Tachyon OPS & OPS HD Instruction Manual

Tachyon, Inc.
401 E. Corporate Dr. Ste 100
Lewisville, TX 75057 USA

Tel: 972-353-0888

Website: www.tachyoninc.com
Email: support@tachyoninc.com

Dear Customer,

Thank you for buying the Tachyon OPS or OPS HD, the latest generation video and still helmet camera designed for filming extreme action in extreme conditions. It is very rugged and very simple to use, while delivering 30FPS of quality video.

Tachyon OPS cameras are incredibly light and incredibly easy to use. Take them almost anywhere to bring back your stunts, adventures, and bloopers.

About Tachyon

Tachyon, Inc. is a company that deals in extremes: We make extremely cool products for extreme people who engage in extreme activities. In order to make the best products, Tachyon, Inc. does not compromise on materials or on the quality of construction. We exceed industrial standards to ensure that our products exceed your expectations.

Please be sure to set up your new action camera using the following instructions. If you have any questions feel free to contact us.

The Management
Tachyon, Inc.

INDEX

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Charging Your Camera	Micro Memory Cards
Inserting Memory Card	Setting Time & Date
Recording Video	Operating Systems
Video - Photo Switch	Video Shooting Tips
Video	Technical Support
Time-Lapse Photos	Disclaimer
LED Functions	Video Publishing Guide
Mounting	Video Statistics
Connecting to Your Computer	Warranty
Computer Playback

Charging Your Camera

• To charge your OPS camera, open the rubber cap over the USB and memory card slots. Then plug the small end of the USB cable into the back of the camera and the large end into your computer's USB slot.

• Another great way to charge your camera, even when away from a fixed power source, is to use Tachyon's Battery-Powered Charger (Bottom Photo). It's small and light - perfect for taking into the field with your cameras. It may also be used to charge your other USB-based electronic devices.
You can buy it in our store.

• This charger comes with 4 AA Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries. These will fully charge your camera multiple times.

• We suggest that you only use Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries in this unit. If you use lower-quality batteries, you may see a "Charging is not supported with this accessory," warning on some electronics products such as the iPhone.

• This battery-powered charger will work with most electronic devices that charge via a USB cable - including iPhones and iPods.

• You may also use a USB adaptor and a normal wall socket, or car-lighter adaptor to charge your cameras.

• When charging your camera, the LED on the top will show blue. When the battery is fully charged, this LED will turn off.

Important: Use only the supplied USB cable for charging your OPS or OPS HD cameras. Others may not work and may harm your camera.

Inserting Memory Card

• On the back of the camera is a small rubber flap. Pull this down to reveal the USB jack and the micro memory card slot.

• Insert a micro memory card into the slot. Be sure the gold leads are facing up.

Be sure that the memory card clicks into place. You may need to use your fingernail to push it in far enough to lock it into place.

Recording Video

• Once your battery has been charged and a micro memory card inserted, turn on your camera by pushing the power button for about two seconds.

• You will hear a chime sound and see the green LED light up, quickly followed by the red.

• That’s it! You have begun shooting video!

• To stop filming, push and hold down the power button again. You will hear a double beep sound and the red LED will turn off.

Video - Photo Switch

• Change recording modes from Video to Photo (Time-Lapse) by sliding the switch on the left to the desired position.

Video

• For video, make sure the switch on the left is in the UP position.

• Your camera will record video at 30 FPS. The OPS will record in Standard Definition, and the OPS HD in High Definition.

• After you have been recording for 30 minutes, your camera will pause for five seconds to save your file to your memory card. But don’t worry; it will automatically start up again after those five seconds.

• You may edit your video files with most common video editing programs.

• A 4GB Micro SDHC card will hold just over one hour of video. Larger cards will hold multiples of that amount.

Time-Lapse Photos

• To shoot time-lapse photos, slide the left switch down to the PHOTO position.

• Now press the power button in the middle for about two seconds. There will be a chime sound and the LED will flash alternately Green and Red to show that you are now taking photos - one photo every two seconds.

• To stop, press and hold the power button until you hear two beeps and the LED turns off.

LED Functions

• When you are recording video, the LED on the right will shine in RED. (in older cameras, the LED is on the bottom)

• When you are recording in Time-Lapse Photo mode, this LED will flash RED - GREEN - RED - GREEN.

