Cameracontrol (Cannon7D) via USB, 2 stepper motors, Bluetooth, sensors

Hi,

First of all I want to say Hey to everyone here since I'm a new forum user :slight_smile:

Camera/mount
I'm currently in the planning phase of my cameracontrol project. The goal is to control a camera (Cannon 7D) through its USB-interface (aperture, shutter speed, etc). In addition I want to control a tripod mount with 2 stepper motors so that it can rotate the camera around 2 axis. The current angle should att all times be given by two "angualar sensors" (like feedback).

I also want to be able to communicate with the Arduino through Bluetooth (comp or phone).

Current list of hardware

EasyDriver v4.4 (Stepper-controller)

Stepper Motor

ArduinoBoardADK (with USB)

Bluetooth

The size of the componens doesnt matter too much! (ofc it doesn't hurt to shrink some of them if possible).

My question
Is the hardware working and suitable for my needs?

Is there better configurations to run this setup ?

Anyone know any good "angual sensors" ? (360 deg without rotation limitaions ). So that you can turn then from 360 to 0 direclty.
0-359 360 0 1 2 3 4 5 deg etc. Here size does matter and I want them to be as smal as possible

All types of tips, hints and constructive criticism are welcome :slight_smile:

(English is not my native language so if anything is unclear just comment :slight_smile: )

Thank you in advance!

Best regards,

Per

I haven't done this type of control (my stuff is just replacing a wired shutter release). However, I wonder whether your stepper motors can handle the whole weight of a D7 + lenses. You might want to go over to http://www.diyphotography.net/ which is a site that talks about a lot of these DIY camera modifications. I know they've had several versions of what you are wanting to build. So you might want to see what kinds of motors they are using, and look for other build tips.

Thank you for the tip ! I will defenitly take a look at that page. The stepper may be to weak but maybe I can solve that with a proper gear ratio (worm gear).

Thank you for your time

perob:
Thank you for the tip ! I will defenitly take a look at that page. The stepper may be to weak but maybe I can solve that with a proper gear ratio (worm gear).

If the camera is properly balanced then a small motor is quite capable of moving and holding the camera in position. The below image shows a red highlight around the motor that tilts the camera. It's not a stepper motor so is geared to slow it down.