F I + Z Lens Control Rev 3.
Table of Contents I. Introduction A. B. C. D. E. F. G. System Hand Unit 3 Micro Force Zoom Remote Iris Box Optional Wireless Units MDR2 DM-1, DM-2 motors II. FI+Z Basic Operation Summary A. Motor Driver and Digital Motor set-up B. Hand Unit 3 III. Hand Unit Detailed Description A. Hand Grip 1. Configurations 2. Changing the hand grip B. HU3 Set-Up and Operation 1. Main Display 2. Menu Screen 3. Radio Channel Selection 4. Footage Counter 5. Camera Selection 6. Lens Set-Up 7. Operating Mode 8.
I. Introduction A. System. The classic FI+Z, wireless lens and camera control system is known worldwide for its combination of precision, simplicity and ruggedness. It consists of the Hand Unit, Motor Driver, a set of Digital Motors, a Micro Force zoom control, and a variety of optional controls including wireless Focus/Iris, Zoom, and F/X units. The FI+Z system controls the complete array of both lens and camera functions B. The Hand Unit 3 adds impressive new features and functionality to the system.
playback functions. The Radio Micro Force module allows the zoom function to be split off from the Hand Unit. F. The Motor Driver (MDR2) supports 3 motor channels, camera run/stop, and camera speed and shutter control. It provides control over the speed and shutter angle over all of the major film cameras in use today that support external control. The 30 channel transceiver allows the simultaneous operation of both the Hand Unit 3 as well as the optional wireless hand units listed previously.
To turn off the power to the unit, press the Power Switch for 3 seconds. c. If the ft and fps text appear in the upper right corner of the display, the HU3 and MDR are both set to the same wireless channel. If the wireless channels of the HU3 and MDR do not match, the message No Host! will appear in the upper left corner of the display replacing the ft and fps text. d. Match the HU3 wireless channel to the MDR: Menu Screen: Channel Selection • • Press the Menu soft key. “Channel” will be highlighted.
g. Programming the Camera Speed and Shutter angle. Use the Nav key to select Camera from the Menu screen. • Press Choose to select camera type. • Set-up shows the camera speed and shutter angle menu. • To enable HU3 control of camera speed and shutter, select Yes for Speed, Shutter. • Use the Nav key to select the Speed, and edit the value on the right. • Common speeds and shutter angles are available from lists.
III. Hand Unit 3. Detailed Description A. Grip Configurations. 1. The Hand Unit can be set-up with a molded Hand Grip for Focus and Iris control or with the Hand Grip replaced by a flat cover to accommodate a bracket and Micro Force zoom control. HU3 with Hand Grip and Quick Release Plate HU3 with Micro Force and bracket 4336 2. Removing the Hand Grip. The Handgrip is removed to allow the bracket for the Micro Force to be installed. • • • • Press the Grip Release toward the HU3 housing (1).
B. 1. Set-Up and Operation Main Display Screen. Press the Power Switch momentarily. The OLED display will show the Main Display Screen : footage Focus Ring Letter Radio Channel Signal Strength bars Battery Charge Lens Selection Shows focus distance in digital format (Lens must be calibrated) Shows focus knob setting as bargraph All functions are accessed through the Menu key Main Display Screen 2. Menu Screen Options. Press the MENU soft-key; the MENU screen appears: 3.
5. The Camera selection (Fig 1) provides for control of both camera speed and shutter angle for those cameras supporting remote operation. Pressing Choose brings up the Manufacturers folders (Fig 2). Pressing Choose again brings up the list of supported cameras (Fig 3). Fig 1 Fig 2 Fig 3 Press the left pad of the Nav key to return back to the Camera selection. Press the Set-Up key to bring up the camera Control menu (Fig 4). Use the Nav key to select and then modify the camera speed and shutter angle.
Fig 10 Fig 11 Fig 12 To calibrate a new lens: • Name the lens • Use the Edit function to enter the lens focus data. To name the lens, go to the Lens selection screen (FIG 7), press Choose, select All lenses (Fig 8), and select a manufacturer’s folder to store the lens data (Fig 9). Press the New Lens key (Fig 10) and you will be asked to select the lens name (Fig 13 ).
When this procedure has been completed, an icon with the letter c appears on the right hand side of the lens name, indicating that the lens has been calibrated (Fig 10). Return to the Menu Screen (fig 7), and press Ring to select a ring (A – E) for metric and Ai – Ei for imperial) to match the close focus of the lens. The tables below show the near focus distances for both the rings calibrated in imperial and metric units. Ring Near Focus Ai 9” Bi 18” Ci 24” Di 36” Ei 72” Ring Near Focus A .25m B .
