broughtonfilm
Well-known member
I wanted to share my DIY solution to the problem of the REC indicator disappearing when DISPLAY is set to OFF on FS7 camera. Be warned, it's a bit crude. I created this hi-tech $5 device 
. It is basically a very simple circuit with a red LED and a photoresistor. I used a simplest possible light sensing circuit I could think of - I'm not great with electronics so it will make many of you laugh and it could definitely be more sophisticated, but it's been working great for me (for example, most basic diagrams I could find online use a resistor in it - this one is just a battery, photocell and an LED, I guess resistor in the diagrams is there to regulate the voltage and sensitivity of the photocell but I'm not sure ). Anyway, the way it works, when the built in FS7 tally light is on, the photoresistor detects it and closes the circuit. The LED in the circuit lights up. I mounted it on my EVF on the bottom, this way I can see it with my left eye when shooting. I built it while ago thinking that I'll eventually make it less of joke device but, as many makeshift things, it has been working so great that I'll probably never upgrade it with real parts. For example, I used an AA battery holder from an old flash light - ideally this would be replaced with something smaller that takes button cell batteries and has a switch. The way it attaches could be better too - it is very important that the photoresistor is not exposed to any other light than the one coming from the FS7's REC lamp, otherwise it will give "false positive" indication of rolling, so be careful! It can be attached to either of the FS7's rec lights.
I wonder, could a fiberoptic toslink cable carry the light of the REC lamps? This would be an even better solution...
EDIT: I'm reading at the FS7 forum that XDCA's hirose output carries the rec lamp status, a much better solution if you're using XDCA: http://community.sony.com/t5/FS7/REC-status-indicator/td-p/481663/page/2
. It is basically a very simple circuit with a red LED and a photoresistor. I used a simplest possible light sensing circuit I could think of - I'm not great with electronics so it will make many of you laugh and it could definitely be more sophisticated, but it's been working great for me (for example, most basic diagrams I could find online use a resistor in it - this one is just a battery, photocell and an LED, I guess resistor in the diagrams is there to regulate the voltage and sensitivity of the photocell but I'm not sure ). Anyway, the way it works, when the built in FS7 tally light is on, the photoresistor detects it and closes the circuit. The LED in the circuit lights up. I mounted it on my EVF on the bottom, this way I can see it with my left eye when shooting. I built it while ago thinking that I'll eventually make it less of joke device but, as many makeshift things, it has been working so great that I'll probably never upgrade it with real parts. For example, I used an AA battery holder from an old flash light - ideally this would be replaced with something smaller that takes button cell batteries and has a switch. The way it attaches could be better too - it is very important that the photoresistor is not exposed to any other light than the one coming from the FS7's REC lamp, otherwise it will give "false positive" indication of rolling, so be careful! It can be attached to either of the FS7's rec lights. I wonder, could a fiberoptic toslink cable carry the light of the REC lamps? This would be an even better solution...
EDIT: I'm reading at the FS7 forum that XDCA's hirose output carries the rec lamp status, a much better solution if you're using XDCA: http://community.sony.com/t5/FS7/REC-status-indicator/td-p/481663/page/2
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