My timelapse dolly

Ok guys I know I know this isn't a pc but its still my baby!  I have been building on this thing since june, and now have a pretty solid timelapse dolly.  What is a timelapse dolly you ask?  Well its a device that moves a camera in equal amounts between shots. 

So what I have above is the Dynamic Perception Stage Zero Dolly Kit.  This includes the cart that sits on the rail, and all belts, motors, and electronics to make the thing work.  While you can buy the extrusion from Dynamice Perception and have a nice blue finish, I opted for the cheaper amazon.com extrusion.  It is a 6' #1030 extrusion by 80/20.  The good thing is you can get all sorts of sizes for cheap, so once I feel like making this a 12' dolly, I will only need to buy another 6 footer and a longer belt.

The heart of this equipment is the MX2 Dollyengine, which is a pretty robust little computer allowing you to control 2 motors, multiple cameras(with signal splitter), as well as other peripherals.

Now enter the Backpacker 90, by Celestron.  This is a telescope mount for tracking stars, and can be controlled by the MX2.  The biggest limitation here is that the max rotation per shot is .1 degree, so some careful planning is needed for 3-axis shoots.

Here is the rig panning across a cpu during my first attempt at micro lapse.  You can watch the video below.  It was made while reviewing the CHV.  A little shakey and flickery, but getting there.  I learned a lot while making this, mainly that the movement per shot must me very small when working at such close focal lengths.

  Hope you enjoyed, I will continue to update this thread as I continue deeper into this hobby.  I am also gonna try and get in here and participate in the forums more!

Cheers

very cool. what camera are you using? 

I have a D90.  In the top pic is a friend's 5D MkII, which is just awesome to shoot on.  

I bet! The D90 is a solid camera thought with out breaking the bank. What is your first project you plane to use your new toy on?

"Nice,  a little more practice , and the little occasional stutter will be solve. Good luck on the next project."

Yes I do like the d90 very much.  The guy with the 5D is a real estate property photographer and We have been messing around with some property videos timelapse style.  Right now hes not quite sold because of the time it takes, so we will probably be shooting mostly video and using it as a slider for now, which works very well with the belt disengaged.

Other than that I want to learn more about Astro photography, and try some timelapses of that 

Thanks Optimus

Astro photography, that would be fun. You need to come down where I live. A crazy amount of starts can be seen on a clear night with just your eye. 

Der Meister:

Astro photography, that would be fun. You need to come down where I live. A crazy amount of starts can be seen on a clear night with just your eye.

Try Alaska at night too. You don't have to travel far in any direction to get away from excessive light sources. It's nice and dark at night in the wintertime.

The Sky is BIG and a you can see a gazillion stars too. On lucky nights you get the Aurora Borealis.

@lifeskills,.......The camera dolly is cool, I've seen them before a few times on the web. It's possible to get some outrageous effects with them.