spectrum ST4

eMotimo spectrum ST4 Instructions Manual

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eMotimo spectrum Instructions

Firmware B003

Hardware:

1) Mounting:

Mount camera to Arca-Type clamp illustrated above. You will need to have an Arca-Type L-plate mounted to your camera (this is not included by default with spectrum orders). If you do not already have one, we offer one in our store here:

http://store.emotimo.com/universal-q-r-l-plate-p111.aspx

This L-plate is shown in use below:

2) Ports:

3) Power: 12-24V. Minimum 2A. 3.5A preferred. Connector: 2.1mm x 5.5mm x 12mm circular barrel connector – center positive.

4) Controller:

5) Connection – easiest way to connect.

a. With remote off (no flashing or lights on), press and hold the share button

with your left thumb, and then press and hold the PS button (middle) with your right thumb. When LED of the remote flashes white with quick blinks, let both buttons go.

b. Power on the spectrum, wait 3 seconds and then press the spectrum’s

center button of the navigation joystick (you will feel a click a you press in). The remote’s LED should turn light blue in a couple seconds.

c. If you want to see this process in action, watch instructional video here:

https://vimeo.com/159236220

6) Charging Remote – make sure your remote is fully charged before you head out into the field. Plug in a micro USB cable (not included, but typical of many

phones / cameras) to the PS4 and then USB end to a computer. Look for an orange glow on the back of the PS4 while it is charging. Once this turns off it is fully charged. Watch out! Many field packs with USB ports will not charge the PS4. Use the orange glow as an indicator that the charging process is working.

If the remote’s battery gets really low or sits for a long period of time, it might not charge (indicated by orange glow). If it isn’t charging or connecting, reset it. You can do this by using a thin tool to press the reset button on the bottom of the PS4.

Applications:

General firmware navigation:

Real time moves:

Power on the unit and select the first menu setting (Live Motion). Now you are on a motor presets page that allows you to drive the head around and experiment with some predefined motor move profiles.

On this page, use the Up/Down DPAD and Navigation Switch buttons to select a motor move profile. The names and general parameters for relative speeds and accelerations are shown, listed from 1-7.

You can hit Triangle to cycle through the motor profiles on this screen and others. There are some motor profiles that are slow, some that are fast, some that are nearly silent, and some are super damped.

Please bring the rig to a stop before hitting the Triangle – some motor settings are really fast and you can crash the head easily.

Camera Triggering from Remote

Using right trigger (R2), a half press is focus, and a full press is shutter/focus to trigger your camera to shoot. This functionality is for fun or for hot head camera still shooting. This triggering is active in most modes and is good for firing test shots before starting a timelapse sequence.

Presets – GoTo Positions:

There are four GoTo presets you can program. To set, scroll over to the GoTo positions pages. Do this from the main menu by selecting the top menu (Live Motion) and then pressing the right DPad button or right on the Navagation joystick until you see the GoTo frames headers. The first heading you will see is the GoTo Presets: Square. By moving right on the Dpad or right on the Navigation switch you will find the next GoTo preset, which is GoTo Presets: Circle. Keep scrolling right to program all four presets.

Programming a preset:

1. Target: Set your target parameter by moving all 4 axis to a position you want to lock in as a preset. Press X to lock in this position.

2. Time: Once Time is highlighted, scroll up and down to program the amount of time/duration you want your move to take to arrive at your target position.

3. Ramp: Program the acceleration and deceleration in seconds at the start and end of your move to the target position. Ramp is included in the overall duration of the shot. In other words, ramp time is not added to the overall time of the shot.

4. Clear: Press X twice to clear your target position.

Once a preset is programed, you can move the head around freely. When you hit the preset button, the head will drive all 4 axis to the preset (GoTo target position) with the qualities you programed in to that preset.

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Record and Playback screen:

Record and Playback mode allows you to record a move live and have the spectrum play / repeat that move back to you over again. To set Record and Playback, start by selecting the top menu (Live Motion) and then pressing the right DPad button or right on the Navagation joystick until you see the Rec and Playback heading.

1. Use triangle to set the feel of your move. Use the DPad up and down to select Record.

2. Press X on the remote to start the recording

3. You have 10 seconds of time to record your move. The capture rate is 50Hz with 500 keyframes.

4. Move the head any way you want with live controls*

5. When the Record function is finished you will be able to use the Dpad or Navigation joystick to move down to Play.

6. When you hit the Play button by pressing X, the unit will return to start**, pause for 1 second and then replay the move.

Known Issues for REC/Play;

• *There currently is no visual indicator that the head is recording or that it has stopped. Recording is finished when cursor is active

• **The return to start is hardcoded to take only 3.0 second with 0.5 second ramp. If you create a long on a long slider, this will exceed speed limits and the unit will stall.

• You cannot save these moves

• You cannot record less or more that the preset amount.

• Clear and Return to start menu options are not active.

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Programmed moves:

Setup is 2-point SMS or 2 Point Video: Use the up and down D-Pad on the remote or

the 8 ways switch to navigate through the setup screens, there are 4 of them. Center button on the spectrum navigation joystick is the same as X on the remote.

