new here..can anyone help please!!

Hey guys...I am a commercial archaeologist and I have recently been getting into elevated photography for use on sites. I have a military mast, a canon 500D, and have just bought a second hand Maxwell MP-101 pan and tilt unit. It comes with all the kit for using a pc to control it, which is fine, but for times when I dont want to control it on the laptop it has a remote for controlling it.

Only snag is, the remote cable is only about a metre long. I notice I can buy an extension for 20 quid or so,
http://www.cameragrip.​co.uk …ial_Mast_Photog​raphy.html
but I was wondering if it would be possible to make one up myself, and what cables I would use?...or if there is a cheaper alternative of the same cable around??

Hope someone can help! cheers!!

dont see why you couldnt just extend it yourself. Looks like 8 pins on the inside and 1 for ground. Though it might be a bit tough to find a 9 conductor cable. Might have to use two cables.

I'm sure you could do it yourself, but frankly I don't see you saving all that much money. Not to mention having to find the appropriate connectors and cable. I'd just buy the factory cable.

It would be a lot easier to just buy an extension for less then 20 quid. Making one you would need to buy a spool of cable, two ends, soldering iron and/or crimping tool. I'm sure it would be a lot cheaper and easier to just buy one already made.

Take Care,
Cheers, Patrick

cool...thanks for your help guys...I am right in saying that the hague cable in the link is the one that would fit the remote cable supplied with the Maxwell MP-101 pan and tilt unit that I have just bought?...

I did have a further question...I notice that I can purchase a plate to increase the tilt of the camera from 15 degrees to 30 degrees...but I think I am going to need more of a tilt than that, as the pics we take generally need to be as vertical as possible. Does anyone have any experience/ideas on doing this? cheers!!

For only £20, quite frankly I wouldn't bother trying to make one. The plugs and cable will cost you at least half that, then you have the labour of soldering up. They don't look like standard 8 pin DIN plugs either so you may spend quite some time searching for them and the cable.

Physically possible, of course, (what isn't?) but to save a maximum of £10 excluding labour even I would give this one a miss.

cool...just ordered the cable from the hague website...pretty sure its the right one for the unit...thanks for your advice...sometimes its just not worth the hastle, and I think you guys are right!