elysia RamperPro User Manual

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

RamperPro User Manual

[1]

The history of the ElysiaVisuals RamperPro time lapse controller started in 2011. The general consensus at that time was that it is not possible to make good sunset time lapse movies with a Nikon camera. These movies are made by ramping the exposure time of the camera. Its getting darker but the exposure is made longer in small steps which results day to night transitions. The same is true the other way around for sun rises. Classic ramping solutions worked by using bulb ramping. The camera is set to bulb and the bulb time is accurately controlled by the time lapse controller. This gives a limited use because you cannot use fast shutter speeds or bulb times faster than approximately

0.3 seconds. Classic bulb ramping cannot be done with a Nikon because you cannot achieve any desired bulb speeds because Nikon uses discrete steps in bulb.

Here the RamperPro steps in. You can use any desired shutter speed or any desired bulb speed to create ramping sequences. The camera is automatically controlled via USB by the controller. That makes it possible to automatically shift the ISO during your shoot. The RamperPro can therefore easily ramp over 20 stops from bright day light to stars. We like to talk about exposure ramping and not about bulb ramping because you are not limited to bulb mode when you use the RamperPro.

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 1 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

The RamperPro still uses bulb mode to get the best out of your digital Nikon, Canon or any other brand camera. We use three cables to connect a camera in order to get full control. The RamperPro uses a USB cable to control shutter speeds or any other camera settings. The remote connection of your camera is also connected to the RamperPro to trigger the camera. We don't use USB to trigger the camera because this can cause lag. This way the RamperPro can fire the camera very accurately; it can even trigger two camera's at exactly the same time. The third cable to your camera is only needed in bulb mode. The RamperPro uses this cable the accurately measure the exposure time of the camera in bulb mode. The RamperPro can detect if this cable is not available or not connected properly and the controller will show an error message when this is true.

The RamperPro offers true automatic exposure ramping. The RamperPro uses an external light sensor that is used to determine the trend in the ambient light. That way the RamperPro can detect if you are shooting a sunset or a sunrise. The light sensor measures the trend in light in minutes per stop. This means that the RamperPro will automatically start ramping during a sunset. The minutes per stop is large (40 minutes) 30 minutes before a sunset and around 10 minutes during the actual sunset. This is very accurately measured by the RamperPro and used in the ramping algorithm.

We have added a unique feature that has never been available on a hand-held time lapse controller. The RamperPro can download the actual jpeg images that are shot by the camera. This only works when your camera is set in raw + jpeg. The downloaded jpeg images are then analyzed by the RamperPro. The resulting histogram is used by the ramping software. This way you can never have over exposed images when you are shooting a sunset. The histogram analysis software acts as a hand break when you are accidentally ramping too fast or when the defined end exposure is too bright.

RamperPro full auto test straight into the sun [2] from Andre Crone [3] on Vimeo [4].

Important before you start

How to power the RamperPro

The RamperPro has no built-in battery. We have done that because we believe that its better to have options when you want to power the RamperPro. The unit will approximately use 5 Watts. That means that you will have a very long runtime when you use a 11000mAh LiPo battery. There are two ways that you can use to power your RamperPro:

Use a "USB" battery with a 5V output. There is a mini USB connection at the back of the RamperPro that you can use to power the unit. This USB port is not a "real" USB port; it is only there to power the RamperPro from a steady 5V power supply. Some laptops may give enough power to power the RamperPro, but we don't recommend this because the RamperPro draws more current than the average USB port of a laptop can deliver. You can connect any 12V power source to the side of the RamperPro. The RamperPro has a highly efficient power circuit that can handle input voltages up to 24V. The built-in voltage meter of the RamperPro will give you feedback about how much juice you have left.

There is a third way that you can use. The RamperPro features two MoCoBus connectors. You can also provide 12V via these MoCoBus connectors. The use of the MoCoBus is for future use when more MoCoBus enables motion control hardware will become available on the market. You should think of MoCoBus enabled stepper motors for example. The RamperPro will then become a fully featured motion controller.

Connect your camera to the RamperPro

You need to connect three cables between the RamperPro and your camera if you want to use the

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 2 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

ramping mode of the RamperPro.

[5] The first is the camera trigger/remote cable. This cable is used to trigger the camera. Please get the correct cable for your camera when you get the RamperPro. The second cable is a so called PC Sync cable. This cable is connected to the flash port of you camera. This cable is used in bulb mode by the RamperPro to measure and determine the actual bulb shutter speed of the exposure.

The third cable is a USB cable. This cable is used to control your camera. The RamperPro will automatically set all settings on your camera that are needed to get a smooth exposure ramp. This means for example that the RamperPro will control the shutter speed, ISO value, exposure mode (manual), flash mode (long exposure) etc. on your camera.

Here you see the back of the RamperPro. The connections for camera one are at the side of the unit. The connectors for camera two are in the middle of the unit. It doesn't matter which USB port you are using per camera. The ext 1 and ext 2 connectors are needed when you want to connect your RamperPro to a time lapse motion control device like the MX2, MX3 or TB3.

The USB connection between your camera and the RamperPro

We have seen that some camera's become unreliable when you touch any of the buttons or if you

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 3 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

stop and then start a timelapse sequence. This is especially true with some, older, Canon models. This is not a big issue is you need to know what to do. Please keep yourself to the following:

Set all camera settings like white balance settings or if you want to shoot in RAW or RAW + jpeg before you connect the USB cable between the RamperPro and the camera. Don't press any of the buttons of your camera while it is connected to the RamperPro. The RamperPro will tell you when it's save to switch between Bulb mode and Manual mode for example. When in doubt restart your camera; we have seen this on Canon models. This is never ever needed during a shoot! But this might be true between two shoots. Turn off your camera and wait until the RamperPro notifies you that the camera connection was lost. Then turn on your camera.

Starting up the RamperPro

The RamperPro uses Linux as an embedded operating system to function. A minor drawback of this approach is that the RamperPro needs some time to startup. Please be patient when you power the Ramper Pro as it will take around 20 seconds before the user interface of the unit will be available.

Shutting down the RamperPro

Please take care to shutdown the RamperPro the proper way. You cannot just power down your PC and the same is true for the RamperPro. Just removing power can result in a corrupt SD card. So, please take care when you want to power off the RamperPro. Just press the "Shutdown" button on the main screen and confirm this by pressing the big button that you will see on the power off screen. The screen of the RamperPro will then turn black. Please wait at least 10 seconds after the screen turned black before you remove power. That's it!

The RamperPro can both be used to make a movie of a sunset or a sunrise. We will only mention sunsets in examples when we are explaining the generic usage of the RamperPro to keep the manual as simple as possible.

User Interface

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 4 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

[6]The RamperPro has a touch screen interface. There are no physical buttons that you need to control the unit. You can operate the RamperPro by pressing the icons with your finger or with the supplied touch screen stylus.

At the left you see the default home screen of the RamperPro. The header of the screen will always show you information that is within the context of the current screen. In this case you see runtime information. This runtime information will be updated when the RamperPro is actually running. The footer shows two orange cameras. This means that the RamperPro is configured to run for two cameras. A white camera indicates an inactive camera. The text "None" indicates that no camera is connected via USB. These two texts will be replaced by the name of the camera(s) that are discovered by the controller when you connect them via USB. You can press the "None" texts or the name of the discovered camera name. That will show you a screen with the details of the connected camera. That way you can see which camera is found to be number one and which camera is detected as camera two.

There are two different button bars that are always displayed on the left of the screen. Here you see the "Home', "Movie settings", "Preview" and "System settings" buttons. You are currently on the home screen, that is why the home button is orange. You can always start the RamperPro by pressing the small "Play" button that is displayed on the top of the button bar. That will initiate the start sequence and the RamperPro will start to take pictures if no configuration errors are detected.

The center of the screen contains the main action buttons. Different screens can display different action buttons that open up the functionality of the RamperPro. The "Play" button is used to start the RamperPro. The "Simulate" button displays a detailed runtime simulation overview of the configured timelapse sequences. This can be an overview per camera if the cameras are configured to have different settings. The "Lock" button locks all buttons except for the "Unlock" button that will appear when you lock the screen. That way you cannot accidentally stop a timelapse when the unit is running. The "Power off" button is used to power down the RamperPro in a graceful manner.

All buttons have alternating colors that you will see when you press a button. That way you can easily see if you have really selected the correct button. You can always move your finger of stylus away from the button while you press it. That way can can release your "press" outside the button area. That way you are not actually pressing the icon and therefore you are not actually selecting the underlying functionality.

Left navigation bar

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 5 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

There are two different left navigation bars. The first bar is for example shown on the home screen. There is also a left navigation bar that is used for screens when multiple options are available.

You can scroll though screens when the available options don't fit on one screen. An example is the configuration of the exposure ramping engine. There are just too many options to show at once. The RamperPro will show the navigation bar as show at the left when you can scroll though the various options. Use the "Up" and "Down" buttons to navigate through the different pages. You can always navigate back to the previous page by pressing the "Back" button. The icon at the top of the navigation bar indicates the context or setting of the page that you are currently in.

Parameter values that are changed are saved as soon as one of the buttons on the navigation bar are pressed. This basically means that changed values are saved as soon as you navigate away from the screen.

