QVGA question

Other Hardware Displays
1

I have in the back of my mind an extension to my current steampunk camera, and I was wondering about feasibility.

I have cameras (Olympus E-5 and E-P2) whose live view output is fixed at 320x240, that I'm starting to look at doing some control with Adruinos. I have a standalone MP4 player (JXD 696) that takes QVGA input and displays it on the screen. I have on order a 16x2 shield for doing output from the Arduino and limited input based on the arrow buttons with the shield. I can just use the two separately, but I was wondering about combining the two. I've seen some other steampunks with a wrist controller that I would like to move the display and arduino control to such a display.

As an example of what I'm talking about, here is the camera setup I used in 2011 (the setup changes every time I go out, but this one shows the video):

1000×773 143 KB

And I have the painter squirrel act like she's painting the scene (the live view of the camera goes into the lcd):

1000×773 137 KB

What I would like is to have a common screen. This could be done by having the Arduino output a QVGA signal and multiplex it on the JXD. In terms of commercial products there is the Video Game Shield and Gameduino shields that are sold. I can't tell from the descriptions whether they have a mode to emit QVGA or not.

So the first question, can either of these drive a QVGA (320x240) display using an analog RCA connection? I don't care about graphics of any sort. All I want is to display text on a QVGA drive.

The second question is if all I care about is text and not graphics, is there some other add-on processor that does the text and outputs it to the monitor, maybe using I2C or SPI connections so I can save Arduino pins?

The third question is what kind of relay would I need to be able to control via the Arduino, whether the camera displays on the screen or the Arduino via the QVGA connection. Obviously, I can use a passive VGA switch you can get in electronics stores, but I would prefer when I press a button to bring up a menu, for the Arduino to take over the screen and use it, and then return back to the display from the camera.

Alternatively, I could see the Arduino taking the video in, and feeding it to one of the QVGA video touch screens for Arduinos that are showing up, such as:

The fourth question is it feasible for the Arduino to do the processing and send the data to the screen in real time? Is there an existing library to do this? I suspect if I go this route, I would need to upgrade my UNO to a Mega or similar processor to get more pins.

Assuming that the Arduino is too slow to do this, the fifth question would be is there a way to have QVGA input go straight to the LCD screen without filtering by the Arduino in real time under program control from the Arduino (i.e. when I want to display stuff on the screen, it would turn off the image from the camera, otherwise, image from the camera would go straight to the screen without going through the Arduino).

Assuming the answer to question 4 and 5 is no, the sixth question is there an alternative microprocessor/cpu that would be able to do this?

I really would prefer not to have to learn about analog video encoding, etc.

I may also want to incorporate the TTL serial camera producing NTSC that adafruit and other distributors sell to focus on the E-5's viewfinder, rather than running the E-5 in live view mode, and optionally display that output either the external VGA screen or TFT. It looks like the camera already can go to external VGA, but I didn't know if it could go straight to a TFT screen.

Thanks in advance for any light you can share.

2

After I posted the query, I found the following video experimenter arduino compatible shield from the robot shop that looks like it would allow me to overlay my text from the Arduino onto the video stream:

Does anybody have any experience with this shield?

3

Steampunk it may be, but until recently I regularly used a camera much like that.

Sorry, can't help with the shield though.

Rob

4

I assume you meant a view or field camera with bellows which uses silver halide (film), and not a Frankencamera that has a digital camera on the inside, and a shell made to resemble a bellows camera on the outside.

I picked up a nice 1939 Speed Graphic that I've been meaning to run some film through. There is a guy in my church that used to be a professional photographer, and he has offered to guide me through the process if I ever have some free time.

One of my other side projects that I've thought about is making a shutter release for cameras that don't have a wired shutter release using a servo.

In terms of the name steampunk, there are some purists that demand steampunk be more centered in queen Victoria's reign, and that what I do is more dieselpunk, which is more 1920's and 1930's based. The group I hang out isn't picky about such things.

If you are curious, here is a newspaper article about a recent meetup, and there is a picture of me: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/livinglifestyles/961484-224/the-extraordinary-comes-to-life-at-steampunk.html

5

Yes a field camera, specifically a Tachihara 5x4.

Meissner, for instance, wore an argyle vest over a white, long-sleeved shirt and black dress slacks and carried a rather abstract replica of a Speed Graflex large-format camera, handcrafted of wood complete with flashbulb reflector and garnished with shiny brass hardware and little stuffed creatures.

You I assume :slight_smile:

Sounds like a lot of fun. Actually I would love to continue using this camera, but I can't afford a decent digital back for it. Maybe I should look at making a Steampunk version.

Rob

6

When I first started getting the urge to do this, I started looking at the 4x5 bodies, and oh my the web pictures of the Tachihara 5x4 really look nice. Out of my budget league, but nice (however in the 2 years I've been doing this, the costs are starting to mount up).

I haven't updated the first site in a bit, but I collected some of the build shots in the first link, and the more detailed shots are in the other links. Since I have an event coming up this weekend, I should update steampunkmike, since that is easier to tell folks:

Now, the problem with 4x5's is they are too small for many cameras with extending lenses to fit inside. Part of this is bellows cameras tend to have the bellows centered in the middle of the camera, while modern digital cameras no longer have the lens centered in the camera, since they don't need to have two film reels for unshot silver halide, and a take up reel. I don't remember the specs of the Tachihara, but if it has the full range of bellows movement, you could presumably move the bellows to the side to deal with cameras with off center lenses. The field cameras I've seen don't have the full range of movements.