• If your memory card is full, this LED will flash GREEN for 30 seconds and then turn off.

• If there is no memory card in your camera, or if there is an error with the card, this LED it will flash GREEN for 30 seconds before turning off.

Mounting

The OPS and OPS HD cameras come with a patented 8-direction mounting system gives you a variety of mounting options.

• The three dimples on each side of your camera match up with the three bubbles on the gripping parts of the mounts. You can rotate your camera inside your mounts from the 12 to 3 to 6 to 9 o'clock positions and face it either forwards or backwards.

• Why rotate your camera? Suppose your mount is mounted at an angle that would cause your video to be rotated 90 degrees. All you need to do is rotate your camera inside the mount so that the top is facing up. This will ensure that your video comes out right side up. The engraved Tachyon logo shows which side is up.

• A tether is also included with your camera. Thread it through the hole on the back and make use of it when engaging in very extreme activities, as a backup to your standard mounts.

• The clear Impact Armor is best to use when engaging in activities that potentially might harm the lens of your camera, such as paintball, airsoft, or when riding in dirt and gravel.

3M™ Dual-Lock™ is a trademark of 3M Company in the United States and/or other countries.

Connecting to Your Computer

• The Tachyon OPS cameras come with with a USB cable. Use only the cable that comes with your camera. Cables that you have purchased separately, or cables that came with other devices, may not work correctly with your OPS camera.

• Plug the small end into the jack inside the back door of your camera and the large end into your computer’s USB port.

• Turn your camera on by pushing the Power button. When you do, a window will pop up on your screen asking you to "Open folder to view files".

• Open this folder to view the files in your camera's memory card.

• You can now copy, move, rename, or delete the files on your card. We suggest that you copy your files to your computer first, before playing or editing them.

• Video files played directly from your camera may not play as smoothly as those that have been copied to your computer first and then played.

• When your camera is connected to your computer and powered on, you will see both the blue charging LED and the green power LED lit up. If your camera is fully charged, the blue LED will turn off.

Computer PLayback

• For playing back raw, unedited video files, Tachyon highly recommends the VLC media player. It is possible that some video files recorded by your cameras will not play back clearly or smoothly on some other media players.

• It can be downloaded for free here.

Micro Memory Cards

• We recommend that you use a Class 6, 8GB Micro SDHC card or larger. These will give you longer recording times so that you can record more action without having to stop and load a new card.

• 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB (when available) cards are all compatible with your camera.

• With a 4GB card you will get 1 hour of video. With larger cards, you can double, quadruple and octuple these numbers.

• Do NOT use Class 4 cards or below. These may cause problems with your camera.

Setting Time & Date

1. Make sure you have an empty memory card in your computer.

2. Open a new note in your computer's "Notepad" writing software. (Any software that can write a simple .TXT file should work)

3. Write the current time and date - for example: 2012 02 15 12 15 00 (for year/month/day/hour/min/sec) with a space between every block and save the file.

4. Save the file with the file name time.txt onto the memory card.

5. Insert the card into your camera and power it up.

6. The light will stay green for a few seconds and then turn to red.

7. All files recorded from now on should be labeled with the current time and date.

8. Delete the time.txt file from your card.

Operating Systems

Tachyon OPS cameras are compatible with Windows® XP/Vista/7 and Apple Mac OS® X

Apple MAC OS® X is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Windows® XP/Vista/7 is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

Please note that some of our customers who are using Windows XP have reported problems with corrupt SDHC cards. This is not a fault with your camera or your card, but with Windows XP and older computer hardware. If this happens to you, we highly recommend that you use another computer running Windows Vista or Windows 7 to transfer your files and to reformat your cards.

Video Shooting Tips

Although Tachyon OPS cameras perform well indoors and in low-light situations, it is specifically tuned for shooting in sunlight. So for the best looking videos, try to shoot your action when the light is good.

Always be sure to use the fastest (Class 6) micro memory cards that you can. These will be written to at a faster rate, giving you smoother video.

Make sure that your lens is clean. One small spot can ruin a great video.

