Pentax Time-Lapse Package User Manual

Time-Lapse Package

User’s Guide

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Harbortronics LLC

3417 Harborview Dr, Suite 300

Gig Harbor, WA. USA 98332

253-858-7769 (Phone)

253-858-9517 (Fax)

http://www.harbortronics.com/

Sales & Service: [e-mail]

Technical & Customizing: [e-mail]

Time-Lapse Package

Revision D

Overview................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3

Quick Start.............................................................................................................................................................................................3

Items included:................................................................................................................ .................................................................. 3

Configuring the DigiSnap......................................................................................................................................................................4

Connecting to a terminal.................................................................................................................................................................. 4

Configuring for Advanced Time-Lapse ..........................................................................................................................................4

System Components...............................................................................................................................................................................5

Digital Camera.................................................................................................................................................................................. 5

Enclosure...........................................................................................................................................................................................7

Mount Assembly................................................................................................................................................................................7

Mechanical Package.......................................................................................................................................................................... 8

Battery pack......................................................................................................................................................................................8

Camera Mount.................................................................................................................................................................................. 9

Time-Lapse Controller..................................................................................................................................................................... 9

Solar Panel......................................................................................................................................................................................... 9

Solar Charger.................................................................................................................. ................................................................ 10

Battery Converter........................................................................................................................................................................... 10

Tools and Accessories.....................................................................................................................................................................10

Base Package...................................................................................................................................................................................11

Pentax Package................................................................................................................................................................................ 11

Standard Package...........................................................................................................................................................................12

Battery Life Estimates......................................................................................................................................................................... 12

Battery Life Estimates.......................................................................................................................................................................... 13

Specifications.......................................................................................................................................................................................14

Service / Warranty................................................................................................................................................................................14

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Overview

The Time-Lapse Package is a complete system for documenting construction projects, animal behavior monitoring, analyzing
environmental changes, or other long-term outdoor photographic tasks.

Quick Start

1. Reconnect the two-pin Red and Black power cable to the Battery converter (intentionally disconnected for shipping). This
will apply power to the camera and the controller. You might check other cable connections as well!

2. Once the power is connected, the DigiSnap should immediately blink yellow/orange, and then a few seconds later will
blink green four times to indicate that it’s ready to go. If you don’t see any blinking on the LED, then check the cables
again…

3. Turn the camera on, using the rotating power switch on the top of the camera.

4. Press the * button on the DigiSnap, and the camera should take a picture!

5. Let’s try a Simple Time-Lapse (STL) test. Press and hold the time-lapse button on the DigiSnap. After two seconds it will
start to blink yellow/orange. Count 5 blinks (5 seconds), and then release. This has told the DigiSnap to set the time-lapse
interval to 5 seconds, and take an infinite number of pictures. Press the time-lapse button again, briefly. After a few
seconds, the camera should take a picture, and then again every 5 seconds, until the batteries give out or memory card fills.
If you press it again briefly, it should stop taking pictures.

Items included:

Fiberglass Housing, glass window.
High capacity internal battery pack.
5 Watt Solar Panel.
Harbortronics Solar Charger.
Harbortronics Battery Converter.

Here are all of the parts, before we assemble them!

Harbortronics DigiSnap 2100.
Pentax K110D Digital SLR.
A pair of 2 GB memory cards.
All required tools, cables, manuals and accessories.

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Configuring the DigiSnap

Now that you’ve verified that things are working, you may want to configure the DigiSnap for your particular application. The first
time you do this can be trying, but once you’ve gone through the process once, it’ll be easy the next time. If you get stuck, give us a
call!

If we shipped the housing with a camera installed, or if you told us the camera you are planning to use, the DigiSnap should already
be configured properly for that camera model. All you should need to configure are the time-lapse settings.

Take a look at the DigiSnap 2000 manual, which is on the CD Rom supplied with the equipment. This should help you to understand
how the DigiSnap works with a terminal window, and what sort of operations the DigiSnap can perform.

Connecting to a terminal

If you have a desktop PC, you probably have a serial port on the back of your computer. This is most likely COM1, which is ideal.
Use the supplied beige cable (labeled Null-Modem), to connect the DigiSnap to your serial port.

