First use of the camera
Before you can start using the camera, you have to prepare the USB-Stick. The camera supports all USB 2.0- and 3.0-Sticks, as well as USB hard drives up to 4TB. The integrated USB port delivers a maximum current of 300 mAh. When you use an external hard drive, therefore, an additional power supply must be used. The USB storage device must not have more than one partition and must be formatted in the FAT32 file system. We recommend, for saving videos and taking multiple photos in a short period of time to use fast USB-Stick. Write rates over 10 MB/s are beneficial. The USB-Stick can then be plugged into the switched-off camera.
Turn on the camera
To turn on the camera, the built-in batteries need to have enough power, otherwise they may result in loss of recorded pictures and videos.To switch on the camera, the main switch on the front is moved from "OFF" to "ON". After that, the camera should start to glow and the image on the built-in display should be recognizable. If this is not the case, check that the video output selection switch is set to "INT.". The display shows the text-based boot process of the Linux kernel. After about 20 seconds, the camera image appears on the display. Below the display you can see if the folder for the photos and videos has just been created or already existed.
Turn off the camera
To turn of the camera, you must first shut down the operating system. This is done via a Key combination. To do this, press the "SET" button and keep it pressed while briefly pressing the "REC" button. As a result, the camera image on the display goes off and the white LED on the camera front flashes for a moment. At the lower edge of the display the output "shutdown" can be seen for a short moment. The camera is completely shut down when the display turns black after approximately ten seconds. Only then can the camera be turned off by the main switch on the front panel.
Taking pictures
When the camera is on and you can see a picture on the screen, you can start taking photos and videos. When taking photos, the mode switch located on the top left of the camera must be on the right side at the camera icon. After pressing the "REC" button on the top of the camera, a photo is taken. For this purpose, the current image of the camera is no longer shown on the display for a short time and after saving the image, the currently recorded image is displayed for four seconds. While taking a photo, the LED on the front of the camera lights up. After these four seconds the review will disappear and the live image of the camera will be displayed again. Now another picture can be taken. Furthermore it is possible to take photos according to your own parameters. Adjustable are the ISO (100 to 800), the brightness (25 to 100), the contrast (-50 to 100), the saturation (- 100 to 100) and the shutter speed (5,000 to 100,000). To change these values, a menu must be called up before taking a picture with the "SET" button. The menu is displayed at the bottom of the display.
The different menu items can be selected with the "SET" key. The currently displayed parameter can be increased or decreased with the "-" and "+" keys. The parameters are saved immediately and are retained even after taking a picture or video. When you start the camera, we have set default values. You can also be reset to the default values while the camera is in operation. To do this, the "SET" button must be pressed until "Reset" appears at the bottom of the screen and the white LED on the camera front flashes for a moment. Afterwards you can take photos or videos again and set the parameters according to your own wishes.
Recording videos
To record video, the mode switch must be on the left side to the video camera icon. Switching is only possible when the saving of a photo or video is completed. In Video mode, no adjustments can be made using the three buttons on the top. To start a video recording you have to press the "REC" -key. The camera image is briefly interrupted on the display. At the bottom of the display a white bar flashes, which signals that a video is being recorded. Parallel to this, the LED is switched on during video recording. The maximum recording time has been set to 19 minutes. This is because many customary digital cameras also have this as standard.
To stop the video recording you have to press the "REC" button again. The white line at the bottom of the screen goes out and the LED does not light anymore. After recording the video, the progress of converting the file and copying it to the USB memory are indicated by a progress bar at the bottom of the screen. After completing these processes, the LED flashes briefly. This signals that the camera is ready for a new shot. For longer videos, converting and saving can take several minutes. During these processes, the camera can and should not be turned off. If the camera is still turned off, the recording will be "damaged".
Ending the program "ActionPi"
Using a Key combination you can end the "ActionPi" program called at startup. Therefore, press the "-" and "+" buttons simultaneously and quickly. The program is terminated and the display is showing the Linux terminal.
Connect USB storage to a computer
After the camera is completely turned off, the USB memory can be removed and read by another computer.
„ActionPi“ as computer
Since the ActionPi uses a Linux distribution as OS it's possible to use it as a nearly full fledged computer. This requires a USB hub to be connected before turning it on, and a mouse, keyboard, USB memory and a USB wireless adapter to connect to it. It is recommended to operate this USB hub via an external power supply. After switching on the camera, the "ActionPi" program must be terminated as described above and the "startx" command can now be entered in the Linux terminal. After a few seconds, the graphical user interface, the so-called "X-Server", starts up. The distribution we use is running LXDE. As soon as the desktop shows up, the camera can be used like a normal computer. There are a file explorer, an internet browser and several small application programs installed. To switch off the camera, it can be shut down as usual via the graphical user interface.
Connection of an external screen
The "ActionPi" has an HDMI port, via which monitors or projectors can be connected. For this purpose, the selector switch under the HDMI port must be set to "EXT".
Charging the camera
The camera has two lithium-ion cells, which can be charged via an integrated charge and discharge circuit. For this purpose, it is enough to plug in a micro USB power supply. At the micro USB socket area, it lights up red while the batteries are charging and green when the batteries are fully charged. To reach the maximum charge current, a power supply with at least 2 A must be used.
FAQ
- The camera does not turn on.
- Fully charge the batteries, check if the video output switch is set to "INT".
- No photos or videos will be saved.
- USB memory was not turned on until the camera was turned on or is not properly formatted or has no free space left.
- Video recording can not be started.
- Check if previous video recording is completed.
- Camera does not turn off.
- Photo or video will be saved.
- Camera does not charge.
- The power supply used provides too little power.
- Date and time of file naming are wrong.
- Battery of the real-time clock is empty and needs to be replaced.