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RamperPro User Manual
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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[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
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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]
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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
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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.
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[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
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[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
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Altri manuali per RamperPro
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