "white space" between them? It makes viewing MUCH easier on the eye.

[darryl]

Peter, thanks for mentioning about the pictures being hard to separate. I thought of that earlier, but I didn't make that change. I will be doing it differently in future.

As far as the level, I bought that piece as is. Otherwise it would have been blue I didn't even check it to see if it's good- easy enough to do by rotating it 180 in the same spot and looking for changes in the bubbles. Actually, I think it is off- something in the way the setup looks isn't right. I'll check it all out. Ok, it bugged me so I had a look at it. It's right on, and so is the camera mounting base.

I did a little looking today and found a set of specs for this camera for the nodal distance from the mounting hole. For the 18-55 kit lens there's a difference of about 32 mm between the shortest point and the longest point. If anyone is interested, I'll post those specs.