Editing values

[7]

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 6 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

There are two ways that you can use to enter or modify parameters. There are sliders that you can use. You can modify the value of these sliders by dragging the slider over the screen. There is also an on-screen keyboard that you can use to enter your value of choice. You can simply press the value on the parameter screen that you want to modify. The value will get an orange border if you select it. This will then show the on-screen keyboard that you see at the left. The title of the screen will always show you which parameter you are modifying. You can use the buttons the modify the value. You can also modify time values with this keyboard. The keyboard will then show a cursor that indicates the digit that you are currently modifying.

It if of course possible to enter strange parameter settings. The validity of certain parameter values is depending on the value of other parameters. An example is that the end ISO must be larger than the start ISO when you are exposure ramping a sunset. The RamperPro will check these parameters in their context when you either press the "Play" or the "Simulate" button. These configuration "errors' are not validated in the on-screen keyboard because that would result in many messages while you are still configuration your timelapse sequence.

You can press the "Back" button in the left button bar if you which to exit this screen without modifying the actual value. Press the "Ok" button if you want to save the value. All values are saved almost immediately. This means that the RamperPro will always startup with all parameter values of the previous session. You can also always return to the home screen by pressing the "Home" button.

Getting help

The RamperPro contains a lot of fields that you can use to configure the various parameters that control your timelapse sequence. All of these fields have a label that indicates the meaning of the field. You can get help of the field by pressing its' label. That will give you a popup that describes the meaning of the field. Note: The initial release of the RamperPro firmware will not contain a detailed

field description for all parameters. These descriptions will be added in (free) future releases of the firmware.

Camera discovery and timelapse engine selection

Camera discovery

The RamperPro automatically detects a change on the USB connections. The screen will give feedback when a new camera is detected or when a camera is removed. Cameras that are not supported by the RamperPro will be rejected by the software and these cameras can not be used with the controller. The numbering of the connected cameras cannot be influenced since this depends on how they are detected by the USB bus. Your camera will always be connected as camera one when you connect only one camera to the USB bus. It might be possible that this camera will become camera two when you add a second camera to the USB bus.

The trick is to first connect two cameras via USB. You can then see on the display which camera became camera one and which became camera two. You can then connect the shutter release and PC sync cables to the corresponding cameras. You can take a preview image with the RamperPro. That image is then shown on the touch screen. You need to connect both the USB cable and the trigger cable if you want to take a preview image. This way you can always check if the cables for camera one and two are correctly installed because camera one should fire for preview image 1 and camera two should fire for preview image 2.

Configuring the engine per camera

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 7 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

The current version of the RamperPro supports two different modes. "Easy" mode and "Advanced" mode. More modes, like HDR, will be added in the future. Easy mode is a basic intervalometer while advanced mode provides you full exposure ramping possibilities. At the left you see the movie settings screen that you can reach from the home screen.

The "ENGINE" screen provides the configuration of the different modes per camera. You can define if you want to use one or two camera's. You can set the desired mode (Easy or Advanced) per camera and you can specify if you want to make a stereoscopic time lapse where two camera's are synchronized. The section below describes the various options of the engine selection screen.

The "CONFIG" screen provides access to the settings of the Easy and Advanced modes per camera. These settings are explained in more detail in the appropriate section of this manual.

Lets start with describing how you can set the desired engine for your camera(s). The engine selection screen will only show certain options when they are valid. You cannot set the "Stereo" mode when you only select one camera for example. This is a feature that many configuration screens of the RamperPro are using.

The following table describes the settings that you can find on the engine selection screen. Feature Description

Use two cameras Do you want to use one or two camera's? Use Easy Here you set the actual engine per camera. Set

this setting to "Yes" if you want to use the basic intervalometer functionality for the selected camera. Set this value to "No" if you want to use the exposure ramping mode for the selected camera.

Tie for stereo Set this value to "Yes" if you want to make

stereoscopic timelapse sequences. You cannot set the value for camera two if you set this to Yes since the settings for camera one will then be used for both camera's.

The following screens show some examples of various settings on the engine selection screens.

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 8 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

[8] Only one camera is used in basic intervalometer mode.

[10]Two camera's are used. The first runs in exposure ramping mode. The second camera runs in intervalometer mode. It is possible to have one camera in basic mode and one camera in advanced mode. The advanced mode camera must always be camera one in this case. This is because the first camera that is connected to the USB connectors is defined as camera one.

How to edit the runtime parameters

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 9 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

[12]The "CONFIG" button on the parameters screen leads to the screen on the left. The four icons will lead you to the parameters of the time lapse engines.

You can enter all parameters twice; one per camera. You can always use the settings from camera one for camera two. You can do so by setting the "Use camera one settings" flag. All settings are stored for later use. That way you can setup your parameters up-front. Don't be overwhelmed by the large number of parameters that you can set (especially for the exposure ramper). You will probably set most parameters only once and the default values will work in many situations. The full automatic mode of the advanced engine will overrule many settings for example.

Which set of parameters is used?

The RamperPro will use the settings of engine one when you run the controller in stereo mode, so when "Tie for stereo" is selected. This leaves the settings for engine two untouched. There is a flag on all engine two parameter sets that says "Use camera one settings". This means that the controller will use the settings from engine/camera one when you have selected this flag. The controller will use the settings from engine or camera two in all other cases.

Simulation mode

You can always check your expected runtime behavior by running a Simulation. The "Simulate" button is available on the home screen of the RamperPro. The provided simulation will only be shown once when you have selected "tie for stereo" because the two camera's will show the same output. You will see a simulation per camera when you are not running in stereo mode. The provided feedback gives you information about the runtime of the sequence and a lot more.

The simulation screen will also show the real time output of the light sensor when you have selected an advanced engine and when you have configured that you want to use the light sensor. The output shows the change in ambient light (Sun setting, Sun rising) and the measured amount of light in Lux. The calculated EV value is calculated based on the Lux value for ISO 100.

Basic mode - Intervalometer with interval fairing

Introduction

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 10 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

The basic intervalometer mode of the RamperPro gives you an intervalometer that can be used for "normal" timelapse sequences. Just set the interval between the images that you want to shoot and you are good to go. Don't forget to set the "Number of images" setting because that sets the amount of images that the basic intervalometer will take before it will automatically stop. Set this value to a high value if you don't know how many images you are going to take upfront.

The basic mode supports interval fairing. That makes it possible to make the interval longer or shorter over a number if images.

Settings

Feature Description

Interval fairing You can fair the interval if you like. This means

that you can change the interval over time. You just need to set the exposure from which you want to start fairing. You can make the interval longer or shorter by entering the required start and end interval. Just set the desired start frame where fairing should start and the end frame where the end interval should be reached. You can only enter the start and end interval if you enable interval fairing.

Interval The interval in seconds before a next shot is

taken by the RamperPro

Shutter speed There are two ways that you can use to

determine the shutter speed of your images. You can either set the camera to a manual speed or in aperture mode. That way the camera will set the exposure of your images. You can also set the camera to Bulb mode and set the required shutter speed here in seconds. Note that most camera's don't support fast shutter speeds in Bulb mode, a value of at least 0.3 should work here.

Number of Images The maximum number of images that you want to

shoot. Set this value to a high value if you need to shoot an "unlimited" number of images.

Use camera 1 settings This value is only available for camera two. A

value of "Yes" indicates that all settings for camera 2 are taken from the settings of camera

How to start a normal timelapse sequence

The shutter speed of your camera can be set in two different ways when you run the basic intervalometer mode of the RamperPro:

The camera determines the shutter speed. Here you set the shutter speed on the camera.

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 11 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

This can either be a fixed speed when the camera is in manual mode or a more dynamic speed with the camera is set to aperture priority. Note that you can get flicker in your footage when the shutter speed is not set to a fixed value. Set the shutter speed on the RamperPro to a low value like 0.1s. This time is only used by the RamperPro to trigger the camera because the actual shutter speed is set on the camera. The RamperPro determines the shutter speed. This will only work when the camera is set to bulb mode. This means that you cannot use "fast" shutter speeds. Any shutter speed longer than 1/3 seconds will work on most cameras. Here is is important to set the desired shutter speed on the RamperPro. You can use this mode when you are making a timelapse of the Milky way. You need a long shutter speed to do this; lets say 15 seconds. You can then for example set the interval to 17 seconds and the exposure speed to 15 seconds. That gives the camera 2 seconds to save the images to its' memory card.

Very important for Canon users

There is no USB control on your camera when you use basic mode. The only cable that you need to connect is the trigger cable. Please don't connect the USB cable to a Canon camera when the camera is operated in basic mode. A USB cable will block all operations and the RamperPro will not take any images. Only connect a USB cable when you are running the advanced mode because then the blocking USB mode is overcome by the software of the RamperPro.

Advanced mode - Exposure (bulb) ramping

Introduction

The advanced mode is the exposure ramping mode of the RamerPro. Here you can set the begin and end exposure or the ramp that you want to perform An exposure is set by setting the desired shutterspeed and the accompanying ISO value. The RamperPro will the ramp from the begin setting to the end setting. The ramping speed can either be set by setting the "Time per stop" parameter. That tells the RamperPro how long it should ramp before it has covered one stop. Note that the "Time per stop" and interval are related to each other. A time per stop of let's say 5 minutes and interval of 10 seconds will result in (300 / 10) = 30 images per stop. You can also use the external advanced light sensor. In that case the "Time per stop" is overruled by the readout of the light sensor. The light sensor will automatically determine the time per stop value by analyzing the trend in the ambient light that it is measuring.

