An on/off switch for the nanoFlash?

Jeff DePonte · October 7th, 2010, 05:32 AM

Alastair,

You might find my post re: False Triggers interesting—

"But, on a positive note, after my nano fried itself (a story too long to tell), I insisted that their repair tech re-engage the On/Off switch. I love it! CD has long held that they received a bad batch of switches, therefore they disabled them. Not sure why they didn't change suppliers..."

Do you not have a Power button at all on your NF? Have you contacted CD about this?

Jeff

William Urschel · October 7th, 2010, 07:11 AM

Now just a minute! What in the world is all this comment about the absence of a nanoFlash off on switch!
And by the way, I have Olof's switch, which he referenced above. But the absence of a switch is such a minor issue (not even an inconvenience, given the necessary gyrations to prevent battery drain promulgated by the EX-1) with such a superb device as the nano - and really, fellows, it is nothing in comparison to the TOTAL ABOMINATION of the EX-1 battery leakage. I have sent my EX-1 back to Sony twice because of egregious and major malfunctions straight out of the box. The second send back
($248 each time with full insurance and decent transit times from Austin Texas) resulted in the supposed
fix of the battery drain. BALONEY! Until the fix, as all of you know, the battery would drain down with no use within a period of hours. After the "fix" it is now a matter of days before "by by" to the charged battery!

What is this Mickey Mouse! Soooo, I remove the Swit battery from the camera immediately every time that I'm not shooting, and all is fine - and I unplug the cable supplying the nano, which in comparison is
such a miniscule issue.

I have two other cameras from Sony's Broadcast Division, and my wife and I have four other Sony
prosumer cameras and two other branded cameras. The batteries are left on all of these these cameras for years, with NO battery drain. Nuff said.

Jeff DePonte · October 7th, 2010, 10:09 AM

I'm on a beach in Fiji. I'm gonna be shooting an 8-hour time lapse. I'm trying to be extra careful with batteries prior to the shoot, I'll need every last watt. I have my Nano cable unplugged, with the Hirose connector dangling. (I keep the D-tap connector plugged into the Anton Bauer Gold mount.) I set the camera down... carefully... setup the tripod... then, camera up... plug in the Hirose connector... and now I've got that sugar-fine Fijian sand in the Nano's power connector. Nice!

Robin Probyn · October 7th, 2010, 06:44 PM

Jeff..

Its sort of hard to feel sorry for you.. :) I get acid rain in the plug..

Luben Izov · October 7th, 2010, 07:42 PM

Jeff and Robin,
you should get together and look after each other ;-),

Cheers
;-)

Robin Probyn · October 7th, 2010, 10:58 PM

ha! yes good idea..

I,ll de sand the plugs with one hand.. holding a margarita with the other.. dirty job.. but someone has to do it..

Glenn Davidson · October 8th, 2010, 01:16 AM

The supplied power adapter is so lightweight and flimsy I am afraid that it will not last long with the repeated disconnects. An on and off switch seems like a reasonable request.

Dan Keaton · October 8th, 2010, 05:28 AM

Dear Glenn,

The supplied AC Power supply is lightweight by design.

It is a switching power supply and does not need the bulk of an inefficient transformer.

The wire that connects the power supply is thin and lightweight, but is more than adequate to carry the 0.47 amps that the nanoFlash draws.

The connector is a top notch, expensive, Hirose connector. It is, by no means, a weak point.

If you doubt that the Hirose connector is not up to the task, try wiggling the connector side to side while the nanoFlash is on. There will not be a loss of power.

Jeff DePonte · October 8th, 2010, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robin Probyn

Jeff..

Its sort of hard to feel sorry for you.. :) I get acid rain in the plug..

Robyn,

I saw your name in the credits on a PBS doc a couple of nights ago. I think it was about the Japanese Sen Toku-class I-401 aircraft carrier submarines of WWII. It was beautifully shot. What was your role?

Aloha,

Jeff

Denis OKeefe · October 8th, 2010, 03:23 PM

When I first got the Nanoflash I missed some shots I wanted after a quick battery change and neglecting / forgetting / assuming the power switch was still "ON".
There may be switches on my lectrosonics wireless but I've never used them for the same reason - when I have a battery on the camera I want to be ready to roll immediately.
The power drain of the nano (and the radios) seems negligible, in my world not at all a concern and I can always unplug the d tap or hirose if necessary. If I had a toggle switch on the Nano by now it would have a piece of tape on it lest someone accidently turn it off.

Robin Probyn · October 8th, 2010, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff DePonte

Robyn,

I saw your name in the credits on a PBS doc a couple of nights ago. I think it was about the Japanese Sen Toku-class I-401 aircraft carrier submarines of WWII. It was beautifully shot. What was your role?

Aloha,

Jeff

Yes that was an interesting shoot.. I was the DP for all the Japanese stuff .. shot on my HDX900.. thanks for the kind words!

Alastair Traill · October 12th, 2010, 06:24 PM

I have now added a switch to my nanoFlash. While I was at it I added a battery holder as well. To turn the switch on or off the toggle has to be raised first which is something that is very difficult to do accidently.

