Ray_Bones
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 10
- Name
- Iain
- Edit My Images
- Yes
Hi Everyone,
This is my first post on the talkphotography forums even though I have been lurking here for a couple of years. So I'd like to start by saying a big thank you to everyone as I have come here on occasion for the odd opinion/review or in search of information on specific techniques. As is often the case with me and forums, a quick search usually yields the desired information so I've rarely had the need to post. So I must take this opportunity to say thank you. Thank You!
My name is Iain and I'm in Scotland. I'm an enthusiast with a more years under my belt than my photographs would suggest, but I do it for the love of it and that is a wonderful thing.
Anyway, As a bit of fun I thought I'd post up my most recent hair brained project which has kept be occupied for today... The Lego Dolly
I've dabbled in time lapse photography but the videos have always been static. I've had a brief look at time lapse dolly's but they seem to me to be quite expensive (for someone who is only playing). So for a laugh, I set out to use some Lego that I had lying about to try and build my own dolly.
The first revision shows promise I think, but still needs some work. I'm sure many of you will immediately see the limitations of this, but it is just a bit of fun.
The centre of gravity (with the camera mounted) of the dolly is the first issue as there is a relatively large mass high up, namely the camera. This gives rise to stability issues and a "bounce" when the dolly moves. If I decide to go back and refine this, then I might considered using a larger piece of wood to widen the wheel base.
As mentioned "bounce" in the dolly is a large issue. This is mainly down to the rubber tires which are hollow and act as springs, but the Lego itself being plastic, has a certain amount of give too. Unfortunately the plastic wheels on their own did not provide reliable traction which resulted in unpredictable movement.
The final problem that I am currently facing is that the CPU clock in the Lego "Brick" or brain is not calibrated with, and therefore out of sync with the Intervalometer that I am using. This means that the timing of the dollys movement is moving relative to the intervalometer firing the shutter even though their timings are the same. Eventually, the intervalometer would open the shutter while the dolly was moving.
My planned solution to this is to incorporate a microphone sensor which will pick up the sound of the shutter and either act as a timer restart or use it as a sole trigger mechanism for the dolly to move its incremental distance.
Anyway, here are a couple of pictures to give you a laugh.
Thanks for reading and I hope it gave you a chuckle.
Cheers
Iain
This is my first post on the talkphotography forums even though I have been lurking here for a couple of years. So I'd like to start by saying a big thank you to everyone as I have come here on occasion for the odd opinion/review or in search of information on specific techniques. As is often the case with me and forums, a quick search usually yields the desired information so I've rarely had the need to post. So I must take this opportunity to say thank you. Thank You!
My name is Iain and I'm in Scotland. I'm an enthusiast with a more years under my belt than my photographs would suggest, but I do it for the love of it and that is a wonderful thing.
Anyway, As a bit of fun I thought I'd post up my most recent hair brained project which has kept be occupied for today... The Lego Dolly
I've dabbled in time lapse photography but the videos have always been static. I've had a brief look at time lapse dolly's but they seem to me to be quite expensive (for someone who is only playing). So for a laugh, I set out to use some Lego that I had lying about to try and build my own dolly.
The first revision shows promise I think, but still needs some work. I'm sure many of you will immediately see the limitations of this, but it is just a bit of fun.
The centre of gravity (with the camera mounted) of the dolly is the first issue as there is a relatively large mass high up, namely the camera. This gives rise to stability issues and a "bounce" when the dolly moves. If I decide to go back and refine this, then I might considered using a larger piece of wood to widen the wheel base.
As mentioned "bounce" in the dolly is a large issue. This is mainly down to the rubber tires which are hollow and act as springs, but the Lego itself being plastic, has a certain amount of give too. Unfortunately the plastic wheels on their own did not provide reliable traction which resulted in unpredictable movement.
The final problem that I am currently facing is that the CPU clock in the Lego "Brick" or brain is not calibrated with, and therefore out of sync with the Intervalometer that I am using. This means that the timing of the dollys movement is moving relative to the intervalometer firing the shutter even though their timings are the same. Eventually, the intervalometer would open the shutter while the dolly was moving.
My planned solution to this is to incorporate a microphone sensor which will pick up the sound of the shutter and either act as a timer restart or use it as a sole trigger mechanism for the dolly to move its incremental distance.
Anyway, here are a couple of pictures to give you a laugh.
Thanks for reading and I hope it gave you a chuckle.
Cheers
Iain
interesting piece of kit there 
