Digital truth, the massive dev chart publisher also has a f-stop printing calculator for those us who have a basic darkroom timer that counts in fractions of a second.
I hear you on some other f-stop timers with all the buttons, they look intimidating and no where nearly as user friendly. But I do think they can make the burning and dodging times a bit easier to sort out. You punch in with the buttons -1/3 stop for dodging and +1/2 stop for burning, then when you change the base exposure time it also adjusts the dodging and burning times.
Being able to change print sizes without doing more test strips is a game changer! I do a lot of 5x7's due to their low cost, but when I want to upscale to 8x10 or larger, I have to waste paper on test strips to evaluate the time yet again. I haven't used one, but I may try it in the future. :)
Can't you measure the negative-stage-to-easel distance with your tape measure (I assume everyone keeps a tape measure in their darkroom, right?) for both small and large prints, and then adjust the time accordingly to magnification?
If you want to deal in magnification factors for different sizes a lot of enlargers have a scale on thé mast (4 scales on my cheap Durst!) to help you.
I have the RH Designs timer and also the analyser. Sold the latter and went back to test strips. The timer’s main benefit is when you have a good base print and you want to, dodge and burn, going about it by assessing in stop values. I don’t think people should feel they’re missing out by not owning one of these exotic items.
Cool video. I don’t know if I’d go to the expense of buying one though. What I do is just have a printed time base in 1/10 stop increments from 5 seconds to 80:seconds on the wall that I can refer to, so adjusting the time is a simple matter of looking at the time base and sliding up and down the increments as needed. My timer does partial seconds in 1/10 second increments already, so I can already set the time to within a tenth of a second of what the time base would specify. I also print with a constant black and adjust the filter settings to fit the negative contrast to the paper contrast where the film base plus fog is max paper density, and yes, I have the time changes for each contrast filter also printed on the wall. All I do is set my enlarger to the print size I want, focus the negative, then take it out, put a grade 3 filter in, and make one test strip to determine the time needed to hit max paper black for that enlargement size. From there, I know how much time to change for each filter (for that paper), and to get the time for the actual negative, I measure the film base plus fog with a hand held densitometer (made by xrite), and add that exposure change to the grade 3 paper black time as my base time. From there, it’s just sliding up and down the time scale for each contrast filter. No more test strips required, and I always have maximum paper black.
I use the RH Designs Analyser Pro 500 f Stop timer for my DeVere 203 as it has a Ilford Multigrade head installed on it. I also use the standard Analyser Pro f Stop timer on my DeVere 504 with a normal bulb head. Both timers have a probe to measure the highlights and shadows to give you a very good print first time. I also use its test strip function when I want more control over the final image. f Stop printing is the way to go.
That just shows how inventive you really are. At the start of your video when you were caught out steaming up that shot. Thanks for that wonderful moment, it is priceless.😂
I worked out the math for stops and do this the "hard" way, but I made a chart of 1/3 stop increments for various base times. I also marked off the edge of my easel with masking tape to make it easier to get even sized strips when moving the mask around. This timer looks really cool and would speed things up a bit.
Briliant video! I actually got Nocon´s book after seeing this video and just this evening in the darkroom after seeing one of “The Naked Photographer´s” videos on split printing a tried something…just for fun and it seemed to work. I combined F-stop printing with split grade. I exposed the entire paper with a Ilford 0 filter as you showed (and explained in the book) for 5, 10, 20 and 40 seconds. But I did that horizontally. Then I did the same thing with a Ilford 5 filter but vertically. So when I developed the print I got a 4x4 grid pattern with 16 different F-stop combinations of 0 and 5 filter combinations. From 5sec 0 +5sec 5 to 40sec 0 + 40sec 5. So I got 0 on the X-axis and 5 on the Y-axis. Anyway just a small thing I thought to chare. Keep up the brilliant work!
That's a nifty piece of kit. You may have seen a multi-part article on 35mmc by Sroyon which describes f-stop timing when printing in great detail. Covers a lot of the basic principals of it, and why one might want to use (or switch to) it when printing. Well worth a read. I use f-stop timing myself when printing and localised test strips, and I definitely save paper. Also worth calibrating your enlarger for contrast grades to understand the difference in timings needed to achieve equivalent highlight or shadow for different contrast grades. Always good to understand your own enlarger :-) Using f-stop timing makes that pretty simple to do and while in many cases the timings are often rounded up (or down) due to most timers not having less than one second resolution, I've found it works great. The series on 35mmc is well worth a read. Cheers, Matt
Great results! I think a groove in the buttons with a white line would mean you could feel the location as well as see it. Well out of my budget but I love the idea. Thanks for sharing that Roger.
