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First Design Change

A project log for Photobooth Control and Display

This project features Arduino compatible devices which connect to a PC and a camera

stefan-xpStefan-Xp 10/08/2014 at 21:315 Comments

As a Project get startet, there are always changes.

But first I found a few difficulties which bugged me a bit:

- Second Atmega Board is unneccesary, all con be handled by the 7x5 LED Matrix with Atmega328

- The camera doesn't work as i imagined with Win7 there is no remote shooting function for Canon 400d. I have to try it with Win Xp or try reinstall. If that doesnt work, there are more solutions ;)

- Perhapps its neccessary to monitor the camera activity... can't be sure that a picture is taken in time?

- Like Goethe said: "I need more light" .. I have to check out if 2 Softboxes with Daylight Lightbulps supply enough Light for my purposes.

So my current Setup looks like this:

Okay, looks a bit like bricolage ... on the plus side: It works as imagined, i dont have to rework the plug twice a day.

On the minus side the Remote Shutter Plug looks really bad, the connector block didn't match the 2,54mm grid, the optocoupler was a bit big...

this is how the front looks if you take a picture of the active LEDs ("3") with Flash on and minimal brightness. I promise a better Picture next time.

Next Steps:

- Check if remote shooting works with Win Xp

- Think about a nice enclosure (VERY hard task... :-()

- Implement SW to get Informations form the 7x5 Panel and show the shoot Images (Optionally print them out) (VB Excel Macro)

- Try to figure out when the camera really shoots.

- Read some more on ETTL :-) http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6404987.pdf and http://billgrundmann.wordpress.com/

- At wurst käs i would need to add some external flashes and monitor if they fired.

- The Background could be Illuminated by a RGB flood light?

- Add some other funky features... (Eyecatchers on the 7x5 Display, ...)

Comments and tips are highly appreciated ;-)

Discussions

Stefan-Xp wrote 10/09/2014 at 16:29 point
Thank you for your Comment.
Well it is possible to trigger the canon by IR but i like the wired trigger more.
It would really be awesome, if you could help me out with 3D printing. Are you able to use Google SketchUp Sketches as Data source?

Another insane idea would be to set the whole thing into a box with "Telepromter" effect.
Do you also own a laser cutter by chance? ;-)

Best regards, Gruß Stefan

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davedarko wrote 10/09/2014 at 18:21 point
Lasercutter is still on the list :( would be cool to have .stl files, they are best for printing.

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Stefan-Xp wrote 10/09/2014 at 18:52 point
How do you usually create .stl files?

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davedarko wrote 10/09/2014 at 22:41 point
I'm using 123d design, they have an export to stl function. I'm not sure I can export sketchup files to stl by myself, but google should answer that.

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davedarko wrote 10/09/2014 at 10:58 point
Is the canon able to be triggered by infrared signals? You could send a signal via serial to a micro controller with an IR LED. When you're done with the electronics, you could design your case in 3D and print it (I think I could help you out with printing), or go to a euro store and grab a box or a toy.

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