So, I'm building an arduino-controlled water dropper for a photography project.
For this, I need to be able to control a speedlite (Yongnuo 560), camera (Canon 60D) and a solenoid.
1)Ive already been able to control the speedlite (without an optocoupler), which is pretty basic.
2)Now I thought controlling the camera would be even more simpler, because there's no need for an optocoupler (I read).
So, I connected the trigger wire for the camera to pin 7 and the ground wire to ground (I kinda figured out that last thing myself !). Now, I used the blink sketch to trigger the wire, with the pin-13-LED blinking the same time (as a check).
BUT, when I connect the 2.5 mm jack to the camera, the camera just starts to make pics like crazy, not waiting for the command in the sketch. It seems that the camera gets a high input all the time.
Now I'm confused, as I dont really know whether there should be a pull-down resistor of whatsoever...
Could anyone be so kind to help me out? Thanks in advance!
and, I leave 3) the solenoid out for now, as I haven't started on this yet.
Maybe its the opposite to what you expect. Maybe a low signal triggers the shutter and a high signal does not?
I would have thought that for this kind of work, you want to have the camera shutter stay open and time the flash to catch the water drop. If that's the case, you would want the camera shutter on "B" (bulb) setting so it opens the shutter when it receives a high signal from the Arduino and closes it again when the signal is low. Sounds like you have the camera on multi-shot/sport mode instead of one-shot mode.
Now, something for the near future:
I would like to make an interface to be able to control the number of drops, intervals (quite a lot), etc...
I have no experience or whatsoever in doing those things... I guess it should be done using the serial port, but I only know how to use it in the arduino sketches, not for communication between programmes....
Why not program the Arduino to do all those things? All you need is some kind of display, like a 16x2 lcd (with backlight controlled by the Arduino for obvious reasons) and some simple input controls, like a pot and a few buttons.
Hi Michiel_
All my water drops and bursting ballons, shots where taken in complete darkness with the shutter open on "B" as PaulRB says. But then you need a trigger. well a sound trigger really and nothing like an Arduino, more like a 555 timer, etc... To fire the flash gun.
But the arduino can perhaps make it easier!
I have a Canon 40D and the release does 2 jobs first pressure sets the focus, the second fires the shutter.. and I would think these are connected (when pressed) to a common Ground! But you can easily play with the polarity to test it.
@ PaulRB, I was thinking about using an LCD for that, then I could make a box for it, program a chip and attach a battery, would save me quite some wires running around the place.
The thing is that I would like to shoot tethered, which would make processing the pictures much easier, as well as checking for the right focus etc...
And @Cactusface, I already have a trigger for the flash and camera, so everything should be good now
And @Cactusface, I already have a trigger for the flash and camera, so everything should be good now :)
What form does this trigger take? I was talking about one that hears the sound of the water drop hitting the water, or the ballon busting, or the light bulb hitting the floor. The last time I did it was with a film camera, so much easier now I would think... or at least cheaper, and a lot quicker to see your results.
And @Cactusface, I already have a trigger for the flash and camera, so everything should be good now :)
What form does this trigger take? I was talking about one that hears the sound of the water drop hitting the water, or the ballon busting, or the light bulb hitting the floor. The last time I did it was with a film camera, so much easier now I would think... or at least cheaper, and a lot quicker to see your results.
Regards
Mel.
Well, with the trigger I mean the wire running from the arduino to the camera. For now, I just use the delay between the release of the drops (with the solenoid) and the drops hitting the water as a trigger.
However, Im planning on building other sensor triggers, such as a tripwire laser, sound, and who knows what else
Well, with the trigger I mean the wire running from the arduino to the camera. For now, I just use the delay between the release of the drops (with the solenoid) and the drops hitting the water as a trigger.
Thanks in advance!
