3C Cinema Camera Control App - V2 Announcement

[BTM_Pix]

V2 of our 3C Cinema Camera Control App now includes support for the Tilta Nucleus Nano focus controller.

The Nucleus Nano wheel connects wirelessly to the 3C app over Bluetooth LE and enables you to use the wheel to electronically control focus of your native MFT and adapted EF (with smart adapter) lenses on the Pocket 4K without using a motor.

Electronic control of the lenses can be a big advantage when using the Pocket4K on a gimbal to keep the weight down or to keep any rig smaller and not require additional powering for the motors.

In addition, it also circumvents issues that arise when using the motor with small native lenses that don't lend themselves particularly well to using focus gear straps and often have limited manual throw.

It also enables you use the hardware REC button on the Nucleus Nano wheel to control the Start/Stop of the camera and the record status is returned back to the wheel to illuminate the switch when the camera is recording.

As the Nucleus Nano wheel is fully integrated into 3C it also enables you use it to create the 6 focus storage positions which you can then choose to automatically switch to either in Snap mode or multi speed Transition modes.

The Setup screen of 3C now includes two scanners for easy selection of the camera and the Nucleus Nano wheel once Bluetooth mode is selected in the wheel.

V2 will be submitted to the Play Store for publication on the 11th October and will be available as a free automatic update for existing users.

 

[Emanuel]

Is Tilta Nucleus Nano the only focus controller available?

Proud for a new more achievement from your hands, old chap! : )

 

When will we finally have auto focus in our Pockets?

I don't even dare to tell you I want this toy for Christmas or Santa Claus can enroll me in the list of the bad boys of the year! LOL ; -)

 

 

 

[BTM_Pix]

14 minutes ago, Emanuel said:

Is Tilta Nucleus Nano the only focus controller available?

Currently yes (although we have something of our own upcoming that will be able to talk to the app as well) as it seems to be the most popular budget option.

The Moza iFocus would probably be another contender if there was enough demand for it but reverse engineering the protocol takes a bit of time so it would have to be later.

Our tiny PBC hardware controller also has this relay functionality built in for the Nucleus Nano.

[BTM_Pix]

Well, as those of you who are existing users of 3C will know, the new update rolled out last week and you now have support for wireless focus control of your native and EF adapted lenses using the Nucleus Nano focus wheel.

As we have a couple of other things to include shortly that will make up a bigger v2 update, this new update is now called v1.4.

3C is available to buy from the Google Play Store here https://tinyurl.com/3CbyCDATEK

And here is a little video of it in action.

 

[Cinegain]

That's so sick! ??

[BTM_Pix]

2 minutes ago, Cinegain said:

That's so sick! ??

Thank you, that's very kind of you to say.

[Cinegain]

Well... I'm asking Santa for a Nucleus Nano that's for sure! And that's for sure a nice extra incentive.

[pryde]

I use the nucleus with my P4K and would LOVE to eliminate the motor. Two questions:

- Is the Viltrox a smart enough adapter or is metabones necessary?

- how quickly does the app connect the nucleus and the Pocket? here’s how I usually use the camera: it’s off until I need a shot and then I switch it on, then turn it off immediately when done due to battery life. Is it possible to just have the app running on a phone in my pocket, turn on the camera, and have the nucleus ready to control the lens? Thanks!

[Kisaha]

@BTM_Pix crazy! just received my Nucleus yesterday!

[BTM_Pix]

5 hours ago, pryde said:

I use the nucleus with my P4K and would LOVE to eliminate the motor. Two questions:

- Is the Viltrox a smart enough adapter or is metabones necessary?

- how quickly does the app connect the nucleus and the Pocket? here’s how I usually use the camera: it’s off until I need a shot and then I switch it on, then turn it off immediately when done due to battery life. Is it possible to just have the app running on a phone in my pocket, turn on the camera, and have the nucleus ready to control the lens? Thanks!

Unless Viltrox have changed their firmware, then they don't support focus control so you need a Metabones.

