Saturday, 15 June 2013

Status update regarding my flash adapter for the Nikon V1/V2

Well, after I made the first seven I considered the appearance not to be good enough for selling these adapters and I realized that the tools I have are not enough to make it better looking. So that gave me three options.

  1. to let some company make the part which I cannot do on my own
  2. to buy or build a CNC (computer controlled milling machine) which could be used to make better looking adapters, all repeatable and very similar to each other as opposed to my first seven, which are all individuals and have a "hand made" look
  3. to just ignore the project all together and give up
I opted for the first two, starting with the first one. I asked a local company make me 10 pieces. These are just partially ready and still needs some finishing plus the final installation on a hot shoe. To let a company make part of the adapter is very expensive and strictly speaking, I know I am going to make a financial loss on this, but I will test the market and sell them once I am ready with all the 10. It took some time to find a company which could make my 10 pieces at a reasonable price since I was not ready to pay any amount. Low volumes have very high prices normally, and this is no exception, but I am not ready to order higher volume at this moment, partially because at this moment I am not sure I can sell them, and partially because I am also working on option 2, building a CNC which can be used for this and for some other projects I have in mind for the N1 and other cameras. All that plus the fact that it is summer in this part of the world with a lot to do around the house, being outdoors and so on, resulted in a halt (or at least a break) in the progress. I will not start selling before I have all the ten ready, so that might take some more time. If I sell all 10 within a short period of time I may decide to continue and make them in higher volumes, but I may also just give up if I get tired of it because of all the trouble and all the time it takes plus the costs involved.
I hope this is for answering the questions I receive about why it is taking so long. Anyway, there is no product for sale yet. Sorry to have to keep you waiting a little longer, be patient, it is on the way.

Updated information:

The adapter is now available. Read about the details here:

http://adapting-camera.blogspot.se/2015/08/the-v1-f1a-is-dead-long-live-v2-f1a.html


If you are interested, here is a short video about it as well:

 
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23 comments:

  1. Nurazwan Hasan18 July 2013 at 16:39

    Really excited to know that you are still working on it. Will make it a point to be one of the first to buy once its available. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. marcus1 August 2013 at 11:01

    Glad to see this hasn't been kicked into the long grass !, I'm assuming that it will also be able trigger pocket wizard etc ? Is there a waiting list ? or any other way of notifying us when they are ready?
    Thanks, Marcus

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adapting Camera10 November 2014 at 09:18

      Sorry for the late answer but the project took longer than expected. Yes, of course you can use the Pocket Wizard and most probably all the other radio triggers as well.

      The adapter is available now. There is no waiting list, first come first served, but currently I only have a few left and I don't know at this stage when I will be able to make more. Check for the details:

      http://adapting-camera.blogspot.se/2014/10/introducing-v1-f1a-generic-flash.html

      Delete
  3. Unknown2 August 2013 at 11:02

    I'm very impatient, very great JOB. I will be the first to buy it just give me the link ^^

    best regards

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adapting Camera10 November 2014 at 09:21

      Thank you for your interest. Sorry for the late answer but the project took longer than expected.

      The adapter is available now. There is no waiting list, first come first served, but currently I only have a few left and I don't know at this stage when I will be able to make more. Check for the details:

      http://adapting-camera.blogspot.se/2014/10/introducing-v1-f1a-generic-flash.html

      Delete
  4. nik4 August 2013 at 05:16

    I am intersted to get one as well. Please update the progress. All the best.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adapting Camera10 November 2014 at 09:23

      Thank you for your interest. Sorry for the late answer but the project took longer than expected.

      The adapter is available now. There is no waiting list, first come first served, but currently I only have a few left and I don't know at this stage when I will be able to make more. Check for the details:

      http://adapting-camera.blogspot.se/2014/10/introducing-v1-f1a-generic-flash.html

      Delete
  5. Unknown6 August 2013 at 21:55

    Have you considered using a 3D printer to aid in fabrication, perhaps with ABS plastic?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adapting Camera20 September 2013 at 14:36

      Hi,
      3D printers can not be used due to the high accuracy required for the adapter. Commercially available 3D printers are still very expensive and pretty inaccurate, and also the plastic used in those is not as durable as the one necessary for the strength. They are also very slow.

      Delete
  6. Unknown30 August 2013 at 07:16

    Can your adapter allow traditional Nikon flash (such as SB-600, SB-800) to use on V1 in TTL mode?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adapting Camera20 September 2013 at 14:37

      The adapter will be able to trigger those flashes but not in TTL mode. Sorry.

      Delete
  7. António Duarte21 September 2013 at 13:43

    Hi

    If you would consider selling me one of the 1st 7 prototypes I'd be very interested. I care for funcionality, not looks, so I don't really care if they're not "pretty" or whatever.
    You can contact me at apedro.duarte at gmail.com

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  8. Unknown23 September 2013 at 20:59

    Hi, been waiting for this since May... Hopefully this will be available soon! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adapting Camera29 October 2013 at 19:48

      Sorry for the delay. It was a summer season here with a lot of other things to do, so my priorities were set on other things. Yes, my intention is definitely to make this available.

      Delete
  9. gMac25 October 2013 at 18:36

    Would you consider publishing the schematics ?
    I think I can easily cast a mold of the coldshoe dumb adapter and embed the wires in a new mold with casting resins.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adapting Camera29 October 2013 at 19:46

      Sorry gMac, at this moment I will not publish the schematics, but if you think it is so easy to mold with the high accuracy needed, please make a copy of the SB-N5 shoe, embed the wires and send me 10 pieces. If all 10 fits the accuracy needs I will make an adapter for you free of charge and we may continue making business together. Let me know if you are interested, but I think you underestimate the difficulties.

      Delete
  10. marcus23 January 2014 at 15:13

    Hi,
    Any developments? are you still intending to wotk on the adapter? I would really like to buy one if you do.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adapting Camera13 February 2014 at 11:15

      Hi Marcus,
      Yes, I still intend to make this available but I was too busy and had no possibility to proceed. Sorry.

      Delete
    2. marcus26 February 2014 at 12:11

      Great news, will keep an eye on progress !
      I love my V1, but as someone who has a separate camera bag just for my speedlights & pocket wizards it's frustrating not having access to them with the V1

      Delete
  11. shorebreeze18 March 2014 at 14:40

    Keep going with it. Remember that some of us have absolutely no intention of putting a full-size flash directly on the adapter, but rather using an SC cable with it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Loonymoon23 March 2014 at 12:00

    As the V3 also doesn't have a standard hotshoe, there is considerable interest in this project so good luck and keep going. I'm sure if you can overcome the problems etc associated you would sell LOTS and it'd all be worth while.

    I run a Nikon 1 enthusiasts group on Facebook and there's a pool of people there who would be very interested and are still very positive about the 1 system despite Nikon seemingly doing lots to make people hate them (EVF OR flash.... what's that all about) anyway keep up the good work and I can't wait to see this project come to fruition.

    For me triggering off cam flash is the main reason, so radio triggers mainly as I can't imagine sticking my SB800 on the tiny cam!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adapting Camera9 April 2014 at 22:01

      Stay tuned. News are on the way... Some of you may be be happy soon.

      Delete
    2. Loonymoon10 April 2014 at 00:36

      Yay... can't wait!

      Delete

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