Blackmagic Forum

Hello,

I am working on building my own custom remote control for the BMPC. So far I have identified most of the LANC Commands that the BMPC listens to except one:

- For Rec ON/OFF it listens to LANC "start/stop" command.

- For Focus control it listens to LANC "Focus manual far" and "Focus manual near" commands.

- For Iris control it listens to LANC "Exposure (models of the early 90's)" and it increases the F (closes the iris) whenever I give this command to the camera.

Can someone please tell me what is the LANC command for decreasing the F (opening the iris)?

Edit:

The command for opening the IRIS is:

Byte 0 - 0010 1000
Byte 1 - 55 (expressed in hexa)

Thank you,
Paul

You have 0x53 for exposure. That will probably map to auto-IRIS on the BMPCC
http://www.boehmel.de/lanc.htm
Can't find any other ones for ISIS yet.

I thought zooming was supported but just found out from the BMPCC FAQ that I was wrong.
I wanted to have focus+zoom via LANC for remote controlling the BMPCC on a crane and for automated camera movements on a slider.

I'll do some LAN tests with a logic analyser and an Arduino next week.

Do you know if I can control the speed of focusing by the rate of "focus near"/"focus far" commands in some kind of PWM?

Hi Marcus,

0x53 is the command with which I succeeded to close the IRIS step by step. It does NOT map to auto-IRIS. My problem is that I couldn't identify any command that would open the IRIS. It would have been great if 0x53 mapped to auto-IRIS because I don't necessarily need to have manual control over it.

I was also hoping to have remote control on Zoom for power zoom lenses but unfortunately it is not supported. Also it would have been great to be able to control the ISO and Shutter Angle remotely in order to fine tune the exposure in low light conditions when only changing the IRIS is not enough.

Regarding focus, you can control the speed by means of the frequency with which you repeat the "focus near"/"focus far" command. Each time you give a focus command to the camera it focuses a little bit (one step) nearer or farther. If you want it to work slower then you repeat the command more rarely than when you want it to work faster. I am controlling the BMPC by means of a Radio RC (since I am doing aerial filming with it) and I could even define an exponential speed curve if I wanted to.

Is there any way I could get in contact with any of the dev guys from BMD to ask them for support on the IRIS matter?

Cheers,
Paul

Did you try 0x52, 0x54x 0x55?
They seem to be unassigned and if 0x53 closes the iris, chances are 0x52 or 0x54 opens it.

I'll try to modify my Manfrotto 585LNC LANC remote on the Manfrotto Modosteady
steadycam-grip to focus instead of zoom. That's much more needed on a Steadycam.
Map the different zoom commands to focus commands with different sleep times afterwards.
It's the perfect size for the Pocket.

That was the first thing I tried as it seemed logical. I tried using the "52 - search +" and "54 - TV/VTR" commands, but these commands that I tried are in a different set of commands (0001 1000) and not in the same set as the "53 - exposure" command (0010 1000).

The device I am using is limited to standard LANC commands, I don't have access to unassigned bytes unless I modify the device firmware myself which is what I am thinking to do. But before I start reprogramming the firmware I would like to receive a confirmation from someone that that's indeed the way to go and not waste my time on it.

Cheers,
Paul

I would be interested to see what you come up with. Although, having ISO control instead of Iris control might be worth considering for those with manual lenses...

Logic analyser and Arduino are ready.
Waiting for some small parts to just try out all possible commands next week.

Great news Marcus,

Please note that I have tried myself a lot of the standard LANC commands but only the ones I described above worked. I hope that one of the unassigned bytes near the Exposure one will open the Iris.

Please let me know if you succeed.

Cheers,
Paul

Have you tried this one:
http://www.prolanc.com/products.html#rc

Rumple wrote:Have you tried this one:
http://www.prolanc.com/products.html#rc

Since it can just start/stop and that part works fine with my Manfrott,
I see no problems.

Marcus,

I have found a way to modify the LANC commands from my device and was able to send 52 and 54 to the camera (while having 0010 1000 as byte 0) but unfortunately the Iris won't open.

Do you have any other ideas?

Cheers,
Paul

pmijoiu wrote:Marcus,

I have found a way to modify the LANC commands from my device and was able to send 52 and 54 to the camera (while having 0010 1000 as byte 0) but unfortunately the Iris won't open.

Do you have any other ideas?

Cheers,
Paul

Not at the moment.
Do you have a ticket number for your support-question to Blackmagic?
My question about LANC and zoom is handled as #FWD-153-54110.
They asked for the exact type code of the 4 lenses and I already replied.
(Panasonic
H-FS100300 (mechanical zoom)
H-PS45175 (power zoom)
H-FS014042 (mechanical zoom)
H-PS14042E (power zoom)
)

I have posted my question on the support page but I have not receive any ticket number. How did you post your issue in order to get a ticket number?

pmijoiu wrote:I have posted my question on the support page but I have not receive any ticket number. How did you post your issue in order to get a ticket number?

