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elysia RamperPro User Manual

Advanced timelapse controller
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RamperPro User Manual
Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com)
RamperPro User Manual
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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Summary of Contents for elysia RamperPro

  • Page 1 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.

  • Page 2: Important Before You Start

    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.
  • Page 3 (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.

  • Page 4: User Interface

    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.
  • Page 5 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.

  • Page 6: Editing Values

    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"...
  • Page 7 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.
  • Page 8 The following screens show some examples of various settings on the engine selection screens. © Elysia Productions. All rights reserved | Telephone +31 6 3473 9959 | email: visuals@elysia.nl All shown prices are in Page 8 of 40...
  • Page 9 This is because the first camera that is connected to the USB connectors is defined as camera one. How to edit the runtime parameters © Elysia Productions. All rights reserved | Telephone +31 6 3473 9959 | email: visuals@elysia.nl All shown prices are in...

  • Page 10: Simulation Mode

    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".
  • Page 11 The basic intervalometer mode of the RamperPro gives you an intervalometer that can be used for "normal" timelapse sequences. Just set the interval between the images that you want to shoot and you are good to go. Don't forget to set the "Number of images"...
  • Page 12 Set the shutter speed on the RamperPro to a low value like 0.1s. This time is only used by the RamperPro to trigger the camera because the actual shutter speed is set on the camera.
  • Page 13 © Elysia Productions. All rights reserved | Telephone +31 6 3473 9959 | email: visuals@elysia.nl All shown prices are in...
  • Page 14 Lets say that your camera supports ISO values in 1/3 stops (100, 125, 160 © Elysia Productions. All rights reserved | Telephone +31 6 3473 9959 | email: visuals@elysia.nl All shown prices are in...
  • Page 15 RamperPro will use when you start. The time per stop will than become faster since the sun is setting, but never faster © Elysia Productions. All rights reserved | Telephone +31 6 3473 9959 | email: visuals@elysia.nl All shown prices are in...
  • Page 16 This means that the time per stop that is used by the RamperPro cannot move both ways. The time per stop can only go faster during a sunset and slower during a sunrise.
  • Page 17 The simulation output is only printed once when the RamperPro is in 3D mode. You can also see the readings of the light sensor at the last screen of the various simulation output screens.
  • Page 18 100. Lets say that you define the right clipping area to be 5 bars wide. This means that the RamperPro will calculate a total value of 500 (5 * 100) when the image is fully over exposed. That is because the right part of the histogram will be totally filled. The cut off value that you can set determined the value that you define as still acceptable.
  • Page 19 The right clipping area is set to 1 and the right cut off is set to 6. This tells the RamperPro that over exposure is detected as soon as the value of 6 is found in the outer right part of the histogram.
  • Page 20 There are many misunderstandings about what the light sensor can do. The following is a list of what the light sensor is NOT doing when it is connected to the RamperPro: The light sensor is not used to determine the exposure of your images. The exposure of your images is only indirectly influenced by the light sensor because the calculated trend in ambient light is used by the ramping algorithm.

  • Page 21: System Settings

    You can easily measure 30 to 40 minutes per stop when you start to measure light one hour before a sunset. This means that the RamperPro will need 30 to 40 minutes to ramp one stop away from the start exposure. The measured time per stop will become shorter and shorter when the sun really sets.

  • Page 22: Basic Camera Settings

    The third page will give you an overview of the three firmwares that are running on the RamperPro. That screen will also show the input voltage when a voltage of over 5 volts is supplied to the large power plug that is located next to the USB connectors. The hardware revision of your RamperPro can also be found on this third page.
  • Page 23 "Yes" indicates that all settings for camera 2 are taken from the settings of camera System settings This is an overview of a few basis system settings of the RamperPro like screen saver settings, the backlight and a few other features. Feature...

  • Page 24: How To Calibrate The Touch Screen

    This might sound technical to some users, but the bottom line is that the RamperPro can be seen as a three processor device that needs three different software programs.

