Communicating With Your Camera; Infrared Light - Pclix LT Owner's Manual

Communicating with your Camera:

As mentioned there are two ways for the Pclix LT to communicate with your camera,
Infrared Light and Contact Switch Closure. Let's deal with Infrared Light first.

Infrared Light:

If you are going to be communicating with your camera using Infrared Light you have
two options. Every Pclix LT has a built in Infrared LED on the front panel of the device. If you
have programmed your Pclix LT using any of the camera model codes other than 77 then you
are able to trigger your camera without any cables attached. The one drawback to this
approach is the camera needs to "see" the Pclix LT. This means the Pclix LT must be in front
of the lens but NOT in the frame. You can easily point the Pclix LT towards the camera just
outside of the frame and it will happily instruct your camera to take an image. Likewise, you
can use this same technique when using the Pclix LT as a simple wireless remote. The Pclix LT
will trigger your camera up to 4.5 meters away and in some cases further.
The second Infrared method is to plug in the Infrared control cable into the 1/8" jack
on the front panel of the Pclix LT. When this cable in installed, the Infrared LED on the front
panel will be disabled. Using this cable allows you to position the Pclix LT behind the camera
making the operation a little easier and the controls more accessible. There is however one
small drawback to this method. That is what is the best solution to attaching the Infrared
Cable to the camera? Since camera models come in a variety of shapes and sizes coming up
with one solution to attach the cable to your camera; is a difficult challenge. After trying many
different methods the simplest solution for most cameras seems to be a small piece of black
electrical tape. It sounds hokey I know, but it actually works the best. By using a piece a few
inches long you can tape the end of the cable right over the Infrared window on your camera
effectively blocking out all other light sources. This method should not mark or damage your
camera in anyway. However there are a very few camera models which do not like the
infrared light source right up against the receiver on the camera. If your camera does not
respond properly when the optical cable is taped over the receiver then it must be held a few
inches give or take away from the receiver. This method requires a wee bit of engineering in
order to hold the cable in the proper place. Here are a few ideas as a starting point. Perhaps
an elastic band around the lens will hold the optical cable in the right place. A small piece of
stiff but bendable wire wrapped around a tripod leg with the optical cable taped to it could
also hold the cable in the proper place. Truly this is a little like the wild west in the sense that
there is no out of the box solution in these few cases. However as long as your camera can
see the infrared light trigger it doesn't much matter how or where the cable is mounted.
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