Konova Motorized Time Lapse Controller
At NAB 2012 this year, Mark detailed for us what Konova had in store for their customers in need of motorized time lapse kits. Coupled with their already popular sliders, the Time Lapse Controller Kits are an inexpensive way to capture time lapse in motion or stop motion videos. The video above shows a quick customer comparison review using a 60-rpm gear motor. The video shows what different speeds look like and gives you perspective on each speed.
Note that Konova offers a FASTER motor type that requires an extra week to be shipped. In the even that you want to motorize your slider for video other than time lapse, the faster motor just might be your better option. Details can be found on Konova’s site HERE.
Konova Time Lapse Controller motor types:
The video below is from NAB 2012. I interviewed Mark, who was representing Konova. He explains the capabilities of each differing motor option along with what you can expect from each. The Time Lapse Controller has Dynamic Range to control how slow/fast it will move. 100 to 1 for live video capture or 1000 to 1 for very tiny incremental movements. Mark also explains to us that the Sloo Motion Controller is for live action motion with a 10 to 1 range and RAMP. Ramp allows you to control the speed that your camera will begin to move and how quickly or slowly it will stop.
You can also watch the Konova feature in OTech NAB 2012 Episode 7 HERE
You can take a look at Konova’s different Time Lapse Controller Kits (Here).
Konova Timelapse Controller
I love my Konova Slider and I look forward to getting one of the motorized kits soon. However I did notice on Konova’s Smart Motion Bundle page that they don’t have a Panasonic release cable as an option to purchase. I wonder if the Smart Motion Controller doesn’t support Panasonic cameras when using a shutter release. The Basic controller seems to allow the purchase of one though.
I take it that this is just a slow continous motor? I.e. it does not control your camera to trigger the shutter, then move it a bit, stop and then trigger shutter again?
That would be a problem for longer exposure pictures for sure (for instance astronomy shots).
Would be curious to know what shutter speeds at various focal lengths you could run this and still expect it to be tack sharp….
@Tom the shutter release remote is separate (Konova also sells these). You can program the length of time for each stop as well as the increments of each movement. You would need to sync your camera’s exposure time according to these variables to get the sharp images.
I got the impression from the video that the new controller does interleaved moves and controls the shutter. Is this right?
@jhog Konova just let me know that they are working on a few detail fixes, I’ll update you as soon as I’m certain about this.
The Konova motor used in the speed comparison video above is the 1000:1 motor. It is the slowest in the range available from Konova and can be used for timelapse even when not using interleave mode. Of course it is desirable to use SMS (interleave) for long exposure timelapse.
I initially looked at the Konova Smart Motion Controller but balked at the price. Also how much support/updates of the firmware they can provide is a big guess especially when compared to the less expensive Dynamic Perception MX2 controller.
Based on those factors I decided on the MX2 as controller for my Konova motors and which also can control a Merlin pan/tilt head as can be seen HERE
I had to use my DIY slider as my K3 slider is too short for longer timelapse.
The video is also available HERE for those preferring Vimeo.
@jayhas Thanks for this! I shared it on the blog, just published your video with a dedicated article HERE.
Thanks for the shout out Olivia!
@Jayhas Right on, thank you for sharing your work with us!