H-cam misses ball entirely (no ball streak visible)

[Archv6625]

I'm having some trouble with H-cam consistency - this happens quite a bit. If you look at cap4, you can see the ball on the tee. If you look at cap5, the club has passed through, but there's no sign of the ball. The caps before and after are just the ball on the tee and then the just the tee. Suggestions? Thanks much - both for your reply here and the continued support of the community.

[ProTee United]

Try to lowering down the sense to about 20, so it will show more pixels.

Raise the offset to the max value (255) and use PT4 or PT5 as detection method.

A bit more gain on the camera might also help to light up the ball a bit more.

[Archv6625]

I will test this evening. I am curious though - is it possible that since the shutter speed is so low that it's just closed when the ball passes by? I only ask because the ball streak is quite bright when it's captured and from the sequence of events - ball on tee to club passing by, I would expect the ball to have passed between those frames.

[Bubba22]

Yes. Turn your shutter speed to max will give more ball streak but will also show club streak. Try turning the shutter speed up.

[Archv6625]

Thanks for the suggestions. I adjusted to PT5, took the offset up to 255 and sense to 14 (initially went from 25-->20) and didn't it got better, but not drastically so. I then took the shutter up to 21MS with a high-ish framerate and started to get better results, but still have 1 misread in every 3 or 4 (attached) I'm thinking I really need to get the shutter up in the 30ms range, but that actually clips the turf at white. I have a medium green turf down (attached) I'm thinking a magenta filter on the h-cam would selectively filter out the green wavelengths (basically turn the background to black) and leave the ball streak nice and bright, since I'd rather not rip up the turf.

What would you suggest based on the latest round of testing?

Also, what do offset and sense actually do?

Thanks.

[Bubba22]

I assume you were hitting a 9 iron there because it's set at 9 iron. Try turning the frame rate down a bit. Are you missing it with all clubs?

[ProTee United]

Install the latest version first:

http://csc.protee-united.com/entries/104053306-ProTee-Golf-2-0-Interface-v3-05c-available

Set the frame rate to approx 40 and set the shutter and gain to auto. Check if you see a difference between PT4 and PT5.

It does not matter if the turf shows white. You should always see some sort of a streak on the bottom images.

[Archv6625]

I assume you were hitting a 9 iron there because it's set at 9 iron. Try turning the frame rate down a bit. Are you missing it with all clubs?

Yep, I was hitting a 9-iron. The problem seems worse with lower balls speeds, but only to a point. It detects chips correctly, but struggles on well struck shots from SW to about 6 or 7 iron. Lower irons are ok, as are bladed 9-irons, of which I hit plenty.

I'm will try the new interface, shutter, framerate, and detection methods within the next couple days.

-Adam

[Bubba22]

Cool. Let us know.

[Archv6625]

Hey guys - upgraded and made the changes. full swings seem to be better now, but at the expense of chips - especially those with an open club face. It typically reads the clubface, not the ball. What can I do to help with that?