Posts: 62 Threads: 15 Likes Received: 4 in 1 posts Likes Given: 0 Joined: Mar 2021 Reputation: 0 Hi! My main work is Still Photography and Video. When I started with FPV my interest had more to do with putting the camera in unique or different places for filming, plus learning the new skill of flying was a blast. I really enjoy the learning curve of building too! I've been flying a cinelifter for a bit on and off and really have fun with it, but I've have this idea for awhile about remote firing the camera to do stills work. It would open up some doors for showing speed and feeling more immersed in the action.
My first attempts were putting my camera into timelapse/interval. It fires the shutter once every second- but that doesn't give you consistent control. You end up with way too many frames, and usually not the ones you are hoping for.
My next attempt was using pocket wizards. I have been using the Plus X. The use a radio frequency in the 3-400 range. I mount one to my drone. Then use a 3.5 to 2.5 cable to connect the pocket wizard to the camera (Fuji xt-3.) Pocket Wizard claims a range of 1600 feet, I'm getting maybe 100 feet. This has given me the ability to have a second person fire the camera, but we are not firing consistently due to the range limitation.
I went down a huge rabbit hole of photography boards looking for solutions for longer range, then I had the idea that I should look at what I'm already using... Is it possible to somehow use my control link to fire the camera?
I use TBS Crossfire Diversity (for now anyway, probably switch to ELRS now that there are 900mhz options.) My thought is if I can connect the 3.5 end of the cable to my diversity rx, and then plug the 2.5 end to my camera and then assign "Momentary POS F" button" I would be in business.
Does anyone on here know how I would go about this? Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers! ![[-]](https://intofpv.com/images/collapse.png) • Posts: 1,733 Threads: 60 Likes Received: 1,008 in 730 posts Likes Given: 96 Joined: Jan 2023 Reputation: 52 If you are into tinkering, you can purchase an inexpensive wired remote shutter that plugs into your camera and figure out how to electronically trigger that shutter button. Betaflight has a PINIO feature that will allow you to map one of your radio channels to a pin on the FC to switch between 0 and 3.3v. Alternatively you can add a 3.3v compatible MCU as a go between to trigger the button.
Otherwise if you prefer mechanical and your drone is big enough, you can add a tiny servo, and us BF's servo control to map to your radio and physically click the button (that would be good for bulb exposure too). I had a servo rigidly mounted to the hotshoe on a very old Lumix LX-3 to take timelapse (as the old camera did not have that function) and it worked well after some setting up, but it was on a tripod. • Posts: 62 Threads: 15 Likes Received: 4 in 1 posts Likes Given: 0 Joined: Mar 2021 Reputation: 0 (08-Feb-2024, 02:48 AM)mstc Wrote: If you are into tinkering, you can purchase an inexpensive wired remote shutter that plugs into your camera and figure out how to electronically trigger that shutter button. Betaflight has a PINIO feature that will allow you to map one of your radio channels to a pin on the FC to switch between 0 and 3.3v. Alternatively you can add a 3.3v compatible MCU as a go between to trigger the button.
Otherwise if you prefer mechanical and your drone is big enough, you can add a tiny servo, and us BF's servo control to map to your radio and physically click the button (that would be good for bulb exposure too). I had a servo rigidly mounted to the hotshoe on a very old Lumix LX-3 to take timelapse (as the old camera did not have that function) and it worked well after some setting up, but it was on a tripod. I'm into tinkering! Thank you so much for the ideas. I actually had a fuji pre-release cable. I tore it apart, figured out how to fire it, watched a few Joshua Bardwell videos about pinio, read the Betaflight page on pinio, and have it at a point where my momentary switch will fire the camera. The issue becomes that letting go of the momentary switch does not stop the camera from firing. I did discover that if I move the camera into single shot it works like a charm, so I'm real close to what I want. Single shot will work, but being in continuous would be huge. Current status when camera is in continuous mode: https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/ecdfe18e2a1d4b9c8b1b84cef2c43fa0[/url]
Current status when camera is in single mode:
[url=https://adobe.ly/49t7dzH]https://adobe.ly/49t7dzH Current Pinio Box Settings: https://adobe.ly/4bqd4b3 Current Pinio Config: https://adobe.ly/4bqd4b3 For the switch I connected the ground wire to a ground pad. With the three remaining wires I connected two of the red (trigger) and soldered them to Serial RX 1, then the third I soldered to the buzz-. I used the buzz- because it was one of the only pads that did not automatically start firing the camera. The trigger uses the power of the camera to operate- so when it's plugged into the camera and the three red wires are touching, or current can pass from pad to pad the camera fires. I mapped the serial rx1 to my momentary switch, and made sure it was activated. If has insight on if it can be done and what else to try please chime in! • Posts: 212 Threads: 10 Likes Received: 79 in 65 posts Likes Given: 5 Joined: Apr 2024 Reputation: 6 (07-Feb-2024, 08:41 PM)JPOV Wrote: Hi! My main work is Still Photography and Video. When I started with FPV my interest had more to do with putting the camera in unique or different places for filming, plus learning the new skill of flying was a blast. I really enjoy the learning curve of building too! I've been flying a cinelifter for a bit on and off and really have fun with it, but I've have this idea for awhile about remote firing the camera to do stills work. It would open up some doors for showing speed and feeling more immersed in the action.
