GoSlo, A 3DPrinted Remote Pinhole Camera.

In which our hero adds a servo-driven shutter to his 3D printed pinhole cameras, & remote and programmable control via Arduino and friends.

Description

Ever since I designed my first pinhole camera, I have been thinking about having some kind of servo-actuated shutter. This simple addition could allow for:
- remote operation,
- "fast" exposures, smoother than possible by hand (fast being relative for pinhole),
- the potential for precise timing and/or autoexposure.

One of the limiting factors for pinhole photography in bright light is operating the shutter without moving the camera. Even with a tripod, attempting to make an exposure of a half-second will probably induce enough camera motion to blur the resultant image. I have often found myself wishing I could open and close my camera's shutter without being obvious. There are situations where I don't wish to draw attention to myself as a photographer or provoke self-consciousness in people.

My "robo-shutter" could be implemented as a wired trigger, wireless/RC trigger, pre-set timer, or autonomous.

Details

I designed my terraPin 3D printed pinhole camera with interchangeable "extensions" or pinhole/shutter assemblies.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:495230

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:577223

Without 3D printing an entire dedicated camera, I can just change a sub-assembly that dictates the angle of view and magnification. Or the way the shutter is actuated.

The first step in the GoSlo (not GoPro) Robo-shutter project is to interface a shutter with the servo. From the very beginning, I've been thinking about how to stick a servo on the front of my cameras. My goal was for minimal modification of existing designs to accommodate the servo. The first "micro-servo" I tried turned out to be just a bit too large for my purposes. At a local hobby shop I found a smaller form-factor in the Common Sense CSRC-35 Ultra Nano Servo.

The modified files are now on Thingiverse, and the servo recesses into a cavity and is held in place by plates that clamp the servo mounting tabs. In the 6X9 extension, I have the luxury of room to use 3mm bolts to clamp the servo. In the case of the 6X6 extension, smaller plates utilize the tiny screws that come with the servo.

The Shutter blade has been slightly modified to give a large lever arm, but lacks a designed hole for a pushrod (connected to the servo). An easy technique is to heat a bit of #12 piano wire and quickly melt a hole, through which the pushrod (made from the same piano wire) will activate the shutter. After making a custom pushrod, every shutter will be a unique assembly with a specific numerical specification for the servo's positions at the extremes of "open" and "closed". I could leave the testing as an exercise for the reader, but I will be posting code for the shutter and set up. In order for YOUR shutter to work properly, you will have to ascertain the values to send to the servo.

Code pending.

Components

1 × trinket Arduino (mostly-) compatible

1 × trinket pro Arduino - compatible

1 × Common Sense CSRC-35 Ultra Nano Servo - 3 gram

1 × any Arduino

1 × #12 piano wire Electronic Components / Misc. Electronic Components

Project Logs

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Photos, or it didn't happen!
theschlem • 01/31/2018 at 18:43 • 0 comments

Hey

Here's a link to some pinhole photos I have made with the GoSlo 6x9:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/theschlem/albums/72157650566878617
Photos
theschlem • 03/06/2015 at 08:15 • 0 comments

At this writing, the first two rolls of film have been uploaded to Flickr.
Also a blog post to the 52Rolls photo project has been uploaded.

GoSlo Code for Adafruit Trinket

theschlem • 03/06/2015 at 07:52 • 1 comment

/*
         RoboShutta
         
   Version 1
   For Arduino Trinket by Adafruit
   
Code for controlling a servo-driven shutter on a pinhole camera via a cable
from a distance.  Simplicity and reliability are paramount.  Such a remote /
automatically controlled shutter-equiped camers, mounted on GoPro (or similar) 
hardware shall be collectively termed a GoSlo camera system.

Lacking proper PWM output, a clever hack is utilized to update the
position of the servo arm via an interupt.  This should have minimal
impact on functionality, but similar code could be easily written
for other Arduino (semi-) ompatibles.

