PAN TILT SYSTEMS
Helpful Tips and Tricks
Now that you've got your system installed, here are some helpful tips and tricks on using your Eagle™ equipment to maximize its' performance
 |
When setting up presets consisting of pan, tilt, zoom, and focus positions, make sure to enter POSITION MODE first (FUNCTION, 1). If you don't enter POSITION MODE first, the head will not memorize the settings correctly. |
|
If you're using the optional PT-CCB camera control module inside the PT head, make sure that your Hitachi camera is set to 9600 baud to allow remote control by the Eagle™ system. If the camera is not set to 9600 baud, it will not respond to commands. |
|
If using the PT-CC camera controller mated to the PT-C joystick controller, make sure to enable the PT-CC by entering FUNCTION,8 on the PT-C keypad. The LCD display will toggle between CC ON and CC OFF. |
|
You can insure the accuracy and smooth performance of your Eagle™ pan tilt head by making sure that the camera and lens "load" is properly balanced from front to rear, and centered on the tilt axis of the head. Find the center of balance from front to rear by rolling the camera/lens combination on a pen, pencil, or other round object on top of a table. Once this point is established, place the camera/lens assembly into the mounting cradle of the head. Move the assembly fore and aft in the bracket until the center point you found comes closest to the center of the tilt mounting point. Note that in some cases, it may not be possible to perfectly center the load; just move it as close as you can. When the load is correctly balanced, the motors in the head won't have to work as hard to move the camera/lens up and down at low speeds, and will be more accurate in recalling a preset. |
|
You can easily set up presets for multiple heads, and recall them simultaneously. For example, let's say that you wish PRESET 1 to be a wide, establishing shot. Individually setup PRESET 1 on all heads to be that type of shot. Then, enter CAMERA, ALL (PT-C controller) or CAMERA, 0 (PT-TS controller). This will send any command entered to all heads simultaneously. Now RECALL PRESET, 1. This sends the command to all heads to recall your wide shot. You can do the same thing for a tight shot using a different preset. Just remember that when you wish to go back to individual control of each head to enter the particular head number; otherwise you'll still be controlling all heads. |
|
You can also set up "banks" of heads, where some respond to a command, and some don't. For example, let's say you have a four camera system in a conference room. You wish cameras 1 and 3 to zoom to a tight shot at the same time, while cameras 2 and 4 stay at the current settings. Create a tight preset shot on heads 1 and 3 only, and save it to PRESET 4 (for our example). On heads 2 and 4, make sure to DELETE PRESET 4. This will make sure they don't respond to the RECALL PRESET 4 command. Now, enter CAMERA, ALL (PT-C controller) or CAMERA, 0 (PT-TS controller). This will send any command entered to all heads simultaneously. Now RECALL PRESET, 4. This sends the command to all heads to recall your tight shot, but since heads 2 and 4 have no preset 4, they will stay where you last left them. You can use this same strategy to send heads 2 and 4 to a wide shot in the same manner. |
Click here to submit your own tips and tricks!!
