Strobotics

Seeing as I’m a canon person as far as bodies and lens goes I thought I’d look into the E-TTL protocol and how the camera body and the flash can talk to each other.

I’m not looking to completely implement the E-TTL protocol in the Strobit Triggr, (well not yet anyway), but more along the lines of fooling the camera body that I have an E-TTL capable strobe attached and thus enable high speed sync mode.  If we know what the sequence is between the camera and the flash is, then  I can play around with the timing of the Strobit Triggers.  Why do we need to do this?

1. By not using E-TTL we are then limited to standard hotshoe only sync speeds,  so when the camera triggers the hotshoe we are at least guaranteed 1/60 – 1/250 etc rather than some higher sync speeds like 1/1000 or more.
2. Wireless as a transmission medium has some inherent lag due to the physical properties (i.e. air) so if we can fool the camera I have a high speed strobe attached and so enable high speed sync mode, the camera triggers will still be out of sync due to this lag.  So with some knowledge of the basic E-TTL sequence and by playing around with the timing I should be able to get the Strobit Triggrs to fire early, before the actual camera fires and still be in sync with the high speed shutter.

While I’m waiting for the boards I will look at playing around with this idea, I’ve just ordered a cheap canon E-TTL flash extension cord (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19612) so I can gain access to the hotshoe contacts easily with my logic analyser. 

Unfortunately one of my biggest stumbling blocks is that I do not own or have access to a Canon E-TTL flash, (the only non canon equipment in my kit are my strobes mix of Nikon and Vivitar), thus started some research, it just so happens that Bill Grundmann has recently started his analysis of the E-TTL protocol and making fantastic headways.  Dang he has saved me a huge amount of time!  Well done Bill!

• http://billgrundmann.wordpress.com/2009/03/04/ettl-interface/
• http://billgrundmann.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/ettl-continued/
• http://billgrundmann.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/sniffing-canons-ettl-protocol/
• http://billgrundmann.wordpress.com/2009/03/18/sniffing-canons-ettl-protocol-2/ 

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Here are the final renderings from POV with the basic personality board installed, along with a 900MHZ antenna.  I’m pretty happy now, looks OK and now will see how accurate this exercise really is when I get prototype boards back.

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Ok not quite finished, but almost there!  I’ve had to make a few minor changes.  I’m glad I’ve taken the time to learn and play around with Eagle 3D, it had highlighted some potential clearance problems.  Rather than rush things I’ve decided to take a bit of time modelling than fork out my $$$ and get some prototypes made only to find these problems down the track and could have avoided.  Granted Modelling is not a silver bullet, and I guess I could be here forever, but now I’m a lot happier.

Changes:

• Moved SMA antenna connector back from front edge of the PCB as it was hanging over slightly.  This connector is optional at assembly.  The pad can be used to solder on a wire antenna instead.
• Changed switched power side on the switch, The switched side of the On/Off switch was very close to ground plane coming under the switch so had the potential to short, now is nice and clear.  I’ve also added some more ground plane clearance around the switch contacts just to be on the safe side.
• Added solder jumpers for LEDS, probably don’t want these enabled if a personality board is on, but it gives you the option to use them or not, and re-use the I/O if required.
• Moved vias and tracks away from standoffs.

Todo:

• I think I really need to isolate the 2 power sources from each other, i.e. the Power from the USB and VBAT, so I’m looking at putting in a BAT54C barrier diode.  Just need to research it a bit more.
• Still don’t know what to do with the ICSP connector.  I will probably leave it there with the option of putting it on at assembly.  I’m pretty sure that it will clear any personality board with a bit of care.  Modelling the personality board is my next step.

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Strobit Eagle3D Library now available for download….see Eagle3D Page

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HopeRF 433Mhz / 915Mhz

Experimental 2.4GHZ

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I’ve been playing around with Googles sketchup over the weekend and have created some components, one the RFM12B module and a basic camera hotshoe to scale.  It’s been a great little exercise in learning both Alibre and Sketchup as I’ve been wanting to get some 3D modelling practice, I’m finding that it’s easier to create things in Alibre and then export them to Sketchup.  Alibre does not support texture mappings in the drawing or export to POV, but Sketchup does it brilliantly, while on the other hand, Alibre’s3D modelling is very easy to use.

