LS or Total station?

[Adam]

I have gone to one or two jobs this year where a total station fit the bill. Only to pull it out and remember it's been so long that since I've used it that my batteries are probably dead. And they are so the LS comes to the rescue using it where most folks wouldn't. What's your story?

 

[Adam]

Perhaps your total station wasn't dead, rather it was fully charged but two miles away resting nicely in the truck.

 

[Nate The Surveyor]

I haven't.
Cause i know they are dead. I have not used it since I got the Javad.
Nate

 

[Steve Douty]

I am using my total station about 5 times a year. It is so seldom that, not only am I concerned about my batteries, I find that I have forgotten how to operate it! I am giving thought to buying the add-on photogrammetry module to supplement the GNSS. Is anyone using the add-on? I did have a job last week that my JAVAD needed more than 30 minutes on each shot because of poor sky - the total station saved me.

 

[Aaron S]

I am using my total station about 5 times a year. It is so seldom that, not only am I concerned about my batteries, I find that I have forgotten how to operate it! I am giving thought to buying the add-on photogrammetry module to supplement the GNSS. Is anyone using the add-on? I did have a job last week that my JAVAD needed more than 30 minutes on each shot because of poor sky - the total station saved me.

I have it but I can't figure out how to calibrate the cameras first. I know there's instructions out there but I guess I couldn't figure it out. A video would be nice like the one Shawn has for measuring the tower, except showing how to calibrate the cameras first.

 

[Steve Douty]

That video could also include a demonstration of all of the other calibrations.

 

[Aaron S]

Also, I don't even have a total station. Sometimes I wish I did but it's not essential. The old-time guys here are continuously amazed at how many points I can collect with such speed and accuracy... all with no traversing, if you just have patience and use the right procedures. I sort of feel bad for all the hours of hard work they put in with a total station, cutting brush, etc. just to get a few points a week.

 

[Patrick Garner]

That video could also include a demonstration of all of the other calibrations.

Yes, a "calibration video" would be helpful to everyone. That J-Tip procedure drove me crazy until Shawn made a few suggestions. It was the old cliche, 'Easy when you know how.' A short video would have done it!

 

[Phillip Lancaster]

You have to download a image file that is in the LS and open it on a computer. Once there I put my LS on the LS pole and adjusted the rod to the same height as my monitor. It took me a few tries but there is a certain position for each angle(three different I think) that I had to fine tune to make the LS view the image. I figured out that the LS has to be steady, hence the rod, and the calibration will work.

 

[Matt Johnson]

I figured out that the LS has to be steady, hence the rod, and the calibration will work.

Yes, this is why the Camera Measurements Manual and help screen say this too!