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Messages - Magnus

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31
Face and Body Scanning / Re: sync 550d and USB connection problem
« on: April 20, 2014, 10:48:58 PM »
Hello Danny!

It sounds like you will need to find a way to delay the triggering of the strobes. The cameras usually have a delay of some 10s of ms after the trigger is pushed.

One thing you can try is to half-press the trigger you use for the cameras (which is usually used for focusing), they should be beeping now and then press down fully to trigger the cameras and see if that atleast helps. Or does the strobes go off with half-press?

Btw, you have the cameras set to manual focus?

Best, Magnus.

32
General / Re: Stone Mountain Georgia Scan
« on: April 20, 2014, 04:26:52 AM »
Hello Jeff!

This is some really cool stuff! It will be very interesting to follow.

I've read the other thread and am glad you decided to continue posting. This has in my experience been one of the best communities I've seen and it was really saddening hearing of the response you got from a few here. 

Keep up the good work!

Best, Magnus.

33
Face and Body Scanning / Re: sync 550d and USB connection problem
« on: April 18, 2014, 05:21:52 PM »
Hello!

1. Unless your surroundings are very bright you should not need such a high shutter speed (and it probably wont work anyway).
What most do with multicamera setups is having longer shutterspeeds (I've used 1/5th or 1/8th or so when mixing different models and brands of cameras) and freezing the subjects with the flash strobes.
By having longer shutterspeeds you can make it so that the flash occurs during the shutter being open, even with different cameralags.
What brand of flash strobes do you have?
Something that might be needed is to have a delay on the firing of the strobes, this can be done with triggers like some models of PocketWizards for example.
Or you could trigger the strobes with a Speedlite if you have one, I can describe more about that if you need.

2. I used a Macbook Air with OSX and had lots of problems with the USB connection but when I installed Windows 7 thru Bootcamp on that same computer it worked fine with multiple cameras. That's my limited experience of that.

Hope this helps a bit.

Best, Magnus.

34
General / Re: A Few Questions Graphics Card and Camera Lens related
« on: April 12, 2014, 11:58:00 PM »
Hello!

Maybe this can be a little bit of help.

On dpreview you can compare a bunch of different cameras and also download the raw files.

Here is a link to "Studio scene comparison (RAW)" for Canon 600D (a few pages back you can see the jpg comparision).

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos600d/18

I personally have some Canon 1100D, 600D and 100D and also some Nikon D3200. My favorite is the 100D (1100D is also great for the price).

Best, Magnus.

35
General / Re: Turntable Requirements
« on: November 26, 2013, 09:33:43 AM »
Hello!

This topic brought to mind what I had found when I searched for similar things before so I thought I'd share.

Here is a turntable built with a wheel hub from a car http://cheesycam.com/motorized-lazy-susan-heavy-duty/ and funnily enough in the comments on that post there is this http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:28454

Might help.

Best, Magnus.

36
General / Re: Best F-Stop for the best Data?
« on: September 25, 2013, 10:04:01 PM »
Hello!

Since you are speaking about focus stacking I thought I'd mentioned Smart Shooter which I (and I think a few others here) use for triggering multicamera rig. It also has focus stacking (don't know if it works with multiple cameras).

http://hartcw.com/smart-shooter/examples/focus-stacking/

Best, Magnus.

37
Hello again!

Small update which some of you here might find of interest.

We just tested our rig with a Canon Speedlite 580EX II connected to the Cactus trigger (in its hotshoe, I held the Speedlite and trigger in my hand). It was set at full power which means a flash duration of 1/285 (according to speedlights.net test data).
The results, no black frames when all cameras were set at 1/50 or 1/100 shutter (8 Nikon D3200 and 10 Canon 1100D).
These were just one time tests so keep that very much in mind (we have other things to do, hehe)! Do not plan anything around this before testing it out yourself extensively.
It does seem to show that the pre-focus (yet cameras set to manual focus) makes a huge difference though in tightening the sync.

Best, Magnus.

38
Hello!

Christian, I'd say there are no particular advantages of mixed system, hehe. I will most likely just add Canons going forward (600D but I want to get some 100D with STM lens though).
The kit lenses are good enough for what I need (having zoom range is important to me, that's just my setup though) and if you look at reviews (with caution) they do seem to yield good results. I am actually very content with the end results now, this again is dependent on my intended application though, hehe.

David, the way we trigger now is using a Cactus V4 trigger (older model) on one camera with the receiver connected to studio flash. We have actually had consistent results with no black frames with the cameras set at 1/50th shutter, 8 Nikon D3200 and 10 Canon 1100D (one word of WARNING: I have not tried different flashes so their burn time might be long which might affect these results).
We still trigger the cameras with simple corded remote. We always half-press the trigger (pre-focus command) and this is what seems to make the difference (this works even when cameras are in manual focus). It even worked at 1/100th but we've only did it once as a test (with the previously mentioned 18 mixed cameras). The reason for our shutterspeed is due to the noise-projection (two-stage capture).

I think we will stick with corded solution simply because it works and is cheap, hehe.

Best, Magnus.
 

