USER GUIDE | Afidus

JUMP IN

the quick start section

Thank you for purchasing from TimeLapseCameras.com.

To get you running with your camera, each camera purchased from TimeLapseCameras has been tested, four AA batteries and a16GB card are pre-installed for you.

Your camera has been optimized for your first project with the following settings: the latest firmware update installed, timestamp turned off, Quality set to +4, full HDR, 30 fps, 16:9 ratio and the capture interval is set at 10 seconds.

To get started first download the App from either Apple or Google.

1) Download the Afidus Time Lapse app.

2) Turn on the camera with a long press of the power button.

3) Connect to the camera’s wi-fi network within your device’s wi-fi settings. Look for and select the ATL network. Enter the default password, 87654321

4) With the connection established, go to the Afidus app & touch “camera”. The camera controls appear along with a preview of your scene.

5) From here, you have total control of the camera. You can turn your device horizontal for a full screen preview. Tap the screen for zoom and focus controls. The app allows you to set the capture interval, timer, day of the week schedule and much more.

6) Start a time lapse video with the red dot camera icon at the bottom of the main screen. Select record, confirm the settings, tap Ok and you will receive a double beep confirmation. The LED indicator on the top of the camera will flash every five seconds to verify operation.

7) To stop a recording, simply press and hold the top camera power button and wait for a long beep.

startup and everything you need to

KNOW IN DETAIL

CONNECTING TO WIFI

Power on your camera by holding down the power button until you hear a “beep”. The LED will light green to indicate power is on, and the camera is broadcasting its Wifi signal. Go back to your phone and search for the cameras Wifi network. It will be listed as “ATL200_xxxxxxxxx” (this is the cameras unique ID number). Connect your phone to this network and enter the TimeLapseCamera password “87654321”.

Cameras shipped from TimeLapseCameras.com have been tested and set with a new password, 87654321.

*Important* - Do not do anything for 30 secs as you might get a message saying “this wifi connection does not have an internet connection” . Make sure you hit “ok” otherwise the camera will not connect to your mobile phone / tablet. If the camera does not connect , just “forget” the wifi network.

If you did not purchase your camera from us: Due to new government GDPR rules (General Data Protection) you might be asked to change your password to a new, personal one. You will be instructed by the App to enter a new password. Once this is done, go back to your wifi network list and click “Forget Network” for your ATL. Lastly, simply reconnect to the ATL-xxxxxxx network using your new, personal password. You should now have a connection between your camera and your phone / tablet. To test this, go to the App main screen and tap the bottom left icon “Camera”. If successful, you should be taken to the viewfinder and settings screen of the App.

Please note, the camera will automatically turn off its Wifi after 4 minutes of wifi inactivity. This is indicated by the camera emitting a long beep and then it will shut down.

HELP!!! MY CAMERA STILL WONT CONNECT!!!

If, by accident you entered the manufacturer password (12345678)

your camera will not connect to WiFi. To resolve this, please forget the camera connection in your settings and enter the current TimeLapseCamera password, 87654321.

If you need to change your password please watch this tutorial video.

HOME SCREEN

CAMERA

Select the Camera icon to access the camera app features

GALLERY

To view transferred files on your phone or tablet, simply select the “gallery” icon on the main page. You will be given three ‘types’ of files to choose from – Snapshot, time-lapse, PIR triggered. These folder types are purely there to help you find the file you’re looking for.

FIRMWARE

Firmware updates are located here, please check this periodically to ensure you are using the most current firmware.

SCREEN ICONS

APP ICONS EXPLAINED

FPS (Frames per Second)

Since a video is made up of frames, each photo the camera captures will end up representing one frame in your final video. This is probably best left at 30 FPS. 30 FPS will give you the smoothest playback for your video.

INTERVAL

This is the time between each shot. More info on this can be found below in the "recording modes explained section"

QUALITY

This is video quality. It adjusts the bitrate of the image. Lowering this will increase battery life and use less memory, but lessen image quality. This is best left to 4 (high quality).

SCENE

This adjusts shoot settings for either day or night projects. This may be useful to you if you’re shooting a night scene, but really, this is best left to auto.

RESOLUTION

You can switch between 1080p or the 720p resolution if required? This is probably best left at "full" 1080 setting.