The end exposure that is defined by the end ISO and end shutterspeed can be overruled by the image analysis algorithm of the RamperPro. This is a mode where your camera needs to write jpeg images. This can either be in jpg or in RAW + jpeg mode. Every jpeg image is downloaded from the camera an analyzed. This way the RamperPro can "see" that images are over or under exposed. This information is then used by the ramping algorithm. This prevents over exposure for sunsets or under exposure for sunrises.

There are many settings that determine the exact behavior of the RamperPro. These settings are available on the various screens that become available when you press the Camera 1 and Camera 2 Complex TL buttons. The following settings can be set in order to configure the advanced mode of the RamperPro.

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 12 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

Settings

Feature Description

Interval fairing Indicates if you want to change the interval

during the shoot. The interval can be made longer or shorter by setting the desired start and end interval. The change in the interval can be triggered by either a key frame or when an specific exposure (in seconds) is reached by the ramper. This is still a feature that needs development and further testing. We encourage you to test this, but this feature is new and might not perfect results yet. We do recommend any feedback. Disabling interval fairing gives you a fixed interval.

Interval The interval in seconds before a next shot is

taken by the RamperPro

Use external intervalometer You can use external intervalometers to trigger

the RamperPro. An example of this is when you use DitoGear motion control hardware. The motion control hardware can trigger the RamperPro to take the next shot; that way you are perfectly synchronized with the motion control hardware. Just connect the camera output of the external intervalometer directly to the I/O port that is linked to the camera for which you are setting this value.

Shots before The number of non ramping images that are shot

before ramping start. The RamperPro will use the start shutter speed and start ISO to set the exposure on the camera. You don't need this setting a many cases. The light sensor will measure when a sunset starts. So you can perfectly start a sunset timelapse one hour before sunset when you use the light sensor. In that case there is no need to use shots before to reach the exact moment of the sunset.

Shots after The number of images that the RamperPro will

shoot after ramping. The RamperPro will use the end shutter speed and end ISO to set the exposure on the camera. We recommend to set this value to a high value like 5000. That is because you cannot predict when ramping stops when you use the image analysis mode. A high value of this setting makes sure that the RamperPro will not stop too early when you use full auto mode.

Time per stop This sets the speed of the exposure ramper when

you are not using an external light sensor. The time per stop is the amount of time that it takes the ambient light to change per stop. A setting of around 10 minutes around sunset is a workable value. This setting is overruled when you use a light sensor, because the sensor will make this setting dynamic. Disabling the light sensor will thus use a fixed ramping speed base on "Steps per stop". This is not the best situation because you will ramp too slow at the beginning of a suns set and this is why we created the advanced light

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 13 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

sensor.

Start exposure The start shutter speed that you want to use for

the ramping sequence. This value can be tweaked to be perfect later on with the preview screen that is available on the home screen. This preview screen enables you to take an image with your camera so that you can evaluate the histogram. The + and - buttons on that screen enable you to modify the "Start exposure" too. You can either use a shutter speed by setting a value with the slider. You can also slide the slider to the right and choose "Manual". You can then enter a manual speed (in seconds).

End exposure The end shutter speed of the ramping

sequence.ou can either use a shutter speed by setting a value with the slider. You can also slide the slider to the right and choose "Manual". You can then enter a manual speed (in seconds).

Start ISO The ISO that you want to start with. This ISO value

together with the "Start exposure" determine the exposure of you initial images. This is also the exposure that is used by the preview screen.

End ISO The ISO that is set on the camera at the end of

the ramping sequence. This ISO value together with the "End exposure" determines the exposure at the end of the ramping sequence. The actual end ISO and end shutterspeed can automatically be overruled when you use the image analysis mode.

Start Bulb speed The RamperPro can use normal shutter speeds

like 1/8000 during a ramping sequence. But you can use longer shutter speeds after a sunset or at the start of a sunrise. We recommend to use the bulb mode of your camera for the realization of longer shutter speeds. This value determines the minimal shutter speed (in seconds) after which the RamperPro will use the bulb mode on your camera. A value of 0.5 seconds is a safe value. This means that all shutter speeds longer than 0.5 seconds will be made in bulb mode during a ramping sequence. Note that Nikon cameras will be set to Bulb mode automatically by the RamperPro. Most, if not all, Canon cameras need to be set to bulb manually because these cameras don't support "Set to bulb" via USB. Another important thing to remember is that you need to connect the PC sync cable to your camera when you are enabling Bulb mode here. This cable is used to determine the correct shutter speed in bulb mode and to measure the actual Bulb speed that was used by the camera during exposure.

Reciprocity speed The RamperPro can automatically shift the ISO

while ramping. This means that for a sunset you can start with ISO 100 and end with ISO 1600 for example. The RamperPro will change the ISO value when a shutter speed is reached during ramping of this value. Lets say that your camera supports ISO values in 1/3 stops (100, 125, 160

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 14 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

etc). The RamperPro will move to the next available ISO value when the ramping shutter speed reached the value of "Reciprocity speed" and it will lower the ramping shutter speed with 1/3 stop to compensate in order to get the proper exposure. We recommend to use a value that is at least 1/3 of a stop longer than the "Start Bulb speed". Otherwise the RamperPro will switch back to normal speeds after an ISO shift (since the ramping shutter speed will be set back to a speed lower than "Start Bulb speed". A "Reciprocity speed' of 0.7 seconds is safe when you set "Start Bulb speed" to 0.5 seconds.

Frame rate This value is only used in simulation mode. This is

the play back frame rate that you want to use when you create a movie of your images. This setting is used to show the length of your resulting movie.

Use positive EV correction The RamperPro will create an XMP file per image.

This file contains the exposure correction that is needed to get a very smooth exposure ramping sequence without any flickering. You therefore don't need any deflicker software when you use the RamperPro. This setting indicates if you want to use negative or positive corrections in your XML files. We have tested this a lot and we recommend to use minus corrections. We get very good results with this even when some parts of the images are over exposed. We therefore recommend to set this value to "No"

use auto mode with light sensor This indicates if you want to use an external light

sensor. The light sensor will overrule the "Steps per stop" setting because the light sensor will determine the ramping curve automatically by measuring the trend in the changing environmental light. Note that the RamperPro will use the value of "Steps per stop" when you ramping sequence is started when no light sensor is connected.

Minimum time per stop The light sensor measures the "time per stop"

that ambient light is changing. This value will become too fast when it is getting darker. One of the reasons for this is that the sensor needs light to calculate a reliable value. This value is just not good enough when it is getting to dark for the sensor. This in practice can easily result in calculated measurements of 3 minutes per stop during a sun set. That means that the RamperPro will ramp one stop per 3 minutes. That is way too fast since this will result in over exposed images. The "Minimum time per stop" indicates the minimum ramping speed that the RamperPro can use regardless of the sensor readings. A value of 5 to 6 minutes is a save value here. It is normal that the RamperPro calculates a "time per stop" of 20 to 30 minutes before a sunset, so that is the ramping speed that the RamperPro will use when you start. The time per stop will than become faster since the sun is setting, but never faster

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 15 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

than the value of this setting.

Sensor offset This value as added to the calculated "time per

stop" as determined by the light sensor. An example is when this value is 30 seconds and when the sensor calculates a "time per stop" of 8 minutes. The resulting value of 8:30 will be used by the RamperPro to determine the ramping speed. The "Sensor offset" is just a safety value to make sure that you are not ramping too fast.

Use camera 1 settings This value is only available for camera two. A

value of "Yes" indicates that all settings for camera 2 are taken from the settings of camera

Using semi automatic mode with the light sensor

You can set the ramping speed by setting the "Time per stop" value. This defines the total time per stop that the RamperPro will use during a shoot. This can give good results; but these results might not be perfect. A sunset or sunrise is far from linear when it comes to how fast the change in ambient light is. The amount of ambient light might change in 30 minutes per stop before a sunset, 10 minutes per stop just before a sunset and only 5 minutes per stop during a sunset. You can only have a perfect ramping profile when you use a light sensor. We have chosen to use an advanced digital light sensor that you can mount on the hot shoe of your camera. That way the sensor is always facing your subject. The sensor can then measure ambient light, but especially calculate the change in ambient light in time. This data can then be used by the exposure ramping algorithm to adjust the exposure ramping profile.

The light sensor uses a damping algorithm. It will not be influenced by sudden changes of light like a cloud before the sun or when a clouded sky is blown clean of clouds by the wind. This means that the time per stop that is used by the RamperPro cannot move both ways. The time per stop can only go faster during a sunset and slower during a sunrise. This means the following. Let's say that the RamperPro is ramping with 10 minutes per stop, but the light sensor measures 14 minutes per stop during a sunset. The 10 minutes per stop will not be changes to 14 because that would mean that the RamperPro will slow it's ramping speed during a sunset. The used time per stop of 10 minutes will only be adjusted when the light sensor measures a value that is less than 10 minutes.