To attach the combination to my EX3 I fitted a hingeing “tongue” to the back of the nanoflash that snaps into the back of my EX3 base plate. It uses the same mechanismas I use for a lightweight shoulder support.. When the nanoFlash is removed the tongue can be folded down for storage.

An advantage of the hingeing tongue is that the nanoFlash can be tilted forward for low level use or tilted back for more conventional use. Should everything work as Ihope the pieces will be cleaned up, anodized and dyed black.
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/images/a...attach/jpg.gif

Mark Job · October 12th, 2010, 07:04 PM

Hi Alastair:
Very nice quality workmanship indeed. I can tell you've put a lot of thought into the design to make it have the smallest foot print as possible. I like the fact that you can modify the position of your Nano Flash while it is attached to the back of your camera. I have a mounting setup for my XDR on the back of my XL H1 and it is a very solid mount, but I cannot tilt it back forward toward the front of the camera to change the weight balance and cable positioning, which I would like to be able to do on occasion. Can you post some more close up images of your "hinging tongue" assembly so I could have a closer look at what you did ? I would like to make a modification bracket for my existing XDR mount.

Luben Izov · October 12th, 2010, 08:06 PM

Hello Alastair,
This seems to be a very elegant solution! Nicely done!
Cheers

Alastair Traill · October 13th, 2010, 04:38 PM

Thanks Mark and thanks Luben for your kind words,

Mark, the photo of the back of my nanoFlash probably shows it all.

As you have probably guessed I made the base plate for my EX3 myself and included
a couple of features I have not seen in other models. As I intended to use Nikon lenses I built in a simple lens support that also acts as a way of supporting the left side of the camera. In an attempt to reduce weight I cut away some of the metal from the rear of the base plate. I realized that if I kept the sides of the cutout parallel I could slide things into this space. The shoulder mount slips into this space, the sides of the cut out prevent sideways movement and I added a pad to prevent vertical movement. A sprung clip catches the tongue when it is fully inserted. To remove I raise the clip and pull the tongue out.

The hinge unit as I made it has three components plus fasteners. Firstly a piece of channel that attaches to the nanoFlash using the holes provided. The tongue was made out of a flat strip and machined to match my base plate. To hinge the tongue to the nanoFlash I used a short piece of channel attached to the tongue. This channel was narrow enough to fit between the legs of the first and with enough space to fit fibre friction washers between the mating surfaces. I used screws and spring washers for hinge pins. When I was happy that there was enough friction I used a “Wick-in Loctite ” on the screw threads to maintain the adjustment.

October 7th, 2010, 05:32 AM	#16
Jeff DePonte Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Honolulu Hawaii Posts: 76	...there IS a switch... Alastair, You might find my post re: False Triggers interesting— "But, on a positive note, after my nano fried itself (a story too long to tell), I insisted that their repair tech re-engage the On/Off switch. I love it! CD has long held that they received a bad batch of switches, therefore they disabled them. Not sure why they didn't change suppliers..." Do you not have a Power button at all on your NF? Have you contacted CD about this? Jeff

October 7th, 2010, 10:09 AM	#18
Jeff DePonte Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Honolulu Hawaii Posts: 76	Dangling cable not good I'm on a beach in Fiji. I'm gonna be shooting an 8-hour time lapse. I'm trying to be extra careful with batteries prior to the shoot, I'll need every last watt. I have my Nano cable unplugged, with the Hirose connector dangling. (I keep the D-tap connector plugged into the Anton Bauer Gold mount.) I set the camera down... carefully... setup the tripod... then, camera up... plug in the Hirose connector... and now I've got that sugar-fine Fijian sand in the Nano's power connector. Nice!

October 7th, 2010, 07:42 PM	#20
Luben Izov Major Player Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: White Rock Posts: 254	On the fun site Jeff and Robin, you should get together and look after each other ;-), Cheers ;-)

October 8th, 2010, 05:28 AM	#23
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	Dear Glenn, The supplied AC Power supply is lightweight by design. It is a switching power supply and does not need the bulk of an inefficient transformer. The wire that connects the power supply is thin and lightweight, but is more than adequate to carry the 0.47 amps that the nanoFlash draws. The connector is a top notch, expensive, Hirose connector. It is, by no means, a weak point. If you doubt that the Hirose connector is not up to the task, try wiggling the connector side to side while the nanoFlash is on. There will not be a loss of power. __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia

October 8th, 2010, 03:23 PM	#25
Denis OKeefe Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Wayne, PA Posts: 207	power switch simplicity When I first got the Nanoflash I missed some shots I wanted after a quick battery change and neglecting / forgetting / assuming the power switch was still "ON". There may be switches on my lectrosonics wireless but I've never used them for the same reason - when I have a battery on the camera I want to be ready to roll immediately. The power drain of the nano (and the radios) seems negligible, in my world not at all a concern and I can always unplug the d tap or hirose if necessary. If I had a toggle switch on the Nano by now it would have a piece of tape on it lest someone accidently turn it off.

