prepared by Brian List
June 7, 2006
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Table of Contents
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Quick Start
Connecting and positioning camera
Unpack camera, mount, connection box, and bundled cables. (Capture button, rain covers, and wood blocks are optional.)
Set the aperture on lens to 16 (or largest number), and light setting on front of camera to the current light conditions (high, normal, or low light).
Set up mount on ladder or truck, approximately 8 feet high and 8 feet away from finish line. If needed, blocks of wood are in the case to provide easier mounting. The curved side of the mount should be on the left when facing the finish line.
Mount camera. Place camera into square side of mount first, then pivot it down onto the curved side of the mount. The black and silver lever should spring into place. Wriggle the camera to confirm it is firmly in place. Remove lens cap and put it back into the case (or another safe place).
Connect cables to power, camera, connection box, and computer. Set connection box switch to “No”. (Connect capture button cable to computer if using manual capture.)
Turn on computer.
Turn on camera.
Open FinishLynx software and verify camera is found and connects.
Lay down the finish line in the plane of the camera. It is important to have a straight finish line. A string pulled taut across the road may be helpful to get proper alignment to the camera.
Align camera to finish line using mount adjustments. The camera has a switch above the lens which you will need to flip back and forth to a) see through the view finder and b) capture images.
Focus camera to far side of the road.
Running the FinishLynx software
Open up the hardware settings dialog ( blue i button) and set direction, frame rate, auto capture, and brightness as conditions dictate. (Note that direction is set to the side which riders are going to.) Set the aperture using buttons on the right side of the hardware window. (Aperture and direction may be changed after a new event is created. Other settings require closing the event, changing the hardware settings, and creating a new event.)
Start a new event by selecting File | New.
Press the capture icon to active capture for the event.
If auto capture is used, images are captured whenever the view changes. If manual capture is used then images are only captured when the capture button is being pressed.
After capturing images, racers may be placed by clicking on the image (front of wheel) and entering the ID for the racer.
Tear down
Turn off camera and disconnect all cables from camera and connection box. Disconnect white network cable from computer. (Computer can remain running.)
Put lens cap back onto the lens. Remove camera from mount by pushing base lever over. Push in silver part of lever to get full range of the lever. Lift camera from the lever side and pull out from mount.
Repack camera, mount, connection box, and bundled cables. (Also repack capture button, rain covers, and wood blocks if they were used.)
Now that you’ve got a few minutes…
Check List
Camera
Lens cap
Lens back-side cap
Additional lens and caps
Remote cable
Bundled cables
Rain Covers
Manual capture trigger
Connection box
Wooden blocks (dowel, rectangle, and triangle)
Start sensor (not used)
Laptop
Power supply
Mouse pad
Mouse (if used)
10-key (if used)
Ladder
Plumb bob (if used)
Guide string (if used)
Finish line tape, spray chalk, or flour
Basic Software Features
Hardware settings
Creating new event
Setting start time
Placing riders (ID)
Bookmarks
Capture on/off
Advance screen image
Zoom (careful)
Hardware Settings
To adjust the hardware settings, press the i button. Here you can …TODO
Creating New Event
Since some hardware settings cannot be adjusted with an open event, it is best to determine these settings before creating a new event.
To create a new event, select File | New.
After creating the event, it is recommended that it be saved with an understandable name, such as “Cherry Pie 2007 – morning.evn”. When possible, create a new event for each field or session. This will make the files easier to manage later.
Setting Start Time
The Start Time is usually not needed. However, in Stage Races and some UCI events racers’ time must be recorded. [more]
Placing Riders
To place a rider (or anything in the image), simply click at the desired location (front of wheel). A red vertical line will appear in the image. Enter the ID of the rider (or a bookmark name) and press enter. The location is automatically placed amongst all other tagged locations in the image.
