Mirrorless Housing Tripod/Slider

Hello all and hope all is well for 2015

I have been hinting for a month or so on a device I've been working on. A slider for UW housings of sorts.

I was originally made this for extreme macro work for a lens with 5X magnifications (no not the Canon MP65).....A friend with a very large video camera that shoots very low resolution video is shooting with that.

I spent five days at the Lembeh Straits learning best to use this slider and it turned out not what I expected in a pleasant way.

So without further ado I reveal what this contraption looks like.....

I used a GH4 Nauticam housing and I did not have Shogun housing (just today I have the Atomos Shogun) so I use the Gates TVL F55 external monitor case for a mock up.

As a slider it works pretty much well for close up wide angle and close up shots but not so much for extreme macro. The base gets in the way. For extreme macro I need to top hung the slide and replace the handle which for most of the mirrorless housing that seems possible as long as the housing has few threaded holes for a handle or cheese plate.

Anyway here is what I mean......

I find that the slider with the mini-tripod legs works best in the sand/muddy sites at Lembeh. Longer ball legs could be used if need be. I also have a longer version of the slide body for linear pan shots which I can swap. A curve track for circular pans is in the works.

Well by now you must think why all this fuss for UW video? Since the water already provide the necessary "dampened" movement for video. Well yes and no. In ideal conditions yes and with proper buoyancy control and breathing. More often than not when shooting macro video every movement is amplified. In extreme macro even shallow breathing is noticeable in the footage. Often things move and goes out of focus. These will need to be corrected in post which means more work. More jump cuts. Anyway it is what I believe how I could get steady panning and also critical focus for macro stuff especially when the wee critter moves away. I will post a short video next and show just how steady this allows for tracking tiny stuff. Not perfect yet and still need tonnes of tweaking and some more test dives......so far I am happy with the initial results.

Lastly to get the best out of the GH4 and Sony A7s one needs the Atomos Shogun and with this layout I could also attached the Shogun housing behind the camera housing making it more balanced and handles more like a conventional videocamera housing.

Cheers and thanks for reading.

Happy 2015

Looking good. How's the resolution for focus on the shogun vs red 5" ?

Dragon is out on loan but the Shogun screen is pretty neat with the A7s. Both Red and Shogun have similar dots per inch but the Shogun has about 180 deg viewing angle (strange why you need 180- can't really see from the edge) and Red LCD is approx 90 deg.

Red 5" pro touch has 1920 x 1136 with 323 ppi

Shogun has 1920 x 1200 with 325 ppi

Comes with the Atomos Spyder colour calibration unit. Atomos gives these free for early birds.

I can't wait to get the housing and start some dive tests. And fix up the UW slider to work for both GH4 and A7s housing. I have to get a few gigs out of these babies.

Cheers

Hi David,

I am interested in your slider for a similar macro setup (see attached image of A7S in vertically Nauticam housing with a Nikonos mount 3D stereo macro lens). I am using a standard focus rail and it's totally unacceptable for sliding. I've been looking online at commercially made rails with both fine micro slide adjustment and a release for gross adjustment by the push/pull manual method, but don't really know yet whether any of them would be suitable. Are you going to offer your sliders for sale or is it based on off the shelf parts we might be able to buy and assemble? Keep up the cool innovations!

A couple more shots of the setup I want a better slider for....

Nice legs! Those are nice XIT 404 tripod legs and base plate. Expensive but I stock them too.

Not sure how long your focus rail will last in sea water. I like the lightness but I think it need to be beefed up to hold a housing without wobble. Which you know as much as I do will be detectable for macro video.

I made my unit for my own experiment but I do custom build for others.

You could PM me on info@scubacam.com.sg

I made the slider simple as possible and as rigid as possible except for one axis. It is made of standard parts. Marine grade aluminium and stainless steel. The tray and legs are from my own product range and they interchange and snap on like Lego (or Meccano Toys for older people like me). If this works I may made 360 "turntable". Everything has to withstabd sea water. So thinking of using ceramic bearings.

Anyway back to this unit. In use it is again very simple. There is a thumbscrew that adjust the tension of the slider plate and these are nylon friction plates. I apply some crystal lupe to help smooth out movement. Critical focus is achieved by steadying the housing on the rail and use one's arm to apply the right amount of force. This method saves me breath holding.

I have a few more bits to attach to this. Not least the top hung version and the curved rail. I could make some but really it is not a huge market for these things. If you want one made or want to go DIY let me know.

Cheers and Happy New Year

David

 I try to resurrect this old thread.
Can I get info to build the slider? 

+1!