RobertOToole wrote:Googled your home, very nice, very much reminds me of Alaska... Need to make it up there one of these days for sure.

Look me up if you ever make it out this way! This time of year, there may be baby goats to hold. :-)

Here in LA it's sometimes easier to order a new one on Amazon and have it hours Cool! I've heard they actually did stuff like that! Here on a small Canadian Island, it's often faster and cheaper to make it yourself. I recall ordering a small part from the US. I think it was about $20. Seller insist...

RobertOToole wrote:Almost all plates made today use a top and bottom dovetail. This top ridge makes a great place to clamp a flash arm or something like my thorlabs clamps etc.

I can put a top dovetail on with my table saw in about ten seconds…

ChrisR wrote:… have you spent the rest of your career looking for an application for it?

Application, application?

C'mon; it's COOL!

Wow. Never seen an 8.5 digit DVM. And I used to work in metrology!

BTW if anyone is interested I'll be happy to explain how the Voltage Divider works Must have to do with transition points of the J a X outputs? Wouldn't that require a comparator, too? No comparator required, just CMOS Flip-Flop and 2 resistors and 1 cap. Got it. But you've now moved your source of...

mawyatt wrote:BTW if anyone is interested I'll be happy to explain how the Voltage Divider works

Must have to do with transition points of the J a X outputs? Wouldn't that require a comparator, too?

I have read that RRS too have recently resorted to such tactics as outlined in your 3rd paragraph. Unless you're referring to something esoteric, the basic parameters of RRS plates are public domain. Upon hearing this some months ago, I wrote them a polite email, asking for the specifications. It t...

ChrisR wrote:Or just program a drone to move in little steps?

This board really needs a "Like" button.

If I remember correctly, your Vivitar standards will both have "tripod" holes in their bases. Ooohhh... great call! You're absolutely right. Just had a serious brain-freeze, based on your suggestion of a Magic Arm... how about cannibalizing a broken 3D printer, and using the 3D positioning mechanis...

dickb wrote:I strongly disagree with your assessment that the optics in the teleconverter are poor. They may be in yours, but the ones I used I rank among the best teleconverters I've tried.

Thanks for that assessment. I'll give it another look. Perhaps I've been too harsh on it.

A way round that is to… support each standard separately on an 11" Magic arm. You can put then where you like, then. PB-4 only tilts one way at one end... Darn you! Now I have to go spend more money... the Chinese Magic Arm clones appear to be very cheap. I have a two foot Magic Arm that I use for ...

If you wanted a short minimum length, the PB-4 isn't a good start... But if you want tilt/shift, it seems like a good place to start! I also converted a Minolta Auto-Bellows III. It ended up with about the same minimum, but it has nylon slide bearings, which seem prone to breakage. I also have a Vi...

As an alternative to the Nikon bellows lobotomy, there are various ebay ways to adapt, such as via cheap Chinese tubes which share a common central thread. I didn't want to make the minimum bellows extension any bigger than necessary, by using stacks of adapters, which also tend to wobble. I sacrif...

Another option, if you are into gutting things is the Vivitar 2x macro focusing teleconverter. Have you actually done this surgery? I have one of these sitting on my desk right now (Olympus OM mount), staring at be accusingly for ignoring it. I scored it on evilBay for $10. The difficulty I see is ...