Bookmarks
Bookmarks are helpful to locate riders or fields when reviewing the results. For instance, when the Cat 1/2 Women’s lead car comes through, tag the image of the car and enter the bookmark “Cat 1/2 Women Finish”. Later, the Find feature can be used to quickly go to that bookmark and review that finishing group.
Capture On/Off
In most events it will be easier to use the auto capture feature. However, it capture is left on all day then the file will become unmanageable. (for instance it may take 5+ minutes to save it). To toggle capture on and off use the capture button.
(this shows the capture toggled OFF)
Of course, do not forget to toggle capture back on when finishers approach.
Advance Screen Image
The advance screen image option indicates if the screen will advance to the last captured image or if scrolling of the image is left to the user. When evaluating results, turn off Advance Screen Image. Otherwise, it may be helpful to have it on in order to check that the image quality remains good.
Zoom
Before pressing a zoom button, make sure to place the cursor (red vertical line) at the location to zoom in on. Otherwise the image will automatically move the wherever the red line was last seen.
In order to locate a field it may be easier to zoom out and show the image on the whole window . After locating the rider or field, FIRST PLACE THE RED CURSOR ON THE RIDER, then zoom back in to read the number.
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Brightness (on screen)
The brightness of the image on the screen can be changed by selecting Image | Adjustments from the menu. This does not change the image file nor does it affect how the camera is capturing pictures. It just changes how the image looks on the screen.
Advanced Software Features
Maintaining a rider database (PPL file)
Output (LIF file)
Multiple events
Strategies for Reading Poorly placed numbers
For circuit races and criteriums, take shots every lap. Review the image and note riders with difficult to read numbers. Look for those riders on the next lap to try and read the number visually, then mark that rider in the image for later review.
For single lap races, visually look for hard to read numbers and note those rather that focusing on the FinishLynx image.
Also, the video camera and spotters’ notes should be used to verify questionable images.
Auto Capture
Threshold (20) – The threshold indicates how much of the image must change for it to be captured. The lower the number the more capturing that is done. Too low and raindrops will trigger capturing. Too high and racers will be missed.
Leading/Trailing (70/70) — These values indicate how much space before and after the racer is included in the image. Too low and wheels may be cut off. Too high and extra space will be included.
To toggle capturing, click on the capture icon.
Manual Capture
This requires pressing the capture button on the trigger and therefore requires closer attention so racers are not missed.
Setting up Camera
Locating – Optimal location for the camera is approximately 8 feet high and 8 feet away from the finish line.
Mounting – The camera may be mounted on the OBRA truck or on the ladder.
Rain Cover – The rain covers (soft green cover and hard white cover) should be used when it is raining. Place the white cover on top of the camera with the green cover over it.
Connecting
Connect the power, parallel cable, and network cable to the camera. Connect the 9-pin cable to the front and back of the camera.
Connect the other end of the parallel and network cable to the connection box.
Marking Finish Line (string, plumb bob) (adding vertical line on opposite side of road)
Hardware Settings in FinishLynx
Lenses
Focus
Aperture – This can be changed while not capturing. Open the aperture to get brighter pictures, close the aperture to get darker (crisper) pictures). Note that the automatic boost will attempt to make up for imprecise aperture settings.
Brightness
Frames/sec – For most road races the maximum frame rate of 2000 frames per second should be used. For slower finishes (uphill, cyclocross) it is better to decrease the frame rate to keep the image size down and get a reasonable aspect ratio (not too stretched out).
Density – While Frame rate describes the number of pixels across the image (x axis), the density describes the number of pixels in the height (y axis) of the image. A density of 10000 is recommended to get good quality pictures.
Special Topics
Wide Finish Lines (PIR)
mode???
which lens???
Video Camera and Other Verification Options
Video Camera
Spotters
Stage Races
Filters
Pack leaders and delta times
Troubleshooting
Keep losing connection to the camera
No camera connection at all (unable to find camera)
Captured image is completely black.
Bib numbers are washed out and unreadable.
