MaxTech Transceiver - Manual (Page 43)

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• M u lt ip le m ec h an ic al s ys tem s – c am eras that h ave ma ny c han geab le
m ech anic ally interac ting parts (film bac ks , motor d rives, lens sh utter s) are likely
to have diff erent lag tim es w ith diff erent hard ware c omb inations. A leaf sh utter
is in th e lens s o ch anging lenses on a leaf s hutter c amera w ill chang e lag time.
In s ome m edium form at cam eras h aving the f ilm bac k loaded vers us unloaded
c an m ak e a s ig nif ic an t d if fer en c e. F or con s is ten t r es u lt s alw ays u se th e s am e
c om p on en ts (len s , b od y, an d f ilm b ac k com b in at ion for exam p le) eac h tim e
• Auto-focus and exposure computers – s om e au to- foc u s an d exp os u re s ys tem s
will introduce widely varying lag times as lens travel and exposure calculations
can take unp redic table amou nts of time. A n electron ic c amera s et to full m anual
generally provides the m ost c ons istent lag tim es
Lag Time Measurement –
~ /M E N U A A A L or ~ /MENU A A B L or
~ /M E N U A A C L (R EC EIV E un its only)
T he firs t step to c amera s ynch ronization or eq ualization is m easu ring a c amera’s lag
time (trig gering delay). Th e Mu ltiMA X c an m easu re a cam era’s lag tim e in mos t delay
mod es. K nowin g your c amera’s lag time is critic al for cam era equalization, bu t can
also be u sef ul in s pec ial effects , indus trial, com merc ial, or other photog raphy th at
requires critical trigger timing.
Us ing the in form ation above set u p your c amera f or bes t equalization per form anc e.
Attach a MultiMAX (set for RECEIVE mode) to the camera as follows:
1. Plac e a M ultiM AX in th e cam era’s hot s hoe or a ttac h a c able f rom the c am era’s
P C term in al to P O R T 1
2. Attac h the c able from PO RT 2 to the c amera’s motor d rive. If available, use a
Pr e-R elease c able
3. Press ~ / M E N U A A A for a standard delay mode where lag times can be
meas ured
4. The screen should display “Set Delay Using A B C D L • – “ and show a
numeric value. Press L. T he u nit w ill trigg er the cam era and time the d elay unt il
a sync pulse is sensed from the hot shoe or lens
5. Press L every few seconds to find the fastest and slowest lag times for the
camera. Usually the first press of L will yield a very diff erent nu mb er from later
meas urem ents . Ignore th e firs t reading . 5 to 15 lag time m easu remen ts af ter
the first one should yield consistent results and give a gauge of the fastest and
slowes t times
6. Us ing s teps 1 throu gh 5 , meas ure and record the fas test and slowes t lag times
for each camera you wish to equalize. Subtract the fastest from the slowest and
record this n um ber as the cam era’s lag tim e variation