You need to select (highlight) a value to change it. You do this by using the Center button on the spectrum navigation joystick, or the X on the remote.

During the setup process, when choosing values, the DPads up/down buttons on the remote move values the smallest amount. Using the DPads left right increments larger values.

Parameters defined:

1. Type:

a. 2 Point SMS TL: This stands for a 2-point shoot-move-shoot timelapse

shot. If you are shooting timelapse and want the spectrum to trigger your camera to shoot, select this shot type.

b. 2 Point Video: This stands for a 2-point video shot. If you are shooting a

continuous video move, select this shot type.

2. StartPoint: This is where your move will start. Once highlighted, control and move all 4-axis to the point where you would like your move to start.

3. End Point: This is where your move will end. Once highlighted, control and move all 4-axis to the point where you would like your move to end.

4. Interval (SMS TL): Interval is your frame rate for timelapse or stop-frame animation. If you select a 2.0 second interval, the eMotimo spectrum will trigger your camera to start a shot every 2.0 seconds. If you want to speed time more, select a longer interval (good for shots taken over a long duration of time). If you want to speed time less, select a smaller interval (good for shots taken over a short duration of time). Interval time always needs to be set longer than the exposure time set on your camera. TIP: When shooting long exposures, set your interval to twice your cameras shutter speed.

5. Static Time (SMS TL): Static time is the amount of time the spectrum remains stationary while triggering your camera. As a rule of thumb, take your camera’s exposure time and add 0.1 seconds onto it. For example, if you are shooting a 2.0 second exposure, select a 2.1 second static time. If you are shooting daytime shots with 1/100th sec. exposure, use default of 0.1 seconds static time.

6. Moving shots (SMS TL): Select how many frames you want your move to take. Based on what you set your interval at and how many frames you want in your

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shot, the spectrum will calculate how long your shot will take to complete in real time at the bottom of the screen.

7. Duration (Video): In seconds, select how long you would like your move to take.

8. PreRoll (Video): This is the delay (in seconds) you can program into your shot

before your move starts. This is a great feature for setting delays in Ping Pong shot style.

9. PostRoll (Video): This is the delay (in seconds) at the end of your move. This is only active during a Ping Pong style shot. This is a great feature for setting delays in Ping Pong shot style.

10. Ramp (SMS TL and Video): Ramp controls how smooth your starts and stops in your final footage are going to look. A low ramp means you are going to have an abrupt start and stop and a high ramp means you will have a very smooth start and stop. The number you select for your ramp in SMS TL is the number of frames in the final footage that show acceleration and deceleration. If you have 50 frames of ramp, you will have 50 frames at the beginning of your shot and 50 at the end of your shot where the footage shows acceleration and deceleration. If you are shooting in Video mode, your ramp will be represented as duration in seconds. This will be the time at the start and end of your shot that is ramped.

11. Lead In and Lead out (SMS TL): Stationary lead-in/out is the number of stationary shots at the beginning and end of your programmed move. For example, if you set “24 in 48 out”, your program will have 24 shots at the start and 48 shots at the end where the camera and TB3 are not moving. If your frame rate is 24 FPS, then you can think of it as 1 second of stationary time at the start of your shot and 2 seconds of stationary time at the end of your shot.

12. Shot Style (Video):

a. Run Once: In this style, your move will run once, meaning once your move

completes, your move is over.

b. Ping Pong: In this style, your move will run continuously, meaning once

your move reaches its end point it will return to its start point with the same ramp and duration and with continue this cycle over and over until prompted to stop. In the style, your PostRoll will come into play at your end point before your move returns to start.

13. Delay (Disregard – know bug): If you would like to add a start delay to your shot you can do so here. Start delay allows you to start your shot after a specified amount of time.

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14. Summary/ Review page: If you are happy with your settings, then get to the last screen and hit the center button (or X on controller). It will go to start, and then tap it again to shoot.

While Shooting, pressing X on the remote or the center button on the spectrum will pause the move. While paused, using DPad’s up/down buttons you can scrub the move and go to a frame. The spectrum will move to that frame once you un-pause the shot by hitting the X button.

After Shooting, a menu to repeat, reverse, or reset will pop up. Select the option you want.

Hint – If you want to adjust timing or shot parameters, use the D-Pad to go back into the setup process to change a value. You can even go back and adjust the start and end points. Start the shot back up by getting to the review screen.

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Soft Stops:

To avoid crashes, you can setup Soft Stops:

1) Go all the way left on the track, left on pan, down on tilt to the limit you want – hit the L1 button (button above left trigger – L2)

2) Go all the way right on the track, right on pan, up on tilt to set the limit you want – hit R1 (button above right trigger- R2)

3) If you make a mistake, hit option to clear all stops and start again

Now when you drive around, you will decelerate smoothly to hit the soft stop and not run over. When you hit stops on pan and tilt, you will feel a rumble. Start slowly here and don't change motor profiles while you are moving or you can run over and crash. eMotimo will add software to enforce motor profile changes only during stops later.

eMotimo spectrum ST4 Instructions Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual