Camera Pi – DSLR Camera with Embedded Computer
davidhunt.ie
Camera Pi – DSLR Camera with Embedded Computer
1–10 of 31 posts
Re: Camera Pi – DSLR Camera with Embedded Computer
#2FYI you need a powered USB hub to attach that wifi dongle.
I also got one of those small Realtek RTL8188SU wifi dongles and found that it worked very poorly. I don't know if it was the particular vendor I got mine from or the drivers or that particular chipset, but the interface would just stop working if you tried to do anything data intensive or prolonged on it. SSH and VNC were unusable.
Re: Camera Pi – DSLR Camera with Embedded Computer
#3Very cool! What saddens me is that there is already an embedded computer on the camera! There is just not a good way to program it.
While there are some great efforts, like Magic Lantern, to reverse engineer and improve the firmware, I wish the producers just made the source part of their product. (I don't believe their trade secrets are that valuable to be honest. Not more valuable than letting people builds apps for your camera, at least)
Re: Camera Pi – DSLR Camera with Embedded Computer
#4As a hobbyist photographer this definitely sounds interesting in terms of allowing more control over the camera (especially automated uses, build your own timelapse, get past the 30s long exposure instead of having to buy a $150 canon timer remote, et cetera). But doing anything with image manipulation and transfer (maybe there's a reason Eye-fi hasn't moved into the DSLR space -- no CF version, only Class 6 speeds) seems like a daunting task for the pi..
For those more familiar with the Raspberry Pi, does it actually have enough performance to move big RAW files around? A 5D3 will output ~30MB RAWs and in a shoot you may end up with 500+ of them. Having a Pi transfer/move/adjust them sounds like a slog.
Re: Camera Pi – DSLR Camera with Embedded Computer
#5FYI you need a powered USB hub to attach that wifi dongle. I also got one of those small Realtek RTL8188SU wifi dongles and found that it worked very poorly. I don't know if it was the particular vendor I got mine from or the drivers or that particular chipset, but the interface would just stop working if you tried to do anything data intensive or prolonged on it. SSH and VNC were unusable.
He does mention resetting the USB port after every image transfer, so maybe that solves that problem as well.
Re: Camera Pi – DSLR Camera with Embedded Computer
#6Very cool! What saddens me is that there is already an embedded computer on the camera! There is just not a good way to program it. While there are some great efforts, like Magic Lantern, to reverse engineer and improve the firmware, I wish the producers just made the source part of their product. (I don't believe their trade secrets are that valuable to be honest. Not more valuable than letting people builds apps fo…
There were briefly some Sony cameras that had hackable built in OS. An open firmware or at least apps (Instagram in camera) would be great. Too late now perhaps as the compact camera market is shrinking and DSLRs are premium products?
Re: Camera Pi – DSLR Camera with Embedded Computer
#7FYI you need a powered USB hub to attach that wifi dongle. I also got one of those small Realtek RTL8188SU wifi dongles and found that it worked very poorly. I don't know if it was the particular vendor I got mine from or the drivers or that particular chipset, but the interface would just stop working if you tried to do anything data intensive or prolonged on it. SSH and VNC were unusable.
That's a pain in the neck.
I steam 720p video for hours on end over a IOGear GWU625 (Realtek RTL8191S) with no problems.
(Requires powered hub AFAIK, I don't think I tried it without though).
Re: Camera Pi – DSLR Camera with Embedded Computer
#8As a hobbyist photographer this definitely sounds interesting in terms of allowing more control over the camera (especially automated uses, build your own timelapse, get past the 30s long exposure instead of having to buy a $150 canon timer remote, et cetera). But doing anything with image manipulation and transfer (maybe there's a reason Eye-fi hasn't moved into the DSLR space -- no CF version, only Class 6 speeds)…
The Pi does about 10MB/s over the network, I believe.
As for image manipulation, sadly, the Pi is fairly fast by embedded standards, but running general-purpose software on a full-blown OS takes a lot away.
For comparison, the original Xbox used an x86 of the same clock speed.
Re: Camera Pi – DSLR Camera with Embedded Computer
#9FYI you need a powered USB hub to attach that wifi dongle. I also got one of those small Realtek RTL8188SU wifi dongles and found that it worked very poorly. I don't know if it was the particular vendor I got mine from or the drivers or that particular chipset, but the interface would just stop working if you tried to do anything data intensive or prolonged on it. SSH and VNC were unusable.
That's a pain in the neck. I steam 720p video for hours on end over a IOGear GWU625 (Realtek RTL8191S) with no problems. (Requires powered hub AFAIK, I don't think I tried it without though).
Yeah this is the one I got:
http://www.amazon.com/Airlink-compatible-Wireless-Mini-USB-A...
I suppose a thing that small and cheap is too good to be true.
Re: Camera Pi – DSLR Camera with Embedded Computer
#10Very cool! What saddens me is that there is already an embedded computer on the camera! There is just not a good way to program it. While there are some great efforts, like Magic Lantern, to reverse engineer and improve the firmware, I wish the producers just made the source part of their product. (I don't believe their trade secrets are that valuable to be honest. Not more valuable than letting people builds apps fo…
The amazing CHDK: http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK_in_Brief for those who aren't aware of it. If I could ensure a new camera was supported, that alone would be enough to make me buy it over any competing models.