Preston FIZ & Toggle Record

[Michael Medoway]

Going through a Preston MDR I have built a cable that sends a momentary 3.3v pulse to the Epic. In theory if the camera GPI is set to 'toggle record' a momentary pulse is all it will need to start rolling. Is this correct?
Ideally I could just press run on my handset and the camera will start recording, press it again to stop.

Do I need a constant 3.3v???

Any help will be much appreciated as I am doing this blind (no camera).

Thanks!!!

 

[Jeff Brown]

Pretty sure it needs constant voltage. I have Prestons with the Epic run cable they provide for the MDR to BNC (via triple sync). Works fine.

 

[Michael Medoway]

Pretty sure it needs constant voltage. I have Prestons with the Epic run cable they provide for the MDR to BNC (via triple sync). Works fine.

Thanks for the help Jeff.

So, that cable you have provides the constant 3.3v, no other outside power? And when you say you have prestons do you mean the cable you have comes from Preston? Also, are you going straight out of your MDR to the triple sync cable? MDR 1 2 3?

 

[Brook Willard]

Michael, your best bet will be to call Preston. Some older MDRs need a resistor added to one board and others need a firmware update. The wiring of the cable will vary depending on the status of the MDR.

The Epic does require consistent voltage to roll. The MDR takes care of this, but it must be updated in most cases.

 

[Michael Medoway]

Brook, thanks for the info. Why does Red have 'toggle record' as an option in their menu system. Wouldn't that be a momentary pulse to start and another pulse to stop?

So the voltage regulator comes into play where? Within the cable or from the MDR with modified electronics?

Thanks!

 

[Jason Osterday]

Michael, we built a specific cable for the MDR 1. The MDR 2 can supply the 3V with Preston's cable (just buy theirs for stop/start). If you're on an MDR 1 you must find a source for 3V. According to Preston there is no way to supply this direct from the MDR 1. They swore they won't directly add this with a board upgrade either.

We built a "Y" cable that has BNC (male) on one end (since we have the spacecam BOB), 8 Pin Lemo for MDR, and a Ptap with an inline resistor dropping voltage to 3V. Once the epic is set to record in GPIO it works flawless. No issues on any of the shows running them. Let me dig up a pic. I much prefer this method vs the inline 9V battery box method.

 

[Jason Osterday]

Here is our version. Shoot me a PM if you want more details. I'm not selling them, just offering the advice. Also, some have male or female BNC ends depending on the camera package.

 

[Tom Brown]

I have been on a show where I had some issues rolling the Epic with a Preston. I rolled fine, but when it went out of range, it cut itself, then rolled again etc. creating a lot of tiny unreadable clips. Just something to be aware of.

 

[Damien Molineaux]

I have been on a show where I had some issues rolling the Epic with a Preston. I rolled fine, but when it went out of range, it cut itself, then rolled again etc. creating a lot of tiny unreadable clips. Just something to be aware of.

Hmmm... scary. Can you give us any details as to Epic build version & Preston model.
I'm about to order a cable from Preston to allow the start/stop on our Epic.
Cheers,
Damien

 

[ryanpostas]

This feed just helped me out big time DIT'ing on set- the AC's couldn't get their Fiz 2 to record wirelessly.... they can now!