The Snorkel mode is used to implement the pan and horizon functions of the Revolution snorkel (or similar lenses) that require synchronizing horizon rotation to the pan rotation with a ratio of 1:2. This mode is indicated by the letter S in the main screen to the left of the radio channel indication. When the system is in this mode, neither the iris nor the zoom motor will calibrate. This is because the Snorkel lens doesn’t have mechanical stops on the pan and horizon axes.
The 3D mode display (left, below) has a Set-Up soft key. Pressing this key allows the user to input the maximum values for Inter-ocular separation and Convergence angle. The camera offset value is the distance from the pivot point of the convergence axis to the lens nodal point. Please refer to the reference drawing for 3D rigs on page 21. Returning to the main display screen, pressing the Fshow soft-key shows the Convergence Distance, Convergence Angle and Inter-ocular distance.
9. Lens Limits can be set using the three groups of set/reset (s/r) keys. To set a limit, move the motor to the first limit and press the set (s) key. While keeping the s key pressed, move the motor to the second limit and release the s key. The limit is now set and indicated by a lit LED. To remove a limit, press the reset key r. The Zoom bargraph indicates the off-limits areas of the zoom range by two lit strips of LED’s. The span of the allowed travel corresponds to the length of the un-lit LED’s.
11. Software updates can be downloaded from the website http://www.prestoncinema.com/downloads.html. To load an update into the HU3: • Install the boot loader program from the CD which is shipped with the FI+Z system to a PC. • Make sure that the Hand Unit is not powered. • Connect the serial cable 4651(serial connector to 4-pin Lemo) between the serial port of the pc and the Serial receptacle on the rear cover of the HU3. • For laptops without a serial connector, use a USB to serial adapter.
MDR2: Torque and Direction Switches Channel Selector Switches The three channel Motor Driver (MDR2) is responsible for driving the motors, providing control signals to the camera, and transferring camera operating data to the wireless network through the transceiver module. The MDR2 uses a lens calibration sequence to determine the mechanical limits of the zoom, focus, and iris rings of the lens.
To initiate the update, open the MRD2 update program on your PC. The program CD and a serial cable is included with the MDR2. Remove power from the MDR2. Connect the serial cable between the PC and MDR2 serial receptacle. Open the MDR2 update program. While holding the reset button down, apply power to the MDR2. Release the reset button. The program should now report that it has found a connection to the MDR2 and asks whether you want to proceed with the update. Choose yes.
4301 4333 4302 4304 15mm Arri Bridge 4311 Panavision Bridge Motor Brackets A. 15mm Arri rod system. When the FI+Z motors are installed on a camera equipped with 15mm matte box support rods, the rods must be prevented from twisting. This can be accomplished with either a matte box, or the Arriflex Bridge adapter (p/n 4304). The adapter slides over the 15mm rods, and has two integral 19mm sleeves which can be used to attach two motor mounting brackets.
VII. Battery Packs and Charger The HU3 uses FM-50 type LI-Ion Battery Packs. The batteries have a rating of 7.4v @ 1.5 ~ 1.8 AH. They provide a typical run time of 6 hours. The typical charging time is 4 hours. FM -50 Battery p/n 4025 Charger p/n 4027 VIII. Technical Information A. FCC Statement This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a class B digital device, pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules.
(2) This device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operation. FCC RF EXPOSURE STATEMENT To satisfy RF exposure requirements, this device and its antenna must operate with a separation distance of at least 20 cm from all persons and must not be co-located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna or transmitter. B. Connector pin-outs 1. Hand Unit Connectors Command 5-pin Lemo 1. GND 2. +12 – 24 VDC 3. Serial 4. Serial 5. n/c Serial 4-pin Lemo 1.
C. MDR2 Camera Cables 2. Panavison Cameras 1.
D. Transmitter Channel frequency allocation. Channel 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 MHz 2402 2404 2406 2408 2410 2412 2414 2416 2418 2420 Channel 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 MHz 2424 2428 2432 2436 2440 2444 2448 2452 2454 2458 Channel 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 MHz 2460 2462 2464 2466 2468 2470 2472 2474 2476 2478 E.
The lens nodal point is the point about which the lens may be rotated without causing parallax, the lateral shift of the image. Several good tutorials on the web describe the procedure for finding the lens nodal point: http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/2114189 and http://archive.bigben.id.au/tutorials/360/photo/nodal.html. Once the nodal point of a lens is found, its position can be noted, and the distance D2 between the nodal point and the focal plane of the camera should be recorded.
b. Place a subject having a straight vertical line at a convenient distance from the rig. Measure the distance between the subject and the camera focal plane and adjust the focus knob to match. 2. Adjust the inter-ocular distance to maximum. Observe the monitor to see whether the images from both cameras overlap. Make small adjustments in the focus knob setting until the images overlap exactly. a.
