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Modifying Rob Crockett's LANC Shepherd


Rob Crockett's LANC Shepherd is a great device for twinning two Sony cameras with a very good synchronization.

Here is Rob Crockett's home pageExternal link.


A problem with the wires


At first I left the LANC Shepherd dangling at the end of its wires. That proved to be a bad idea as the wires have been showing bad contacts after only 2 weeks usage.

I then proceed to replace the wires. The hard part was finding the 2.5 mm stereo jacks that fit into the Camera. I haven't been able to find the angled type and have used the standard one but without the plastic cover and bending the wires so it will the flatter possible.

The new wires lasted another 2 weeks and it was time to devise a new setting. I wanted to have cables that can be easily replaced so using connectors was the way to go. I've been able to place inside the LANC Shepherd two RJ-9 sockets. That's the smallest of the RJ connectors, it's the one used in telephone handsets (4 conductors) and is reliable. With easily exchangeable wires you can have a set of spare ones in your photo bag and also a set of longer ones for hyperstereo.

There is not enough room at the top of the LANC Shepherd (where the original wires were located) for the RJ-9 sockets but fortunately at the bottom there is plenty of room once the little buzzer (for the self-timer) is bent back into vertical position.

Note: This is not possible with the enhanced "Pro" version of the LANCShepherd, the circuit board id occupying all the space (the buzzer has been removed).


A safer on/off button


Another small problem with the LANC Shepherd is that the original white "On/Off" button (the second from the left) is protruding too much and can be accidentally pressed. If this occurs while the rig is stored in a bag the extension of the lenses will be blocked and the lens mechanism can be damaged.

Here the original button has been replaced with another that doesn't protrude at all.


Inside of the LANCShepherd


Here we can see the two RJ-9 sockets glued together by their top with superglue. The sockets have a small ridge that nicely fits in a groove in the LANC Shepherd shell. When the LANC Shepherd shell is closed, the RJ-9 sockets do not move at all.

The new wiring between the sockets and the LANC Shepherd PCB can also be seen (white-blue-green cables).

We can also see the new On/Off button. It's just a piece of electric wire insulator fitted over the original electric switch. It doesn't protrude at all but still can be operated easily.


My twin Sony V1 rig


Here is my stereo rig: two Sony DSC-V1 side-by-side on a simple aluminium L-shaped plate. That gives me a 110mm stereo base. The LANC Shepherd is attached at the base of the rig with Velcro.

Just to be sure every thing will be working while away from home I have made three pairs of compact LANC Shepherd wires (in the lower left) for my rig. They are not of the same length: the ones intended for the left camera are shorter. No more dangling wires !

In the upper right corner are the long (1 m each) wires for hyperstereo shooting.


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