I must admit that I don't know why Viltrox haven't done it yet as Metabones were not compatible initially but solved it with a firmware update a fairly long time ago now.

With regard to connection time, the whole process of scanning and connecting both devices is between 8 and 12 seconds depending on environment (there is a filter function if you are in densely bluetooth crowded areas). 

This is all done on the start screen of the app so you don't have to go into Settings on the phone or the camera.

Because the app is constantly communicating with the camera to monitor changes you make on the camera, there is a watchdog that detects when the camera switches off so you can leave the app running in your pocket and it will just drop you back to the re-scan page when you are ready to turn the camera on again without exiting and re-starting the app.

4 hours ago, Kisaha said:

@BTM_Pix crazy! just received my Nucleus yesterday!

Buy the app

I have to say that I'm very impressed with it outside of what I'm using it for here as well. 

The only slight bugbear really is the powering of the motor.

Its great that its USB so you can use little power packs but they are awkward to mount and the dual 18650 battery pack holder that Tilta do for it is not far off a quarter of the price of the whole kit and doesn't include the batteries !

[Anaconda_]

I'm sure it's been asked many times, and I'm sure there's a brilliant reason why - but is there any chance of developing a remote shutter for the stills function within your app?

If so, could it fire 24 times a second, we'd have cDNG (without audio) and Braw simultaneously ?

[BTM_Pix]

16 minutes ago, Anaconda_ said:

I'm sure it's been asked many times, and I'm sure there's a brilliant reason why - but is there any chance of developing a remote shutter for the stills function within your app?

If so, could it fire 24 times a second, we'd have cDNG (without audio) and Braw simultaneously ?

Unfortunately, the support for firing a still is not included in their protocol so its a hardware only function.

This is a Bluetooth controlled physical switch presser that I'm sure I could persuade to do it though  

[Amazeballs]

Are you planning to relsease a Panasonic compatible version? 

Have you tried to contact Viltrox about their adapter? 

Asking cos I have GH5 and a Viltrox. Defenitaly not gonna buy Metabones for this. But I would cash in for Tilta controller + your app for sure. 

[Kisaha]

5 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Its great that its USB so you can use little power packs but they are awkward to mount and the dual 18650 battery pack holder that Tilta do for it is not far off a quarter of the price of the whole kit and doesn't include the batteries !

http://www.idxtek.com/products/sl-f50

I bought 2 of those for specifically powering the Pocket camera. I hope the usb is enough to power the nucleus motor. I had the time to just open the box yesterday!

I will buy the app tonight.

How about your controlers? 

[BTM_Pix]

11 hours ago, Amazeballs said:

Are you planning to relsease a Panasonic compatible version? 

Have you tried to contact Viltrox about their adapter? 

Asking cos I have GH5 and a Viltrox. Defenitaly not gonna buy Metabones for this. But I would cash in for Tilta controller + your app for sure. 

The Viltrox only has the issue with the BM cameras so isn't an issue on other MFT cameras.

Panasonic don't make it easy to do this kind of integration because it doesn't allow for a lens to be sent to a specific position. It only allows for two different offsets (+/- 1 step and +/- 10 steps) so requires a different approach entirely to keep everything tracked accurately.

However, I have already written stuff to do that so it is possible to port it into a standalone app if there is enough interest.

8 hours ago, Kisaha said:

http://www.idxtek.com/products/sl-f50

I bought 2 of those for specifically powering the Pocket camera. I hope the usb is enough to power the nucleus motor. I had the time to just open the box yesterday!

I will buy the app tonight.

How about your controlers? 

I've made some hardware changes to the little controller (bigger screen,much bigger battery capacity) so its slipped due to that but also due to incorporating the Nucleus Nano functionality into that as well.

In point of fact, the Nano support was done in the controller first and then ported into the 3C app

Just getting final case design done to accomodate the hardware changes and it will be available for pre-order in a few weeks.

