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Aapo Lettinen

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About Aapo Lettinen

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  • Occupation
    Cinematographer
  • Location
    Finland
  • Specialties
    Building crystal sync motors, Post Production, DIT, shooting documentaries and arts stuff on film and video

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  1. sorry I misread the first post and did not realise it was about the guitarmaking process 🙂 You could have one of those tiny mini slates (or only the sticks) made for closeup shots and let the talent just slate the shots. Actors are fine with it on shoots where the set is restricted some way (car scenes, tiny corners, etc) so I am sure your subject would be happy to slate the shots for you if needed and tiny slate can be just hidden behind the guitar or put aside easily for each shot
  2. you have to know which take is which on the sound recorder. so you have to keep track of the files or alternatively announce the shot+take on the mic for each take. You are shooting a music performance but is it staged just for your film shoot or will there be an audience... meaning can you just ask the guitar player to make some kind of additional sound with the instrument before starting to play for each take and you can use that as a sync reference? tapping the body of the guitar to make a distinctive sound you can easily find, etc? You could probably sync most of the takes without clapperboard or any other reference, it just takes tons more time so good to make it easier if in any way possible. one thing which comes to mind is some kind of toy which has a button and when pressed it flashes light and creates sound at the same time. I have a seal pup key fob which does just that, you may be able to find something from local stores and it would make the shoot much funnier at least 😄
  3. it is to allows shooting other crystal speeds than 24/25 with the camera. Originally I developed it for my own camera which only has non-switchable 25fps crystal speed and I needed it to shoot 24fps crystal but it is of great value for any user needing framerate versatility with the LTR. The normal LTR only has one crystal speed (24 or 25, either user switchable with minimal tools or painful to switch or not possible to alter) and every other internal speed is generated with RC oscillator which is not accurate at all, normally the other speeds the camera has are off by about half fps or so and can vary depending on temperature and mood of the camera etc. The 50-speed external generator makes it possible to shoot even low speeds crystal sync (for example 1fps, 2fps etc crystal sync) and it enables crystal framerates like 23.976 (stuff going for web/file based instead of dcp) and 33.333fps (most common slow motion framerate when shooting on film). Additionally it is very handy to have 48fps and 50fps crystal sync speeds because they enable shooting slow motion effects for music videos with sped up playback, very common "cool effect" if the band is just able to play that fast 🙂
  4. The continuous running is probably not battery related. Low battery on LTR usually causes "clicking" motor sound and the motor running intermittently or not starting at all. Can cause buzzing etc weird motor sound as well
  5. I HAVE STILL PARTS FOR A TOTAL OF 2 DEVICES. Can assemble them between April 4 and May 10 if there is still orders, let me know ASAP if wanting one as I have lots of other projects and need to schedule carefully to be able to assemble any extra stuff like these. Those 2 are the final ones of this device type and it is uncertain if/when I would make another speed generator for the Aaton (if will, they would be about 3x the price of this device so no affordable ones available after these are sold out) so let me know asap if wanting one of these.
  6. The same connector needs to be used for start-stop connections to avoid adding multiple connectors. XLR is possible if people want to run the switch from the unused pins 2 and 3, non-standard but should be ok. Huge sized connector however. making a separate "box" on the side just for the connectors would be doable but makes the motor pretty weird looking... if not making it ergonomically worse then might not matter. Using 200usd on connectors per motor is not possible budget-wise (I need about 70% of the budget on getting the outer body of the motor designed and finished perfectly, thus need to use more standard stuff on the motor drive and control electronics and connectors), maybe can find out something more affordable to replace Lemo with about similar form factor. That would be made somewhere between July and August because I would need to secure connectors for the whole motor batch which needs the full budget to be available. The connector pinout would not be standard anyway so a separate cable would need to be made to use the motor, just plugging in a Arri cable would not work. Extension towards magazine is possible but I need to test with printing how the motor would behave ergonomically and that any extension would not be on the way of the mounting latches etc. Additionally the current plan is to make the motor body out of combination of machined aluminium and 3d printed ABS plastic so will need to design the shape so that the body still stays rigid to support the camera in handheld and tripod use and is possible to machine in the first place 🙂 But yes, can arrange 4-pin or 5-pin XLR or similar style of "secure" connector which is more sturdy than the gx12 connectors I use on my other designs. Likely can't use Lemo for the high price of those connectors but the xlr should be possible to fit somewhere without making it too cumbersome, it would just be larger towards the right side of the camera with the xlr cable attached. Displays and footage counters add quite a lot of more work, need lots of space and compromise the electronics and the outer shape of the motor so I will need to leave them out of the design for them making the motor less compact and more expensive
  7. I agreed to trade some NPR gear for one motor if there is other orders so one order so far but still need more to fund the project. The issue with 12v is that it needs double the amperage rating from the bldc controller and higher rating controller is physically larger (the small sized controllers are a little less than 3A which is fine for the motor at 24v but goes way over at 12v for similar wattage motor and thus larger controller needs to be used) which means less compact end result. A 12v motor drive itself can be larger as well but not as big difference as the controller size difference. So likely it would be 24v but I will test the 12v approach too if I can make it compact enough to be viable. 24 + 25fps vs only 24 fps is very little difference in size, basically few dozen cubic millimeters as only one small switch or internal jumper is needed and nothing else. for power connector, I am intending on adding only one connector if possible and the smallest affordable one which is locking and relatively reliable. it allows user making extra cables more easily but the main reason is that I need to use the kind of connector which takes very little internal space from the electronics box to keep the whole motor still compact. Something like a XLR connector takes almost one third of the space inside the current size electronics box which makes it very difficult to fit the necessary control electronics there and would lead to needing to make the whole motor larger. So likely I will use either a Lemo connector (expensive to buy though which is not good for the end user) or just use the same gx12 connectors than on my other devices... they are not the absolute best but they cost next to nothing and I can include spare ones for them costing 1usd instead of 100 a piece 😄
  8. VERY EARLY TEST PRINT OF MY 2-SPEED NPR COMPACT CRYSTAL MOTOR DESIGN. Normally I don't post photos of the earliest drafting but I will need to collect the orders for this motor beforehand so some kind of reference image is mandatory. The motor will be approximately this sized, so noticeably smaller than the Alcan motor and considerably lighter weight. Additionally I will try to position the electronics so that the motor would be as ergonomic as possible to operate on shoulder so I will try to make it as short as possible which helps tripod operating as well, and position the electronics so that they are out of the way when the camera is on the shoulder. SO things will change, this is just a first draft which I use in the design process. The design will be refined when I get more budget (orders) to continue with the tests and order more parts for prototyping 🙂 The price of the compact 2-speed motor will be around 1200usd + shipping and it has crystal 24 and 25fps. Will be either 24v or 12v depending on which option keeps the smallest form factor, likely the 24v is better choice but we will see. I will need at least 3 orders before can make this into a final product. For the schedule to work out the orders need to be placed before May2024 so that it is possible to get the working prototype finished during the Summer and the final motors delivered in November. Again, the reference photos are just the first very rough 3d print test which I use to test out the motor size and shape. The final device will be properly finished and at least partially machined from aluminium to last in use
  9. I POSTED SOME REFERENCE PHOTOS OF THE 2-SPEED NPR MOTOR DESIGN TO THAT MOTOR'S OWN THREAD https://cinematography.com/index.php?/forums/topic/101530-new-alcs-compact-crystal-motor-for-eclair-npr/