ASPECT RATIO

This switches between 16:9 to 1:1 aspect. 1:1 is useful if you're filming instagram videos; otherwise leave this at 16:9

EXPOSURE

This adjusts how bright or dark your pictures appear by adjusting the shutter speed of the camera. This is best left to 0.

WHITE BALANCE

This setting adjusts the colour temperature of your shots to make the image look more natural. Again, best left alone unless you're familiar with photography.

CONTRAST

Contrast is the difference between the blacks and the whites of your image. High contrast means the blacks are really dark and the whites are really bright. Again, best left alone.

SHARPNESS

You can either sharpen, or soften your image to your liking. We generally leave this on 0 but +1 (sharpened) can be useful depending on your project.

SATURATION

Colour saturation is used to describe the intensity of colour in the image. A saturated image has overly bright colours. We generally leave this at 0, but +1 can make colours “pop” a little more.

HDR

This stands for High Dynamic Range. It means that your camera will process photos slightly differently in order to capture greater detail from bright and dark areas in your photo. We leave this a high setting for best image quality.

Once you've framed your subject and entered your shoot settings, you are ready to start recording. Hit the "red dot" icon to enter record modes.

Select the recording mode you require from the icons along the bottom of the screen. Tap your chosen record mode and the camera will confirm your entered shoot settings. Tap to confirm these are correct and the camera will beep twice to confirm it is recording. You can double check the camera is recording as the LED will flash every 6 seconds. If the LED is NOT flashing every 6 secs, please restart the recording procedure again. Just remember, if the LED is blinking every 6 seconds you’re fine. It’s always worth double checking before leaving the camera!

To stop recording, simply press and hold the power button for 2 secs. The camera will emit a long beep, and the LED will illuminate green. This indicates that the camera has written the time-lapse video file and has turned the Wifi on. You can now connect your phone / tablet to download files, or change settings.

QUICK TIP - you can quickly enter record mode without using the APP. Turn the camera on as normal (green LED light), then short press (<1sec) the power button again. The camera will enter record mode with the last shoot settings entered.

Again, it’s worth remembering, if the camera is left alone, or no settings are changed, it will turn itself off after 4 minutes of inactivity.

START YOUR RECORDING

RECORDING MODES

This section briefly describes what each record mode does, and when you might want to use it.

RECOMENDED INTERVAL SETTINGS

For every project, we always ask the following questions:

What are you recording?
How long is your project?
How much footage do you want to capture?

Based off these questions the following chart is a great start to get you going.

All information is based off of 30fps. For recording working hours at 8 hours a day, the schedule feature is used within the settings. This is commonly based off of recording 9 am - 5 pm

OPERATING BEST PRACTICES

Get to know your camera. Test it before you start a larger project. Consider making an easy time lapse test recording at an interval of 10 seconds for 2 hours

Check your card and battery status in the upper left hand corner of the app. Always start your projects with a fresh set of leading name brand batteries and a cleared card.

For longer projects, and after inclement weather, we recommend checking your camera more frequently. In most cases, if you are recording during weekday hours Monday – Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm at an interval of one minute, check your cameras monthly.

Use lithium batteries when temperatures drop below 30F/0C to extend the run time and prevent unwanted voltage drops.

It is always better to have more footage than not enough. You don’t want an editing nightmare, but you don’t want to wish you had captured more. Many customers come to us and say they have a year long project, only to find out, the major action happens over a few months. Plan for the major action, everything else is a bonus. We are happy to discuss your settings at any time.

For a long term project, there is no reason to capture during dusk to dawn hours. Dark-light-dark-light transitions can be annoying in a time lapse. You won’t notice an hour cut out of everyday, concentrate on the best light and save yourself an editing headache. We recommend setting your camera’s timer for daylight hours only.

If you need to install your camera a good distance from the ground out of arms reach, install the camera upside down. Use the Afidus App to rotate the footage180 degrees. This allows you to check the LED indicator from the ground.

Using your mobile device, take screenshots of your settings and a snapshot of the frame using the Afidus App to assist you with repositioning the camera in the event it must be moved. To take a Snapshot and use Image Alignment please watch this video.

After selecting record, listen for the "Beep-Beep" audible noise from the camera. Look for the blinking green LED light to verify the camera is recording.

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