[BTM_Pix]

v1.5 has just gone live in the Play store so existing users should be getting this automatically round about now.

To take into account differences in lens performance, particularly between native and adapted EF lenses,  v1.5 introduces an "S" button to provide user selectable level of focus smoothing (S1 to S5) for lens control when you are using the Tilta Nucleus Nano.

For native lenses the recommended level is S1-S2 and for EF adapted lenses S2-S5 but some lenses may be used with S1 also.

As lens performance with adapters varies from lens to lens even from the same manufacturer, you can obviously change the S level with each change of lens.

[Yannick Willox]

Hello BTM_Pix,

my smartphone updated to v1.5 and the app does not function anymore. The UI does not scale to my screen, and the app becomes unresponsive quite often. I am still on android 7.1.1.

[BTM_Pix]

6 minutes ago, Yannick Willox said:

Hello BTM_Pix,

my smartphone updated to v1.5 and the app does not function anymore. The UI does not scale to my screen, and the app becomes unresponsive quite often. I am still on android 7.1.1.

Sorry to hear you've had problems.

The Android version shouldn't be an issue as it should be compatible with 2.1 onwards.

1. If you can answer a couple of questions then I'll be able to try and get to the bottom of it.
2. What type of phone is it, specifically screen size ?
3. Are you using it in Portrait or Landscape ?
4. Which parts of the UI aren't scaling and can you post a screenshot ?
5. Have you moved from v1.4 to v1.5 or from a previous version?
6. Which combination of focus and zoom do you have enabled in the UI (if any) ?
7. Are you using it with the Nucleus Nano?
8. Does it become unresponsive when controlling a specific function from the app (i.e. changing aperture) or when it is receiving something from the camera (i.e. you've changed the aperture on the camera) ?
9. Are you using an EF adapter when this happens and if so which one/lens ?
10. Are you running anything else on BLE on the phone (headset etc) ?

Cheers

 

 

[Yannick Willox]

2 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

The Android version shouldn't be an issue as it should be compatible with 2.1 onwards.

1. If you can answer a couple of questions then I'll be able to try and get to the bottom of it.
2. What type of phone is it, specifically screen size ?
3. Are you using it in Portrait or Landscape ?
4. Which parts of the UI aren't scaling and can you post a screenshot ?
5. Have you moved from v1.4 to v1.5 or from a previous version?
6. Which combination of focus and zoom do you have enabled in the UI (if any) ?
7. Are you using it with the Nucleus Nano?
8. Does it become unresponsive when controlling a specific function from the app (i.e. changing aperture) or when it is receiving something from the camera (i.e. you've changed the aperture on the camera) ?
9. Are you using an EF adapter when this happens and if so which one/lens ?
10. Are you running anything else on BLE on the phone (headset etc) ?

1. Yes I can

2. Motorola E4 plus, 720x1280 pixels

3. portrait cuts off the right part of the screen, about 15%

4. nothing is scaling ? screenshot is difficult at the time. I removed the app, cleared some data, reinstalled. Now it behaves the same in portrait, but landscape is better ! The width fits, and now I can scroll vertically (this morning - not !).

5. auto update is on, so probably from 1.4

6. only focus

7. no

8.seems better now, big focus sweeps take a long time, and the app needs some time to be able to focus again.

9. native lens (panaleica 12-60mm)

10. no

I noticed also, in previous versions as well, if I store a focal point and a second one, transition (eg 3 sec) is quite smooth if they are not too far from each other. If I do a transition from a really close focus to eg. infinity, it jumps in quite big steps (about 2,5 steps per second). Smoothing does not change anything. (same lens)

[BTM_Pix]

Thanks for that.

Just a very quick test if you can which will help a bit, on the startup screen select Key1 as this is the portrait locking mode designed for the Blackberry but may help here if you are using it in portrait mode.

If you start it up when that is enabled and see if you get the same issue. It won't orient to landscape when its in this mode but it will at least give me a starting point to look at other things.

Cheers