Canon ZR-1000 LANC controller

[Don Palomaki]

IR = Infra-red, light that is "redder than red" and cannot be seen by human eyes. Radiant heat is Infra-red. For the technically minded, it has a somewhat longer wavelength than visible light.

[Jeffrey Parker]

Can anyone tell me how they mounted this on their tripod and whether you can use the controller in a single speed zoom (low versus variable)?

Thanks in advance

[Robin Davies-Rollinson]

I've clamped it to the pan bar so my thumb can access the rocker control - ie, it's right at the outer end of the pan bar, next to the rubber grip.
There are five pre-set speeds from slow to fast (what else?!) as well as the variable.

Robin.

[Roger Moore]

I plugged a brand new zr-1000 into my XL2 and the first thing that happened was the lens zoomed in all by itself without me touching the rocker. Next, when I pressed the buttons on the zr-1000 nothing happened. I took it back to the store and tried it on the XL2 they had on display and it did the same thing. We opened another zr-1000, tried it but that didn't work either. I think it is highly unlikely that there'd be 2 defective zr-1000's at the same store. At this point I should have read the manual. Instead I took my refund and left.

Do you have to power off the XL2 first? I'm sorry if that's a dumb question, but I assumed that all I had to do was plug it in and it would work, at least that's what my cheap sony lanc controller does on my XL2.

[Roger Moore]

http://media.onecall.com/Image_Produ...1000manual.pdf

I just read the manual above and I see a possible explanation for why the 2 zr-1000's I tried did not work.

The section "Zoom Speed dial" says that you can dial the zr-1000 to either variable speed mode or to constant speed mode (1-5). Now, what would happen if the XL2 was set to variable speed but the zr-1000 was set to constant? Would the lens still zoom or would the zoom rocker not work? Perhaps my XL2 and the one at the store were set to variable speed and the 2 zr-1000's were dialed to constant speed and that's why nothing happened?

[Josh Chesarek]

Just wanted to share my experiences with the Canon ZR-1000. So far so good :) While the plastic body makes it feel a little cheap everything seems in order and so far it works great with my XH-A1. The real test will come mid november and I start up the basketball season where it will be getting extended use for a few months straight.

Will be keeping notes and photos and such here: http://www.simplethoughtproductions....te-controller/

If your looking for a basic LANC controller this seems pretty hard to beat for the price :)

[Chris Soucy]

It is a usefull little gizmo, no doubt.

As you'll probably be using it on a tripod pan handle and thus will be using the A1's focusing ring for focus, you won't trip over it's major weakness with the A1/ G1 cameras - the inability of the focus buttons to control the A1's/ G1's focus with accuracy.

This is, in Canons immortal words, "a design limitation" (I'm still trying to work out of what) and not a fault.

I'll be interested to hear how you fare with it.


CS

[Josh Chesarek]

Good point. I will have to play with it to be sure of what you mean, For my use the focus won't be much of an issue, I use manual focus when doing sports, I zoom in and focus on a player that is about as far as they will get from me. Focus and then zoom out. From then on I never zoom in closer than when I focused and it seems to work well for me.

[Michael Jouravlev]

A standard remote, a TOSLINK cable ($7-$10) and some duct tape gives you a perfectly working zoom control. Well, perfectly working if you always use a tripod. Works pretty well for my cheap Elura 100.

On the other hand, I don't care much about zoom, I'd prefer remotely controlled focus with possibility of different speeds or maybe some sort of jog-dial wheel. Could be a business opportunity ;-) I just don't get why zoom can be remotely controlled and focus can not.

[Josh Chesarek]

Thanks for the thread move Mods, sorry I had missed the proper section!