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1. Twinned Fuji
A new TESCO store has opened near to my home.
The electrical section of the store includes a choice of a dozen
or so digital cameras. I have been toying with the idea of
twinning a pair of digital cameras for some time, but the price
has not been right for my pocket. I was pleasantly surprised
to find that there was on special offer, the Fuji Finepix F440.
Not knowing anything about this camera, I checked the internet for
reviews and prices. The reviews for this 4.1 million pixel
camera weren't that good but the Tesco price of £129 and the
compact size of the camera tempted me in to buying a pair. I
decided that I would first try to make a twinned camera rig
without modifying the original cameras in any way. To do
this, I made a bar to mount the cameras and a shutter bar to
operate the cameras. The project took little time and it
remains to be seen if I need to do more about synchronising the
cameras in a way that will improve on the 1/100th of a second that
has been achieved with this simple set up.
Figure 1.
This is the Fuji F440, a 4.1 million pixel digital camera with a
3x f2.8 - f7.4 optical zoom lens and a 2" LCD display. It's
dimensions are (W x H x D) 74.5 mm x 62.3 mm x 21.3 mm. The
camera take Xd Picture Cards and has a movie mode. The body
is stainless steel and a waterproof case is available.
Figure 2.
The mounting bar is made from 20 mm x
2mm aluminium section purchased from B&Q. This is cut to
length and drilled to take the standard camera mounting screws ( I
had two, but you should be able to get them from Jessops ).
I used cork stolen from a coaster to line the surface of the bar.
Figure 3. The shutter beam is made from a 10 mm x
2 mm aluminium section and is drilled to take to 2 mm diameter
wire pins around 50 mm long. These are fixed with a two part
adhesive such as Araldite and lined with cork to protect the
camera shutter release buttons. The wire pins pass through
the two studs on the camera body, intended for the wrist strap.
These studs do swivel and therefore you may wish to add an
additional guide to the shutter bar to retain it's position over
the camera's shutter release.
Figure 4.
Shows the
completed rig and the location of a self-adhesive pad used to
determine the best position on the shutter beam to press when
taking pictures. The synchronisation of the two
cameras is determined purely by the location of this pad.
Figure 5. To check
the synchronisation of the shutters I downloaded a 'Virtual Stop
Watch' to run on my computer. This is available free from
www.filesland.com/companies/Spring-Creek-Software-Company/Virtual-Stopwatch.html
and can be set to to count at rates much higher than be
caught on camera. I settled for increments of 100th of a
second and was pleased to find that the synchronisation of my rig
was within this - not good enough for sporting scenes but adequate
for the gentle movements experienced with landscapes and even
portrait work.
2
- Twinned Sony Rig
Using the Fuji rig is fun, but I soon had the desire for better
quality images and closer synchronisation. Knowing that Sony
built their earlier digital compact cameras with a LANC (ACC)
interface, used to remote control the camera and that at least
two companies provide a dual remote for this interface, I
purchased two second-hand DSC-V1's - total cost £160.
Figure 6.
Here we have the two cameras, showing the plate onto which they
are mounted. The right-hand camera is mounted in the normal
attitude while the left-hand camera is inverted to provide a
minimum stereo separation of 90mm, allowing for the LANC
connectors.
Figure 7.
The LPC Cam Control DV1 is designed to work primarily with Sony
Camcorders and has an appropriate range of controls for that
purpose. When used with still cameras, control of the
shutter and zoom are available in addition to the power on/off of
course. The controller is available from Digi-Dat
www.digi-dat.de/
Figure 8.
In use, the LPC controller is attached to the accessory shoe of
the left-hand camera by means of the mounting stub on the
controller coupled with the foot off a microphone adapter intended
for camcorder mounting.
Figure 9.
Take a look at the synchronisation achieved
with the Digi-Dat controller in this picture of a water feature.
In conclusion, I use the Fuji rig for point
and shoot situation. The camera fits neatly an comfortably
into the inside pocket of my lightweight jacket. The Sony
rig will be used for serious shooting where synchronisation is
essential. I will continue to use a slide-bar with my Canon
10D for studies such as Church interiors.
3 - 3D Advantage - Tri-Delta Rig
This rig is now my favourite and was
purchased from the U.S.A.
Any question? Please contact
barry@aldous.net
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