Nice demo of the timer it is convenient. Shout out to Genes book which has so many other tips for those without access to top of line equipment to make pro quality prints. Beyond Monochrome is another great book breaking this down but Genes book is simpler for F-stop timing beginners. The test strip tool is in Beyond book really helps consistency. I have used this method since my start or percentages in a pinch.
Just moved to f stop printing. Using the FADU timer app on android with a Wi-Fi relay, total cost £20 including a switch box to put it in. Works perfectly and the app functionality is really good. Highly recommend this for good value f stop printing. I have an old android phone on red at lowest brightness and on a phone stand beside the enlarger.
I always printed this way so when I read about Gene Nocon in AP and his new timer I ordered one. He rang me up to see if I wanted to send him some prints for his new upcoming book. The Nocon timer has a slopping design and also has a foot switch which is invaluable when burning in and dodging. The only thing I found when printing 16" x 20" prints was that I would have liked the timer to go down to 1/8 of a stop sometimes (it made me want to get even more from the print).
Great video! I have been us in the RH Design f stop timer for a while. It's an absolute game changer! We use f stops when taking photos, so why not in the darkroom? It makes total sense to do so. Much more consistent and predictable results.
Enjoyed the video and explanation of the fstop timer. I have to say that at $600 that it would take a long time of "paper" waste to make up that cost. Also, it doesn't take me that long to find the exposure for my print. Also in 50 years of printing I have never changed the print size after I found the exposure. I generally know what size I want before I check for exposure but that is just how I work and I understand others may work differently. The device is nifty and filomat makes high precision stuff. However, It isn't anything that I would care to pay for and use but it was interesting to see it working.
Shame it's SO expensive, specially when you have to import and pay taxes... But I'd love to have one. Meanwhile I'll go with my "approximately" F-stop timer - my old faithful Gralab 300 and "guess time" mind calculations
Thanks for the easy to follow video! My question is slightly off topic - @ 06m15s your paper already has an illuminated border - may I ask how did you establish this? with your enlarger??
Thanks for the great video! This comes at a good time for me, as I'm thinking of building my own darkroom timer using an ESP-32 microcontroller. What I want to have in the timer is four functions: First, regular and f-stop printing of test strips. Second, a foot pedal (you mentioned in the video that you don't need that). Third, an exposure meter that helps finding the settings for the first test strip and also the best contrast grade to start with. Then, finally, a flash light source and timer for flashing - for those of us who have only one enlarger and can't use a separate one for flashing. The pedal, exposure meter and flash light source would be battery operated, wireless devices. Just curious whether other people have similar things they would like in their timer.
Gene has a system that is most useful when many customer negatives are to be printed, but your own should have consistency, and a finer increment in the test exposure works better. The system I use is based on area of the projected image (not the print) with a constant f-stop. @f8 an 8x10 image might take 5 seconds (my negs are consistent and this is pretty close for my work) so a 16x20 print should take 4 times as much exposure. The best way of getting this increased exposure is via f-stops (in this case open 2 stops) since they do not introduce reciprocity law failure. Contrast filtration is likewise calibrated one time, and that coefficient is thereafter used. Different paper have various light sensitivity (speed) and they have a different base exposure. e.g. one paper is 5 seconds @ f/8, one is 7 seconds, one is 12 seconds and interpositives take .5 sec. You could always use a darkroom meter... Great video!
If the test strip mode works anything like the RH Designs timers changing the mode to "single" will make single exposure sections instead of incrementally adding light to each section in an effort to counteract bulb ramping. With "single" mode you'd put your piece of paper down and COVER the entire piece except for the first strip. You then cover the exposed section and uncover the next section and so on. The overall time to make a test strip is much longer than the incremental method as you're doing base, base + 1/3, base + 2/3 etc but you mitigate the compound effects of bulb ramping which depending on your enlarger, bulb and timer combination may be noticeable.
I'm impressed. I want one but it costs more than my de vere 504 enlarger I am Vat registered so I inquired if they can export without Vat and I am pay it in the uk , they could not seem to do it so I would pay 19% vat in Germany plus a further 20 % vat in uk !
I'd love to see Interepid add a software update to the compact enalrger to support this. In Black and White you've got a couple of spare knobs that could be put to work. Wouldn't be perfect, but I reckon it could get the job done.