  • Page 25: Post Production Workflow

    D800. This is why the RamperPro is creating a small XMP file for every picture on the SD card of the RamperPro. This XMP file holds the, per image, exposure compensation. This compensation can automatically be used by Adobe After Effects or Adobe Lightroom to compensate the exposure of the images.
  • Page 26 RAW files. We use that folder, called XMP, to store a backup copy of the XML files. Don't rely on the RamperPro as a backup device since the XML files can be overwritten when the filename cycles from 999 to 001.
  • Page 27 RamperPro firmware updates and the SD card The main software of the RamperPro is placed on the SD card that you place at the bottom of the unit. The RamperPro can update the firmware automatically when you connect it to the internet via a network cable.
  • Page 28 Remember that you really rely on this SD card. A broken card means that you cannot use the RamperPro. Use the steps above to create multiple cards or clone the card with one of the tools that are availble for this.
  • Page 29 DitoGear controllers with the RamperPro for example. The two ext ports (ext1 and ext2) at the back of the RamperPro can be used to integrate the RamperPro with motion control hardware. There are also two MoCoBus connectors available. These are the double RJ45, network connectors next to the light sensor connector.
  • Page 30 How to delay the motion control hardware after a shot is taken You might want to have a (short) delay after a shot is taken by the RamperPro and the moment that the motion hardware is triggered. That way you are absolutely sure that the shutter is closed before the camera is moved.
  • Page 31 RamperPro User Manual Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com) 1. Connect one cable to the desired ext (1 or 2) port of the RamperPro. Ext1 is linked to camera 1 and Ext2 is liked to camera 2. 2. Connect the other end of this cable to the input side of the I/O isolator. That is the side that has no indicator.
  • Page 32 2. Connect the other side of this cable to the desired ext port of the RamperPro (as described above). You now need to set the appropriate settings on the RamperPro so that it will listen to the external trigger. You do this by configuring the tip of the connected Ext1 or Ext2 cable. The trigger is received by the tip of the cable.
  • Page 33 RamperPro via the USB port. You cannot connect the USB port of the RamperPro to the USB port of a normal computer. That is why we have developed the RamperPro DragonFrame adapter. This is a small adapter that you can use to connect the RamperPro to a computer that runs DragonFrame.
  • Page 34 RamperPro. The I/O isolator really isolates the signals between the RamperPro and the MX3 by using an optical switch. This ensures you that you have a safe connection between your devices.

  • Page 35: Tips And Tricks

    The easy way to test all cables is to set the start exposure value higher than the "start bulb mode" value in the settings of the RamperPro. That way you force the device to use Bulb from the start. You can then start an advanced sequence as a test.
  • Page 36 Canon camera. All supported Nikon cameras are fully controlled by the RamperPro; no manual intervention is needed. Some Nikon camera’s feature a mode dial, but you will be notified by the RamperPro to set it to manual before you can start an exposure ramping sequence.
  • Page 37 Which shutter speeds are calculated by the RamperPro There is a shift in the shutter speeds that are used by the RamperPro. That is by design. This is because, by default, the RamperPro will always make negative XMP corrections. So, suppose you want a shutter speed of 1/100.
  • Page 38 Note: Not all Canon cameras can be set to Bulb mode via USB. This means that you sometimes need to set your camera to Bulb mode yourself. The RamperPro will notify you with message when you need to set your camera to Bulb. Nikon cameras don't have this drawback because they can be fully controlled via USB.
  • Page 39 [29] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/mx2.jpg [30] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/mx3.jpg [31] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/tb3.jpg [32] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/dito_connecgted.jpg [33] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/isolator1.jpg © Elysia Productions. All rights reserved | Telephone +31 6 3473 9959 | email: visuals@elysia.nl All shown prices are in Page 39 of 40 Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs...
  • Page 40 RamperPro User Manual Published on Elysia Visuals (http://www.elysiavisuals.com) [34] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/isolator2.jpg [35] http://www.elysiavisuals.com/sites/default/files/isolator3.jpg © Elysia Productions. All rights reserved | Telephone +31 6 3473 9959 | email: visuals@elysia.nl All shown prices are in Page 40 of 40 Euro's, including VAT and excluding shipping costs...

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