Camera Interfacing

[blip]

Hey guys, I haven't posted in here (usually over in Aerial Photography), but I've finally got my camera controller interface up and available. We're controlling the shutter release via USB on Canon and Nikon cameras. I've almost got the zoom control happening too.

I'd appreciate any feedback on what sort of functionality would be handy for UAV type applications.

http://blip.com.au

Regards,
Ben

[reedchristiansen]

Looks nice.


This is probably behond the scope of your project, but you asked for "handy functionality":

It would be nice to be able to have a serial or parallel interface to the memory card on the camera. IE, be able to read (mission plans) and write (telemetry) to the removable media card inside the camera.


I don't know how feasable this is, but it sure would be handy...

Reed


Hey guys, I haven't posted in here (usually over in Aerial Photography), but I've finally got my camera controller interface up and available. We're controlling the shutter release via USB on Canon and Nikon cameras. I've almost got the zoom control happening too.

I'd appreciate any feedback on what sort of functionality would be handy for UAV type applications.

http://blip.com.au

Regards,
Ben

[blip]

Thanks.

That's a good idea. Actually...I can probably do what you're asking! The cameras expose the memory card over USB (thats how your PC reads the pics off)

On my interface I've routed 6 I/O pins to a jumper, and it is not too hard to hook a serial interface up to that. I'm 50% through writing some basic file i/o routines to access files on the memory card.

I want to keep some configuration files on the memory card, eg Camera settings that you want the camera to run with - exposure settings / time lapse delays etc...BUT my real aim to was be able to connect a GPS and record the current position with each image (in the exif data).

[GeorgeDog]

Looks nice.


This is probably behond the scope of your project, but you asked for "handy functionality":

It would be nice to be able to have a serial or parallel interface to the memory card on the camera. IE, be able to read (mission plans) and write (telemetry) to the removable media card inside the camera.


I don't know how feasable this is, but it sure would be handy...

Reed

Ben,

Camera on/off would be nice.

-GD

[CenTexFlyer]

...BUT my real aim to was be able to connect a GPS and record the current position with each image (in the exif data).

We use GeoSpatial Software for tagging photos and that well, but the "fiddle factor" is pretty high. They have the ability to write GPS data to a Ricoh camera but it is only 3MP. It would be great if you could write it out to a variety of high MP cameras like the Lumix LX1/LX2 on the fly (no pun intended :) )with a utility to extract the data.

[reedchristiansen]

Thanks.

That's a good idea. Actually...I can probably do what you're asking! The cameras expose the memory card over USB (thats how your PC reads the pics off)

On my interface I've routed 6 I/O pins to a jumper, and it is not too hard to hook a serial interface up to that. I'm 50% through writing some basic file i/o routines to access files on the memory card.

I want to keep some configuration files on the memory card, eg Camera settings that you want the camera to run with - exposure settings / time lapse delays etc...BUT my real aim to was be able to connect a GPS and record the current position with each image (in the exif data).




Blip,

That would be great. A serial interface would be the easiest. If you could creat a simple protocol to allow binary data written to a a txt or xml file on the card. We have a project coming up that could really use this.

Reed

[clolson]

Hey guys, I haven't posted in here (usually over in Aerial Photography), but I've finally got my camera controller interface up and available. We're controlling the shutter release via USB on Canon and Nikon cameras. I've almost got the zoom control happening too.

I'd appreciate any feedback on what sort of functionality would be handy for UAV type applications.

http://blip.com.au

Regards,
Ben

Hi Ben,

Is there a consistant (known?) latency between when you flip the transmitter switch and when the picture is captured?

Thanks,

Curt.

[blip]

clolson: The latency depends on the camera. Most are very quick, I'd say < 1/10th of a second. I can't really say how consistant it is though, but it is not noticable to the eye/ear!

[blip]

We use GeoSpatial Software for tagging photos and that well, but the "fiddle factor" is pretty high. They have the ability to write GPS data to a Ricoh camera but it is only 3MP. It would be great if you could write it out to a variety of high MP cameras like the Lumix LX1/LX2 on the fly (no pun intended :) )with a utility to extract the data.