White Light printing. F-Stop timers. Are you going to revive the Watkins Factor Devloping next? Basically is allows you to use any developer at any temperature (within reason) at any strength (reason again) and get the same looking print each time. It uses the property of silver developing that from the first appearance of black is a fixed fraction of total development. The Factor a fixed number for a given developer / paper combo. If you have a slow film that you can develop under a safe light, this is grand. Modern films are to fast and can see Red. But paper works just fine, like olde timey glass plates. Alfred Watkins in 93 or so came up with the idea. ETI magazine has an article about it, Project 594. Alfred even wrote a book about it.
I think $600 would be better spent on more paper. I'd still like to try this method, but my timer is only 2 digits so I'll have to round off the double digit decimals. As for paper waste, I never use a full sheet - so it wouldn't be too beneficial for me. I'm very stingey the way it is!
It’s a shame the +/- light indicator strip isn’t shared between the two paths. Seems like it’d be useful to have a visual indication of where your current time settings are in relation to the base when doing the real print.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how this thing does anything that you can't do in your head for free. You can't say that it saves on test strips because you still have to use them. When you did the test strips the old-fashioned way, you knew that you had to go halfway between the two times. Even the 2/3 more stops for the enlargement is a simple calculation. And with everyone having access to a phone or calculator, even someone who is bad at math can do it. No-one should construe any of this as an attack on the maker. If they can make money on this, more power to them.
It's a simple piece of software and some knobs. No way to justify the price. Realistically it should be something like $150. Anyway I rather waste some more test paper...
So when are you releasing your version? Don't forget the engraved letter in the metal case and being European safe as opposed to Chinese safe on mains voltage. I've got my 150, where is the timer? - Dunning Kruger
@@Pixelwaster What I mean is that it should not be a luxury product. I appreciate the quality and effort and I know it won't be a mass produced item, but still it's a switch with a timer. I myself made similar products, metal box with few leds, microcontroller inside etc and it should not cost more than $150. I spent tens of thousands on my photo gear, but this one is really just too much. Whoever uses it probably will be very happy, but it's not for me.
@@peinmilan Yeah, easy to make with an Arduino or STM32. Parts, probably £30. However making a pretty box to put it in is the hard part with any home-made project. Then, as it is electrickery, type approvals would probably come into play. Then development & production costs etc. But still, £500 is steep. I'm thinking of making an auto-twiddler for my developing tank using an Arduino. Dial in the total dev time, number of twiddles, initial twiddle length & subsequent twiddle times. Arduino would drive a stepper motor connected to the twiddle stick by a model boat universal joint.
@@peinmilan I think you have to account for people's time to design, market and sell it, plus the standard overheads of the business. I'm guessing they aren't expecting to sell very many of them, being somewhat a niche product. Then of course, they need to make a profit. Is it worth it? I'm not sure. For the committed hobbyist who had to have the best of everything? Maybe?
Photography is absolutely loaded with stupid, nonsensical, downright bad ideas. This one may well be the king of them all. Brain surgery with a sharpened spoon would be a much better idea!
As usual, I am speechless in front of the video.
It's always so interesting and instructive.
Well done 😀👍
What a masterclass... love it
Digital truth, the massive dev chart publisher also has a f-stop printing calculator for those us who have a basic darkroom timer that counts in fractions of a second.
Great video. Brilliantly explained and demonstrated with super cool animations. Spot on. 👍🏻
Thanks Russell
I hear you on some other f-stop timers with all the buttons, they look intimidating and no where nearly as user friendly. But I do think they can make the burning and dodging times a bit easier to sort out. You punch in with the buttons -1/3 stop for dodging and +1/2 stop for burning, then when you change the base exposure time it also adjusts the dodging and burning times.
Being able to change print sizes without doing more test strips is a game changer! I do a lot of 5x7's due to their low cost, but when I want to upscale to 8x10 or larger, I have to waste paper on test strips to evaluate the time yet again. I haven't used one, but I may try it in the future. :)
Can't you measure the negative-stage-to-easel distance with your tape measure (I assume everyone keeps a tape measure in their darkroom, right?) for both small and large prints, and then adjust the time accordingly to magnification?
You probably could
look for "Pictorial Planet Changing Print Size Without Test Strips"
If you want to deal in magnification factors for different sizes a lot of enlargers have a scale on thé mast (4 scales on my cheap Durst!) to help you.
I have the RH Designs timer and also the analyser. Sold the latter and went back to test strips. The timer’s main benefit is when you have a good base print and you want to, dodge and burn, going about it by assessing in stop values. I don’t think people should feel they’re missing out by not owning one of these exotic items.
