Time lapse, computer control USB project

cowasaki

cowasaki

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I was looking at a project to have a play with and having seen WAIL's thread about not being able to set a 2 minutes exposure I realised that the idea bouncing around in my head might well be useful. I have found a self build USB kit. You buy the kit either already assembled or as a bag of components then you can control the USB board via software on your computer having 8 outputs and 5 inputs.

I was thinking of writing a program that allows you to take an old remote, cut off the switch and connect the wires to the output relays on the USB board then you can control the shutter and focus from the computer. Using the inputs on the USB board would allow you to trigger things using a movement sensor, IR beam sensor, daylight sensor (to switch on an external flash maybe) or such too.

This would allow time lapse photography, any shutter speed you like etc etc and the software is easy enough because I have already written software to control this board before. The unfortunate thing is that the libraries for the USB board are for Windows only so the software would be Windows only too at least to begin with.

I will dig out the board and we can have a look at it. You can build boards to use for special inputs from RS/Maplin etc any board that takes a physical input such as a beam breaker which sounds an alarm. You just need to attach the wires from the sounder across the inputs. I will explain later......

Anyone really interested in this project let me know as I will be needing one or two testers.........

I have now dug the board out and taken a picture of it so here it is:

USB-board.jpg
 
Right here we go with the camera end....

remotelabel.jpg


remoteinside.jpg


So if we simply connect the COMMON pin to the FOCUS pin the camera focuses ie like pressing the shutter release button half way and if we then connect BOTH these wires to the SHUTTER pin the shutter releases.

No problem with implementing this using the USB board.
 
Not sure if this will be of any help, but here's something I got from the net a while back....

Nikon_10_Pin_Layout.gif
 
OutLore said:
Not sure if this will be of any help, but here's something I got from the net a while back....
Click to expand...

It is pretty much the same as that which I found out by taking the one I have to pieces but it is the power ground rather than the signal ground that the company I got mine from is using to trigger them. This shouldn't matter anyway. Thanks for this.
 
cowasaki said:
It is pretty much the same as that which I found out by taking the one I have to pieces but it is the power ground rather than the signal ground that the company I got mine from is using to trigger them. This shouldn't matter anyway. Thanks for this.
Click to expand...

No it is a view from behind ! so a mirror image :)
 
The DLL files do not work on 64 bit versions of Windows DOH!!
 
Well peoples !

I have the board now attached to my Macbook pro (running XP 32 bit) and switching as expected. Just need to dig out Delphi and write the control software !!

Basically this should allow programmed time lapse photograph.
Timer delay of ANY amount of time.
ANY exposure at all.
External inputs to cause the program to take pictures such as PIR/beam break

Is anyone interested in this?
 
Right I have got as far as a program that attaches to the card and has a focus and trigger button. I am planning to make it so that anyone wanting to use the interface can just buy a cheap remote and cut it in half. attach the trigger button to the inputs and the cable to the outputs.

Then when the software runs you can then still activate the remove exactly as you did before but then you can also use the program too...

screenshot.jpg


Obviously there is still plenty of space for the rest of the information for doing time lapse etc....
 
This is tempting me to buy a NetBook, or something similar, just to give it a try :)
 
Doesn't capture do this through USB direct to the camera though? I have some discs here somewhere, never taken them out of their packages:lol:
 
Are you refering to Capture NX?

I never knew it could .. would be interesting to find out.


.... goes to digout manual to findout :)
 
Wail said:
This is tempting me to buy a NetBook, or something similar, just to give it a try :)
Click to expand...

I actually have it working as far as the output connections going high on the board and the software nearly finished. This is a bit rough so far but this is what you will need:

1 working remote
1 USB experiment board (either pre built or self built)
1 plastic box to place the board in
1 small power supply (5v I think)
1 USB lead

You chop the remote lead in half then test which pin of the lead goes to which of the three relevant colour say red, green and blue.

You then attach those three coloured wires to the input side of the board. Then attach the same coloured wired to the output side of the board (although we MAY yet have to stick their relay board in between!).

Place the board in the plastic box

Attach the PSU

Attach the board to the computer using the USB lead

Now the software will consist of one DLL and one EXE file thats all, no installation required just place them in one folder and to run just double click on the EXE file.

You then click on the CONNECT button which is the only button visible. Once this is done everything else appears.

As it will be today you will still be able to activate the remote by pressing the remote buttons as the software creates a pass through but you can also activate the shutter and focus by clicking buttons on screen (plus a focus hold button that locks it). The software will (in the first version) allow a time lapse with ANY delay, any timed exposure, any of the spare 3 inputs to trigger the shutter (these can be connected to say a floor switch for hand free operation, a PIR from a house alarm, a beam breaker etc etc etc).

