Panogear + gentLed + Sony NEX 5

[contax]

Panogear + gentLed + Sony NEX 5

by contax » Wed Feb 06, 2013 10:10 pm

Help!
I read somewhere in this forum that gentLed could be used to drive cameras with IR control such as the Nex 5 from Panogear.
Now, I have all the hardware but no dice. Of the 3 connectors that can be used, only one gives some reaction by firing gentLed continuously.
This indicates that gentLed works. Reversing the connector evokes no reaction at all, same with the others no matter which direction is used.
Any ideas? Help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Wed Feb 06, 2013 11:07 pm

Help!
I read somewhere in this forum that gentLed could be used to drive cameras with IR control such as the Nex 5 from Panogear.
Now, I have all the hardware but no dice. Of the 3 connectors that can be used, only one gives some reaction by firing gentLed continuously.
This indicates that gentLed works. Reversing the connector evokes no reaction at all, same with the others no matter which direction is used.
Any ideas? Help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Welcome to the forum...

I use one with my Nikon D40.

I have a standard Merlin mount - purchased before Panogear branded mounts were offered by Kolor. It came with a shutter cable which has a 2.5mm jack on each end that is designed to work with Canon Rebel (xxxD) series DSLRs.

That cable works fine with my gentLED IR transmitter.

[contax]

by contax » Wed Feb 06, 2013 11:19 pm

Thanks Andrew.
I think that the cable you are referring to is the one with silver contacts supplied with the mount by Kolor (there are a number of cables supplied separately with gold contacts).
If this works for you, I am starting to suspect some sort of malfunction on the mount itself.
Is there anything more than just plugging the cable one has to do? Like setting config parameters in papywizard?

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Wed Feb 06, 2013 11:48 pm

This is what the connectors on my cable look like:

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Wed Feb 06, 2013 11:55 pm

This is how I configure the shutter plugin in Papywizard.

As I recall the gentLED requires a Pulse width high of 500ms or more to work corrcetly.

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Thu Feb 07, 2013 12:05 am

And this is how the jumper is set in the gentLED:

[contax]

by contax » Thu Feb 07, 2013 12:12 am

GREAT! Thank you very much!
That solved everything. Very kind and helpful of you, really.
I owe you one and hope to be able to reciprocate.
Thanks again.

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Thu Feb 07, 2013 12:21 am

GREAT! Thank you very much! That solved everything.

That's good. I'm glad I was able to remember - it was along time ago that I first set up my system, and I've not used it for quite a while.
...............

Did you have any trouble mounting your NEX5 on the Panogear rail?

Perhaps you could post a photo of your setup?

[contax]

by contax » Thu Feb 07, 2013 12:36 am

Did you have any trouble mounting your NEX5 on the Panogear rail?

Perhaps you could post a photo of your setup?

The documentation seems to be inspired by Ikea, so I am not sure I mounted the Nex right. But it sort of works.
I should probably find the nodal point and all that stuff, but the primary use should be on fair (30+ mt.) distance, so I feel it should not be critical.

I will post an image tomorrow (and try to find how to as well).

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Thu Feb 07, 2013 9:59 am

If you use Post Reply rather than Quick post you'll find an Image Upload feature below the Message composition box.

[contax]

by contax » Thu Feb 07, 2013 4:04 pm

If you use Post Reply rather than Quick post you'll find an Image Upload feature below the Message composition box.

Thanks for this tip also.
These show the NEX 5 with a Nikkor Ais 135/2.8.
The little black block on top of the lens is the gentLed.
I had some initial shots with a Contax C/Y 80-200, fairly heavy lens but it stays well with the normal rail (fine because I did not understand how to mount the L-rail).
I will try some shots with a Canon FD 500/8 mirror.

Last edited by contax on Thu Feb 07, 2013 4:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[contax]

by contax » Thu Feb 07, 2013 5:21 pm

This is the Canon mirror (750 mm equivalent)
works fine, but it is quite hard to focus and has a minimal dof

Last edited by contax on Thu Feb 07, 2013 5:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.