My first attempts were putting my camera into timelapse/interval. It fires the shutter once every second- but that doesn't give you consistent control. You end up with way too many frames, and usually not the ones you are hoping for.
My next attempt was using pocket wizards. I have been using the Plus X. The use a radio frequency in the 3-400 range. I mount one to my drone. Then use a 3.5 to 2.5 cable to connect the pocket wizard to the camera (Fuji xt-3.) Pocket Wizard claims a range of 1600 feet, I'm getting maybe 100 feet. This has given me the ability to have a second person fire the camera, but we are not firing consistently due to the range limitation.
I went down a huge rabbit hole of photography boards looking for solutions for longer range, then I had the idea that I should look at what I'm already using... Is it possible to somehow use my control link to fire the camera?
I use TBS Crossfire Diversity (for now anyway, probably switch to ELRS now that there are 900mhz options.) My thought is if I can connect the 3.5 end of the cable to my diversity rx, and then plug the 2.5 end to my camera and then assign "Momentary POS F" button" I would be in business.
Does anyone on here know how I would go about this? Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers! I know this thread is a couple months old. I just want to share another thought that does not require anything mechanical. Depending on the camera used. I had always used a camera that can be trigger with infrared. So I connect the receiver to an RC switch to fire an infrared LED and that triggered the camera. That's how I trigger the shutter on my multicopter when I was doing aerial shoot. • Posts: 1,733 Threads: 60 Likes Received: 1,008 in 730 posts Likes Given: 96 Joined: Jan 2023 Reputation: 52 (08-Feb-2024, 08:28 PM)JPOV Wrote: For the switch I connected the ground wire to a ground pad. With the three remaining wires I connected two of the red (trigger) and soldered them to Serial RX 1, then the third I soldered to the buzz-. I used the buzz- because it was one of the only pads that did not automatically start firing the camera. The trigger uses the power of the camera to operate- so when it's plugged into the camera and the three red wires are touching, or current can pass from pad to pad the camera fires.
I mapped the serial rx1 to my momentary switch, and made sure it was activated.
If has insight on if it can be done and what else to try please chime in! I am only seeing your post now, hope you are still on the forums. The buzzer- pad is only grounded if you enable the buzzer, otherwise I believe it is floating. When you release your momentary switch, because the buzzer- pin is still floating, the remote board does not have a correct gnd reference and cannot determine that the button has been released. Assuming your remote trigger is powered by 5v, you should supply it with 5v from a 5v pad and not directly from vbat. The ground should be connected to a GND pad and not the buzzer- (or you can enable your buzzer). @seismicC Yes if the camera supports IR remote, that is another option. But you need to know the correct timing/sequence to trigger the camera. In the old days, you could find this information online, but today with all the different brands/models there are hundreds of different sequences. You could buy an IR remote that works with your cameral model, and read the IR signal to copy it (like the universal remote's learn function), but with a wired remote it is should be a more reliable and direct control. Back in the day, I did make an arduino controlled panning intervalometer and it used IR LED to trigger the camera shutter. I had the sequences working for a Canon 550D, Sony NEX, and Nikon cameras, but the panasonic camera I had did not have an IR sensor so it used the servo instead. • |
