103CC	Canon T3 to Lanc Pro Flash Cord 3 ft.	$22.00
	103CD	Elinchrom to Lanc Pro Flash Cord 16 inches	$55.00
	103CM45	Metz 45CT/CL3/4 to Lanc Pro flash cord 16 inches	$30.00
	103CM60	Metz 60CT1+2 To Lanc Pro Flash Cord 3 ft.	$30.00
	103CPCF	PC Female Adapter to Lanc Pro 1 ft.	$16.50
	103CPCM	PC male to Lanc Pro 1ft Flash cord	$22.00
	103CS	Sunpak to Lanc Pro 1 ft Flash Cord	$22.00
	103CV	Vivitar to Lanc Pro 1ft flash cord	$22.00

If you already have a PC cable for your flash and some way to mount the flash, you can use a “PC Female to Miniphone Adapter”, plug the PC cable into the adapter, then plug the adapter into the LANC Shepherd Pro generic flash jack.

103CPCF

PC Female Adapter to Lanc Pro 1 ft.

$16.50

 

Sony HVL-F32X

Using the Sync Display: The two sets of numbers on the LANC Shepherd display mean the same thing—they are just different ways of indicating the same interval of time. The interval displayed is the difference between the electronic command cycles of the two cameras, but typically this is the same as shutter sync for these cameras.

The top number is the fractional seconds, so 1/1000 means 1/1000th of a second, or 0.001 second. The bottom number is milliseconds or msec. 1000 milliseconds equals one second, so 1/1000 second is one millisecond. So if the top number is around 1/1000s, the bottom number should be around 1.0 msec. Most of the timing in photography happens on a millisecond scale, and you end up using the millisecond display almost exclusively, but the top number is included for comparison of the shutter sync to the shutter speed. As long as the shutter sync is less than about one tenth of the shutter speed, disparity of the stereo images related to shutter sync will not be noticeable. So if the camera selected shutter speed is 1/100, then a shutter sync displayed on the LANC Shepherd of 1/1000 or smaller (say 1/2000, 1/4000, etc) will result in images with no noticeable motion disparity.

Most of the time, the cameras will sync on power up to less than 1/2000 (top display) or 0.5 msec (bottom display), and shutter sync will be excellent for typical point and shoot photos to a shutter speed of 1/200 or slower (say 1/125, 1/60, etc). If shutter priority mode is used on the cameras for really fast action with a shutter speed of 1/1000, you would want to work to get the camera sync display to be as good as possible, around 1/10000 (top) or 0.1msec (bottom).

The "M" for master or "S" for slave indicates which of the two cameras should trigger the flash when an internal flash is used on one of the cameras. With an external flash plugged into the LANC Shepherd Pro, one can ignore completely the "M" and "S" designation.

 

Sony HVL-F1000

How Synchronized Is Enough? It depends. As a general guideline, a displayed sync greater than 1/10th of the shutter speed will be potentially noticeable for average photography. For example, for a shutter speed of 1/250, a sync greater than 1/2500 (0.40 msec) will produce just noticeable disparity for an average city street corner with wind, people walking, and slow moving cars. Action photography, with considerably faster motion and shorter shutter speeds, needs to have a sync proportionally better,  generally try to take these photographs with  sync on the order of a 0.01 msec or 10 millionths of a second.

In the end, the LANC Shepherd Pro allows really a remarkable degree of synchronization if it is required, and allows sync time to be a stylistic choice for stereo photography as well.

Zoom: The zoom buttons can be used to adjust the zoom of both cameras at the same time. For stereo photography, the zoom has another function beyond decreasing the field of view of the photograph--it can have the effect of decreasing the stereo base (distance between the cameras). By stepping back and zooming in, there will be less depth effect for a given field of view. The cameras will receive a zoom command at the same time from the LANC Shepherd, and will adjust the zoom while the buttons are held down. There is no feedback from the cameras about the current focal length, so synchronization of zoom between the cameras will degrade with more zoom adjustments--after a few adjustments, it probably is best to reset the zoom by taking the zoom to a stop, then back to the desired focal length. Typical accuracy for my cameras is less than 1% image size difference between the two cameras for zoom adjustments, which can easily be corrected if needed with my computer graphics program, but accuracy of the zoom will depend on how well the cameras are matched. Ideally, the cameras would have close serial numbers for the best chance of power-up sync and matched zoom.

 

Vivitar 850AF

Exposure: Once the cameras are in sync, and both cameras are set up the same way to take a picture, press the lock/shutter button half way down, wait for the cameras to achieve focus and exposure lock, then press the button all the way down to take a stereo picture. To have synchronized shutters, it is important to first press focus lock for a moment, wait until the cameras are fully locked (focus, shutter, aperture), and keep the focus lock down until the shutter is pressed. The cameras show a green dot that stops blinking, and sound a beep when the focus lock has been achieved.

