Fire all of the cameras at the same time or do crazy complicated triggering patterns? You'll find everything in this document!
The trigger modes can be changed from the dashboard ("Trigger Mode" button)
1- Modes
1.1- Freeze
This is as basic as it gets. This is going to try to fire all of the cameras at the same time. We do send a signal with a < 1ms accuracy to the cameras (all by usb), but your cameras may take longer to process the signal. In any case, using strobes is the ultimate way of having a perfectly frozen shot. See these two articles for more details: Using constant light and Using strobes.
1.2- Multiple
Trigger all cameras for a specified number of iterations, with or without an intervalometer. This is not relevant for bullet-time, but can be used for multi-camera timelapses.
1.3- Interval
Trigger all cameras with a specific delay between each (to create movement). Depending on the speed of your subject and the accuracy of your cameras, you can go as fast as 1ms. Example: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs6pSdRhlL4/
Timing reference:
- 42ms = real time (@ 24fps)
- 9ms = similar to 120fps slow motion
- 0ms = freeze
The faster you go, and the slower you'll get your playback. A value of 10ms is going to give you slow motion
.
Seamless
The seamless option is creating an illusion of an endless loop on full 360-degree structures. Two cameras are always triggered at the same time, meaning that you're going to see the same action from both sides. Example: https://www.instagram.com/p/Byf5AxfhlO5/
1.4- Jump and Freeze
In the Jump-and-freeze mode, you can split the triggering into two stages to make it feels like you're slowing down the time right after the action takes off. In the example below, the transition is going to happen at camera #3. The first 3 cameras are going to be triggered in a 20ms interval (regular action speed), then cameras 7 to 12 are going to be nearly frozen (1ms interval)
1.5- Custom trigger sequences
12 cameras, 3 iterations! First is interval from camera 1 to 12. Second is interval from camera 12 to 1. Third is a frozen shot. On the first example, the cameras are all fired automatically (second iteration starts at 1000ms from camera 12 and third starts at 2000ms from camera 1). On the second example, each iteration is triggered manually (that makes the timing easier to brief your subject)
In automatic mode, the timing values are absolute (timing in milliseconds from the moment you trigger). In manual mode, the timing values are relative to each time you press the trigger
In any case, you need to leave at least one second between each iteration (for the cameras to be ready)
2- Global settings for triggering
2.1 - Delay (master countdown)
Set a global delay (master countdown) before triggering. This can be used in pair with the countdown sound and/or the countdown page.
2.2 - Mirror lockup
When possible, use Mirror Lockup to improve the precision of the triggering.
Note: Canon made some breaking changes for the last DSLRs that are impacting the software. For the SL3, T8i and 5ds, we can’t set the Mirror lockup automatically. You will need to set it up manually on each camera. From there, you’ll be able