Very informative .. thanks and hope to see more dark room printing
Wow! Gorgeous design and great video. Love it.
Glad you like it!
Im in the market for one of these!! Love it 🙂
Cool video. I don’t know if I’d go to the expense of buying one though. What I do is just have a printed time base in 1/10 stop increments from 5 seconds to 80:seconds on the wall that I can refer to, so adjusting the time is a simple matter of looking at the time base and sliding up and down the increments as needed. My timer does partial seconds in 1/10 second increments already, so I can already set the time to within a tenth of a second of what the time base would specify.
I also print with a constant black and adjust the filter settings to fit the negative contrast to the paper contrast where the film base plus fog is max paper density, and yes, I have the time changes for each contrast filter also printed on the wall. All I do is set my enlarger to the print size I want, focus the negative, then take it out, put a grade 3 filter in, and make one test strip to determine the time needed to hit max paper black for that enlargement size. From there, I know how much time to change for each filter (for that paper), and to get the time for the actual negative, I measure the film base plus fog with a hand held densitometer (made by xrite), and add that exposure change to the grade 3 paper black time as my base time. From there, it’s just sliding up and down the time scale for each contrast filter. No more test strips required, and I always have maximum paper black.
Only one thing to say....Sunday morning....fantastic 👌
I use the RH Designs Analyser Pro 500 f Stop timer for my DeVere 203 as it has a Ilford Multigrade head installed on it.
I also use the standard Analyser Pro f Stop timer on my DeVere 504 with a normal bulb head.
Both timers have a probe to measure the highlights and shadows to give you a very good print first time.
I also use its test strip function when I want more control over the final image. f Stop printing is the way to go.
That just shows how inventive you really are. At the start of your video when you were caught out steaming up that shot. Thanks for that wonderful moment, it is priceless.😂
Made me chuckle
Thank you for the video!
I worked out the math for stops and do this the "hard" way, but I made a chart of 1/3 stop increments for various base times. I also marked off the edge of my easel with masking tape to make it easier to get even sized strips when moving the mask around. This timer looks really cool and would speed things up a bit.
Entertaining and seriously informative. Thank you sir for your efforts!
Briliant video! I actually got Nocon´s book after seeing this video and just this evening in the darkroom after seeing one of “The Naked Photographer´s” videos on split printing a tried something…just for fun and it seemed to work.
I combined F-stop printing with split grade. I exposed the entire paper with a Ilford 0 filter as you showed (and explained in the book) for 5, 10, 20 and 40 seconds. But I did that horizontally. Then I did the same thing with a Ilford 5 filter but vertically. So when I developed the print I got a 4x4 grid pattern with 16 different F-stop combinations of 0 and 5 filter combinations. From 5sec 0 +5sec 5 to 40sec 0 + 40sec 5. So I got 0 on the X-axis and 5 on the Y-axis.
Anyway just a small thing I thought to chare. Keep up the brilliant work!
Very cool tech. It’s like the photo equivalent of eurorack. Definitely a GAS generator 😄
That's a nifty piece of kit. You may have seen a multi-part article on 35mmc by Sroyon which describes f-stop timing when printing in great detail. Covers a lot of the basic principals of it, and why one might want to use (or switch to) it when printing. Well worth a read. I use f-stop timing myself when printing and localised test strips, and I definitely save paper. Also worth calibrating your enlarger for contrast grades to understand the difference in timings needed to achieve equivalent highlight or shadow for different contrast grades. Always good to understand your own enlarger :-) Using f-stop timing makes that pretty simple to do and while in many cases the timings are often rounded up (or down) due to most timers not having less than one second resolution, I've found it works great. The series on 35mmc is well worth a read. Cheers, Matt
Great results! I think a groove in the buttons with a white line would mean you could feel the location as well as see it. Well out of my budget but I love the idea. Thanks for sharing that Roger.
Nice demo of the timer it is convenient. Shout out to Genes book which has so many other tips for those without access to top of line equipment to make pro quality prints. Beyond Monochrome is another great book breaking this down but Genes book is simpler for F-stop timing beginners. The test strip tool is in Beyond book really helps consistency. I have used this method since my start or percentages in a pinch.
Just moved to f stop printing. Using the FADU timer app on android with a Wi-Fi relay, total cost £20 including a switch box to put it in. Works perfectly and the app functionality is really good. Highly recommend this for good value f stop printing. I have an old android phone on red at lowest brightness and on a phone stand beside the enlarger.