Self-Timer: Digital cameras all have this feature on their own--set the timer, and then the photographer has ten seconds to scramble back to the group before the exposure--but this feature with stereo cameras will typically take an exposure seconds apart. With the LANC Shepherd, press the red "Timer" button to start the countdown, and again if needed to abort. The count down is displayed on the LCD. At three seconds, the LANC Shepherd initiates focus lock, and at zero on the counter, the LANC Shepherd triggers both cameras at exactly the same time for a synchronized exposure.

Interval Timer (Time Lapse Photography): This feature allows taking stereo photographs at set precise intervals. The interval time adjust requires holding down the shutter button half way during the period of time needed to make the adjustment. With the shutter button held down half way, bring up the adjust screen by pressing the red timer button. Press "zoom in" or "zoom out" to make the adjustment. The interval can be adjusted from 2 seconds to 24 hours. Then release the shutter button to save the new zoom rate to memory in the LANC Shepherd and start the timed exposures. Press the red timer button again to abort the interval timer if needed.

For interval times greater than about one minute, the cameras may shut down automatically because of inactivity. One can either plug in the battery charger to each camera, or one can plug in a dummy 3.5mm (1/8") stereo plug into the video output of the cameras to prevent the automatic shutdown.

During the interval timing, the hours:minutes:seconds remaining before an exposure is shown on the LCD display. Since the subject will presumably move very little during the interval timing so that sync is less of an issue, the sync is not displayed during the interval timing.

 

Sony HDR-FX1

Video Camera Support: The LANC Shepherd Pro senses the type of device attached, and uses the appropriate commands to control twin video cameras, just as does the LANC Shepherd. The LANC Shepherd Pro does not at this time provide support for an external flash used with video camera still image capture.

Power-up sync works the same way as with still cameras--again, the cameras must be on battery power to sync properly with the LANC Shepherd power button. Turn on the cameras with the mode switch set to "camera" (not playback mode), and use the LANC Shepherd to turn the cameras off. Then power up the cameras in sync using the ON button on the LANC Shepherd. The LANC Shepherd functions work the same whether recording to tape or to memory stick.

The red "Record" button on the LANC Shepherd toggles on or off video recording.

The LANC Shepherd can be used for still photo capture on Sony video cameras so equipped. Canon video cameras do not provide support through the LANC port for still image capture. Press the shutter/focus lock button down half way to capture an image, and press the button all the way down to save the image to tape or memory stick (depending on the cameras capability and mode setting).

The zoom rate with video cameras can be adjusted with the LANC Shepherd. The zoom rate adjust requires holding down the shutter button half way during the period of time needed to make the adjustment. With the shutter button held down half way, bring up the adjust screen by pressing "zoom in". Press "zoom in" or "zoom out" to make the adjustment. Then release the shutter button to save the new zoom rate to memory in the LANC Shepherd. Zoom rate can be adjusted from 1 (glacial) to 8 (mach).

 

Sony DSC-V1

Flash Photography With Internal Flash: Since both cameras must be configured the same for exposure sync, both flashes must fire, but one flash must be blocked for best flash synchronization and best stereo quality. The LANC Shepherd indicates which flash to leave open to the subject, "M" for the right master camera cable or "S" for the left slave camera cable.

Sync with an internal camera flash generally works well as long as the sync is less than about half the shutter speed (for example, if 1/500 sec shutter, sync less than 1/1000 sec). In reasonable light, one can use the regular flash mode to fill in shadows, and this works quite well and reliably to at least 1/500 sec exposure with the Sony DSC-V1. Using flash as the sole light source in darkness does not work as reliably. So use the regular flash mode in reasonable light with excellent results.

The shutter priority, and manual modes share some limitations when using them with flash. They work reasonably well with flash as long as the EV (exposure value) hovers around zero and the subject has at least moderate contrast. The EV gives an indication of where the exposure is relative to those values the camera would choose in automatic mode without flash. If the exposure depends at all on flash to bring up the exposure to a reasonable level, I have trouble getting flash sync in these modes where shutter speed is specified. I can reliably predict the absence of flash on one of the exposures just by listening to the difference in shutter beeps, despite the high degree of sync displayed on the LANC Shepherd.

The work-around is to use either the fully automatic mode, the program shift mode, or the aperture priority modes. These modes also work well with an external flash plugged into the LANC Shepherd Pro. The program shift mode is a bit frustrating to use however, as the camera will not let me choose a shutter/aperture combination that is outside a zero EV, it will not let me choose a shutter speed slower than 1/30 sec, and it requires the metering to be centered on the subject for an adjustment. Flash sync with these modes is, however, amazing.

Mounting the Cameras: Here are a few tips:

The digital camera lenses are not necessarily aligned with the camera body. The lens on a digital point-and-shoot camera is mounted on an internal chassis, and the external camera body is just a shell. So count on shimming the cameras once they are mounted for proper stereo alignment, particularly if the cameras are not both mounted in the same orientation (such as over/under, bottom to bottom, etc). Think about which parts of the camera you will need to access easily when planning your camera mount, or make provisions for limited access.