How to use the advanced digital light sensor

Place the light sensor on the hot shoe of your camera and let it face the subject that you are going to photograph Give the light sensor at least 5 to 10 minutes to "learn" the direction and speed of the changing ambient light. The RamperPro will start to measure light as soon as a light sensor is connected to the unit. It is very important to give the RamperPro time to learn the profile of the changing light. Measuring starts as soon a you power the RamperPro. You can always check the measures time per stop by navigating to the last page of the simulation screen. That way you can check if the light profile is reliable. Say that you are starting a sunset 40 minutes before sunset. The time per stop on the simulation screen should be over 30 minutes when you have given the RamperPro enough time to measure light. Enable the usage of the light sensor in the advanced settings page

How to start a sequence and how to use the preview screen

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 16 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

The only “unknown”parameters of your sequence are the end shutterspeed and end ISO. These two determine the desired end exposure. This is difficult to measure/predict by the RamperPro since even the light meter of a modern digital camera has difficulties with determining the proper exposure values of a sky full of stars. You need to know the correct shutterspeed and ISO of the end exposure when you don't want to use the image analysis function. It is our experience that you will learn this very quickly. An end exposure of around 2 seconds at ISO 1600 and F8 gives a ball park estimate of a sky line one hour after sunset. You will get the best results if you are able to make some test images a day before your actual shoot. But it is our experience that you will quickly learn that the best settings are.

All other parameters can be safely determined upfront or they can be determined by the RamperPro because the ramping speed in minutes per stop can be calculated with the light sensor. Follow the following steps to start your sequence:

1. Set the desired start and end values for both the shutterspeed and ISO.

2. Set the desired shots before and shots after.

3. Check all other settings based on your needs. Most default values will most probably work for you.

4. Determine if you want to use the light sensor. Connect the sensor at least 10 minutes before you start your shoot. Don’t block the sensor because that will influence its’readings.

Check you shoot at the simulate screens (available from the home screen). Here you can check if the number of expected images and the total runtime are in line with what you want to shoot. The simulation output is shown for all enabled cameras. Please use the up/down buttons because the simulation is shown on a number of screens. The simulation output is only printed once when the RamperPro is in 3D mode. You can also see the readings of the light sensor at the last screen of the various simulation output screens.

6. Go to the image preview screen (press the histogram in the left button bar). Take a preview images and assess the histogram. The current version of the screen doesn't’t support bulb preview images; this will be fixed in a future version of the firmware. You can change the start shutterspeed value by pressing the “-“ and “+” buttons.

7. Either press the small play button on the left button bar or the big one on the home screen when the histogram of the preview screen shows you that the start values are correct.

8. You can optionally extend these steps by configuring the RamperPro to use motion control hardware. These steps will be covered later in this manual.

The RamperPro will now startup. It will first run though the startup sequence:

All camera settings are set like ISO, shutterspeed, manual mode, flash settings.

Flash settings are not set automatically on Canon camera’s (yet). Please make sure the use the normal settings that allow synchronization with long shutter speeds Not all cameras can be set to manual and bulb via USB (especially the case with the

Canon models). Please follow the instructions on the screen of the RamperPro A test images is taken at 1/80th of s second. This makes sure that at least one image is present on the card. This image is used to determine the file counter as used by the camera.

The RamperPro will now start if no runtime errors are detected. The end exposure will now be reached by either using the fixed ramping speed or by using the advanced light sensor. The use of the sensor makes it difficult the determine the total runtime and total number of images taken

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 17 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

upfront since the ramping curve is dynamic and based on the change in environmental light.

It is safe to start 60 minutes before sunset when you use the light sensor. The minutes per stop calculation will result in a large value which means that the RamperPro will barely ramp the exposure. This makes it possible to start quite some time before the actual sunrise. You can choose to set the “shots after” value to a large number. That way you are sure that the RamperPro will continue shooting when the end exposure is reached. You can then determine yourself when you want to stop shooting.

How to use the image analysis mode

A very new, but exciting feature of the RamperPro is the image analysis mode. This is a mode where your camera needs to write jpeg images. This can either be in jpg or in RAW + jpeg mode. Every jpeg image is downloaded from the camera an analyzed. This way the RamperPro can "see" that images are over or under exposed. This information is then used by the ramping algorithm. This prevents over exposure for sunsets or under exposure for sunrises. Note that it takes time before an image is downloaded and analyzed. We therefore recommend to use an interval of around 10 seconds or longer when you enable this mode.

This mode makes it possible to ramp completely automatically. You only need to determine the start exposure, but that is easy when you use the preview mode of the controller. This image analysis software is very new and still a bit experimental but our tests have given us such good results that we have decided to release the functionality. The following table shows that parameters, that are available under the Advanced TL button, that you need to set when you want to enable the full auto mode of the RamperPro.

This mode works by evaluating the histograms that the RamperPro calculates out of the images from your camera. Defining the correct settings might be challenging in the beginning and that is the area where future firmwares will assist you better. But the default values will probably work when you just enable the histogram mode of the RamperPro.

The clipping areas which are the left bars of the histogram to determine under exposure or right bars of the histogram to determine over exposure can be configures in the settings menu. You can also define the number of pixels that you define as still acceptable. Every bar in a histogram can hold a maximum value of 100. Lets say that you define the right clipping area to be 5 bars wide. This means that the RamperPro will calculate a total value of 500 (5 * 100) when the image is fully over exposed. That is because the right part of the histogram will be totally filled. The cut off value that you can set determined the value that you define as still acceptable. A value of 5 bars and a cut off of 250 tells the RamperPro that over exposure is defined when 250 pixels are filled on the right 5 bars of the histogram. Feature Description

Histogram mode Set this value to yes if you want to enable the

image analysis mode of the RamperPro.

Show previews Not available yet. We strive to show the

downloaded images in a future version of the RamperPro firmware

Left clipping This sets the left part of the histogram that is

used to determine under exposure (needed for sunrises)

Left cut off This sets the total amount of pixels that are

acceptable in the left clipping area.

Right clipping The sets the right part of the histogram that is

used to determine over exposure (needed for sunsets)

Right cut off This sets the total amount of pixels that are

acceptable in the right clipping area.

These settings may sound complex, but lets investigate the following two settings. Let's say we are

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 18 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

ramping a sunset of a city. The right clipping area is set to 1 and the right cut off is set to 6. This tells the RamperPro that over exposure is detected as soon as the value of 6 is found in the outer right part of the histogram. We have tested these two values and we had great results when we did our tests in a city or when we were shooting directly into the sun.

Please do the following when you want to use the Histogram mode:

1. Set a very high end exposure for sunsets (like ISO 3200 and a shutterspeed of 60 seconds) or a very fast exposure for sun rises (like ISO 100 and 1/8000 for the shutterspeed). This might sound strange, but the histogram mode acts like a hand break. You will never reach there settings.

2. Set the clipping parameters. Start with the factory defaults and tweak them for your needs. We will post more about these parameters in the future.

3. Set a high value of shots after. This prevents the RamperPro from stopping too early. This will probably be changed in the future so that you have more control about the number of images in your shoot or about the total runtime of the shoot.

The image analysis software and the light sensor work great when used together. Please check the

next page [13] that gives more information about the light sensor and the image analysis mode.

Runtime overview screens

The simulate button on the home screen will change in a runtime overview button when the RamperPro is running. You can then use this button to see the various runtime results. There is a timeline that shows how many images are made in shots before, normal exposure speeds, bulb speeds. There is also a graph that shows the amount of ramped stops against the number of images that are taken. There are also screens that show the exposure speed that is used, the current ISO, the name of the current image that is written by the camera etc. The last two screens of the overview mode show the measured and used time per stop when you use the light sensor and a screen that shows the image histogram that is pulled out of the jpeg images from your camera in full auto mode.

Important note about removing the light sensor

The light sensor of the RamperPro is hot pluggable. You can plug it in after you have powered the RamperPro. The controller will then automatically detect the sensor and it will start to measure ambient light. You can unplug the light sensor at any time, but we don't recommend to unplug the light sensor while you are exposure ramping.

A word about the light sensor and automatic exposure

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 19 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

[14]This chapter gives you more details about the external light sensor. It also describes how to use the auto exposure mode of the RamperPro where the images from your camera are analyzed during a timelapse shoot. The combination of the light sensor and the auto mode are described by explaining what is happening during a sunset.

The RamperPro can be used together with the advanced digital light sensor. The light sensor is used to measure the trend in light. The RamperPro samples the ambient light over a specific time period. These samples are then used to calculate how fast it is getting light during a sunrise or how fast it is getting dark during a sunset. There are many misunderstandings about what the light sensor can do. The following is a list of what the light sensor is NOT doing when it is connected to the RamperPro:

The light sensor is not used to determine the exposure of your images. The exposure of your images is only indirectly influenced by the light sensor because the calculated trend in ambient light is used by the ramping algorithm. The light sensor algorithm is not following fluctuations in ambient light. You set the RamperPro to either ramp a sunset of sunrise based on the parameters. This means that the output of the light sensor is only taken into account when the measured light change direction (for example a sunset) is in line with the runtime parameters. A sudden rise in sunlight during a sunset (because of disappearing clouds) is corrected by the mathematics behind the light sensor. It would give strange results when the RamperPro is following any fluctuation in the ambient light.

The above points already state that the light sensor algorithm is not continuously reacting to any change in light. The time per stop that is calculated is an average over 10 minutes. This results in only small, regular, changes in the ramping curve. The results of the light sensor will give very good results when used properly because the sensor is gradually following the sunset or sunrise.

This may sound as a limited benefit when you use the external light sensor. But that is not true when you understand what the sensor can do and what it cannot do. The following examples are based on a sunset, but the same is true the other way around for a sunrise.

