Nanoflash Remote and Tally devices -- just built.

[George Griswold]

Hello Group-

I cooked up a few gizmos for my new Nano yesterday. First is a simple LED tally that plugs into the 10 pin jack... no wires, but the LED is built into the rubber strain relief of the Hirose plug (at a 90 degree angle) and the end sealed with a clean dab of glue gun goodness. Small and Handy.

Second, a remote on 18" cord for a few different uses. Has green LED to show when the Nano is powered up. Large white push button is for start/stop and a red LED for tally. Also BNC spigot for external TC input on right side of box. If I need a longer run I will make an extension cable.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear George,

Nice Work!

Both items look very nice.

[Ed David]

i would love to buy 2 of these from you. any interest in building and selling these?

[Dusty Powers]

Hey George:

I know how I would use it, but just curious as to your plans for using the external TC input you installed on the Nano.

Thanks,

Dusty

[Andrew Stone]

Tally light is a nice piece of work George. Really useful if you have your nanoFlash mounted with the display pointing away from the operator.

[Jeff DePonte]

Hey George—

Nice work! Lookout, here come the orders...

Question: I have the Tally/TC cable from Convergent. After using it a few times, I'm not liking the blinking tally light. At times, when I glance over at it (I mount it just above the magnifying/peaking buttons on my Canon XLH1) I catch it when it is off. I wish it would just stay on. How does yours work; blink, or solid 'on?'

Jeff

[George Griswold]

I agree that the blinking light can throw you off... it would be better as a solid on. Maybe an offering to the firmware Gods could resolve this?

Thank you for all the complimentary emails-- I like building things that are helpful and efficient. That is why I put the TC tap on the side of the box-- jam sync and then you don't have a pigtail floating around (scratching something). The push button is large enough to see and in the next model I will find a button with a LED built into it... help you find it in the dark and smaller box maybe.

As far as building these for people I would be game, but let's watch the Saints win the Superbowl first. I had shoots booked all week and now I have a 101 fever and am scrambling to get the shoots staffed. If you are interested, the question is at what price? Let me know by email to george--at--videonow--dot--info I don't want to break forum rules but this seems reasonable.

Thanks,
George

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Jeff,

We are changing the Tally light.

(It currently blinks for a reason: to provide positive proof that the unit is actually recording.)

(Technically, it is possible to set a light on, then a computer could hang up, leaving the light on. Thus we wanted to prove that we were actually recording by blinking the light.)

We came up with (I think), 1 second on, 1 second off.

We are now experimenting with this. We may go to 95% on, 5% off, or 99% on, 1% off.

Our goal is to make it appear to be on, almost all of the time, but still see a very slight blink to provide proof that it is actually recording.

[Bob Krieger]

Originally Posted by George Griswold

...As far as building these for people I would be game, but let's watch the Saints win the Superbowl first...

I am very interested in the nanoFlash and any accessories available. Very cool build, George! And I agree... first, let the Saints win on Sunday!! Feel better!

[Jeff DePonte]

Originally Posted by Dan Keaton

We are now experimenting with this. We may go to 95% on, 5% off, or 99% on, 1% off.

Our goal is to make it appear to be on, almost all of the time, but still see a very slight blink to provide proof that it is actually recording.

Thanks, Dan, I would very much appreciate this change. It's amazing how long that 1 second 'off' can be when you're in the middle of an important interview!

I wish I could be of help in designing the ratio of on to off time, but that seems outside the realm of my understanding. The 95/5 sounds good, though.

Thanks!

Jeff