Suitable camera applications are:
		http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:577223
		http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:495230

Servo-ready parts for these cameras are pending on Thingiverse.com
        

    created  02/21/2015
   by Todd Schlemmer theschlem@gmail.com
   
   SOURCES:
   Adapted from TrinketKnob/SoftServo by Adafruit
   
   RESOURCES:
      https://learn.adafruit.com/downloads/pdf/introducing-trinket.pdf
      https://learn.adafruit.com/trinket-gemma-servo-control/overview
      http://www.akeric.com/blog/?tag=arduino
      

This sketch allows for remote control of a servo-driven pinhole camera shutter.

    Required library is the Adafruit_SoftServo library
    available at https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_SoftServo
    The standard Arduino IDE servo library will not work with 8 bit
    AVR microcontrollers like Trinket and Gemma due to differences
    in available timer hardware and programming. We simply refresh
    by piggy-backing on the timer0 millis() counter

    All circuitry is housed in a case with the 6-12V battery pack, and connected to the 
    shutter servo via a standard 3-wire servo cable(s).  Servos can be controlled by 
    connecting mutiple cables, many meters in length.  
    
    Handheld remote 
      power switch
      safety switch -momentary (unable to open shutter if not depressed)
      shutter switch -toggle
      status LED tied to PIN1, used for status, debugging, error purposes
  
 CIRCUITRY:  

******** diagrams and pinouts ***********************
          
                         Trinket Arduino Compatible
                                By Adafruit
            
                                MINI USB
                                ________
                          _____|        |_____
                         |  _  | ||  || |  _  |
                         | (_) | ||  || | (_) |
                         |  _  | ====== |  _  |
            Green LED    | [G] |________| [R] |   red status LED
            (power)      |                    |
                  BAT +  | O  [] [] []  ||  O |   USB 5V+
                         |              ||    |
                  GND -  | O   =[]=  []     O |   #0               SERVOPIN
                         |     =[]=           |
                  #4     | O                O |   #1  (red LED)    LEDPIN
                         |     _u_u_u_        |
   SAFETYPIN      #3     | O  |       |     O |   #2               SHUTTAPIN
                         |    |       |       |
                  RESET  | O  |_______|     O |   5 V+ (regulated from BAT)
                         |  _   n n n      _  |
                         | (_)  |    |    (_) |
                         |_     |_[]_|   _____| 
                           \____________/                    
                             Reset switch
               
               
               Servo Plug
               
                _______________
               |   __  _       |
    Ground     |  [__] _]      |==brown wire============
               |   __  _       |
    5V +       |  [__] _]      |==orange wire===========
               |   __  _       |            
    Signal     |  [__] _]      |==yellow wire===========
               |_______________|
 
 
           
 ******** ARDUINO Wiring ***************************************
 
BAT & GND wired to battery pack through power switch
Pin #0 to servo signal
Pin #1 to status LED
Pin #2 from shutta switch (toggle 1=open 0=closed)
Pin #3 from safety switch (momentary)



 

 */

// ***************** Declarations and Initializations ******************* 

   //int VariableName = 2;       //comment

   //#include <Library.h>        // some library module
 
 
#include <Adafruit_SoftServo.h>  // SoftwareServo (works on non PWM pins)
 

#define SERVO1PIN 0   // Servo control line (orange) on Trinket Pin #0

#define LEDPIN 1      // Status LED wired to Pin #1
 
#define SHUTTAPIN 2   // Toggle switch (shutter control) on Trinket Pin #2 (Analog 1)

#define SAFETYPIN 3   // Momentary pushbutton on Trinket Pin #3
 
Adafruit_SoftServo myServo1, myServo2;  //create TWO servo objects

int OpenedValue = 102;      // Servo position for opened shutter, determined experimentally with ShuttaSetup

int ClosedValue = 23;       // Servo position for closed shutter, determined experimentally with ShuttaSetup
         
int servoPos;               // variable for servo position
 
 
  
  
// ************************************************** 

void setup() 
{
  // Set up the interrupt that will refresh the servo for us automagically...

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GoSlo, A 3DPrinted Remote Pinhole Camera.

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Photos, or it didn't happen!

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GoSlo Code for Adafruit Trinket

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