One challenge during the ramping of a sunset is when do you know when to start ramping? This is one thing that the light sensor can do very accurately for you. Suppose that you want to start your timelapse one hour before sunset. That is a situation where the amount of ambient light is already

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 20 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

declining; it’s getting dark (a bit). The light sensor will measure this and this will result in a very high time per stop value. You can easily measure 30 to 40 minutes per stop when you start to measure light one hour before a sunset. This means that the RamperPro will need 30 to 40 minutes to ramp one stop away from the start exposure. The measured time per stop will become shorter and shorter when the sun really sets. A value of 10 minutes per stop at the moment of the actual sunset is what we have measured on many occasions. This means that the RamperPro will speed up the ramping speed . The sunset is therefore automatically detected by the RamperPro. It will very gradually ramp 60 minutes before a sunset, but it will ramp faster during or after the sunset.

The “problem” starts after the sunset because that leads to the following situation:

It will eventually get too dark for the light sensor to return any usable measurements. The time per stop will get s and longer after the sunset. It will take considerable time before it is really, really dark for example.

It is very easy to get over exposed images when you set the wrong end exposure. Say you want an end exposure of 10 seconds at ISO 1600 when you want to ramp for bright day light to stars. It will take quite some time to reach a dark sky with stars. This example can easily cover 16 stops depending on the start situation. Let say that we have an average time per stop of 7 minutes as a result of the light sensor (remember that you can set a minimum value to restrict it in the runtime parameters). This would mean that the total runtime to reach the end exposure is 16 stops * 7 minutes = 1 hour and 52 minutes. This will give great results when you really need 10 seconds at ISO 1600 at that moment in time. But you will over exposure your images when it takes 3 hours before the ambient light reached this exposure value. You are ramping to your end situation too fast!

This is where a very exciting new feature of the RamperPro kicks in “Auto Exposure Mode”. This mode will download jpeg images from the camera to the RamperPro. These images are analyzed by evaluating the histogram of these jpeg images. This gives two ways that we can measure light, the trend in light with the light sensor (available directly when you start) and the individual exposures of the images that you are really shooting.

The histogram data of the individual images is used by the RamperPro to influence the ramping speed. It can for example ramp a bit slower when the histogram indicates that over exposure is almost going to occur. This will make sure that you can reach your desired end exposure without having the risk of blown out images.

We now have the best of both worlds. The light sensor will make sure that we start to ramp by following the changing light of a sunset. The histogram analysis algorithm will make sure that we will never have over exposed images by damping the ramping speed when needed.

The auto exposure mode comes at a, slight, cost. It takes time to download the jpeg images from the camera to the RamperPro. It also takes to before the RamperPro has analyzed the downloaded image. A highly compressed 36MP image from a D800 is still a few megabytes. Analyzing these 36 mega pixels is memory and calculation intensive. This means that you will need an interval of around 10 seconds to make sure that these operations can be performed in time.

The auto mode can overrule the end exposure and end ISO value. Let's say that you have set an end exposure or 20 seconds at ISO 1600 but you are shooting in a city. The RamperPro will then most probably never reach this end exposure when it is running in auto mode. The histogram analysis will make sure that the RamperPro will stop ramping when the proper exposure is reached.

System settings

Select the desired system setting menu

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 21 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

The "Settings" button on the home screen, that is shown on the left here, brings you to the various system setting screens. There are several screens available under this button. You can use the arrow up and arrow down buttons to navigate through these pages. The first two pages are shown below. The third page will give you an overview of the three firmwares that are running on the RamperPro. That screen will also show the input voltage when a voltage of over 5 volts is supplied to the large power plug that is located next to the USB connectors. The hardware revision of your RamperPro can also be found on this third page.

[15] [16]

Basic camera settings

This screen brings you to some settings that you can define for the camera's that you are using. These are settings that define how long the camera button should be pressed by the RamperPro or if you want to use the auto focus of your camera. The settings are available over two pages, so please use the arrow buttons to navigate through the various options. Feature Description

Button press time This is the time in Millie seconds that the camera

"button" we be triggered by the RamperPro. This time cannot be too slow otherwise the camera will not detect that it is triggered. You need a value of around 100, other cameras will work with a value of around 250.

Focus tab time This is the time in milli seconds that the camera

auto focus we be triggered by the RamperPro. This time cannot be too slow otherwise the camera will not detect that it is triggered. You need a value of around 100, other cameras will work with a value of around 250.

Post delay time The time in milli seconds that the RamperPro will

wait to do any action after an image is taken. An example can be a value of 1000. That would mean that an external motion control system will be triggered 1 second (1000 milli seconds) after an image is taken.

Use focus (Nikon) Nikon cameras can only be triggered by triggering

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 22 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

both the trigger and the focus line. Set this value to "Yes" for Nikon cameras. You can choose to set it to "No" on other brands especially when you aren't using the auto focus of your camera.

Use camera 1 settings This value is only available for camera two. A

value of "Yes" indicates that all settings for camera 2 are taken from the settings of camera

System settings

This is an overview of a few basis system settings of the RamperPro like screen saver settings, the backlight and a few other features. Feature Description

Screensaver This is the time after which the screen saver will

turn off the screen of the RamperPro. Every press on the touch screen will reset the timer that keeps track about when the screen saver should

be enabled. Enable screensaver Enable or disable the screen saver. Include LED's You can even dim the 4 LEDs that are on the side

of the RamperPro when the screen saver turns off

the back light. The LEDs will be activated as soon

as the touch screen is pressed so that the screen

saver is woken up. Backlight The value of the backlight of the RamperPro

screen. You can set the back light to a low value

to prevent light pollution. Enable help This enables or disables the help system. The

labels on the various RamperPro setting screens

can be pressed after which a popup will describe

the meaning and purpose of the setting. This can

lead to accidental popups if you press labels. You

can disable these properties by setting this value

to "No". Aftershotspro XMP Aftershotspro is an affordable software package

that can process images just like Adobe

Lightroom can do this. Set this value to yes if you

are using Aftershots Pro. The RamperPro will then

also create specific XMP files in the format and

naming convention of Aftershotspro.

I/O settings

The RamperPro interfaces to all major motion control platforms. You can even control 2

different platforms at the same time, one for each connected camera for example. You can find an

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 23 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

elaborate explanation of how to connect and use motion control hardware on the interfacing with

motion control hardware page [17] of this manual. Each I/O connector that is indicated with Ext1 and

Ext2 has two so called input / output pins that can be used to either trigger an external system or to receive a trigger. The I/O connectors are referred to by ring or tip. That is the ring or tip of the

2.5mm TRS plug that fits into the Ext1 or Ext2 connectors. The table below describes the various settings, but the interfacing page explains how to use these settings in various situations. Feature Description

Enabled Is the I/O pin enabled or not? Input Indicates if the pin is an input or an output pin.

Most pins will be an output pin, because the

RamperPro can then trigger the connected motion

control system. FragonFrame This is an experimental feature that is not

available yet. We plan to release a DragonFrame

adapter for the RamperPro in the summer of

2014. Set this setting to No for now.

Output trigger time This feature is only available for pins that are

enabled, are not an output pin and when

DragonFrame is not activated. This value

describes how long the connected motion control

system will be triggered in microseconds. A value

of 50 will work with the MX3 or TB3.

How to calibrate the touch screen

The touch screen of the RamperPro is factory calibrated. But it could be that you need to calibrate it again when the touch screen is not accurate enough. It can also happen that you need to calibrate the touch screen after a firmware upgrade since that might overwrite old settings. In that case the calibration screen is the first screen that you will see when the RamperPro is started.

You can (re)calibrate the touch screen by pressing the calibrate icon. You will now see a small cross on the touch screen. Please the center of this cross with the stylus as accurate as possible. After this two consecutive crosses will be shown. Touch the center of these two crosses as accurate as possible too. The touch screen calibration screen will be closed after calibration and you will be navigated to the main system settings page.

Check and update your firmware version

The RamperPro is a highly advanced device that contains of an embedded Linux device and two separate micro controllers that control and trigger your camera's. This might sound technical to some users, but the bottom line is that the RamperPro can be seen as a three processor device that needs three different software programs.

The main application is what you see on the touch screen and it is this application that you will need to upgrade the most in order to get bug fixes or free additional features. The two embedded controllers run embedded software that needs a bit more work if you want to upgrade them.

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 24 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

Upgrading the main software of the RamperPro doesn't require any technical skills or knowledge. Just connect the RamperPro to the Internet via a standard RJ45 network cable. Make sure that this cable provides Internet access without the use of any proxy settings. Now press the Upgrade icon. The RamperPro will now automatically detect if there is any firmware upgrade available. It will also check if you need to upgrade the embedded software; the next paragraph will explain you how to do this. You don't need to upgrade the embedded software in most cases. You can now press the screen where the RamperPro asks if you want to upgrade the main software. The new firmware is now automatically downloaded and installed by the RamperPro. The software will restart and you are now ready to use your RamperPro again if you don't need to upgrade the embedded firmwares.

Settings not available

Some system settings cannot be changes when a timelapse engine is running. That way you cannot accidentally change settings that are of great/negative influence on your timelapse movie. You cannot find the I/O settings or the touch screen calibration screen as an example of this.

Post production workflow

Most images that you shoot with the RamperPro will have a difference between the desired shutterspeed and the actual realized shutterspeed. The desired shutterspeed is the shutterspeed that is calculated by the ramping algorithm. The realized shutterspeed is the speed that was actually used to take the picture. The use of normal shutterspeeds will give discrete steps which will result in hops in the exposure of your timelapse sequence. Nikon cameras have these discrete steps even in their bulb mode; but it must be said that these steps are small on modern cameras like the D800.

This is why the RamperPro is creating a small XMP file for every picture on the SD card of the RamperPro. This XMP file holds the, per image, exposure compensation. This compensation can automatically be used by Adobe After Effects or Adobe Lightroom to compensate the exposure of the images. This result are absolutely flicker free timelapse movies when you use the RamperPro. Visible flickering can only be the result of an inaccurate shutter; but we have not encountered that ourselves yet. The XMP files contain a very accurate exposure compensation value because the RamperPro can very accurately determine that value. The value is calculated when normal shutterspeeds are used while the value is measured via the PC sync cable when the camera is in bulb mode.

How to find all required XMP files

There are two ways that can be used to get the XMP files from the RamperPro:

Get the SD card from the RamperPro and use a normal SD card reader to connect the card to your computer. This will result in two folders that will become available. One folder contains a folder with camera1 and camera2 as subfolders. This is the one where the XMP files are stored. Don’t modify the contents of the other system folder! Connect the RamperPro to your local computer network by connecting a network cable to the network connector and power the RamperPro. The network connector is the connector next to the double USB connectors. Don’t connect the network cable to the MoCoBus connector on the other side of the unit. You should now be able to see a network device called ramperpro on your Windows or OSX machine. Open the XMP folder and then you are able to see the XMP files for camera1 and camera2. It might be that your camera is asking for login credentials; just do an anonymous login and you should be able to see the files directly on the RamperPro.

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 25 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

[18]

Here you see the XMP/camera1 folder on a Mac when the RamperPro is connected via a network

connection.

Load your images and add the XMP files

The camera1 and camera2 folders also contain so called run files. These files contain detailed information about your shoot and the images that were taken. You can use these files to determine the first and last image and thus the first and last XMP file of your timelapse sequence.

Now copy the, preferably RAW, files of your shoot to a folder on your computer or any other location that you use to process your images. Now copy the accompanying XMP files to that same folder. You can now startup your Adobe tool of choice, we use Adobe Light Room in this example. Import the folder into Lightroom. Lightroom will automatically import the XMP files together with your images. You can see that because the exposure compensation per image in Lightroom is already set. We have encountered issues on Apple computers in the past. The XMP files were not recognized by Lightroom and they were not imported. Please read this article [19]on our blog about how to overcome this issue.

You can now crop the images and export them to DNG, TIFF or JPG images that can be used to render your timelapse movie with. We prefer Adobe After Effects for this, but Apples Quick Time Pro or many other software packages should also give you satisfying results.

Backup your XMP files

We deeply recommend to keep a copy of your XMP files. It's easy to overwrite the contents of these files when you make a mistake in Lightroom. You will then loose your valuable information that you need to create flicker free ramping movies with the RamperPro. We always create a subfolder next to the folder that holds the RAW files. We use that folder, called XMP, to store a backup copy of the XML files. Don't rely on the RamperPro as a backup device since the XML files can be overwritten when the filename cycles from 999 to 001.

[20]

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 26 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

Here you see a part of the run file that shows all images that have been taken during the shoot.

Create your timelapse movie

A description about how to create a timelapse movie based on your images is a bit out of the scope of the RamperPro user manual. We follow a very basic workflow. That looks like this:

Copy the images from the camera to a folder Copy the XMP files from the RamperPro to this folder (backup the XMP files in a second location) Made sure that the images are show and sorted by their creation time Import the images into Lightroom Crop one image to get a 16:9 aspect ration Synchronize the crop and white balance setting of this image to all the other images. Don't synchronize the exposure correction Export all the images to jpeg or DNG files. We like to number the files so that we are absolutely sure that they are found back in the correct order

You can now make a timelapse movie with your tool of choice like Apple Quick Time Pro or Adobe After Effects.

How to batch process images

Some people prefer to process their images even more in both Adobe Lightroom or in some other post production software package. An example could be to lighten all images with half a stop. That would overwrite the XMP data from the RamperPro which will in turn result into flicker. This is why we have joined hands with LRTimelapse [21]. There is now native support for the RamperPro in LRTimelapse, this enables you to further enhance the images that are taken with the RamperPro.

Install and Copy the SD Card

RamperPro firmware updates and the SD card

The main software of the RamperPro is placed on the SD card that you place at the bottom of the unit. The RamperPro can update the firmware automatically when you connect it to the internet via a network cable. Please use the proper connection for this. The double "network" connectors next to the light sensor connector are not network connectors since these are MoCoBus connectors.

The network connector of the RamperPro is available next to the two USB connectors. Connect a network cable and make sure that this network cable provides internet access to the RamperPro. The RamperPro will then acquire an IP address via DHCP; this is the most common network configuration. Navigate to the firmware update screen (see system settings). The unit will then check if any updates are available. You can then update the firmware via this screen.

Major updates of the RamperPro firmware might require a complete new configuration of the SD card. The SD card is holding a slightly modified version of Debian Linux for the Raspberry PI. The RaspberryPi embedded Linux board is the base board for the RamperPro. We added all the required tools that the RamperPro software needs. You can always download the complete SD card image from www.elysiavisuals.com [22]. This image might now always hold the latest version of the RamperPro firmware, but it contains the latest software that needs to be available. Always upgrade the RamperPro firmware itself when you downloaded and installed a new SD card image.

You need to copy the SD card image on an 8GB (micro) SD card after download. The following

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 27 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

describes how to do this.

Install a fresh SD card

Please perform the following steps when you want to freshly install a RamperPro SD card:

Download the latest SD card image from www.elysiavisuals.com [22] extract the zipfile on your PC (this can be a OSX, Windows or Linux based system).

You need special software if you want to copy the contents of the zipfile to an 8GB (micro) SD card. This is how to do this. Please refer to http://elinux.org/RPi_Easy_SD_Card_Setup [23] if you need a more elaborate explanation about how to create the SD card for the RamperPro.

Apple/OSX

1. Download the automater script PiFiller from: http://ivanx.com/raspberrypi/ [24]

2. Start the pifiller script and you will be lead to the process of loading the image to your (micro) SD card.

Microsoft Windows

1. Insert the SD card into your SD card reader and check what drive letter it was assigned. You can easily see the drive letter (for example G:) by looking in the left column of Windows Explorer. You can use the SD Card slot (if you have one) or a cheap Adapter in a USB slot. Download the Win32DiskImager [25] utility (it is also a zip file). You can run this from a USB drive.

2. Extract the executable from the zip file and run the Win32DiskImager utility; you may need to run the utility as Administrator! Right-click on the file, and select 'Run as Administrator'

3. Select the image file you extracted above.

4. Select the drive letter of the SD card in the device box. Be careful to select the correct

drive; if you get the wrong one you can destroy your data on the computer's hard disk! If you are using an SD Card slot in your computer (if you have one) and can't see the

drive in the Win32DiskImager window, try using a cheap Adapter in a USB slot.

5. Click Write and wait for the write to complete.

6. Exit the imager and eject the SD card.

Linux

1. Insert the SD card into your computer or connect the SD card reader with the SD card inside

2. Install the ImageWriter tool from the Ubuntu Software Center

3. Launch the ImageWriter tool (it needs your administrative password)

4. Select the image file (example 2012-10-28-RamperPro.img) to be written to the SD card (note: because you started ImageWriter as administrator the starting point when selecting the image file is the administrator's home folder so you need to change to your own home folder to select the image file)

5. Select the target device to write the image to (your device will be something like "/dev/mmcblk0" or "/dev/sdc")

6. Click the "Write to device" button

7. Wait for the process to finish and then insert the SD card in the RamperPro

Copy the SD card

We really recommend to clone your SD card so that you have multiple cards with the RamperPro firmware. Remember that you really rely on this SD card. A broken card means that you cannot use the RamperPro. Use the steps above to create multiple cards or clone the card with one of the tools that are availble for this.

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 28 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

Interfacing with Motion Control Hardware

[26]The RamperPro can interface with all current motion control hardware like the Dynamic Perception MX2 and MX3 motion controllers or the eMotimo TB3. You can also use external intervalometer to trigger the RamperPro. That way you can use the DitoGear controllers with the RamperPro for example.

The two ext ports (ext1 and ext2) at the back of the RamperPro can be used to integrate the RamperPro with motion control hardware. There are also two MoCoBus connectors available. These are the double RJ45, network connectors next to the light sensor connector. The MoCoBus connectors are for future use when more MoCoBus motion control hardware becomes available (from for example DynamicPerception).

The first I/O port is tied to camera one, the second one to camera two. You might need special adapters to connect external hardware like our I/O isolator [27] or the ElysiaVisuals DragonFrame adapter.

Its probably best if the RamperPro triggers the motion control hardware to move to the next position. That way you are sure that the exposure is finished and that it is safe to move your camera. This needs to be supported by your hardware. Some hardware like DitoGear hardware doesn't have this possibility. You can then configure the RamperPro to be triggered by an external signal. The motion control hardware can then signal the RamperPro to take a picture. A drawback of this mode is that you cannot use interval fairing because the RamperPro is not dictating the interval.