  10. COLLECTING FINAL ORDERS for the 1-speed CP16R update electronics, LET ME KNOW BEFORE APRIL 20 IF WANTING ONE!!!. I still have possibility to make one batch of these in Summer but this will be the last chance to get one, I technically already discontinued this product last year but can still give one last chance to order if there is someone needing it. This project did not create revenue and I need the storage space for other stuff but would hate throwing the materials and board away if there is a chance someone still needing a kit for their camera. The 1-speed update electronics completely replace the old control electronics of the CP16 camera, you can see in the picture the insides of the camera after the installation, the only original component used is the motor itself and everything else including the tachometer sensor is replaced with modern electronics and the design of the update kit allows very easy servicing of the camera for leaving all the mechanical parts easily accessible and not blocked by circuit boards like with the original electronics. No shutter parking, there is a inching function which is easy to use to manually park the shutter by pressing the button shortly once or twice to run the camera just a tiny bit forward until one sees the mirror is in viewing position. the same inching button can be used to run the camera at slow speed (adjustable with a trimmer on the circuit board) to shoot basic "time lapse" kind of effects. The camera has one internal crystal speed of either 24 or 25 fps. More speeds can be fed via the 6-pin accessory connector on the back panel and it has additional start-stop connection and footage counter pulse output as well. The update kit is tested with a CP16R with 25fps belt gears (red coloured belt gear) but if your camera has 24fps gear I will need some easy to measure information about the gear tooth count to ensure that the kit is setup correctly here. Price is 450usd + shipping per kit, or two kits for 800 including shipping. This is a user installable update kit, includes very good instructions how to install it to the camera. The back panel colour may be slightly different from the images and the switch is slightly different and will have a protection collar. Like mentioned before, this is the absolute last chance to order one and I can only make one final batch if there is enough paid orders this Spring. If not, I will throw most of the materials away and sell my test camera body to make room for other projects and only keep the absolute minimum to have couple of spare parts in case the existing users need them. No new kits possible to sell then anymore.
  11. It is possible to order this 2-speed motor with a display update too! the display allows choosing more base speeds, it has one button (not pictured, this is a prototype not finished yet) which is used to select the speed at startup. The updated motor costs 1100usd + shipping and delivery time about 1 month. Two or three available depending on how many parts I have left in April. The display adds the following base speeds: 16fps 20fps 22fps 23.976fps 24.00fps 25fps 29.976fps 30.00fps 33.333fps So these are the selectable base speeds on the motor if it has the display update. The "1x2x" switch works similarly after the update so if the selected base fps is 20fps the motor speed is 20fps in "1x" position and 40fps in "2x" position of the switch. Similarly if the base is 30fps the "2x" position is 60fps and so on. So effectively the motor has a total of 18 crystal speeds after the update! Normal motors with the internally switchable 24fps or 25fps are also available for 830usd + shipping just like before. They have delivery time of about 3 weeks at the moment.
  12. Great! we can arrange the shipping next month. I will need try to collect couple of other orders to ensure that the motor body can be properly machined (expensive) though it is possible to make single ones too, they would just look ugly 😄
  13. yes it will have tripod threads and some kind of flat bottom surface to allow tripod mounting. all the considered motor drives are very quiet and the camera body would make lots more noise in any case than the motor
  14. Yes I am still working on the NPR motor project but changed the goal to making super-compact 2-speed model for handheld use and having only 24 and 25fps crystal speeds. I asked around and it seemed that most users would want to have a similar style motor than the rare-ish Alcan but something that works reliably as most Alcans are broken and no one seems to be able to repair them. I am trying to make the new motor smaller than the Alcan is and it is completely new design made from new parts so that I can make my own design choices using modern components and technologies (including 3d printing when needed). the targeted price range of the compact motor is about 1200usd + shipping. so no extra speeds but instead traded them for smaller size and weight. I will try to make it 12v if it does not compromise the size and price. The current goal is to have the motor finished in October or November 2024 if I can collect at least two paid orders this Spring to finance the r&d work. It is still possible to trade a NPR camera body, mags or other Eclair cameras for a motor if the 2-speed compact design is something you are after 🙂 here is the new thread for the 2-speed Eclair NPR motor I am working on: https://cinematography.com/index.php?/forums/topic/101530-new-alcs-compact-crystal-motor-for-eclair-npr/
  15. I think it will mean RED sensors soon having tons of dead pixels, random channel noise and flickering and so bad image processing that the black hole sun problem comes back 😄 oh, and dynamic range will be at most half of what is advertised. And firmware update don't correct any real issues, just adding new ones :D
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