Same way. The number was in the answer.
On the other hand, my 2 questions about LANC and dimentions way earlier this year are unanswered. (Prevented me from designing a cage and battery grip before I now got my camera.)

EVRIKA!

The command for opening the IRIS is:

Byte 0 - 0010 1000
Byte 1 - 55 (expressed in hexa)

I now have full control over Rec, Focus and Iris functions.

Would anyone consider trying to control ISO instead of Iris?
Those of us with manual lenses would be very happy...

Rumple wrote:Would anyone consider trying to control ISO instead of Iris?
Those of us with manual lenses would be very happy...

http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support ... 849&os=mac

No ISO via LANC on BMPCC and I also don't know about any LANC commands for changing ISO/gain.

Its not about people trying to control the ISO instead of Iris, its about BMD implementing remote control support in the camera software of other functions such as:

- ISO
- Shutter Angle
- Zoom
...

So far the only supported functions are Rec, Iris and Focus.

Marcus, we are yet to identify the Auto Focus and Auto Iris commands. If you find them please let me know.

Cheers,
Paul

I feel like playing Battleships on an infinite board trying to hit bytes instead of ships.

Hello Paul,

I would really appreciate if you could share the commands you have succeed to set REC, iris and focus. I really tend to have REC working too rather than filling my hard drives (and customers too) with footage of takeoffs, transitions and landings

Best regards,

Kari

Hi Kari,

In my first post you will see all commands (also see this URL for a complete list of LANC commands: http://www.boehmel.de/lanc.htm).

Good luck!

Has anyone found the Auto Focus and Auto Iris commands?

Cheers,
Paul

pmijoiu wrote:Has anyone found the Auto Focus and Auto Iris commands?

Cheers,
Paul

I had some trouble with my shiny new logic analyser. So I had to wait for the weekend to fetch my old one and will give it another try this week. I did find that my Manfrotto LANC remote works but another one would not work at all. I'm still analysing why.

My old logic analyser works and I was able to test the following commands with success:

//LANC(0x18, 0x33); //send REC command to camera
//LANC(0x28, 0x45); //send MANUAL FOCUS FAR command to camera
//LANC(0x28, 0x47); //send MANUAL FOCUS NEAR command to camera
//LANC(0x28, 0x53); //send IRIS+ command to camera
//LANC(0x28, 0x55); //send IRIS- command to camera

I search in the area of 0x55 and 0x47 but could not find anything that triggers auto iris or auto focus.
http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support ... 849&os=mac
does however list AUTO IRIS and AUTO FOCUS as being LANC controllable.

If I remember correctly you had an opened support ticket, did anyone from BM answer your question?

pmijoiu wrote:If I remember correctly you had an opened support ticket, did anyone from BM answer your question?

That was about LANC zoom and it is simply not supported.

Since you know the drill maybe you can ask them about the AutoIris and AutoFocus commands

I did.


update: I just found autofocus
LANC(0x28, 0x43); // AUTO FOCUS
I tried that code before so some cable must have been loose or something.
(I'm doing this in a breadboard.)

No luck with AUTO IRIS yet.


Here is the blog posting where I document everything:
http://marcuswolschon.blogspot.com/2013 ... clone.html

Update: I found a way to get a much more reliable timing. Works much better now.

That's strange because I remember I have also tried that command with no success. Maybe I should try again 51 and 57.

Anyway, great news, only one command to go.

Phil Healey from Blackmagic just answered!

IrisAutoAdjust = 0x28 0xAF

Thank god! or Phil! No way we would have found that on our own.

Great job!

P.S. now let's ask Phil to implement zoom control

Thanks a lot for help guys. What i've got working at the moment is: (Just like mentioned in earlier posts)

0x1833 for rec on/off

0x2843 for focus button
0x28AF for iris button

0x2853 for iris close
0x2855 for iris open

but for some reason focus near and focus far does nothing with 0x2845 or 0x2847. Any ideas? What i can be missing somewhere?

Best,

Kari

KariY wrote:but for some reason focus near and focus far does nothing with 0x2845 or 0x2847. Any ideas? What i can be missing somewhere?

Did you repeat the command 5 times in a row as LANC requires you to?
Maybe your timing is slightly off (mine was until I changed the code to use direct register access).
You could check with a logic analyser. 1Msps is enough.

Thanks a lot for suggestions, I'm not electronics hero but i don't think it's timing or commandcycle thing as iris and all other commands are working fine in exact same rc channel. But when input focus near/far commands nothing happens.

Best,

Kari

This is how a remote controlled BMPCC looks like using a slightly modified StartoSnapper 2:

is there any LAN-C code to control the ISO and the Shutter Angle of the Pocket Camera?

if not maybe could the software development team of the Pocket Camera implement some special LAN-C codes for these parameters?

i'd like to control them with a couple of potenciometers and an Arduino,

i personally don't careabout controlling Iris, focus or Zoom as i only manual lenses, only the REC, the ISO and the SHUTTER ANGLE