DSLR Camera Slider

[TimeLapseCam]

I wonder if anybody in the forum has experienced the problem with the makerslide having a slight wobble as evident by the video below.

I'm not sure if it's out of alignment somehow or if the eccentric spacers are not adjusted properly but it seems to be a vertical wobble every so many frames. Everything visually seems to look good on the setup it's only during the playback of time lapse videos that I noticed the slight wobble. Any advise on how to fix this issue?

I've built up a timelapse rig as well and I am running into a similar issue. The video below was my first test, I suspected the wheels, so I did a few more tests with a laser pointed at the wall and the wobble was right in sync with the wheel rotation. I've pulled all the wheels off and inspected everthing but can't get rid of it. Guess the next step is to order some more wheels (in April I think) I'm not seeing anything wrong like you are in your video.

Any suggestions on how to improve this or fix it would be great.

The set up.


link to the first test video with the wobble

[pcmofo]

Here is a picture of the board and everything wired into it.

[bdring]

If you want to send me the the parts, I'll figure out what is wrong. Send me an email (not PM) to make arrangements. bdring...buildlog.net

[canadianavenger]

I'm wondering if the problem is that the load on the rollers is axial instead of radial. What if the rail was rotated 90 degrees, and an L bracket used on the carriage to provide the camera mount. This would also allow shifting of the centre of gravity back over the rail by allowing the camera body to be moved forwards or backwards depending on the lens attached, compensating for the forward weight of the lens.

[naPS]

Just curious about the video - it doesn't look like the camera is actually moving in the video. Is it? And how much is it moving?

[Seshan]

Could it be how the motor is attached to the dolly? I've been working on my own slider but I put the motor at the end of the rail. I havn't done a timelapes yet, but I did a video tests and I don't see any wobble.

Here's the video.

[auromed]

I wonder if anybody in the forum has experienced the problem with the makerslide having a slight wobble as evident by the video below.

I'm not sure if it's out of alignment somehow or if the eccentric spacers are not adjusted properly but it seems to be a vertical wobble every so many frames. Everything visually seems to look good on the setup it's only during the playback of time lapse videos that I noticed the slight wobble. Any advise on how to fix this issue?

I've built up a timelapse rig as well and I am running into a similar issue. The video below was my first test, I suspected the wheels, so I did a few more tests with a laser pointed at the wall and the wobble was right in sync with the wheel rotation. I've pulled all the wheels off and inspected everthing but can't get rid of it. Guess the next step is to order some more wheels (in April I think) I'm not seeing anything wrong like you are in your video.

Any suggestions on how to improve this or fix it would be great.

The set up.


link to the first test video with the wobble

I was wondering about that myself while working on my own design. I'd expect that if the force on the carriage isn't exactly and perfectly applied along the line in which the carriage is traveling along the slide, you'll end up with "hunting" as the carriage slides back and forth. As the twist on the carriage will cause one wheel to ride up a bit on the slide, and the opposite one to slide down.

Somewhat like flanged railroad wheels do, except in this case the wheels aren't connected at the same speed, its more gravity and the force on each of the 4 wheels that is trying to get equalized. Of course, I could be wrong... It did remind me of this video talking about how railroad wheels work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7h4OtFDnYE

I kinda wonder if it'd be better to have 2 pieces of slide to have the camera mount hanging from them. Although, it may not be worth the added expense and weight.

[canadaduane]

Hi all,

I'm a bit late to the party, but so glad you all have pioneered the DSLR camera slider. I've been working on variations of Bart's design for about 6 months now, and I've come up with something that I'm quite pleased with. It uses the interior of the MakerSlide as a place for the timing belt to go so that the motor can be end-mounted:



Here are some close-ups of the ends:





I'm building this because my brother is a great videographer but not wealthy, and I think the motorized pocket dollies out there are way way overpriced. I want to make these available to the many talented photographers and videographers who are currently squeezed out of the camera equipment market simply because of price. We're working on a UI that I think will be nice and intuitive for video people without any particular technical skills. Details are at makerslider.com (soon to be http://cinemaker.us/)

Duane Johnson
http://makerslider.com/

[Seshan]

That looks great, makes me want a 3D printer even more so I can make mounts for my slider

[pcmofo]

I went back to playing with my slider to see if I could move forward with making it into the camera slider I want it to be. I started with modifying the mounts to make them Aluminum. I then mounted my new iPhone 6 Plus with OIS to test out the slider. Their is a definite wobble in the slider. I think the slider with no motor, manually pulled, with very little weight is the worst case scenario and the footage is unusable. I'm trying to fix this issue before moving on as the slider can still be useful without the motor for now.