ST-Dp Dolly Manual English

8/2/2019 ST-Dp Dolly Manual English

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Dynamic Perception

Stage Zero Dolly

Owners Manual


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AV NORGE AS,

Dynamic Perception Stage Zero Dolly Owners Manual

Fornebu, Mars 2012

2011 Camera Obscura Verlag Matthias A. Uhlig1. Edition 2011

The trademarks and brand names used in this book are property of their respective

owners.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unpor-

ted License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San

Francisco, California, 94105, USA.


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Contents

Designated Use 5

General Safety Specifications 5

Assembly 6

Assembly of Motor & Cart 7

Operation 12

Stage Zero Dolly Setup 12

MX2 Controller 12

Buttons 12

Menu 13

Manual Move 13

Axis 1 13

Ramp Shots 13

Lead In 13

Lead Out 13

RPM 13

Fixed SMS 13

Angle 13

Calibrate 14

Slow Mode IPM 14

Dist. Per Rev 14


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Contents

Min Pulse 14

Axis 2 14

Camera 14

Interval sec 14

Max Shots 14

Exp. Time ms 14

Exp. Delay ms 14

Focus Tap ms 14

Shutter + Focus 14

Settings 15

Motor Disp 15

Motor Sl. Mod 15

Backlight 15

AutoDim 15

Blank LCD 15

Input 1 15

Input 2 15

Metric Disp. 15

Reset Mem 15

Scope 16


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Designated Use

The Stage Zero Dolly is a device designed to capture motion controlled timelapse

sequences using a DSLR.

Please note: The Stage Zero dolly is always work in progress, as is the MX2 control-ler. All specifications are subject to change. Please refer to the Dynamic Perception

Website at www.dynamicperception.com for up to date information.

This manual is based on firmware version 0.83.

General Safety Specifications

Use of the Dynamic Perception Stage Zero Dolly is at your own risk.

The user is liable for any damage done while operating or transportig the Dynamic

Perception Stage Zero Dolly.

The supply voltage must not exceed 12 V. Higher voltages might damage the control-

ler, motor or motordrivers.

The Stage Zero Dolly is designed to be used in dry environments or indoors. Especial-

ly when using a mains supply, the user must obey any local safety regulations.

When used outdoors, a sufficient weather protection is needed.


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Assem

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Assembly

Parts List

Part Count

Plate 1

Support Angles 2

1x1x 9 Support profile 1

Motor 1

Rail-Cart Parts 1

Motor-Mount Parts 1

Belt-Clips (2x) 1

Belt (2 m) 1Hex Tool 1

End Caps + Screws & Fasteners 2

MX2 Controller 1

Power Supply 1

Rail 4 or 6 1


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Assembly

At first, check if you have all parts using the parts list.

Assembly of Motor & Cart

Slide the aluminium rollers on the button

head bolts so that the flange is at the

head.

Screw the bolts into the plate from the

bottom.

NOTE: The top side of the plate has the

v-shaped countersink hole. If you expe-

rience problems aligning the motor, try to

mount it on the other side.

Secure both bolts with the stainless steel

nuts, so that the rollers are still able to

move.


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Using a wrench, unscre the bolts from the

motor as shown in the picture.

These bolts hold the motor together, so

be carefull that it does not fall apart.

Now slide the 1-1/4 long, black thumb-

screws into the holes in the motor and

place the aluminium spacers on the

screws

Hold motor and plate sideways so that

the spacers cannot slide off the screws

and attach the motor to the plate. Firmly

tighten the thumbscrews.

NOTE: If you cant properly align the mo-

tor, you probably need to turn the plate

upside down.

Next, you mount the belt pulley on the

motor shaft. Rotate the motor until the flat

section of the D-shaped shaft faces the

outer edges of the plate, using the MX

controller. Do not rotate the shaft manu-

ally, you might damage the gearbox.

Attach the pulley and fasten both with the

enclosed hex wrench.


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NOTE: This is how you rotate the motor

with the MX2 Controller:

Attach the motor cable to the motor1 jack

of the controller.

Screw the slider pads (the ones with one

flat side) to the support angles.

Now attach the double oriented slider

pads to the support profile by loosening

the screws until you can slide the t-slot

nuts into the profile.

Power up your controller and press

ENTER.

With the UP/DOWN buttons, you select

the speed of the motor, with the LEFT/RIGHT buttons you move the motor.

To attach the profile to the plate, use the

countersunk 1/4 screws. Dont tightem

them all the way just yet.


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Attach the support angle on the motor

side of the plate with the thumbscrews

and put the motor on the rail.

With the cart on the rail, attach the se-cond support angle and check, if the cart

moves without resistance.

With the tension of the support angle

thumbsrews you can control the friction

of the cart. Make sure, its not to hard or

your system will need more power than

it should.

If everything moves alright, tighten the

1/4 countersunk screws to attach the

support profile firmly to the plate.

Now you need to attach the belt cips on

both ends of the rail.

Use the shorter thumbscrews to attach

the long t-slot nut to the belt clip plate.

The looner thumbscrews hold the toothed

belt clip. Now slide the belt clip assembly

onto the rail on the motor side.

Do likewise on the other end.


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Now thread the belt through the roller as-

sembly and secure it tightly on both sides

with the belt clips.