There are currently three different types of integration possible:

1. The RamperPro as the master device. In this setup the the RamperPro determines the timings and it controls the camera. Motion control hardware can be triggered by the RamperPro to move all axis to the next position. This is especially working good in a shootmove-shoot configuration. A big advantage is that the interval fairing capability of the RamperPro can be used because the RamperPro sets the changing interval. You would need to use the I/O isolator [27] when you use this mode. This isolator acts like a switch that can

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 29 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

trigger motion control hardware like the MX2, MX3 and TB3.

2. Use an external intervalometer. Some motion control hardware like the DitoGear solutions cannot handle an external intervalometer. In that case you set the external hardware to be the external timer. The RamperPro will then be triggered by that timer.

3. DragonFrame integration. The RamperPro features an experimental DragonFrame integration mode. Here the RamperPro acts like a DragonFrame remote controller. It will trigger DragonFrame to move all axis to the next position when a shot is taken by the RamperPro.

The 2.5mm Tip Ring Sleeve (TRS) plug

You connect motion control hardware to the I/O functionality of the RamperPro with a so called

2.5mm Tip Ring Sleeve (TRS) plug. The tip and ring of the plugs are connected to the RamperPro hardware. You can define the behavior or both this ring and tip in the I/O settings menu [28] in the system menu. There is can either define if the ring or tip acts as an output, needed to trigger an extern system or as an input, so that the RamperPro can receive triggers from external systems.

How to delay the motion control hardware after a shot is taken

You might want to have a (short) delay after a shot is taken by the RamperPro and the moment that the motion hardware is triggered. That way you are absolutely sure that the shutter is closed before the camera is moved. You do this by setting the "Post delay time" on the Camera 1 and Camera 2 system settings in the system settings menu [28].

Using multiple motion control rigs at the same time

The RamperPro can control two cameras and interface with two motion control rigs at the same time. These cameras can run different ramping profiles and each camera can be put on their own motion control device. You can for example setup a Nikon D800 as camera one on a Stage One slider and you can put a Canon 5Dmkiii as camera two on a TB3 pan and tilt head. The RamperPro can then control both cameras and both the Stage One and TB3. Ext1 is linked to the first camera and ext2 is linked to the second camera. So in this example you would wire the Stage One to ext1 and the TB3 to ext2; use an I/O isolator in both cases.

Integrating with motion control hardware while in 3D/Stereo mode

In 3D or Stereo mode the RamperPro will accurately synchronize two camera’s to virtually act like one camera. This means that you can only receive one external trigger if you are interfacing with an external intervalometer. This trigger will then trigger both cameras at exactly the same time. You might want to connect an external intervalometer to ext1 when you are in 3D mode when you are using an external intervalometer like a DitoGear multi-axis Evolution setup. It is theoretically possible to trigger two motion control rigs in 3D mode when the RamperPro is the timing master. But we doubt if somebody will ever use that possibility. This means that you will most probably always will be using ext1 when you are using the 3D capabilities of the RamperPro.

The following paragraphs explain for each mode how to connect the RamperPro to your motion control device(s) and how to setup the required parameters to make it all happen.

Connect the RamperPro to motion control hardware

Most motion controllers expect some sort of external switch when they integrate with the outside world. The RamperPro can provide this external switch with the help of the ElysiaVisuals I/O Isolator [27]. This is a tiny solution that you connect connect between the RamperPro and controllers like the Dynamic Perception MX2, MX3 or the eMotimo TB3. Please take the following steps when you are using this kind of interfacing:

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 30 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

1. Connect one cable to the desired ext (1 or 2) port of the RamperPro. Ext1 is linked to camera 1 and Ext2 is liked to camera 2.

2. Connect the other end of this cable to the input side of the I/O isolator. That is the side that has no indicator.

3. Connect a second cable to the output side of the I/O isolator. That is the side that has the O of output visible on the connector.

4. Connect the other end of this cable to the I/O port of your motion control device.

You now to to configure both the RamperPro and the motion control device in order to get the integration to work. Use the lowest possible interval on the TB3; this will indicate "External" on the display. Refer to the manual of the Dynamic Perception MX2 or MX3 about how to configure these motion controller to receive external triggers (either via the ring or tip of the cable).

The TB3 will be triggered by the tip of the TRS plug. This means that you need to configure the tip of the TRS plug in the I/O settings menu. Set the value to enabled=yes, input=no, DragonFrame=no and a trigger time of 50ms. The MX2 or MX3 can "listen" to both the ring or tip.

[29] [30]

The RamperPro connected to the MX2 motion controller. Please note the direction of the O on the I/O isolator.

The MX3 can also be connected to the RamperPro. This gives you a three axis motion control solution. Please note the direction of the O on the isolator.

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 31 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

[31]

The I/O isolator can also be used to interface the TB3. This way you get a three axis stepper motor solution. The RamperPro will trigger the TB3. This way the axis can move to the next position when the RamperPro has fired the camera.

Using external intervalometers

External intervalometers can be used to trigger the RamperPro to take a picture. This is only valid in exposure ramping mode since it makes no sense to have an external trigger when you are running the RamperPro is basic mode. Please take the following steps when you are using this kind of interfacing:

1. Connect a 2.5mm double TRS cable to the output port of your external intervalometer. That is the port that you normally use to trigger your camera.

2. Connect the other side of this cable to the desired ext port of the RamperPro (as described above).

You now need to set the appropriate settings on the RamperPro so that it will listen to the external trigger. You do this by configuring the tip of the connected Ext1 or Ext2 cable. The trigger is received by the tip of the cable. This means that you need to configure the appropriate tip I/O settings to: enabled=yes, input=yes.

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 32 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

[32]

You don't need the I/O isolator when you connect an external intervalometer. Here you see that the camera port of a DitoGear controller can be plugged directly into the RamperPro Ext ports.

Interfacing with DragonFrame

The RamperPro can act as a remote control for the fantastic DragonFrame stop motion software. In this setup you can use DragonFrame to control you stepper motor based motion control rig. This has many advantages but the most important one is that you can create highly advanced multi axis moves based on key frames with DragonFrame. DragonFrame runs on both Windows and OSX computers and it communicates to the outside word like the RamperPro via the USB port. You cannot connect the USB port of the RamperPro to the USB port of a normal computer. That is why we have developed the RamperPro DragonFrame adapter. This is a small adapter that you can use to connect the RamperPro to a computer that runs DragonFrame.

Note: The DragonFrame adapter uses both the tip and rind of the Ext connector since the interface can both send data to DragonFrame, but it can also receive data from DragonFrame. That is why you will see "DragonFrame is enabled of the previous pin" when you try to set the settings of a tip when the corresponding ring of the plug is configured to be a DragonFrame connection. Set the ring of the I/O port to enabled=yes, input=no and DragonFrame=yes when you want to configure the RamperPro to be connected to DragonFrame.

This is how you connect the RamperPro to a computer that runs DragonFrame:

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 33 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

1. Connect a cable to the desired ext port of the RamperPro.

2. Connect the other side of this cable to the RamperPro DragonFrame adapter.

3. Connect a mini USB cable to the other side of the RamperPro DragonFrame adapter.

4. Connect the other side of the USB cable to the computer that runs DragonFrame.

You now need to configure the RamperPro so that it will trigger DragonFrame whenever an image is taken. That way DragonFrame can move all connected axis to their next position. You also need to setup DragonFrame in such a way that it will listen to a USB port for external commands to get this working.

The MoCoBus and NMx

The open source motion control bus (MoCoBus) is an exciting development that will make it possible to daisy chain various motion control devices. The DynamicPerception nanoMoCo enabled stepper motors are an example of this. You can daisy chain up to 16 of these stepper motors and you can control them via one single RJ45 cable. There will be more devices that support the MoCoBus protocol (like easier to use motor) in the near future. The double MoCoBus connectors at the side of the RamperPro are for future use. Support to control nanoMoCo and derived stepper motors will be added to the RamperPro firmware in the future. That will make the RamperPro a highly advanced motion controller that both controls your motors and your camera!

How to use the I/O isolator

[33]The RamperPro can trigger motion controllers like the MX2 and MX3 from Dynamic Perception or the eMotimo TB3. These motion control devices suspect an external switch that notifies them to move their motors. This external switch can be provided by the ElysiaVisuals I/O isolator. This image shows how to connect the I/O isolator. The isolator has two jacks, one of them is marked with an O or circle. This O indicates O utput. The output needs to be connected to the motion control hardware, the other side needs to be connected to the ext1 or ext2 port of the RamperPro. The I/O isolator really isolates the signals between the RamperPro and the MX3 by using an optical switch. This ensures you that you have a safe connection between your devices.

Please check you settings by following the steps that are described in the Interfacing with Motion

Control Hardware [17] section of this manual. You can click on the image that shows the RamperPro

and the MX3 to enlarge the image.

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 34 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

[34] [35] This is how you conned the I/O isolator cable the the RamperPro

The output part of the I/O isolator needs to be connected to the Aux

port of your motion control device. Note: you don't need the I/O isolator when an external intervalometer is triggering the RamperPro. This is described in the Interfacing with Motion Control Hardware [17] section too.

Please don't connect the RamperPro to your MX2, MX3 and TB3 without the use of the I/O isolator. This can damage your equipment!

