Pinhole Camera Timer

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Analogman
 
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Pinhole Camera Timer

Post by Analogman »

Hi, I am currently attempting to design a digitally operated timer for a pinhole camera (similar to this http://www.flickr.com/photos/92561604@N ... 223607004/ (minus the exposure meter and with at least 4 seven segment LED's instead of an LCD display to display time from 0001 to 9999 secs)) however I'm a bit inexperienced when it comes to microcontrollers. I have currently got an arduino with the servo shield attached, this is working fine, but my problem is figuring out how to create an interface so that the user can input the allotted time for the exposure.

Thanks

James

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Franklin97355
 
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Post by Franklin97355 »

Are you sure you need an exposure of 2.75 hours? Probably for that long I would include a timekeeping chip. For setting you could use a couple of buttons or a rotary encoder.

Analogman
 
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Joined: Wed Sep 24, 2008 2:36 pm

Post by Analogman »

Hi, thanks for the response. I like the idea of using a rotary encoder. How would I link the encoder up to the timekeeping chip and the arduino?
This sort of time of exposure may be needed for night time shots (especially with a pinhole camera and with the problems of reciprocity failure presents) or star trails and the like.

mtbf0
 
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Post by mtbf0 »

see this thread for a discussion of running an arduino with a clock crystal, though i don't think it's necessary. since you'll just be waiting for x amount of time to elapse the arduino timer functions should suffice.

attach the encoder to pins 2 and 3 and use the attach interrupt function to get yourself notified on pin changes.

Analogman
 
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Re: Pinhole Camera Timer

Post by Analogman »

Thanks for the response mtbf0, sorry its taken me a while to say that :S I've just revisited this project.
I like the idea, but I was wondering if instead of building my own interface would it be possible to use something like this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 82fff673c5
How hard would it be? It appears to use a mini-jack, so I wouldn't have thought wiring it to the arduino would be too much of a problem, just interpreting the data.
What I really want to know is if this would be possible? & Would it be easier or harder than hooking up my own interface (Rotary encoder, LED or otherwise)?

jeh
 
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Re: Pinhole Camera Timer

Post by jeh »

that would be much easier than designing your own interface.. atleast it appears to be.. you can google something like "canon EOS remote shutter DIY" to figure out how the remote bit works. seems well documented.

-j

Analogman
 
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Re: Pinhole Camera Timer

Post by Analogman »

Thanks jeh, I think i'll be giving this a go :)

jeh
 
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Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 4:36 pm

Re: Pinhole Camera Timer

Post by jeh »

good luck buddy... from the very little I read about the remote, it will be very easy.. just a few lines of code, it's essentially a momentary button, when the two pins are connected the shutter should fire, lots of examples on how to wire a button :)

-j

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