Hi there, first time posting for a newbie. I have my camera set up on a tripod in the house to photograph birds on the feeders in my garden, at or near, maximum zoom. I can remotely zoom, focus and shoot using an App on my camera and tablet/mobile and all works very well. My challenge is being able to rotate the camera remotely; I've looked at motorised tripod mounts but for one that will handle my 660 gram Sony HXV400 would cost me about £150 and most of them do a fixed full rotation for capturing panoramas.
I have looked at quite a few articles and videos so know it's possible, and I have built and enhanced Geeetech Prusa 3D printer so have some experience of stepper motors, controllers, Arduino etc.
I need very small movements so think I will need micro-stepping and intend to mount the motor on the tripod and rotate the head; this will mean almost zero friction and takes away any weight issues. I would like to remotely control it from an Android App, probably with Bluetooth, so will probably write one with MIT (I am an early retired software developer). Ideally I would like to power the whole kit with AA batteries as I don't see that I need much power and it will be infrequent, run for a few seconds then standby as long as it can be activated fairly quickly? Oh, and fairly cheap :-).
The biggest challenge will be the rotating mechanism. Once you have that figured out the control system should be relatively straightforward.
If you want very fine control of movement a system using a screw and nut might be best, but that would mean a low speed and a relatively small arc of movement.
Are you familiar with the sort of rotating plate that is called a lazy-susan?
Do you just want to rotate on a horizonatl axis? Do you have a tripod head that can rotate without unlocking the ball? My tripod head can be rotated with the camera tight. I just did a quick test and I am able to rotate the head with a string wound around the head one and a halve times with very little effort.
You would need to have a way to maintain a little bit of tension. Ether attaching the motor to the tripod or weighing the tripod down and have the motor sit a bit away (you said its just in the house).
Because the head is larger and you can use a smaller cog on your motor you would have a gear ratio helping you with the fine movement. There are also stepper motors with a gear inside.
For power a USB power bank could be an easy option. You can connect your Arduino board and drive a small 5V stepper motor like the 28BYJ-48.
Robin2:
The biggest challenge will be the rotating mechanism. Once you have that figured out the control system should be relatively straightforward.
If you want very fine control of movement a system using a screw and nut might be best, but that would mean a low speed and a relatively small arc of movement.
Are you familiar with the sort of rotating plate that is called a lazy-susan?
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I think the restricted rotation with a screw and nut would be an issue and I don't need super fine accuracy.
I have heard of a lazy-susan but it would have to be quite large to accommodate a tripod and one leg is set lower than the other 2 as it's on a window sill.
Thank you very much for taking the time to reply
Klaus_K:
Do you just want to rotate on a horizonatl axis? Do you have a tripod head that can rotate without unlocking the ball? My tripod head can be rotated with the camera tight. I just did a quick test and I am able to rotate the head with a string wound around the head one and a halve times with very little effort.
You would need to have a way to maintain a little bit of tension. Ether attaching the motor to the tripod or weighing the tripod down and have the motor sit a bit away (you said its just in the house).
Because the head is larger and you can use a smaller cog on your motor you would have a gear ratio helping you with the fine movement. There are also stepper motors with a gear inside.
For power a USB power bank could be an easy option. You can connect your Arduino board and drive a small 5V stepper motor like the 28BYJ-48.
I may consider the tilt with an actuator? later but my bird feeders are arranged at the same height so rotation is the main objective. As stated above there is almost zero friction on the tripod head if I slacken the lock. I reckon a simple small pulley and rubber belt, even elastic band, may work. I overlooked the natural gearing and the tripod head has a 45mm dia collar. So really, an easy job. I have mains USB adaptors in then house and I carry power banks in the car as I have a mini-camper setup so they keep my mobile etc. charged.
Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. I have ordered a few things from AliExpress and Gearbest; any reccomendations for good suppliers or even kits?
I have a bird house as well. Relaxing to watch all the different birds comming by.
I am not a professional when it comes to ordering online. I try to keep it simple to avoid having to drive to the customs office to retrieve my orders.
Good luck with your project. If you have a public page with your bird photos, I would love to have a look.
In central New Mexico yellow jackets take over bird houses. I use bird houses to keep CCTV cameras out of the weather. I end up with twenty images a day of little tiny bugs headed straight for the camera and filling the whole screen when they land on the lens. unnerving on a quad image on a 19" monitor, terrifying as a solo image on a 42" monitor. "think eagle hornet"
Klaus_K:
I have a bird house as well. Relaxing to watch all the different birds comming by.
I am not a professional when it comes to ordering online. I try to keep it simple to avoid having to drive to the customs office to retrieve my orders.
