Matt Butler Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 (edited) I am an "undercranker", and recently shot material with a Canon FD hard-frontrd Eyemo for a TV network promo celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Maybe I'm just lucky with the condition of the camera movement, but the footage was pretty steady when intercut with footage shot on a trusty Mitchell. This particular Eyemo has no view-finder options fitted, ie. no parallax correcting side finder or video tap etc. I had a machinist fabricate a simple tripod adapter that allows me to block a shot with a Canon SLR and selected lens in the centre of the portrait position, and I then simply swap the SLR for the Eyemo, and the lenses to film plane line up. For wider angle shots I *sight* along the lens barrel and with a rough field of view knowledge i can get the shot. As we in the time lapse fraternity deal in time, the above camera swapping set-up isn't too time consuming in the overall equation. Edited March 23, 2007 by Matt Butler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Sponsor Robert Houllahan Posted March 23, 2007 Site Sponsor Share Posted March 23, 2007 I am an "undercranker", and recently shot material with a Canon FD hard-frontrd Eyemo for a TV network promo celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Maybe I'm just lucky with the condition of the camera movement, but the footage was pretty steady when intercut with footage shot on a trusty Mitchell. This particular Eyemo has no view-finder options fitted, ie. no parallax correcting side finder or video tap etc. I had a machinist fabricate a simple tripod adapter that allows me to block a shot with a Canon SLR and selected lens in the centre of the portrait position, and I then simply swap the SLR for the Eyemo, and the lenses to film plane line up. For wider angle shots I *sight* along the lens barrel and with a rough field of view knowledge i can get the shot. As we in the time lapse fraternity deal in time, the above camera swapping set-up isn't too time consuming in the overall equation. This all sounds very positive I have a similar rig but Nikkor mount, no finder, what timelapse motor are you running? very nice to hear that it intercuts well with Mitchell footage. I overhauled my eyemo and she has a nice smooth movement. I will probably pick my camera up from NCS in Queens (intervalometers.com) this weekend as he was not quite done with finalizing the build on my motor last week. -Rob- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Butler Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 No laughing please, but my time lapse Eyemo is currently run by a small heavy duty windscreen wiper motor, powered by 12v gel cell supply and controlled with a basic intervalometer.To make it go backwards I simply reverse the battery polarity! I have been thinking of fitting a spare Lynx C-50 motor to it, but that may make it a little too heavy.( also needs a minimum of 24v with serious amperage) The Canon FD range of lenses have very sharp optics and 35mm neg supplies fantastic * colour space*. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Sponsor Robert Houllahan Posted March 24, 2007 Site Sponsor Share Posted March 24, 2007 No laughing please, but my time lapse Eyemo is currently run by a small heavy duty windscreen wiper motor, powered by 12v gel cell supply and controlled with a basic intervalometer.To make it go backwards I simply reverse the battery polarity! This ,of course, seems perfectly proper for an Eyemo I assume you also use the Eyemo for hammering nails on occasion and as a proper device to open stubborn adult beverages? And watch out if a burglar breaks an entering on your premises the old eyemo will show it's ww2 heritage :D Pics of the eyemo with NCS motor when I pick it up..... -Rob- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zachary Vex Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 I've got a few Eyemos, one that takes an NCS intervalometer/sync motor. My most recent Eyemo is a spring-motor-only unit that came with a beautiful Nikon mount, so last night I removed the head from that unit and swapped it with the spider turret head on the intervalometer Eyemo, and the resulting camera has the least vibration and smoothest, quietest run I've heard yet. My NCS is out for repair after popping a chip (a tragically reverse-wired battery bag... beware, there is no polarity protection!) When the NCS returns I'll have my test work cut out for me... a combination of Eyemo test, NCS intervalometer/sync test, and lens tests for my Nikon 17-35 2.8, 28-70 2.8, and 80-200 2.8 lenses, as well as a Peleng 8mm fisheye. Has anyone else had trouble mounting their Nikon Peleng on a camera? My Peleng's Nikon mount doesn't fit on any Nikon cameras or my Les Boscher Nikon/Aaton adapter, but fits fine on the Eyemo Nikon mount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Butler Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 This ,of course, seems perfectly proper for an Eyemo I assume you also use the Eyemo for hammering nails on occasion and as a proper device to open stubborn adult beverages? And watch out if a burglar breaks an entering on your premises the old eyemo will show it's ww2 heritage :D Pics of the eyemo with NCS motor when I pick it up..... -Rob- Have you managed to shoot any footage with the NCS motor? Is it the time lapse only version or the realtime/time lapse combination? Any suprises or technical tips? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Sponsor Robert Houllahan Posted June 13, 2007 Site Sponsor Share Posted June 13, 2007 Have you managed to shoot any footage with the NCS motor? Is it the time lapse only version or the realtime/time lapse combination? Any suprises or technical tips? I just did my first real timelapse gig with this camera, came out great, considering it was raining :-( I will see if I can post a clip. So far I am very happy with the NCS motor. Steel_Yard.mov Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Butler Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 (edited) I thought you might be interested in my "long lens" framing and critical focus set-up for a non-reflex Eyemo. I have a right angle adapter bracket for my SLR (see pix#2) that puts the lens in the same place as it would be mounted on the Eyemo. Mounting the SLR sideways gives me a close approximation of the cine frame side to side, pencil lines on the SLR ground glass shows the height limits. Both the Eyemo and the SLR have the same Manfrotto 'quick release plate' attached in a manner that gives identical lens positioning. If I'm pushed for time, then I use the monocular finder(a small sighting 'scope from a telescope) attached to the side to set shots quickly. It has a field of view of around 9 degrees - equivalent to a 135mm cine lens, I aim for the centre of frame and figure out my field of view depending on the lens I'm using. This side 'finder' has no parallax correction so a gentle tap to the left generally puts the lens in the right place! I have been climbing all over high bridges lately and this configuration works a treat. My digital friends tell me to use a hi-end digital SLR, but at least I don't have to worry about film outs. Other Eyemo photo follows in next post Edited June 13, 2007 by Matt Butler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Butler Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 (edited) I thought you might be interested in my "long lens" framing and critical focus set-up for a non-reflex Eyemo. I have a right angle adapter bracket for my SLR (see pix#2) that puts the lens in the same place as it would be mounted on the Eyemo. Mounting the SLR sideways gives me a close approximation of the cine frame side to side, pencil lines on the SLR ground glass shows the height limits. Both the Eyemo and the SLR have the same Manfrotto 'quick release plate' attached in a manner that gives identical lens positioning. If I'm pushed for time, then I use the monocular finder(a small sighting 'scope from a telescope) attached to the side to set shots quickly. It has a field of view of around 9 degrees - equivalent to a 135mm cine lens, I aim for the centre of frame and figure out my field of view depending on the lens I'm using. This side 'finder' has no parallax correction so a gentle tap to the left generally puts the lens in the right place! I have been climbing all over high bridges lately and this configuration works a treat. My digital friends tell me to use a hi-end digital SLR, but at least I don't have to worry about film outs. Other Eyemo with side finder photo follows in next post Edited June 13, 2007 by Matt Butler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Sponsor Robert Houllahan Posted June 13, 2007 Site Sponsor Share Posted June 13, 2007 Looks cool I'll have to build one for mine :rolleyes: -Rob- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Hughes Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 (edited) I've got 2 Eyemo's, a -K single lens mount and a -Q "spyder" (with only 1 spider arm left). Both cameras came to me in rather sad shape, probably from usage as crash cameras, but I fixed, patched & oiled them back to life. I'm leaving them both with stock 1.5" Eyemo mounts, as I found that the 35mm and 50mm Eyemax or Miltar lenses work just fine, and the viewfinder is sufficient for non-critical shot alignment at distance. Matt's sighting scope looks like a good idea, I'll have to investigate that further. I wonder if anyone has converted a 3-leg spider to 3 different mounts - Eyemo, Nikon and Arri. That would be different! Edited July 3, 2007 by Robert Hughes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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