Anyone using autofocus with a two prong blow switch?

[VTmotoMike08 0]

Its been about 2 weeks since I started using a blow switch. I posted a thread on here previously about how I hard a hard time choosing a switch. I love the blow switch, I really want to stay with it.

The blow switch has only two terminals (prongs) so I can't hook up the autofocus wire... I think. On the advice of another camera flyer, I taped my zoom ring all the way out (already was doing that) then taped my focus ring almost to infinity, so it should have been focused when it was pointing at the distance that I should be from my target. Well... my pictures suck. Its better in very bring light but even then I can't make out clear details on rigs and I couldn't even get decent face shots. I know some people can take awesome shots on manual focus but I am not at that point yet (but any tips would be great!).

I don't want to tear up my switch which is carefully crimped and gaffered if there is no way to do this, but does anyone know a way to wire an autofocus wire into a blow switch? Can I just put it on the same terminal as on of the other wires? I was hoping that some who gave me tips on wiring my own switch in my previous thread could help me here.

Thanks
Edit: I'm using a Canon Rebel XT (350D) in sports mode set to multishot.

[lewmonst 0]

Solder the Focus and Shutter Release wires together, then solder them to one terminal on your switch.
Solder the ground to the other terminal.
This will set up your camera to focus and take a photo simultaneously.

This works pretty well 95% of the time. The only time you might have an issue is with a fast changing focal distance, there could be some hesitation in the shutter release.

An alternative is to solder the focus and the ground together on one terminal, and the shutter release on the other. The downside to that is that as long as the switch is plugged in to the camera, it will constantly be focussing, thus draining the battery faster than normal. However it will not hesitate to take the photo when you blow in the switch.

Make sense?

You can get a basic soldering kit from radio shack for 8 bucks. You can ask the kid there for tips on how to do it or search the internet. (Put the heat shrink somewhere on the wires before soldering - that was my last mistake)

Depending on your camera, lens, and knowledge, generally using AutoFucos in AI Servo mode will yield the best results. Also try using all 9 focal points. But yeah, you definitely need to hook up the focus wire.

There are occasional situations I will use manual focus, but it's pretty rare.

Good luck.

http://www.exitshot.com

[VTmotoMike08 0]

Thanks, thats pretty much exactly what I needed to know! Isn't the internet great

You don't happen to know off hand which is the ground prong on the skydance blow switch do you? Top prong or bottom? I can play with it until I figure it out if needed. last time I crimped it and put a ton of gaffers over it instead of soldering so hopefully I can make that work again.

[lewmonst 0]

it doesn't matter which prong you use, all you do when you blow the switch is close the circuit telling the camera to fire.

http://www.exitshot.com

[Icon134 0]

I found a schematic of the plug on flickr 6 months or so ago by doing a search on google... using the schematic and a digital mulitmeter I was able to figure out which wire was associated the ground/switch/focus...

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[lewmonst 0]

Or just have the camera plugged in and test by touching the wires together...

http://www.exitshot.com

[Icon134 0]

Quote

Or just have the camera plugged in and test by touching the wires together...

I created an adapter to go from a 2.5mm female to an N-type plug (for a 50D) and had some difficulty trying to wire it properly by just doing trial and error... whereas the schematic worked quite well (the first time)

I found it quite quickly through a google search.

Scott

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...