LDS Driver

The LDS Driver allows Disguise to receive camera and lens metadata such as aperture or focus distance from ARRI cameras that support the Lens Data System (LDS) — part of ARRI’s Electronic Control System. LDS-capable lenses report their current settings to the camera body, which can then forward that data onto the network for Disguise to consume.

For the current list of LDS-compatible cameras and lenses, see the ARRI Lens Data System FAQ.

Designer supports LDS protocol versions 1.02 and 1.03. Note that while the LDS protocol can carry a lot of additional camera and lens metadata, the Disguise LDS Driver currently exposes only the following features:

• focal length and the encoder zoom position value
• aperture, but not the encoder iris value
• focus distance and the encoder focus value

In Designer the LDS Driver is a position driver — it is configured inside a Position Receiver device rather than as a standalone device.

Uses

Use the LDS Driver when:

• Synchronising a Disguise virtual camera’s aperture and focus distance to a live ARRI camera.
• Driving depth-of-field and focus effects on a virtual camera from the physical lens.
• Recording live aperture/focus-distance values alongside content for post-production reference.

Workflow

1. Connect your ARRI camera’s LDS output to the Disguise machine so that lens data can be received on the network.
2. In Designer, add a Position Receiver device.
3. Inside the Position Receiver, add a new driver and select LdsDriver.
4. Configure the driver properties below to match your camera and network setup.
5. Map the incoming values (aperture, focus distance) to the axes or virtual camera parameters that need to track them. See Creating Driver Axes for how to wire the data through.

Driver Properties

This driver listens on UDP port 5432 by default.

Port

The UDP port on which the driver receives data. Set this to match the port configured on the sending device or controller.

IP filter (optional)

Restricts incoming data to a specific source IP address. Useful when several sources are present on the network, or to isolate a single sender. Leave blank to accept data from any IP.

Multicast address (optional)

The multicast group address used by your system. Only required when the sender is configured for multicast — enter the exact multicast address used by the emitter. Leave empty for unicast or broadcast configurations.

Sensor width (mm)

The camera sensor’s width in millimetres.

Set this to match your camera body’s sensor size so that the driver can interpret incoming LDS values correctly.

Open Tracking Sources

Configure or inspect the camera tracking data source.

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Developer Documentation