Technical Support

For technical support, please contact us at support@tachyoninc.com

Disclaimer

Tachyon, Inc. will not under any circumstances be responsible for injuries or property damage incurred during the use of any of our products.

Video Publishing Guide

Videos taken with your OPS cameras are perfect for uploading to YouTube®, or other video sharing sites.

You may edit your video with most common editing programs. Be sure to edit and save at the highest possible quality settings so that your videos will look their best.

See this YouTube page for optimizing your video uploads.

Please be sure to mention "Tachyon OPS" or "Tachyon OPS HD" and "Helmet Camera" in your title or tags so that other OPS users can find and comment on your videos.

Video Statistics

OPS cameras use Micro memory cards. From 4GB up to 32GB.
We recommend always using Class 6 or Class 10 cards for fastest write-to times. We have found that Class 4 32GB cards made by Transcend (available here) work fine, however.
Class 2 or 4 cards are not fast enough to record and save this camera's video and, depending on the brand, may cause further problems with your camera.

With a 4GB card you will get 1 hour of video, and over 100,000 still photos.

With larger cards, you can double, quadruple and octuple these numbers.

The memory cards pictured on our website an in this manual may be replaced by similar or superior cards, depending on supply.

Warranty

Warranty

Tachyon products are covered by a six month limited warranty from the date of purchase from Tachyon, Inc. The warranty covers only defects in workmanship and materials. It does not apply to products which have been damaged due to unreasonable use or by intention nor does it cover
dissatisfaction with the product. This warranty does not cover those products purchased from other individuals & resellers and is not transferable.

Tachyon, Inc.’s warranty policy only covers products purchased directly from Tachyon Inc. or from our authorized resellers. If you purchased the product from our website you will have been given a purchase number with your confirmation email. Please quote this number, along with your name and email address, in your dealings with us.

Customers outside of the United States who have purchased items from authorized resellers or from online resellers such as Amazon.com, and have problems that need to be addressed, please contact them first to see if they can help you. They may be your quickest solution. If they cannot help, please contact us.

This warranty does not cover items purchased from a third party that is not authorized by Tachyon. It is not transferable to online purchases from sites such as ebay or Craigslist.

(a) Tachyon, Inc.’s return policy covers only defective products. All sales are final. Monetary refunds will not be issued for any reason.
(b) Tachyon Inc will only accept returns of defective product within six months of purchase, as stated in the warranty above.
(c) All products will be exchanged for new products, and not for monetary returns.
(d) Before products are exchanged or returned, customer must contact Tachyon, Inc. ,via email or phone. Tachyon, Inc. will help troubleshoot the problem to avoid the unnecessary returns. If it is determined that the camera is defective, Tachyon, Inc. will authorize the return, in writing, via email. Tachyon, Inc. may request sample video clips to be sent to support@tachyoninc.com in order to ascertain the problem/defect.
(e) Customer will pay for one-way shipping to Tachyon, Inc. There is no need to use any express or overnight service. Tachyon, Inc. will pay the shipping costs for the exchange product.
(f) Returns should be sent to: 401 E Corporate Drive, Ste 100 Lewisville TX, 75057 USA

Tachyon, Inc. shall only be liable for:

(a) the replacement of a defective product with a new product.

Tachyon, Inc. shall NOT be liable for:

(a) injury to persons, or damage to property or consequential losses arising from the use of the product.
(b) a product that has been tampered with, altered, or been serviced by an unauthorized agent.
(c) damage due to the use of mounting accessories that were not included with the product or those not sold as optional accessories on our website.
(d) loss of video or still picture files for any reason.

In the event that goods are undelivered to recipient and are returned to Tachyon Inc by post, for any of, but not limited to, the following reasons:

a) the recipient entered his/her address on Tachyon’s order form incorrectly or incompletely,
b) the recipient refused the package,
c) the recipient did not pick up the package in a timely manner from his/her local post office, customs office, or any other location in which the package was being held,

the recipient will be responsible for covering the shipping costs needed to resend their goods to them.
The original shipping costs cannot be recovered by Tachyon Inc and will be considered payment for a service already rendered.

In the event that the recipient refuses to have the goods resent and the goods are still in like new condition, Tachyon Inc will not refund shipping costs and will charge a 15% restocking fee.