Made me a vfx kit, had some spare color, so I made a few more....

So this is more of a show and tell:
I do sell those a kit on the bottom of the page, to see if there is some commercial interest in them. If it does I 'll might go full on commercial with them. So its more of a test balloon than anything else. Maybe this article also provide some inspiration for others to make their own kits.

These kits are handmade prototype builds, so slight variations and defects might occur, and since they are privately sold, no return is possible. Thats one of the reasons I can offer them at a significant lower price than any other vfx kits I've seen.

Ok, lets see whats in the kit:


Mirror Ball

Mirror sphere with standard quick release plate

The mirror ball is a steel ball with 15 cm in diameter. The company wich produces them says its stainless steel, but it fails the magnetic test. From my drilling experience its definitive harder than regular steel. It features a 1/4 inch male adapter and a secondary 3/8 female converter with a 1/4 inch removeable inlay.

Please note that it features micro scratches and slightly visible weld seam. These do not interfere with the intended usage (alignment / color adjustments) and can't be avoided by me. (I already get them this way). Please be aware of this.

Mechanical connection is a bit weak: Use it like any other optical device and you are good. Don't put hard pressure on it. (Like shaking). (Updated version features a stronger mechanical connection, might be a bit of center though)


GREY BALL

Grey Ball with panoramic quick release plate

The grey ball is made out of plastic with a close to neutral grey paint applied. It features a visible seam (see image below), where the sides have been welded. I could sand it down, but I fear that this would produce different surface properties (more or less smooth than the rest) wich would have negative impact on the overall performance of the ball.
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The connector is a female 1/4 screw. The paint is applied in multiple layers.
Like the mirror ball, treat it like any optical device, it is recommended to touch it with gloves only, or just at the stem of the sphere. There is no secondary layer to secure the paint. (To avoid specular reflections), wich makes it more prone to scratches

This also comes with either a Bexin QR-plate or a "panorama" QR plate.

Additionally the painted ball is measured by a datacolor colorreader at 5 locations across the sphere and a measurement protocoll is accompanied with each individual ball. A sample of the color is applied to a patch wich is kept secure for 4 years at my location just in case I get better measurement equipment.  If this happens (wich I can't promise) You get the updated data free of charge


THE HANDLE / QR SYSTEM

The horicontal bar with 2 panoramic quick release clamps

The complete set comes with 3 standard bexin, Arca Swiss, quick release systems. or you can get panoramic QR plates wich are compatible with some quick release systems of certain panorama heads. (Basically these are Arca Swiss, with an additional safety pin. They do work with standard arca swiss quick release plates, although you need to be carefull that they don't fall out.

Arca Swiss standard vs Arca Swiss panoramic

Arca Swiss panoramic on the horizontal bar / handle

The vertical handle is 27cm wide with a maximum distance of 24cm between the screws.

The idea behind the usage of a quick release system is that you just exchange your camera with the reference spheres. Reducing the need to just one tripod, or the need to exchange the complete head. This minimizes operation time on location, and reducing the amount of gear to wear. (Put the set together and swap it out in seconds) and additionally allows you to quickly swap out the bar with the mirror sphere / grey sphere only. This also ensures that both spheres are as close as possible to the position you shot the panorma.

Another set with a tablet holder and a quick release plate, to swap out the spheres with a color chart is planed, once I really go the commercial route.

The additional usage of a handheld bar handle is also an option, but I need feedback if this is really a thing people want.

Panorama head not included

Packaging


All balls have a cheap artificial velvet bag incuded (With the velvet side put inside)

As a bonus all kits comes with a semi transparent vfx spheres sticker Either put it on the case, or on your car etc. If there is interest I might even sell T-shirts with the logo

Sticker applied and unaplied

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE BUYING !!

There are some downsides, wich you should be known before buying

Privatly hand made in free time - Only these sets are aviable
These are hand made in my free time, you get minor difference between each kit, and small incosistencies might happen. The case version uses the standard cube divided insets (meaning: no custom cut foam), but I will not offer another one (see below). Since they are privatetly sold, no return is possible.


Micro scratches on Mirror Ball / visible seam.
There is absolutely nothing I can do about this, those are already included when I got my batch. Interestingly I got some with less visible seam / more visible from the same vendor. They don't affect the performance of the set, See image to judge if thats ok for you or not. You can perfectly align and adjust your hdri with those balls, but don't expect that you get a perfect high res hdri out of them.

Weak Connection on the Mirror Ball
The Connection to the mirror ball is not as strong as I wanted it. Especially on the prototype.
A new production method has been applied wich makes the connection to the ball much more riggid.

Weld seam on the Plastic ball
The plastic ball comes with a seam. I don't want to remove it before painting, because I fear it would destroy the eveness of the surface, wich would have an bigger impact on the overall performance than the seam itself.

Visible seam on grey ball at its worst side

Color of the grey ball
I went full on, and buyed the professional Normlicht GTI N5 Neutral Color for the sets I'm selling, and I'm a bit disapointed, the RAL 7037 I use for my own ball is actually closer to neutral grey and features less glossiness. A measurement protocoll is attached to each ball so you can use them for perfect correlation.

The N5 measures around an rgb value of 120 while the RAL 7037 has a rgb value of 122. The measurement system has an accuracy of 93% so it might be actual correct. I did some mathematical tricks on the measurement data, to even out the results a bit more. As said I keep a patch of the color at hand in case I get a better measurement system

measurement example

Save some good money, buy without case!!
Honestly custom made cases would significantly increase the production costs and time.
I would dream to provide a professional looking custom branded, with custom made inlay, case but whats the point beyond prestige ?

Point is if you want to bring a case to location you surely want to include other usefull stuff for lighting / set aquirement, like a color chart, measurement equipment, a lux / spektrometer etc,..or maybe not....maybe you just want to put stuff in a backpack and travel lightly.
So either way I'm pretty sure I would send you an oversized or undersized case to you. Especially at that diameter of the sphere, cases get overproportionally expensive and quite big.

Not to mention the production cost logic: I would have to buy them with shipping cost, tear out the foam and add this to my usual rate (and some extra for logistics costs, like keeping them in storrage) and then ship it to you with additional shipping costs. All for a task you could do for yourself quite easily. I currently  don't have a secret ressource where I can get them cheaper than you, and as said this is not a mass product yet to get some bulk order reduction.


Pricing / Aviablity
Currently its a test balloon and I just sell two kit below on ebay privatly (I've got the ressources for more kits in different configurations, just contact me), if I sell those during a year, I'll do it commercially. This will include a proper website and company setup (but since its such a specialised topic  I doubt this will happen... I would be glad if it just covers my expenses).
For now just use the ebay system for contact inquiries and buissness releated stuff. Renember: I want to keep this site primarly uncommercial.


Anyway here are the links to these sets, privatly sold, no return:

15cm Mirror and Greyball with a 2 Quick Release systems an additional quick release plate and connection bar 190 euro
This is the set you need if you have an arca swiss compatible panoramic head. Prototype price

15cm Mirror and Greyball with a 2 Panoramic Quick Release system, a third Panoramic plate and connection bar 210 euro
This is the set, wich uses arca swiss compatible system wich also have a safety pin. (See image above)

Not sold yet, I can put together in a week if there is some interest in it. Also I can paint them with ral 7037 if there is interest. Just post in the forum and I setup an ebay link:

15cm Mirror and Greyball with a Panoramic Quick Release system connection bar and case 350 euro
The whole shebang.

All sets come with velvet bags, a measurement protocoll for the grey ball and a sticker additionally.
The panoramic head is not included in any of the sets.