User guide

Operating Manual

2.5.5 Variable flash brightness

The iCAM501U firmware has an additional variable flash brightness feature. The

purpose of this feature is to reduce the incidence of over-exposure of images when

close-up shots of reflective surfaces are taken with the flash.

When the flash is enabled, and a shot is triggered, a short low-brightness ‘ranging’

flash pulse will firstly be seen. Immediately followed by the four flash pulses

previously described, or a single continuous ‘torch’. The iCAM501U software rapidly

analyses the reflected light level from the ranging pulse, and adjusts the brightness of

the flash accordingly. However, this system is not infallible, and so the flash may still

be too bright under some circumstances. The camera will indicate a bad image if the

light level is extremely high, but if you are trying to photograph text close-up on a

reflective rating plate for example, it is strongly recommended to use ambient lighting

where possible in such applications.

2.5.6 Picture Time Stamping

The iCAM501U has an additional feature which will ‘time stamp’ the pictures as they

are taken. Once a picture is taken the iCAM501U will stamp the current time and date

in an area on the bottom-left of the picture to allow photographs to be easily

identifiable.

It should be noted that once a good/bad image has been indicated, there will be a 2

second delay before an audio recording can begin or another shot can be triggered.

2.5.7 Downloading Pictures and Audio

The iCAM501U has been designed to use the widely supported Picture Transfer

Protocol (PTP) to allow it to easily communicate with multiple operating systems.

Simply power on the iCAM501U, connect the USB cable to a Windows XP/Vista/7 PC

and follow the on-screen instructions. For Apple users, a special variant of the

iCAM501U software is available on the Extronics website.

2.5.8 Error Codes

• If the green LED continually flashes slowly once booted, this means that the

batteries are running low and will soon need replacing.

• If the iCAM501U has all 3 LEDs constantly flashing it means that it is in an

unrecoverable state. The only way to get it out of this state is to remove the

batteries and then replace them.