DATA License issue on the Cpro cmotion cpro cPRO cPRO-motor zoom By Hector Julian on 5/26/20, 1:29 PM • 101 views Hi guys! This is Hector again, writing from Barcelona. Luckily the confinement here is slowly coming to an end, and the other day I had my second shoot since this all began. The DATA license works great on the Alexa Mini. For all of you guys who haven't tried it yet, just remember that you have to "close" the circuit connecting LBUS to LBUS from a motor to the camera (besides the usual EXT to Cam7pin). Also remember to create the lens file correctly on the Cpro and ensuring that all the motor directions are on the right position. I found myself an issue with the LBUS directions on the camera menu which inverted the METADATA when pulling zoom, iris or focus (meaning that I/E when I had my focus at infinity on the lens and on the Cpro, the metadata showed that I was at CF. If that happens, check your camera menu and try switching LBUS motor directions there (not on the cpro). That worked great for me. The issue came when I had to put a zoom on a Steadicam, and the DP and the steadi op agreed on giving the zoom control to the steadi so that he could operate zoom ins and outs on his own. The problem was that then I had to connect my last LBUS connector to he Steady Zoom unit, so I ran out of LBUS ports to get back to the camera and I couldn't send the lens data to the camera as I could with prime lenses. I just wanted to know if there's any way to connect the LBUS to the camera while hardwiring a Steadi Zoom unit or Panbar unit. Is there any kind of "Y" Lbus cable like 1 LBUS male to 2 LBUS female cable? I guess another option would be pairing a Camin to the Steadi Zoom, so I'd just have to power up the Camin with any power cable to link it to the system, right? Thank you in advance for your responses and I hope the guys at Cmotion can find some kind of solution. Best regards, Hector.
Clemens Hönig On 5/27/20, 9:47 AM Hey Hector, Great to see, that many of us are slowly getting back to work! Unfortunately we do not have an LBUS splitter at the moment. Maybe we can work on something in the future, but for now, the only option would be to use the steady-zoom wireless with a cPRO camin. For the Alexa Mini/LF please note the following: To ensure lens metadata is recorded correctly, the motor direction (for ALL motors) must be assigned to LEFT in the camera menu; (Electronic Control System (ECS) / LBUS lens motor configuration). The motor teeth count for each axis must also be set to auto, or entered manually. Motor “ramp” will be reset to SHORT when the cPRO motor is initialized. For example, after rebooting the camera, rebooting the cPRO motor / camin or disconnecting and reconnecting the cPRO motor / camin to the camera. Stay safe and in focus!
Nathan Lederman On 5/26/20, 10:25 PM I had the same issue last week. Curious what the solution here could be. Stay safe, Nathan
I get the zoom scale inverted on the Alexa Mini display if i set the motor direction to LEFT in the ECS menu on the Alexa. For some reason the zoom direction needs to be RIGHT while focus and iris need to be LEFT. Only me having this issue? I've done the lens files correctly regarding motor direction on the Cpro and all the data on the Cpro shows the correct values even when the zoom scale on the Alexa is inverted.
Hi Eric, We haven`t heard of this issue yet, however will cross check this and get back to you asap. Good that you have a work around though.