If you have a newer laptop or a Mac, you may need to buy a USB to Serial converter, and get it working first. These are available at
any computer store from $15 and up. When you connect it, and install any required drivers, your computer will assign some number
COM port. Most of the time, it will use some higher number, like COM5. This can be frustrating, as your computer may not even tell
you which port it’s using. It’s really nice to switch this to COM1, using your computer’s operating system, but not essential.

You now need to run a program to open up a terminal window. If you are running Linux, you already know how to do this! If you
have a windows PC and are using COM1, you can use the DigiSnap_Terminal.exe program supplied on the CD Rom.

If you are using a windows PC and something other than COM1, you can use HyperTerminal that is supplied with windows. Double
click the DigiSnap.ht file on the CD Rom, and it will set up the HyperTerminal program for you… you may have to select the correct
COM port however. If you don’t know which COM port your computer is using, you may have to ‘disconnect’, select a different port
number, ‘reconnect’, and then cycle the DigiSnap power each time.

If you are using a Mac, you can use a program called ZTerm, or you may already have a terminal program installed with your
particular OS. The particular COM settings needed are listed in the DigiSnap 2000 manual.

Once you have your terminal program running, and ‘connected’, cycle the power on the DigiSnap, and you should see it present a
menu on the screen. You can select the different menus or particular commands. Once you have configured the DigiSnap via a
terminal, the settings are saved forever, or until the next time you change them using this same procedure.

Configuring for Advanced Time-Lapse

The majority of outdoor monitoring applications will use the Advanced Time-Lapse (ATL) feature of the DigiSnap controller. With
ATL, the camera can be made to take pictures only during daylight hours, or take pictures only at specific times of the day.

Please note that the DigiSnap controller does not have an internal clock. When used with a Nikon Coolpix camera, it can get the time
of day directly from the camera, but when used with an SLR camera, such as the Pentax K110D which is standard with the Time­Lapse Package, the DigiSnap does not know what time it is; when you power it up, it will presume that it’s midnight. This doesn’t
mean you can’t use ATL, it just means you have to be a bit more clever. You can set up the ATL start times with an offset,
anticipating what time of day you are going to start the system, or you can simply have configure the DigiSnap to start taking pictures
at 00:01 (1 minute after midnight), and power up the system when you want it to start taking pictures. The DigiSnap will then start
keeping time, and taking pictures on a daily schedule.

We would be happy to pre-configure the DigiSnap for your particular application, to ease your project by one more step.

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Time-Lapse Package

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System Components

Digital Camera

The Time-Lapse Package can be used with a wide range of cameras, from point & shoot, to SLR’s. Most customers prefer that we
supply the camera, and this is our preference as well, but we can also provide the system without a camera, if you already have a
camera that you’d like to use.

There are a host of considerations to evaluate when choosing a camera model for time-lapse photography, particularly in the field.
The ultimate goal of your project is to collect a series of images over a long period of time, regardless of the environmental
conditions. Shutter life, image quality, power consumption, and of course reliability are major concerns. We have done this research
for you, and believe we have a good recommendation.

As in many endeavors, “details count!”. For instance: some customers have asked to use their own Nikon SLR camera. While the
cameras would certainly be perfectly suited to capturing images, there are some difficulties accommodating most Nikon SLR’s in
time-lapse. Most Nikon SLR cameras have an external power connector… they are proprietary to Nikon, so we would have to buy
their expensive AC adapter, simply to cut off the connector. When powered externally, we have found that Nikon SLR’s never shut
off the metering… the camera continues to draw some power all the time, which is a battery killer! If powered via the battery
compartment, this isn’t an issue. However, getting power to the battery terminals is not easy either, and Nikon now has a proprietary
battery sensor, to ensure that only their batteries are used. Shutter release is another issue. The latest small Nikon SLR’s are sized
perfectly for the housing, but they do not have a shutter release connection. While we can modify a camera to add such a connector,
it’s not cost effective in most cases. Those SLR’s that do have a shutter release jack use proprietary connectors… again, making the
system more expensive. Nikon makes fine cameras, but they make it very difficult to use their cameras in this application!

We have less experience with Canon SLR’s. The Digital Rebel series use an industry standard connector for the shutter release, but
their ‘professional’ SLR cameras use a proprietary connector. Many Canon SLR’s do not have an external jack for power, but most
have some dummy battery pack accessory with an AC adapter. If you have a camera you would like to use, we may need to borrow
your camera for a day, to see if we can come up with the proper connections.

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