To tighten the belt, you can now move the

belt clips in opposite direction until thebelt is tight. Dont overtighten it. For best

results, place the cart in the middle of the

rail while tightening the belt.

Attach the end caps with the enclosed

screws.

Depending on wether you ordered your

rail directly from DP or from another sour-ce, the fasteners for the screws are alrea-

dy installed.

If not, follow these simple steps.

Use a hammer or the back of a screwdri-

ver to push the fasteners into the outer

holes of the profile.

Cut off excess plastic with a knife.

If you have problems screwing in the screws, use a small drill to widen the fastener a

little bit.

You are almost done now. Using the enclosed 3/8 screws, you can attach a ball head

(Manfrotto, Novoflex and others) to the cart for easy camera positioning.

If you want to mount the controller directly on your cart, use Velcro.


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Operat

ion

Operation

Stage Zero Dolly Setup

With the enclosed t-slot nuts you can fasten the rail on two tripods. Makes sure the sy-stem is securely fastened and mount your camera onto the cart. Connect the camera

cable with the camera jack and the motor with motor1 or motor2. At last, power

your controller using a battery or the enclosed power supply.

MX2 Controller

After powering the controller, a splash screen shows the firmware version of the con-

troller for a few seconds before the Main Screen is displayed.

Main Screen

-----------------On 3s [15]

R30.50% L0.00%

-----------------

1.ON/OFF

2.Interval

3.Shot count

4.Motor 1 : direction and speed

5.Motor 2 : direction and speed

ButtonsThe MX2 Controller has 5 buttons:the ENTER button, and 4 arrow buttons UP,

DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT.

ENTER opens the menu and enters values, RIGHT leaves the menu or jumps back

one step in the menu hierarchy.

Enter values directly

Press RIGHT to access the values in the Main Screen . If a value is selected, it wil

blink. Using UP or DOWN, you can alter the value.

You start a program by switching the first position in the Main Screen from OFF toON.


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Menu

You access the menu by pressing ENTER. To navigate, use UP/DOWN, LEFT &

RIGHT. Select menu entries by pressing ENTER or cancel by pressing RIGHT.

To change values, press UP/DOWN.

Manual Move

The Manual Move menu allows to manually move the motors.

Select appropriate axis (Axis1 & Axis2).

UP/DOWN adjust the motor speed.

LEFT/ RIGHT moves the motor.

To leave Manual Move mode, press ENTER then RIGHT to leave the menu.

Axis 1

In this menu, you can set the values for motor1:

Ramp Shots

Number of frames that the dolly accelerates to full speed

Lead In

Number of frames at the beginning of a dolly move before the dolly starts

moving

Lead Out

Number of frames at the end of a dolly move after the dolly reaches its final

destination

RPM

Motor speed in revolutions per minute. The standard value for the enclosed

motor is 8,75 and does not need to be changed.

Fixed SMS

ON: Shoot-Move-Shoot will travel a fixed distance

OFF: The distance the dolly travels between two shots will be calculated from

interval and motor speed.

Angle

Offset value for movements in vertical or angled directions. Choose the most

appropriate value for your setup. 0 for horizontal movements. 45 & 90 for an-

gled and vertical movements.


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Calibrate

Calibrates the motor for the actual load and orientation. Usually, this value

does not need to be changed.

Slow Mode IPMThreshold value for Slow Motion Mode Usually, this value does not need to be

changed.

Dist. Per Rev

Distance traveled per motor revolution. Usually, this value does not need to be

changed.

Min Pulse

Optimizes motor settings. Usually, this value does not need to be changed.

Axis 2

Refer to Axis 1.

Camera

in Camera Menu, you can change the camera parameters

Interval sec

Interval between two shots. This overrides the setting in the Main Screen and

vice versa.

Max Shots

Max shot count. Set this value in order for down ramps to work.

Exp. Time ms

Exposure time in milliseconds. Most cameras need between 70 and 100 ms. If

your camera is in bulb mode, the exposure time equals this setting.

Exp. Delay ms

Delay in milliseconds after an exposure. Usually this needs to be set at a higher

value than your cameras exposure time.

Focus Tap ms

Focus Tap time in milliseconds

Shutter + Focus


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ON: Shutter & focus will be triggered together (z.B. Nikon)

OFF: Only the shutter will be triggered

Settings

Global settings. Most settings will be saved to the controllers non-volatile memory.

Motor Disp

Display motor speed in inches per second or percent.

Motor Sl. Mod

Set the Slow Motion Mode to Pulse (continous movement) or Interleave (Shoot-

Move-Shoot)

BacklightAdjusts backlight intensity

AutoDim

Number of seconds the display backlight is turned off after last interaction.

Blank LCD

Switches off LCD. LCD will be switched on pressing any button

Input 1

Configures trigger 1

Start :Starts current program

Stop :Stops current program

Disable deactivates trigger 1

Input 2

Configures trigger 2

Start :Starts current program

Stop :Stops current program

Disable deactivates trigger 2

Metric Disp.

Distance will be displayed using the metric system

Reset Mem

Resets factory defaults. Good practice after a firmware upgrade


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Operat

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Scope

Specal functions for controlling Merlin pan & tilt heads.

For more information, please referto the online user manual at :http://dynamicperception.com/?main_page=wordpress&page_id=242


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Dynamic Perception products are available at

www.slidetrack.no

Documents

ST-Dp Dolly Manual English