does someone have information about interfacing with a Kodak DC290 or other DC camera?
I got one used, but without any cable. The pinout for a not
standard MINI-DIN 8p plug is found. This provides both RS232 and USB.
The camera has also an IR port which would be very interesting for interfacing.
I am not interested in file ul/dl but only in remote control features.
The file thing can be done with a card reader.
The camera features also a digita-operating system which is controlable through scripts. Therefore i found a 1.5 sdk pack.
I also found a cable shutter control circuit, but i don´t think the way this was done is electronically clever. Another thing i found is a commercial product iControl+ .
I thought there should be more info out there. Because this camera is widely used in scientific environments, it has nice time laps and interval features.
Maybe someone here has some information? hopefully...
not only. I want to control it under different circumstances. Trigger it with sensors, communicate with arduino... processing and so on.
At the moment i found out that it is possible to open a serial communication with a digita script. How far this will go i will try the next days. I read yesterday a bit in the script reference manual, so it should be possible for example to get the actual focal distance information and maybe transmit it over serial to arduino. It may also be possible to set that.
That makes it very interesting for different applications...
I read about it in the actual Make:mag. But going in detail, this article misses a lot of important informations. Perhaps i will contact the author. But at the moment it is very busy here at work.
that pdf seems to be very interesting. Its about a automatic survey system in mojave desert for geological sensoring. There is also a big script for the dc290 described. And also the hole system is very interesting. But they use a servo to trigger the power button of the camera.
But i am still looking for more hardware information.
The IRda protocol is RC5. But i don´t know any codes. There is a Kodak program i dont have for communication with this camera.
It should work over IRda like a normal serial connection. Therefore it would be nice to get the original software and try to sniff the communication with an arduino or another pc or mac and an IR receiver with 115kb ability. Have to figure out the frequency as well. Is it 36 or 38kHz or... ?
With my other cameras i allways miss remote features. So the DC290 is very outdated with 2.1MPx resolution but thats enough for many situations. Especially when you need it only for digital media and not for print.
One big disadvantage is that the camera drains really much current when active. So you need a big battery if you want it to stand longer somewhere. For that reason the survey people choose to trigger it with a servo when needed. Thats what i wanted to avoid as far as possible.