I eventually needed to go up to a 1915 Kodak Pony Premo 5x7 body to have enough room in the body for my E-P2 to fit inside. I took out the lens and ground glass on the Kodak, and could easily put them back in (though the lens is rather cloudy). Because I was loathe to do changes to the Kodak body that couldn't be undone, I can't use the wired shutter release for the camera (Olympus E-P2 shutter release cable is on the right hand grip side, which is jammed against the Kodak body). So I modded a film shutter release to use.

For DSLRs, the lenses tend to be much bigger than the traditional lens boards. The only lens that would fit the lens board was the kit 14-42mm lens with a 40.5mm filter thread. Even my 10 year old C-2100UZ had a 49mm filter thread.

I take that out every so often, but with the body being nearly 100 years old, I'm starting to see wear and tear on it, and I don't take it out as often.

Unfortunately, I was rear ended in a car accident last night. While I'm not in great pain, I do have some neck pains, and I'm thinking of taking the Kodak + E-P2 out instead of the big box this weekend, When I take the Premo + E-P2, it is on a walking staff, while I carry the big box, and have it on a neck strap. One of the problems with the setup, is I have to get the E-P2 positioned just right, or the bellows will interfere with the auto focusing.

Another hack that I've seen is to mount a DSLR body on your view camera.
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/canon-view-camera.html

I bought a Franka body without lens to try and put my pocket camera (Olympus VG-120) in it, but it was just the wrong size. I've thought about getting a sports helmet camera to fit inside.

7

The field cameras I've seen don't have the full range of movements.

No field cameras have as many movements as a monorail, but they don't need them either because they are designed for landscapes mostly. Press cameras are even worse.

A 5x7 body for a digital point and shoot, you gotta love that :slight_smile:

Tachihara 5x4 really look nice. Out of my budget league,

And good lenses as much again or more.

I love what you are doing with this stuff, and that telegraph key shutter release is great.

I've seen something like that DSLR conversion before somewhere, not a bad idea but I doubt many large format lenses are up to the job of matching the resolution of a 1Ds. Also my two lenses (90/4.5 Nikkor SW and 210/5.6 Schneider Symmar) would be pretty long on a digital body and I like the angle of view they had on 4x5.

What would be great is a non-scanning back that replaced my double dark slides with the same image area, for about $1-2000. Not much chance of that I suppose. The nearest I get these days is panoramas, a very similar process to shooting large format in that you have to take your time and try to pre-visualise the shot.

I used to sell photos from my small gallery before I sold everything and hit the road. Some examples here

http://www.robgray.com/grayoutdoors/galleries/categories/gallery.php?code=bnw

Note the 2:1 aspect shots, they are with a Horseman 6x12 roll film back on the Tachihara, all the others with 5x4 sheet film.

Rob

8

Graynomad:
No field cameras have as many movements as a monorail, but they don't need them either because they are designed for landscapes mostly. Press cameras are even worse.

Yes, I was probably thinking about press cameras, given the whole image is to pay homage to the classic 1930's news photographer (minus the dangling cigarette). I'm not that happy with the flash setup, particularly since I snapped my flash cables, and now have moved the flash back over the camera, rather than to the side.

Graynomad:
A 5x7 body for a digital point and shoot, you gotta love that :slight_smile:

Thanks. Though the E-P2 is a bit more than just a point and shoot in terms of control. However, when I use it in the Premo, it pretty much is used in point and shoot mode.

Graynomad:

Tachihara 5x4 really look nice. Out of my budget league,

And good lenses as much again or more.

Yep, I figured that.

Graynomad:
I love what you are doing with this stuff, and that telegraph key shutter release is great.

Thanks. In terms of the Arduino, I really need to get off my butt and implement the code in the Arduino to fire one relay when the telegraph key is pressed, and then fire both relays for a short time period when the key is released, so it gives me the ability to let the camera focus. I just got the relays.

Graynomad:
I've seen something like that DSLR conversion before somewhere, not a bad idea but I doubt many large format lenses are up to the job of matching the resolution of a 1Ds. Also my two lenses (90/4.5 Nikkor SW and 210/5.6 Schneider Symmar) would be pretty long on a digital body and I like the angle of view they had on 4x5.

What would be great is a non-scanning back that replaced my double dark slides with the same image area, for about $1-2000. Not much chance of that I suppose. The nearest I get these days is panoramas, a very similar process to shooting large format in that you have to take your time and try to pre-visualise the shot.

Not really knowing much about the tech, I could imagine using an Arduino to position a scanner inside the body to take multiple pictures, and you glue them together to get the full image. Unfortunately I think you need to step up to an Arm or something similar to have enough memory to do the panorama gluing within the camera.

Graynomad:
I used to sell photos from my small gallery before I sold everything and hit the road. Some examples here

http://www.robgray.com/grayoutdoors/galleries/categories/gallery.php?code=bnw

Note the 2:1 aspect shots, they are with a Horseman 6x12 roll film back on the Tachihara, all the others with 5x4 sheet film.

Rob

Very lovely. I find something missing when I look at the average digital shot converted to black and white or grayscale.