Tips and Tricks

Check your connections before you start

The RamperPro needs a lot of cables; especially when you are using two camera's. One of the most important cables is the PC Sync cable. This cable is used to measure the exact exposure during Bulb. A missing PC Sync cable, a badly connected one or even a broken cable will stop your sequence because the RamperPro cannot work properly in bulb without a proper cable. You really don't want your timelapse sequence to stop when the RamperPro switches to Bulb when something is wrong with any cable. The trick is to test all connections before you start.

The easy way to test all cables is to set the start exposure value higher than the "start bulb mode" value in the settings of the RamperPro. That way you force the device to use Bulb from the start. You can then start an advanced sequence as a test. The RamperPro will give an error when any of the required cables is not connected. You can even "tie" two camera's if you want to check if all cables to the second camera are connected properly.

Don't forget to set the start exposure speed back to the desired value if you really want to start ramping.

Take an extra SD card with you

The RamperPro depends on the software that is on the SD card. This means that if, for any reason, the SD card gets corrupted you cannot use the unit. We therefore recommend to always bring a second SD card.

A word about ISO values

Nikon cameras also support some L or H ISO values. The value of these ISO values cannot be used

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 35 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

with the RamperPro. The reason for this is that these values are not accurate. L1.0 on a D700 should be ISO 100. But it is actually ISO 160. This means that the RamperPro cannot make accurate calculations when you shift the ISO over these L of H ISO values. This is the reason why the RamperPro will give an error if you want to use ISO 100 on a D700 for example.

How to switch to bulb and manual on Canon cameras

The RamperPro cannot switch automatically between normal shutter speeds and bulb on many Canon cameras. This is due to the fact that bulb is a different setting and not a “special” shutter speed as it is on all supported Nikon models. This means that you need to switch between manual and bulb mode manually on Canon cameras. The RamperPro will indicate this with a popup. Change the setting of your camera and press the touch screen afterwards.

This is really not as bad as it seems. Suppose that you are ramping over a large number of stops with the following parameters. Start shutter speed is 1/250th of a second and speed is 2 seconds and you switch to bulb mode at 0.5 seconds. This will result in one switch from normal shutter speeds to bulb speed when the exposure has reached a value of 0.5 seconds; you only have to switch mode manually once with these settings when you use a Canon camera. All supported Nikon cameras are fully controlled by the RamperPro; no manual intervention is needed. Some Nikon camera’s feature a mode dial, but you will be notified by the RamperPro to set it to manual before you can start an exposure ramping sequence.

Camera locks when connected to the USB port

Canon cameras seem to freeze when you connect them to the RamperPro via a USB cable. You cannot change any settings on the camera and it will display “busy” on the display. The RamperPro is actively forcing these cameras to accept external activities like changing from manual to bulb on the 1DX for example. Canon cameras are only forced to do this when a timelapse sequence is running. That is why you cannot change settings on your camera when the RamperPro is in idle mode. We recommend disconnecting the USB cable when you want to configure your Canon camera for a shoot. Wait until the RamperPro mentions that the USB connection is lost before you reconnect your camera. This way you are sure that the RamperPro discovers your camera correctly after you have reconfigured it. Settings like ISO and shutter speed are set by the RamperPro; so there is no need to set them by hand upfront.

No image playback available on Nikon cameras

Nikon cameras don’t support playback on their own LCD screen when a USB cable is connected. This means that you cannot check the individual images when they are taken by the camera. This is not a limitation of the RamperPro. This is just how Nikon has implemented their cameras. It would

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 36 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

theoretically be possible to show the images on the touch screen of the RamperPro. We have chosen not to do this in the current version of the firmware since that would mean that the images need to be downloaded to the RamperPro via the USB cable, scaled and then displayed and all this within the interval between two images.

Set the correct aperture on Canon cameras

Popular Canon camera’s like the 5Dmkii and 5Dmkiii feature a dial that you need to physically turn to choose manual or bulb mode. It can happen that the selected aperture differs between manual and bulb mode. Please make sure that you set the same aperture in both the manual and bulb mode of your camera before you start. Failure to do so will result in different exposures when you switch from normal shutter speeds to bulb mode.

How does the intervalometer work

The intervalometer of the RamperPro determines when its time to take the next image. There are a few things that might be interesting to know about this. The intervalometer always starts counting again as soon as the interval has expired. This means that the interval will start counting as soon as a picture is taken. Let's say that we have set an interval of 8 seconds and a shutter speed of 5 seconds. A result of these setting is that the next image is taken 3 seconds after the exposure is finished of the previous image.

It can happen that you have a situation where the shutter speed is larger than the interval. The RamperPro will not stop when this is happening. In fact, the exposure ramper will still give good results because all calculations will take this into account. The only effect will be that the interval will be longer than expected because it will now become at least as long as the shutter speed that is used. The error detecting system of the RamperPro will try, where possible, to warn upfront that there is a possible collision between the interval and the shutter speed.

Which shutter speeds are calculated by the RamperPro

There is a shift in the shutter speeds that are used by the RamperPro. That is by design. This is because, by default, the RamperPro will always make negative XMP corrections. So, suppose you want a shutter speed of 1/100. You will get 1/80 and a correction of -0.3. The preview screen will do this too. So you will not use the actual shutter speed, but the speed 1/3 slower + the corresponding XMP correction.

The camera is not taking any pictures

Check if you camera is not in auto focus mode because that could result on lost images if the camera cannot focus properly. Is there a memory card in your camera? We recommend to set the camera to manual focus and then focus manually on your subject. The preview mode of the RamperPro needs two cables. You need to connect both the supplied trigger cable and the USB cable. This is done by design to make sure that both cables are connected properly before you start your shoot. Note that the current version of the preview mode doesn't work in Bulb mode. Set your camera to manual to use the preview mode.

Specifications and supported cameras

Supported cameras

Here is a list of the cameras that are currently supported by the RamperPro. Don't worry if your

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 37 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

camera is not listed. We can easily add new camera's in future versions of the firmware. Please contact us if your camera of choice is not on the list below.

Nikon:

D2X D2Xs D3 D4 D3S D80 D200 D300 D300S D600 D610 D700 D800 D800E D5000 D5100 D5200 D7000 D7100

Canon:

1DX 5DmkII 5DmkIII 6D 7D 30D 40D (ready at the end of March) 50D (ready at the end of March) 60D

Note: Not all Canon cameras can be set to Bulb mode via USB. This means that you sometimes need to set your camera to Bulb mode yourself. The RamperPro will notify you with message when you need to set your camera to Bulb. Nikon cameras don't have this drawback because they can be fully controlled via USB.

RamperPro features

True automatic exposure ramping of sunsets or sunrises. This is done by analyzing the images that are taken by your camera. Purpose designed dedicated hardware Highly portable, fits in your pocket

2.8" Touch screen interface Dimmable backlight. Backlight will turn of fully in screen saver mode All status leds can be shut off to prevent any light pollution Dual camera support via a dual fully independent hardware pipelines Two USB2 connections Bulb exposure time measurement via two fully isolated power supplies Optically isolated camera triggering An external digital light sensor can be added to create a highly accurate fully automatic exposure ramper

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 38 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

All connections are electronically protected Synchronized 3D mode Image preview function with histogram Exposure ramping mode with ISO shifting Basic intervalometer Automatic ramping mode Interval fairing XMP support for Adable After Effects and Corel Aftershots Pro Direct integration with Dynamic Perception MX2 and MX3, eMotimo TB3 black and many other motion control solutions Integrates out-of-the-box with DragonFrame stop motion software with the help of our DragonFrame adapter Two MoCoBus connections. Can both act as bus master or slave Built in accelerometer, the device is your joystick nanoMoCo or NMx motion controller 5V input when no MoCoBus enabled hardware is connected 12-24V input when MoCoBus enabled hardware is connected Built-in voltage meter that can monitor your battery power. A future version of the firmware will include an auto shutdown mode.

Source URL: http://www.elysiavisuals.com/content/ramperpro-user-manual

Links

[1] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/rpro_first.jpg [2] http://vimeo.com/89099577 [3] http://vimeo.com/user18844379 [4] https://vimeo.com [5] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/D3_connected2.jpg [6] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/page_home.jpg [7] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/page_buttonpad.jpg [8] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/page_camer_setup_1_easy.jpg [9] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/page_camer_setup_1_ramper.jpg [10] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/page_camer_setup_2_ramper_easy.jpg [11] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/page_camer_setup_2_ramper_3d.jpg [12] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/page_engines_setup.jpg [13] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/content/word-about-light-sensor-and-automatic-exposure [14] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/_DSC6257.jpg [15] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/page_system1_0.jpg [16] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/page_system2.jpg [17] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/content/interfacing-motion-control-hardware [18] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/xmp_overview.jpg [19] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/content/adobe-lightroom-not-always-reading-xmp-files [20] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/datafile.jpg [21] http://www.lrtimelapse.com [22] http://www.elysiavisuals.com [23] http://elinux.org/RPi_Easy_SD_Card_Setup [24] http://ivanx.com/raspberrypi/ [25] http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager [26] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/25TRS.jpg [27] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/content/elysiavisuals-io-isolator [28] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/content/system-settings [29] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/mx2.jpg [30] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/mx3.jpg [31] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/tb3.jpg [32] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/dito_connecgted.jpg [33] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/isolator1.jpg

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 39 of 40

RamperPro User Manual

Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)

[34] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/isolator2.jpg [35] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/isolator3.jpg

Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs

About us - Contact us

Page 40 of 40

elysia RamperPro User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual