Arduino powered camera trigger
Hi and thank you for being here.
This project has been dreamed up by myself, David Bristoll (Pringleman83), and my friend, Abhiram Vijayakumar (Abhiram223344). We're both spare time tinkerers, hackers (of the hardware variety) and hobby photographers.
The aim is to create a battery powered device that can be connected to a DSLR camera and various sensors. The device will use those sensors, and / or timing, to trigger the camera to take a shot. We've taken a lot of inspiration from the excellent open source project; photoduino (found here: https://kalanda.github.io/photoduino/documentation/hardware/photoduino-shield-3-0/).
While reinventing the wheel might not be the most logical way forward, we both feel we can learn a lot by starting from scratch and may even be able to create some original features too. If our end product looks anywhere near as polished as Kalanda's, we'll both be very happy!
My relevant background is more on the code side of things (although I still have a lot to learn). Abhiram's background is more on the engineering side. I'm currently completing the MITx Introduction to Computer Science course online and this will be my final project for that course.
The basic idea is that I'll be working very much on the code side of things and Abhiram will be working more on the hardware side. However, we both have some experience in each other's relevant specaility and so there'll definitely be some cross over.
- Arduino Nano based design on custom PCB
- Small OLED display
- Timer feature for time lapse photography
- Light sensor for specialist photography such as lightening or laser triggered photography
- Infra Red LED for wireless communication with popular DSLR cameras
- Camera port for wired connection to popular cameras
- Four buttons for simple navigation, selection and adjustment of options
- Settings stored on internal eeprom
- Agree possible final designs
- List required components
- Build some proof of concept designs to:
- Produce a usable menu system testing four buttons and oled display (DONE)
- Add the IR LED and code that so that it works with a camera (DONE)
- Fully implement intervalometer functionality
- Design and print prototype PCBs for easier working
Hardware configuration is as follows:
Arduino Nano clone based
Arduino pin------Configuration------Connection 1---------------------Connection 2------------Connection 3
D2---------------INPUT--------------1k Ohm resistor & BUTTON_1---------GND
D3---------------INPUT--------------1k Ohm resistor & BUTTON_2---------GND
D4---------------INPUT--------------1k Ohm resistor & BUTTON_3---------GND
D5---------------INPUT--------------1k Ohm resistor & BUTTON_4---------GND
D6---------------OUTPUT------------220 Ohm resistor----------------------IR_LED---------------GND
D7---------------OUTPUT------------220 Ohm resistor----------------------RED_LED-------------GND
D8---------------OUTPUT------------220 Ohm resistor----------------------GREEN_LED----------GND
A4---------------OLED SDA
A5---------------OLED SCL
5V---------------OLED VCC
GND------------OLED GND----------GND
Note: The four 1k Ohm resistors are all pullup resistors and all connect to +5V.
Software
BUTTON_1 = Left BUTTON_2 = Middle Left (Back) BUTTON_3 = Middle Right (Select) BUTTON_4 = Right
The current code shows the Zeus Trigger logo and flashes it a few times. There's then a six item menu that can be navigated using the left and right buttons. The first item is what is becoming the intervalometer. You can now set an interval time and save it (not a persistant save yet). It does also include a further sub menu for testing purposes.
The second item in the main menu is to send a "shoot" command via the IR LED to a Nikon camera.
The code includes debounce for each button and scroll speed control for the menu. The scroll peed control prevents speeding through the menu too quickly when a button is held for too long.
If you'd like to contribute to this project please let us know what areas you may be able to help in.
We're currently looking for:
- Somebody who may be able to design an enclosure for the completed project
Thank you for visiting and reading this. Please check back for updates soon!