Thanks for sharing
I always printed this way so when I read about Gene Nocon in AP and his new timer I ordered one. He rang me up to see if I wanted to send him some prints for his new upcoming book. The Nocon timer has a slopping design and also has a foot switch which is invaluable when burning in and dodging. The only thing I found when printing 16" x 20" prints was that I would have liked the timer to go down to 1/8 of a stop sometimes (it made me want to get even more from the print).
Great video! I have been us in the RH Design f stop timer for a while. It's an absolute game changer! We use f stops when taking photos, so why not in the darkroom? It makes total sense to do so. Much more consistent and predictable results.
Love your channel. Great content.
Really cool. Wish I could use it with my VC head.
Im quite interested how it would in combination with split grade printing. Expensive but also uite tempting to get one!
No different to a normal timer for split grading. Give or take a ms of light.
Enjoyed the video and explanation of the fstop timer. I have to say that at $600 that it would take a long time of "paper" waste to make up that cost. Also, it doesn't take me that long to find the exposure for my print. Also in 50 years of printing I have never changed the print size after I found the exposure. I generally know what size I want before I check for exposure but that is just how I work and I understand others may work differently. The device is nifty and filomat makes high precision stuff. However, It isn't anything that I would care to pay for and use but it was interesting to see it working.
Quite......just look at the best of the best photographers/printers work of 50 yers ago (and before)
Shame it's SO expensive, specially when you have to import and pay taxes... But I'd love to have one. Meanwhile I'll go with my "approximately" F-stop timer - my old faithful Gralab 300 and "guess time" mind calculations
Thanks for the easy to follow video! My question is slightly off topic - @ 06m15s your paper already has an illuminated border - may I ask how did you establish this? with your enlarger??
Bought my Gene Nocon f-stop timer on Fleabay complete with cables and transformer for 30 sobs. Looks and works like new. 👍🏻
Result! They are few and far between!
Can't understand why they don't pitch 'em at half that price and sell ten times more... 🤔
Thanks for the great video! This comes at a good time for me, as I'm thinking of building my own darkroom timer using an ESP-32 microcontroller. What I want to have in the timer is four functions: First, regular and f-stop printing of test strips. Second, a foot pedal (you mentioned in the video that you don't need that). Third, an exposure meter that helps finding the settings for the first test strip and also the best contrast grade to start with. Then, finally, a flash light source and timer for flashing - for those of us who have only one enlarger and can't use a separate one for flashing. The pedal, exposure meter and flash light source would be battery operated, wireless devices. Just curious whether other people have similar things they would like in their timer.
The foot pedal is handy when you have two hands over the paper for burning or dodging
Great
Gene has a system that is most useful when many customer negatives are to be printed, but your own should have consistency, and a finer increment in the test exposure works better. The system I use is based on area of the projected image (not the print) with a constant f-stop. @f8 an 8x10 image might take 5 seconds (my negs are consistent and this is pretty close for my work) so a 16x20 print should take 4 times as much exposure. The best way of getting this increased exposure is via f-stops (in this case open 2 stops) since they do not introduce reciprocity law failure. Contrast filtration is likewise calibrated one time, and that coefficient is thereafter used. Different paper have various light sensitivity (speed) and they have a different base exposure. e.g. one paper is 5 seconds @ f/8, one is 7 seconds, one is 12 seconds and interpositives take .5 sec. You could always use a darkroom meter... Great video!
If the test strip mode works anything like the RH Designs timers changing the mode to "single" will make single exposure sections instead of incrementally adding light to each section in an effort to counteract bulb ramping. With "single" mode you'd put your piece of paper down and COVER the entire piece except for the first strip. You then cover the exposed section and uncover the next section and so on. The overall time to make a test strip is much longer than the incremental method as you're doing base, base + 1/3, base + 2/3 etc but you mitigate the compound effects of bulb ramping which depending on your enlarger, bulb and timer combination may be noticeable.
Nice. I'll have to try that as I havn't used it in single mode yet fully.
There are timers that allow you to expose in fractions of seconds.
I'm impressed. I want one but it costs more than my de vere 504 enlarger
I am Vat registered so I inquired if they can export without Vat and I am pay it in the uk , they could not seem to do it so I would pay 19% vat in Germany plus a further 20 % vat in uk !
Really neat - expensive but neat.
I'd love to see Interepid add a software update to the compact enalrger to support this. In Black and White you've got a couple of spare knobs that could be put to work. Wouldn't be perfect, but I reckon it could get the job done.
Good shout!
How does it work with split grade printing?
