A Look inside John Huffman’s Buz3 Camera Controller with FLiP Multicore Module

In January 2024, we showed John Huffman’s new Buz3 Camera Lens Controller for zoom, focus, and iris control of cinema-style lenses. With successful sales of his new Buz3 underway, we invited him back to the Propeller Live Forum on July 10th to give us a little more in-depth look at how he’s using the FLiP Multicore Module (Propeller 1) and P2-EC (Propeller 2) in the Ultimate 1 and Buz3 equipment. In the video above, John talks more in-depth about the end-user interface with the Nextion programmable display, the Propeller 1 and 2 control electronics, and how the system is interfaced with the motors. John uses the FLiP Module because it allows him to quickly revise and customize his products, with only minor external circuitry changes, or as he says “away we go!”

If you’ve watched the Super Bowl, then you’ve experienced John’s work as the flying cameras are positioned over the game to get the perfect video. 

It’s exciting for Parallax to see another Propeller application achieve commercial success. There’s a certain niche fit of the Parallax Propeller modules for products like this one, often sharing these characteristics:

• Production build quantities are usually less than 100 units at a time;
• Using a socketed FLiP or P2-EC module and their advantages of a compact, tested surface-mount design with power supply and protected I/O pins;
• External circuitry can be quickly revised through changes to wiring or through-hole electronics; and
• Small off-the-shelf enclosures are modified to hold the project.  

Thank you for sharing the project with the community, John!  

Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.