background preloader

Hardware

Facebook Twitter

Infrared remote control for Nikon. The story Searching for an alternative to buying an expensive remote control for my Nikon D70, I found a small program for the Palm. It works well, but the Palm isn’t really comfortable for that kind of use. At this point I decided to build a pocket circuit, using a micro-controller, to release the camera’s shutter. The choice of which processor to use was simple: I’ve been working for many years with the ST6 family, but recently, I discovered the AVR micro-controllers. Why not use one of these? 01/2012 : I started to work to this project in the far 2005, when the original ML-L3 was very expensive. Some theory Using an infrared demodulator and a digital oscilloscope I captured the wave generated by the Palm. Figure 1 Note: High levels show when the transmitter’s led is on, low levels when the led is off.

Note 2: The waveform in the figure is slight different from the original captured using the Palm. Before concluding this paragraph, I must say a few words regarding the transmitter. Arduino Shield List. Lighting and Display Solutions - LED Driver - TLC5925. Lighting and Display Solutions - LED Driver - TLC5916. Heliotype Prototyping PCB 70 x 50mm w/ 432 Pads - dipmicro electronics. 555 Timer Oscillator Frequency Calculator. Fill in one of the values below and press ‘go’ and the calculator will give you a range of options for R12 & C1.

I have included the ‘duty cycle’ of the configuration. This didn’t matter for my purposes — I just needed a rising signal on a regular interval — but you might find it useful. The values above are based on ‘perfect’ resistors and capacitors. Most common resistors can vary by up to 10% from the stated value, and capacitors by up to 20%. If you find your results differ significantly from what you expect, you should test your components. About the calculator There are other calculators on the web, but they tend to approach it from the opposite direction — given R1, R2, and C1, what timing will result?

For the components, I chose those that come with the Radio Shack ‘grab bags’ of resistors (part #271-003) and capacitors (part #272-801 & 272-802).