BRINGING A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF INTUITIVE CONTROL & FUNCTIONALITY
Upgrade your camera checkout workflow with the LCS Link, the latest accessory for our Opti-Glide family of Camera Checkout and Lens Calibration Systems.
Designed specifically for professionals in the film industry, the LCS Link enables seamless control of the Opti-Glide using industry standard Lens Control Systems (LCS)—the tools you already know and trust.
LCS LINK ECOSYSTEM
How It Works
The LCS Link acts as a communication link between your Lens Control System and the Opti-Glide. Simply connect and control your system like you would with a cinema lens. The familiar ergonomics and responsiveness of an LCS now extend to precise linear movement, making focus pulling and other evaluations more intuitive than ever.
Why the LCS Link?
For AC’s, DP’s, focus pullers, and lens technicians, efficiency and precision are everything. By integrating with familiar LCS hardware, the LCS Link eliminates the need to learn new interfaces, speeds up the checkout, and calibration processes, allowing you to stay focused on what matters.
Key Benefits:
✔ Effortless Integration – Simply plug and play with the most popular lens controllers, allowing direct operation of the Opti-Glide.
✔ Streamlined Workflow – Reduce setup and checkout time by using controls you already handle every day.
✔ Responsive and Precise – Your lens controller combined with the Opti-Glide’s high precision motor and encoder produce ultra-smooth, responsive operation.
✔ Stay Focused – Free yourself from setting and measuring chart distance and concentrate on evaluating optics with precision.
Upgrade your system today and experience the speed, precision, and ease of camera checkout with the Opti-Glide and LCS Link.
For more details and availability, contact us today.
LCS Compatibility
The LCS Link currently supports Preston lens control systems. Connection to an MDR-3, MDR-4, or MDR-5 via a serial cable (6015) allows control of the Opti-Glide chart with an HU-3 or HU-4 controller.
COMING SOON: Support for ARRI and cmotion lens control systems via the cmotion cGate ethernet to LBUS adapter.
For a detailed list of compatible devices, see the chart below. The LCS Link is designed to be extensible and forward compatible.
Don’t see your lens controller of choice? Contact us about supporting your system.
| Connections | ||||
| Manufacturer | Device | Port | Cable | Notes |
| ARRI | cforce mini RF | LBUS | cGate | You can daisy chain other cforce motors from these interface devices and integrate additional LBUS controllers hardwired or wirelessly. |
| RIA-1 | LBUS | cGate | ||
| cmotion | cPRO motor | LBUS | cGate | |
| cPRO camin | ||||
| Preston | MDR-3 | Serial | Serial (6015) | |
| MDR-4 | ||||
| MDR-5 | ||||
| MYT | UHC | 5-pin 0B LEMO | ||
This allows the Preston HU3 and HU4, the cmotion cPro and cPro One hand units, and the ARRI Hi-5 and WCU-4 to be used to simultaneously control both lens focus and Opti-Glide focus chart distance.
MYT Works Opti-Glide Compatibility
The LCS Link is compatible with all Opti-Glide systems: the Opti-Glide Classic, Opti-Glide Compact, and Opti-Glide Reticle. It is also compatible with all existing Opti-Glide accessories. The LCS Link works in combination with the Opti-Glide Motor Kit.
Installation
Select a Location
When selecting a location for the LCS Link, it is important to ensure the LCS Link is easily accessible and ergonomic for the user, as well as near the camera and LCS device so that cable routing between them is short and clean. With these factors in mind, it is recommended to place the device either on the pedestal or next to the keyboard if the system includes the drop down rod for the hand crank.
Mount LCS Link
The LCS Link kit includes a clamp to make installation on speed rail quick and easy. Once the LCS Link installation has been chosen, it must be connected to the Opti-Glide [Sensor | Distributed Sensor | I/O] [Bus | Network]. The order of devices on the bus is largely unimportant. If the film plane encoder is installed, it must be the final device in the bus (it only has one port and thus cannot be daisy chained). If the LCS Link is installed near the keyboard, it is easy to run a short patch cable between the two.
Opti-Glides delivered after [mm/dd/yyy] have the latest firmware and can support the LCS Link out of the box.
Opti-Glides delivered before that date will need the firmware on their [Master Board] and [Motor Board] updated. See Updating Opti-Glide Firmware.
Using the LCS Link
Connect to LCS
To begin, connect your LCS system to the appropriate port on the LCS Link. The necessary cable and the port on the LCS system can be found in the technical details tab.
Preston
The serial cable is connected to the PRESTON port on the LCS Link and to either serial port on the MDR-X.
ARRI / cmotion
The cable can be connected to any device that is part of the LBUS network and has the appropriate port available. This could be a CAM port or the SERIAL port on an LCUBE-1. See the above table for the full list of compatible devices and the ports to use. The cable is connected to the ARRI / cmotion port on the LCS Link.
MYT
The cable connects to the MYT port on the LCS Link and to the connector on the bottom of the UHC. This cable can also be used to connect to an adapter for expansion of supported LCS in the future.
Checkout Process
Once an LCS is connected to the LCS Link, it should be automatically detected. The green LCS Data LED will begin to flash as data is received from the LCS. The red halo LED around the SYNC button indicates that the Opti-Glide is syncing its chart distance to the lens focal length.
Feather a Lens
To evaluate a lens at a fixed distance, press the SYNC button to pause syncing. The LCS controller will continue to control the lens but the Opti-Glide will no longer move to the specified focal distance. To resume syncing, simply press the SYNC button again.
Firmware Update
Firmware updates for the LCS Link will be available periodically on the MYT Works website.
Updates will be done primarily to provide support for new Lens Control Systems. The LCS link is designed for future compatibility with new LCS. The process for updating a unit is simple and can be done with just a USB cable and a computer.
- Download the firmware from the MYT Works website.
- Disconnect all cables from the LCS Link.
- While holding down the small button on the rear panel of the unit, connect the LCS Link to a computer via the micro USB port. The Link should power on, the green LED on the front panel should flash, and the Link should appear on the computer’s list of available drives as RPI2. The button can now be released.
- Simply copy and paste or drag and drop the firmware to the RPI drive. The green LED on the front panel should flash and the drive should disappear from the file explorer.
- Once the file transfer is complete and the LED has stopped blinking, the Link can be disconnected from the computer and reinstalled on the Opti-Glide.