October 7th, 2010, 07:11 AM	#17
William Urschel Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Bee Cave, Texas Posts: 151	Now just a minute! What in the world is all this comment about the absence of a nanoFlash off on switch! And by the way, I have Olof's switch, which he referenced above. But the absence of a switch is such a minor issue (not even an inconvenience, given the necessary gyrations to prevent battery drain promulgated by the EX-1) with such a superb device as the nano - and really, fellows, it is nothing in comparison to the TOTAL ABOMINATION of the EX-1 battery leakage. I have sent my EX-1 back to Sony twice because of egregious and major malfunctions straight out of the box. The second send back ($248 each time with full insurance and decent transit times from Austin Texas) resulted in the supposed fix of the battery drain. BALONEY! Until the fix, as all of you know, the battery would drain down with no use within a period of hours. After the "fix" it is now a matter of days before "by by" to the charged battery! What is this Mickey Mouse! Soooo, I remove the Swit battery from the camera immediately every time that I'm not shooting, and all is fine - and I unplug the cable supplying the nano, which in comparison is such a miniscule issue. I have two other cameras from Sony's Broadcast Division, and my wife and I have four other Sony prosumer cameras and two other branded cameras. The batteries are left on all of these these cameras for years, with NO battery drain. Nuff said.

October 7th, 2010, 06:44 PM	#19
Robin Probyn Major Player Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Tokyo Posts: 590	Jeff.. Its sort of hard to feel sorry for you.. :) I get acid rain in the plug..

October 7th, 2010, 10:58 PM	#21
Robin Probyn Major Player Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Tokyo Posts: 590	ha! yes good idea.. I,ll de sand the plugs with one hand.. holding a margarita with the other.. dirty job.. but someone has to do it..

October 8th, 2010, 01:16 AM	#22
Glenn Davidson Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Nevada City, California Posts: 499	The supplied power adapter is so lightweight and flimsy I am afraid that it will not last long with the repeated disconnects. An on and off switch seems like a reasonable request.

October 12th, 2010, 06:24 PM	#27
Alastair Traill Major Player Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Melbourne Australia Posts: 626	I have now added a switch to my nanoFlash. While I was at it I added a battery holder as well. To turn the switch on or off the toggle has to be raised first which is something that is very difficult to do accidently. To attach the combination to my EX3 I fitted a hingeing “tongue” to the back of the nanoflash that snaps into the back of my EX3 base plate. It uses the same mechanismas I use for a lightweight shoulder support.. When the nanoFlash is removed the tongue can be folded down for storage. An advantage of the hingeing tongue is that the nanoFlash can be tilted forward for low level use or tilted back for more conventional use. Should everything work as Ihope the pieces will be cleaned up, anodized and dyed black. http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/images/a...attach/jpg.gif Attached Thumbnails

October 12th, 2010, 07:04 PM	#28
Mark Job Trustee Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada Posts: 1,138	This is Quality Work Hi Alastair: Very nice quality workmanship indeed. I can tell you've put a lot of thought into the design to make it have the smallest foot print as possible. I like the fact that you can modify the position of your Nano Flash while it is attached to the back of your camera. I have a mounting setup for my XDR on the back of my XL H1 and it is a very solid mount, but I cannot tilt it back forward toward the front of the camera to change the weight balance and cable positioning, which I would like to be able to do on occasion. Can you post some more close up images of your "hinging tongue" assembly so I could have a closer look at what you did ? I would like to make a modification bracket for my existing XDR mount.

October 12th, 2010, 08:06 PM	#29
Luben Izov Major Player Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: White Rock Posts: 254	Nicely done! Hello Alastair, This seems to be a very elegant solution! Nicely done! Cheers

October 13th, 2010, 04:38 PM	#30
Alastair Traill Major Player Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Melbourne Australia Posts: 626	Thanks Mark and thanks Luben for your kind words, Mark, the photo of the back of my nanoFlash probably shows it all. As you have probably guessed I made the base plate for my EX3 myself and included a couple of features I have not seen in other models. As I intended to use Nikon lenses I built in a simple lens support that also acts as a way of supporting the left side of the camera. In an attempt to reduce weight I cut away some of the metal from the rear of the base plate. I realized that if I kept the sides of the cutout parallel I could slide things into this space. The shoulder mount slips into this space, the sides of the cut out prevent sideways movement and I added a pad to prevent vertical movement. A sprung clip catches the tongue when it is fully inserted. To remove I raise the clip and pull the tongue out. The hinge unit as I made it has three components plus fasteners. Firstly a piece of channel that attaches to the nanoFlash using the holes provided. The tongue was made out of a flat strip and machined to match my base plate. To hinge the tongue to the nanoFlash I used a short piece of channel attached to the tongue. This channel was narrow enough to fit between the legs of the first and with enough space to fit fibre friction washers between the mating surfaces. I used screws and spring washers for hinge pins. When I was happy that there was enough friction I used a “Wick-in Loctite ” on the screw threads to maintain the adjustment.