At the moment I am only activating the output transistors on the board and to be on the safe side I am likely to then use these to activate opto-couples or relays. Vellemen who make the USB board make an 8 relay board with can connect to this board so it might well be that I spec it all for using that board but explain how to make a compatible board using strip board which will be cheaper for those with soldering experience.

I will get it all working over the next week or so and then help anyone else who wants to make it.

The software is Windows 32 bit only BUT the software runs under any of the windows emulators on the mac and should run using X11 and wine.

Don't go buying anything till I demonstrate it working though and if you do want a cheap PC laptop to use then it will run happily under windows 98 !! so something for £50 off ebay will do
 
OutLore said:
Doesn't capture do this through USB direct to the camera though? I have some discs here somewhere, never taken them out of their packages:lol:
Click to expand...

There are several packages that do remote stuff. I use bibble pro which detects a picture being taken and grabs it to the camera. Nikon's remote control program certainly does control some of the camera's functions remotely too. This project allows four things which I don't think are added by any software - time lapse photography, extended exposure and remote triggering via footswitch, PIR, etc etc.

If these things can be done already without buying the bits and pieces I listed then I will just carry on for my own amusement but I don't think you can. Also the board costs about £40 then the rest of the bits (psu, cheap remote, relays etc etc etc) should come to another £20 with the software for free so this setup is going to cost about £60 to implement for each user.
 
I will post some pictures as and when each bit is done and anyone interested can decide later
 
I've got one of these boards in the cupboard, it would be pretty easy to add light/infra red sensors to it so you could use it to trigger the camera when a bird / object passes the lens:)


Time to polish up my VB skills I think :D

//edit//

I got mine from Maplins
 
mrgubby said:
I've got one of these boards in the cupboard, it would be pretty easy to add light/infra red sensors to it so you could use it to trigger the camera when a bird / object passes the lens:)


Time to polish up my VB skills I think :D

//edit//

I got mine from Maplins
Click to expand...

OR alternatively just wait for a day or two till my program is finished :)
 
If you go onto the nikon site you can download the SDK (programmers Kit) and it comes with a example program that allows full control of the camera from a PC - just connect the camera with a USB cable and away you go, the SDK will also allow you to create your own apps if you want more - or just buy Nikon camera control pro which gives full controll including live view for cameras that support it.
 
Dogfish_magnet said:
If you go onto the nikon site you can download the SDK (programmers Kit) and it comes with a example program that allows full control of the camera from a PC - just connect the camera with a USB cable and away you go, the SDK will also allow you to create your own apps if you want more - or just buy Nikon camera control pro which gives full controll including live view for cameras that support it.
Click to expand...

You have to apply for it, which I have done now. The combination of SDK and the USB board will allow for a lot of flexibility. The first version of the software for use with JUST the USB board and control via a chopped up remote (<£10) will be finished in less than a week, in fact I might even have a demo version finished today. Once I get the SDK I will modify the program to take this all into account and it may well then be possible to forgo the USB board if you do not need the extra inputs/outputs.

This will be one of those work in progress things at least for the moment and people can jump in when they want. If people want to get stuck in straight away and buy the USB board then they will be able to do the time lapse, external triggering and long exposures straight away. It may well be that in another month the time lapse and long exposures may no longer require the USB board but the external triggering will do.
 
cowasaki said:
You have to apply for it, which I have done now. The combination of SDK and the USB board will allow for a lot of flexibility. The first version of the software for use with JUST the USB board and control via a chopped up remote (<£10) will be finished in less than a week, in fact I might even have a demo version finished today. Once I get the SDK I will modify the program to take this all into account and it may well then be possible to forgo the USB board if you do not need the extra inputs/outputs.

This will be one of those work in progress things at least for the moment and people can jump in when they want. If people want to get stuck in straight away and buy the USB board then they will be able to do the time lapse, external triggering and long exposures straight away. It may well be that in another month the time lapse and long exposures may no longer require the USB board but the external triggering will do.
Click to expand...

You'll get a email virtually straight away and you can download from a link then
 
I say, even if this can be bought off-the-shelves, via a Nikon or 3rd party product, keen on going cowasaki.

This hacking is what created the PC market, and it's orgasmic seeing it applied to photography gear :thumbs:
 
My USB board is now on order and I have just downloaded the latest Canon SDK to allow us to build Canon support into it :)
 
Wail said:
I say, even if this can be bought off-the-shelves, via a Nikon or 3rd party product, keen on going cowasaki.

This hacking is what created the PC market, and it's orgasmic seeing it applied to photography gear :thums:
Click to expand...

Wail,

Send I am just polishing it at the moment and it should be available for download later in a form where you can just "have a look at it!". Have you got a Windows PC/Emulator running to have a look?
 
cowasaki said:
Wail,

Send I am just polishing it at the moment and it should be available for download later in a form where you can just "have a look at it!". Have you got a Windows PC/Emulator running to have a look?
Click to expand...