39
Face and Body Scanning / Re: How to get started with capturing face
« on: August 16, 2013, 02:37:29 AM »
Hello!

I think that a good way to go would be to start with some Canon 600Ds (check the thread "Most reasonable DSLR for multi-cam face capture setup") and to experiment with different camera setups.
I started with few cameras and tried different positions and distances and added more as time went by, this was a great learning experience.
If you want a quick start and are aiming for pro results then it might be a good idea to get some consultation from Lee of Infinite-Realities.

I currently use 14 or 16 cameras in my facerig (8 Nikon D3200 and 6 or 8 Canon 1100D) and they are set up in stereo-pairs (this works great for my needs). I will most likely switch them out to my other rigs as I add more cameras. This is just for capturing face though, not a full head.

For mounting I use Manfrotto Super Clamps with either different kinds of ball-heads, "Manfrotto 056 3-D Junior Heads", "Manfrotto 155 Double Ball Joint Heads", "Manfrotto 244 Variable Friction Magic Arm with Camera Brackets" or as in my current rig just a plate with two cameras attached to a "Manfrotto 174 Snap-In Pin for Super Clamp System".

For triggering I just use regular corded remote trigger with 2,5 and 3,5 splitters and cables (budget reasons, hehe). You need to find some way to set delay if working with flash to be able to sync the cameras. You could go with PocketWizard models that can set delay or some other trigger. I trigger the flashes with a Canon Speedlite attached to one camera that is set to second curtain shutter simply because I had one around, hehe.

For offloading to computer and control of settings I use Smart Shooter, I highly recommend it.

Best, Magnus.

40
General / Re: how to fix black camera?
« on: August 16, 2013, 01:48:16 AM »
Hello!

Just thought I'd mention something that could be worth a try.

I was doing different tests and kind of by accident I found that I could shoot with 15 Canon 1100Ds at 1/50th shutter with flash (might be able to go higher, didn't try that). I also had 4 Nikon D3200 at 1/160th shutter at the same time. I had one Cactus Radio Transmitter (some older version V3 or V4 I think) on one of the cameras and one connected to studio flash.
The reason why it worked is that I used half-press on the remote trigger (the cameras were on auto-focus). Probably not something recommended for regular use (and not really needed, hehe) but I shot 20+ shoots with no black frames.
It could be that the flashes has long duration but before I only managed to sync at up to 1/10th at most, hehe.

I think Lee's tip about some trigger with delay and low shutter speed is very good, that's kind of what I use regularly.

I've used constant light and I thought it got painfully bright when I was at decent f stop and shutterspeed, hehe. This was for close portrait though so f stop at 11 or so.

Best, Magnus.


41
Hello Steve!

Correct, the Canon has a 2,5mm port.

The way I have them connected is a 2,5mm short male to male cable connected into a 2,5mm Y-splitter (two female to one male). This in turn is connected into a long 2,5mm female-male cable that goes into a 2,5mm (female) to 3,5mm (male) adapter. This one is finally connected into a Belkin Rockstar splitter, I have several of them chained together.

You could do it in lots of different ways, this is just the way I did it, so don't see it as a recommendation, hehe.

Before I had mostly 3,5mm cables connected thru splitters that went into the cameras with a 2,5mm male to 3,5mm female adapter at the end.
I changed from this since the 2,5mm cables I found were much thinner and because of that they don't put much strain on the port sockets (I change my rig around a lot so not an issue if you don't).

Best, Magnus.

42
Hello mala!

This sounds interesting! :D

If I could use continuous light I'd be absolutely thrilled! In that case I think that 3200K or 5600K would be a good option so mixing with other lights might be easier.
I am speaking as someone who would like to use the lights for video/film too.

Best, Magnus.

43
Hello Andrew!

Ah, I just thought that the 43ms random lag you observed before pre-focus command was sent seems to go well with the 1/20th limit on the 600D I think Lee mentioned.
Anyways not really an issue for me at all, hehe. I just thought I had misread your post.

Yeah, I am guessing the transfers are due to the old laptop computer we used (we saw like 5-10sec difference, hehe).

Best, Magnus.

44
Hello again!

I don't know if you guys have run into this or not, but it seems that the D3200 offloads are somewhat slow?
We noticed this yesterday when we only had the Canons in the rig that the transfers with Smart Shooter were much quicker than in the mixed situation. Could be some issue on our end but just wanted to know if anyone else had noticed this? Might be filesize, but the difference seemed quite large for it just being that.

Best, Magnus.

45
Hello Steve!

I trigger my setup with just a regular corded remote shutter release connected to all the cameras thru 3,5mm splitters and relevant adapters.
The setup is a mix between 2 Canon 600D, 8 Nikon D3200 and 16 Canon 1100D, which changes depending on what I do, hehe (currently I have the 1100Ds in it for some testing).
When I have the 1100Ds in the rig I usually need to set the shutters to 1/5th-1/8th on them to not get black frames.
For offloading I use Smart Shooter and it has worked very well so far, also in mixed camera situations. Triggering thru usb leads to one camera after the other so not really usable.

A word of warning about constant light... you would need lots of it, especially if you are going to diffuse it, flash is very much recommended instead.

Best, Magnus.

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