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Cheap DIY motorized camera slider

Steven Rialto

New member
I wanted to share a recent project that I built. What I wanted to make was a robust but inexpensive camera slider that I could source from one or two places and didnt involve excessive modifications or custom parts. The resulting slider is 48", belt driven, super light weight, uses a variable speed bi-directional controller and comes in at just over $250. The parts all come from either Amazon and Servo City. I made a nice tutorial for it too, with a linked parts list. It can be used as a video panning dolly or for making 3D pictures, which is my main interest. There is a nice tutorial for making 3D lenticular prints too.

The system is built around the Opteka slider, which works flawlessly, but could be easily substituted with an IGUS rail with a few minor modifications. If you are interested in this kind of thing I would love to hear your thoughts!

midwest-lenticular-printing-slider-1b
 

Andy brown

Well-known member
Hi Steven, it looks and sounds impressive.
I'm curious, how do you view 3d pics?

Impressive first post btw
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Steven,

Welcome aboard!

Looks like a very nice project. Thanks for letting us see it.

Best regards,

Doug
 

Steven Rialto

New member
Thanks!
Andy, if a sequence of still photos are taken with a few parameters in mind they can be combined together through a process called interlacing to make one image, which can then be printed and mounted to a piece of lenticular plastic. Its a similar concept as two shots taken for a viewmaster, or with the Fuji W3, but with many more shots inbetween. The effect looks a lot like a hologram, which its often confused with.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Brilliant and very practical, transportable and simple to assemble.

The next stage, dual camera mounted on a rotating platform, so they remin pointing to the object of interest as they pass in front of it. That puts all the best part of the lenses centered on the subject!

Asher
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Brilliant and very practical, transportable and simple to assemble.

The next stage, dual camera mounted on a rotating platform, so they remin pointing to the object of interest as they pass in front of it. That puts all the best part of the lenses centered on the subject!

Asher

Well in this sheme, I would imagine that having a fixed camera and the object turning on itself would be easier…

On another side, we do have a gliding track for the video, having it motorized would be a must!
 

Steven Rialto

New member
Asher, what do you mean when you say dual camera?
It would be good to keep the subject in the center, less waste of pixels - It becomes a much trickier system to implement however. Either you rotate the camera in a very precise way, use an curved track or something like this: http://store.kesslercrane.com/parallax.html Becomes a less fun DIY project for moderately technical people like myself :)
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Asher, what do you mean when you say dual camera?
It would be good to keep the subject in the center, less waste of pixels - It becomes a much trickier system to implement however. Either you rotate the camera in a very precise way, use an curved track or something like this: http://store.kesslercrane.com/parallax.html Becomes a less fun DIY project for moderately technical people like myself :)

I love that Kessler set up and is really a bargain, but what they show there is manual, but I guess one can add motors. I think pixels are not such a worry as moving off the subject. Two camera is a luxury but would give 3D as well.

Did I welcome you!

We're glad to have a new and especially creative person in our midst!!

My interest in a slider would be in moving transversely across the subject, a building or person, (not isocentricly around the subject on a curved track), while maintaining the subject in the center of the field. To merely transverse in front of the subject without rotating the camera to keep it aimed at fixed point of interest, say the couple's faces together, would be fine for scanning across an unconscious victim, exhausted spent out lovers, a crime scene in a drama or else the facade of a building in an establishing shot. The camera keepiing centered on the hands cutting the wires to defuse a bomb or lovers caressing, provides rich interest, giving more and more information of riveting action from changing angles and is one of the most intimate of possible views. The transverse slide, however represents a pause in action where the plot does not move forward but we get to assess and take in the consequences of whatever went on before.

What kinds of movies do you shoot, Stephen, and what about still photography?

Asher
 

Steven Rialto

New member
Thanks! I do some still 2D photography and 3D stuff, any video is usually to document projects. I do a lot of lenticular printing for other people as well.
 
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