Good luck with your project. If you have a public page with your bird photos, I would love to have a look.
I think our import rules in the UK are different, never had to go to a customs office :-).
My photos are nothing special and the bird photos are just mixed in with my other 2019 miscellaneous photos, but if you're really bored here's a link to the album on Facebook; almost all of my photo albums are public https://www.facebook.com/dave.preston.399/media_set?set=a.2626559517358711&type=3
Klaus_K:
Do you just want to rotate on a horizonatl axis? Do you have a tripod head that can rotate without unlocking the ball? My tripod head can be rotated with the camera tight. I just did a quick test and I am able to rotate the head with a string wound around the head one and a halve times with very little effort.
You would need to have a way to maintain a little bit of tension. Ether attaching the motor to the tripod or weighing the tripod down and have the motor sit a bit away (you said its just in the house).
Because the head is larger and you can use a smaller cog on your motor you would have a gear ratio helping you with the fine movement. There are also stepper motors with a gear inside.
For power a USB power bank could be an easy option. You can connect your Arduino board and drive a small 5V stepper motor like the 28BYJ-48.
I am slightly confused by the step angle. It seems the most common is 1.8 degrees or 200 steps per revolution. With the natural gearing I will get between 45mm tripod head collar and a 15mm cog this should give me a 0.6 degree rotation of the head per step, which is just about the lowest I need. The 28BYJ-48 stepper, and similar, quote a stride angle of 5.625/64 so seems nowhere near fine enough, or am I missing something? Just read a bit more and it seems the 64 may be the gearing, I thought it was the number of steps per revolution? SO does this mean the minimum addressable resolution is 5.625/64=.088 degrees?
dave-in-nj:
Look at telescope worm gears.
You goal is in hardware not software and microstepping.
Many thanks for your response. I believe that is too complicated for what I am trying to achieve. I don't need real precision, just the ability to move the tripod head in about 0.5 degree steps, is that not feasible? Can you confirm whether my assumptions above are correct please?
The stepper motor has a 1/64 gear inside and takes 64 steps per rotation. Which is a confusing information. You cannot see the 64 steps per rotation.
With the standard Arduino stepper library it takes 2048 steps per rotation. This matches the information I have seen that it takes 2048 steps in full step mode. I have not tested the half step mode which regquires 4096 steps.
The 4096 matches the data sheet 64x64. So I guess they mean half steps in the data sheet because that is the finest it can get.
Anyways this will be more than fine enough for what you want to achieve.
Thank you very much, I have a mechanical engineering background but not electrical or electronics. I looked at the data sheet for this and Googled it and it isn't really made clear, to me anyway
dave-in-nj:
Have you searched for pan tilt Camera mount?
Please re read the first paragraph of reply #1
Yes, I did that before I posted. I have re-read it, have you read the replies? I understand from the responses that I can easily achieve what I want with the simple method proposed using hardware; I needed clarification and welcomed advice, which I believe I have now.
Klaus_K:
The stepper motor has a 1/64 gear inside and takes 64 steps per rotation. Which is a confusing information. You cannot see the 64 steps per rotation.
With the standard Arduino stepper library it takes 2048 steps per rotation. This matches the information I have seen that it takes 2048 steps in full step mode. I have not tested the half step mode which regquires 4096 steps.
The 4096 matches the data sheet 64x64. So I guess they mean half steps in the data sheet because that is the finest it can get.
Anyways this will be more than fine enough for what you want to achieve.
Right, I'm clear about the stepper motor now and I can use another to drive the tripod head up and down, which negates the need to pan. I have concluded that I should connect the motors using ULN2003 driver boards with their own power supplies as I want the motors and UNO board to be powered via USB so it has the potential to be portable. The difficulty I am having now is the connection between the USB cable and the driver board, short of cutting the end off, exposing the cable and soldering, which I want to avoid. I'm guessing powering it like this is not normal as I can't find components to achieve it, any thoughts? Spent quite a while looking and it looks like the easiest way is to get a crimping tool and connectors then cannibalise standard USB leads, unless someone knows better?
I found a couple of different USB splitter cable. Because you only use power from a power pack and the total current I meassured was far less than 500mA you should not have any issues.
If you get one with a normal USB connector and two micro usb, you can plug one into your Arduino and cut of off the other and solder it to your motor driver board. I found a two for $9.99 set on Amazon US.
Klaus_K:
I found a couple of different USB splitter cable. Because you only use power from a power pack and the total current I meassured was far less than 500mA you should not have any issues.
If you get one with a normal USB connector and two micro usb, you can plug one into your Arduino and cut of off the other and solder it to your motor driver board. I found a two for $9.99 set on Amazon US.