Not handy at the moment, sorry, am ill-in-bed.

email it, please, and I will find a means to test it. Latest by next week :)

Thank you
 
neonpollen said:
My USB board is now on order and I have just downloaded the latest Canon SDK to allow us to build Canon support into it :)
Click to expand...

This is fantastic ... flash-backs to childhood :)
 
Here is the latest screenshot, the dark coloured area at the bottom of the window is a developer bit that shows the state of the inputs and outputs (for my use) and will normally be turned off when the application is in use.

screenshot2.png
 
Well here we are peoples :)

FIRST version....

Camera USB.png



And you can now download it !!

NOTE YOU DO NOT ACTUALLY NEED A BOARD TO TRY THE SOFTWARE BUT OBVIOUSLY IT CANNOT ACCESS A NON EXISTENT BOARD - LATER VERSIONS WILL THROW AN ERROR IF THE BOARD IS MISSING.

For those of you with a board just plug in it and run the software. The top left corner shows SK5 & SK6 which are the address of the USB board (look near the middle of your board for the links SK5 & SK6) if your board is differently linked then either change the ticks or links!

Everything works other than the LONG EXPOSURE section. The dark grey section at the bottom will not be visible in final versions (unless you want it to be).

in3, in4 and in5 relate to inputs 3 - 5 (or buttons 3 - 5) and allow alternate triggering.

input 1 is dedicated as the main trigger button
input 2 is dedicated as the main focus button
basically when you chop the remote lead in half the common wire connects to GND, the trigger wire to i1 and the focus wire to i2....

So where you see the "trigger" button with its hold button next to it then a white circle (visible activation) then in3, in4 and in5 --- these allow you to trigger THAT button using input 3, 4 or 5

The other groups do the same for their buttons.

Lastly the top group "Trigger on":
if you set in3 plus out6 then when you press button 3 out6 goes high until you let go
if you set in3 plus out6 plus HOLD then when you press button 3 out6 goes high and stays high till you press it again.
You can use in4 and in5 also plus you can also alter out7,out8


http://http://www.darrenhillphotography.com/USB/Camera USB.zip

Any problems let me know......

This is the MAIN USB BOARD and control software done (for the moment). I need to design a quick relay board and wire it all up which I will do during the week and supply all the pictures.

The time lapse works great :)
 
Ok, let's continue here then now you've sent me to this thread. :)

Did you ever do an update to this past version 1?

It's been a good few years since I last played around with any Pascal or Delphi, but I think I might have to hunt down a copy.

Seems Velleman have an updated URL to this board too
http://www.velleman.eu/distributor/products/view/?id=351346
 
No, to be honest it died a bit of a death because I got tied up with other stuff. With the studio I may well resurrect it. The biggest problem for me is that the software does not run under MacOS. There are no Mac drivers so I cannot write the software for the Mac. I wrote an entire Application suite in Delphi in the late 90s which is still in use now so I have lots of experience with Delphi but it means firing up one of the PCs :gag:
 
oh no, poor you, having to use a PC. ;)

I wonder if it may be worth contacting Velleman. Perhaps between when you last looked and now, they wrote a Mac driver? :)
 
Kaouthia said:
oh no, poor you, having to use a PC. ;)

I wonder if it may be worth contacting Velleman. Perhaps between when you last looked and now, they wrote a Mac driver? :)
Click to expand...

I've just looked and still no driver! I can run Delphi under an emulator and I have a Windows laptop holding a door open somewhere so I might just blow the dust off it and rotate the starting handle. I think it needs a new battery but it should be ok for this project.

If you want my source code so you can modify the code to do what you want then that isn't a problem but I can probably just incorporate changes to the main program. The reality is that Delphi is my all time favourite programming setup and kicks anything on the Mac out of the stadium !!
 
Oh yeah, I loved Delphi. I was so happy when they finally released the GPL version for Linux. :D

Let me see if I can find a copy of it somewhere first before I start accepting code, hehe. Which version of Delphi were you using? do you remember off-hand?
 
Kaouthia said:
Oh yeah, I loved Delphi. I was so happy when they finally released the GPL version for Linux. :D

Let me see if I can find a copy of it somewhere first before I start accepting code, hehe. Which version of Delphi were you using? do you remember off-hand?
Click to expand...

Probably version 6 although not absolutely sure now.

The problem with using the LINUX version though would be lack of drivers under LINUX I would guess although someone somewhere will probably have written some :)
 
I would imagine they'd be out there somewhere, but these days, my linux machines are pretty much just destined for running Apache, so it'll be the Windows version I'll be looking for.
 
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