White Light printing. F-Stop timers. Are you going to revive the Watkins Factor Devloping next? Basically is allows you to use any developer at any temperature (within reason) at any strength (reason again) and get the same looking print each time. It uses the property of silver developing that from the first appearance of black is a fixed fraction of total development. The Factor a fixed number for a given developer / paper combo. If you have a slow film that you can develop under a safe light, this is grand. Modern films are to fast and can see Red. But paper works just fine, like olde timey glass plates. Alfred Watkins in 93 or so came up with the idea. ETI magazine has an article about it, Project 594. Alfred even wrote a book about it.
There’s a f-Stop timer app I use in my printing
I now have Timer Envy 😂
I think $600 would be better spent on more paper. I'd still like to try this method, but my timer is only 2 digits so I'll have to round off the double digit decimals. As for paper waste, I never use a full sheet - so it wouldn't be too beneficial for me. I'm very stingey the way it is!
I don't use a full sheet either Dane, I did hear Dane video.
A few guys mentioned the AC connector is unfavorable placed at the left side.
I don't think it has room to go anywhere else at the back. No problem for me as my timers have always been on the left of the enlarger. (Luckily).
@@ShootFilmLikeaBoss in this case you are a lucky analogous guy ;-)
It’s a shame the +/- light indicator strip isn’t shared between the two paths. Seems like it’d be useful to have a visual indication of where your current time settings are in relation to the base when doing the real print.
I think I know what you mean. I know where I am from my test strip writing the +/- on the paper.
At the price I just wonder how many will buy this equipment..........
And its guts really only cost a few bucks to make
why isn’t this marked as advertisement?
because it's not paid! This is a film photography channel no different to showing what a roll of FP4 does. Jeez!
ahh i thought u got this thing for free and the deal is this kinda review @@ShootFilmLikeaBoss
@@ShootFilmLikeaBossya don’t have to reply to everyone. Enjoyed video. Keep working with it, it looks like fun.
How did you arrived at you start time of 10 seconds?
It's just a base time to work from. If my negative was thin I'd have probably started at less, or dense, maybe more.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how this thing does anything that you can't do in your head for free.
You can't say that it saves on test strips because you still have to use them.
When you did the test strips the old-fashioned way, you knew that you had to go halfway between the two times.
Even the 2/3 more stops for the enlargement is a simple calculation. And with everyone having access to a phone or calculator, even someone who is bad at math can do it.
No-one should construe any of this as an attack on the maker. If they can make money on this, more power to them.
The math doesnt fit, 10 seconds is actually 9,8 and other times are different as well. Except 3,5sec.
That price for a total of 40€ parts???
It's a simple piece of software and some knobs. No way to justify the price. Realistically it should be something like $150. Anyway I rather waste some more test paper...
A Rolex watch is just a bunch of gears in a metal case. Realistically it should be something like $10.
So when are you releasing your version? Don't forget the engraved letter in the metal case and being European safe as opposed to Chinese safe on mains voltage. I've got my 150, where is the timer? - Dunning Kruger
@@Pixelwaster What I mean is that it should not be a luxury product. I appreciate the quality and effort and I know it won't be a mass produced item, but still it's a switch with a timer. I myself made similar products, metal box with few leds, microcontroller inside etc and it should not cost more than $150. I spent tens of thousands on my photo gear, but this one is really just too much. Whoever uses it probably will be very happy, but it's not for me.
@@peinmilan Yeah, easy to make with an Arduino or STM32. Parts, probably £30. However making a pretty box to put it in is the hard part with any home-made project. Then, as it is electrickery, type approvals would probably come into play. Then development & production costs etc. But still, £500 is steep.
I'm thinking of making an auto-twiddler for my developing tank using an Arduino. Dial in the total dev time, number of twiddles, initial twiddle length & subsequent twiddle times. Arduino would drive a stepper motor connected to the twiddle stick by a model boat universal joint.
@@peinmilan I think you have to account for people's time to design, market and sell it, plus the standard overheads of the business. I'm guessing they aren't expecting to sell very many of them, being somewhat a niche product. Then of course, they need to make a profit. Is it worth it? I'm not sure. For the committed hobbyist who had to have the best of everything? Maybe?
Photography is absolutely loaded with stupid, nonsensical, downright bad ideas. This one may well be the king of them all. Brain surgery with a sharpened spoon would be a much better idea!
$600? lol.
too complicated for my level of intelligence.
Took me a while to get my head around! And I'm just one step on the ladder!
Crazy price. No thanks.
Explote. Martín