At the moment I've only got support for Nikon & Canon and some Kodak, since other manufacturers don't implement the required command set over USB - but yeah, I've had a few queries regarding this sort of thing (GPS co-ordinate tagging), since it's not at all possible on any 'consumer' type equipment.

[blip]

reedchristiansen: Leave it with for a little while - I'll see what I can come up with.

Ben

[Bg~]

Blip,

This is a bit off topic, but do you know of any good online resources for learning about the PTP protocol?

[blip]

Bg: There is an ISO document (ISO 15740) you can purchase which describes the standard, but it's pretty technical - you need some experience with USB communications/interfacing...the rest I worked out from observation and reverse engineering.

[GeorgeDog]

Blip,

This is a bit off topic, but do you know of any good online resources for learning about the PTP protocol?

Canon Camera SDK (http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=SDKHomePageAct&keycode=Sdk_Lic&fcategoryid=322&modelid=11368&id=3464)

BG: It isn't a PTP guide but Canon provides the SDKs for their cameras should you want to communicate with them. -GD

[winged1]

Wow, what a great site for info. Anyway, in regards to the PTP protocol, do a search and you'll find that spec readily available for download. I too am up and running with my Canon USB port via a Cypress SL811 driven by an Atmel micro. We're having a ball playing with new triggers and combinations. The great thing is you can take a realitively cheap used camera, strip off the housing and have great images coming from a small package.

[danstrider]

Can you download the pictures via this interface too?

[winged1]

If your referring to our devices, no. We decided that there was no point in holding image data outside of the camera system, until downloading to a laptop. In which case we unplug the controllers USB, plug the laptop into the camera USB and download the stored images. We do have OTG on our list, but it's not a high priority.

In regards to an earlier query about latency, we have found that in manual mode reaction times are relatively fast. However, in any of the auto modes, the camera wants to perform it's focus and light metering which adds substantial time.

[danstrider]

My application idea would be to have an onboard computer for geo-referencing the images ... that's why I asked about downloading via the interface.

What is OTG?

Thanks for humoring me, hehe :-)
Dan

[winged1]

OTG = On the go USB protocol for devices that can become hosts. You could certainly program the controller to grab the image handle and associate it with GPS co-ordinates.

[danstrider]

Ohhh, so the OTG would give the ability for the onboard computer to poll the device "take a photo, give me the name of it" so that seperate to the image's storage on the camera's memory, a geo-reference file could be stored on the computer with the same name, like geo-tiff for example. Am I close?

I have never thought about that before, but that's a really slick idea! You wouldn't quite have the *images* in real-time, but you could have the geo-ref data, so you'd know pretty much everything to ensure coverage, just not necessarily the image quality ... but that's not a bad trade off for reduced complexity.

You have me thinking winged1...
The current rev does not include this ability for OTG control as proposed above?

Thanks,
Dan

[winged1]

OTG is a host/device protocol that allows a device to become the host. An example would be a camera which is seen as a device to a laptop, but then becomes host to a printer. But yes, I think that approach would produce the desired results. A raw data table would be easier to implement in the controller, which would reference the GPS data to the image data file.

[kd7ost]

At the moment I've only got support for Nikon & Canon and some Kodak, since other manufacturers don't implement the required command set over USB - but yeah, I've had a few queries regarding this sort of thing (GPS co-ordinate tagging), since it's not at all possible on any 'consumer' type equipment.

Hey Blip,

Is this still being worked on? I use a Nikon coolpix 8400 and would like to GPS tag the picture coordinates.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/CP8400/CP84A.HTM

What type of interface does the unit need? I already fly with GPS with NMEA at 4800 baud and it would be best if I can maintain that to share interface with the other gear.

Dan

[winged1]

http://www.geospatialexperts.com/ricoh.html

[kd7ost]

http://www.geospatialexperts.com/ricoh.html

I've seen that before but don't want to use such a poor quality camera. I need a GPS tagging process for my Nikon 8400.

Dan

[blip]

Yeh, I'm still working on it.
The serial interface on my current version of the camera controller board was only intended as a dev/debug interface, so I need rework the code a little so the serial interfacing doesn't interfere with the USB functionality.