Currently the workflow is:  Model in Alibre –> textures in Sketchup – > POV Rendering– > Eagle3D Components.

Keep an eye out for more to come.  I’ve started a Stobit Collection in Googles 3D warehouse  for use with this project and will be adding to it as I go.   I’ll be putting the Eagle3D component files that I’ve created online shortly.

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I know I’m a bit slack in updates on the blog.  If you haven’t noticed I now have a twitter account  http://www.twitter.com/madeinoz so you can follow what I’m doing when it’s not getting updated here.

However since the blog is way over due for an update here is what’s been happening in a nutshell.

Strobit Trigger:

I have finally gotten off my butt and done a redesign (hah and you thought the project had died a slow death, it may have stalled slowed, but certainly not dead!)

Features worthy of note in the new design (in no particular order):

• 3V design, will run from x2 AA Alkaline or single CR123A 3V battery.
• Fairly compact board, 30mm x 70mm. (without battery)  slightly lalonger on 2.4ghz design due to antenna.
• Onboard on/off switch to save batteries when not in use.
• FTDI 3.3v breakout cable port for connecting to either RS232 or USB using the FTDI cable.
• Onboard ISCP port for programming.
• Personality daughter boards.  Will allow users to create their own hardware modules, i.e. sound trigger, light trigger, LCD UI, or whatever they like etc
• Atmega168V processor, low cost, low voltage design = longer battery life.
• Can run Arduino bootloader, so developers have access to Arduino development libraries.
• I’ve designed 2 different boards.  One using the RFM12B module at either 433Mhz or 915Mhz.  The second board I’m going to try a 2.4GHZ design using Microchips FCC certified MRF24J40MA 802.15.4 module, this is purely experimental so I don’t have any testing done yet, but I have some of these modules and would like to try them out, also being FCC certified will be an added benefit.  (not to mention I’ll be using these for a mesh sensor network project I have planned around the house)
• RFM12B board design has external SMA antenna.
• Base PCB board designs are done and I’m fairly happy with them so far, I’m just finishing a basic personality modules which I can used for testing and maybe another one so I can make up the  max designs I can have on a single panelized board (may as well get the most designs I can get fabricated when I send it off to GoldPheonix).  I’ve done some initial Eagle3D runs to get an idea of the boards and so I can post them on the blog, but I really need to learn how to create components in Eagle3D as it leaves unknown components blank, i.e. the RF modules and therefore looks incomplete.  (anyone that can help me here please contact me)

Still To Do:

• Panelize boards
• Send to GoldPheonix for PCB fabrication.
• Assemble and test.

I’ve also been playing with learning Alibre, a fantastic 3D design package (they have a free version) so I can get some ideas for building enclosures design for these boards.

RFM12B PCB

MRF24J40MA PCB

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I was surprised when I looked at my blog today how long ago my last post was, nearly a month ago…bugger where has the time gone – it’s nearly christmas again LOL!  Way overdue for an update I think.

Well I can tell you where the time has gone, mainly sourcing component suppliers and getting prices in for the Triggr boards, not to mention a redesign.

Have had a delay also with the design, which really was a lawyer thing.  After speaking with a few people and my laywer about some issues initially raised on the forums about the existing patent held by the Pocket Wizard People, I’ve decided to make some fairly significant changes to the design, All the functionality is still there and its still expandable, actually probably more expandable than it was before.  I just needed to make it a non-dedicated remote camera trigger, in fact it’s not really a trigger at all, confused? well all will be revealed

In short these changes have been made but I need to finish the new PCB, which I’m hoping to finish this week, and then get some prototypes underway, hopefully I will get a 3-D model of it in it’s current form on this site as soon as I work out how to use Eagle 3D.

Most of the prices are in although I’ve not calculated the price based on the new design, it is still looking good, the biggest killer so far is freight.   When you can get resistors at $0.0016 each in reel of 4000, it doesn’t work out to be that expensive, however at freight of AUD$45+  it all starts adding up when you are needing different reels of capacitors resistors from different suppliers etc.  So…..at the moment in between finalizing the new Atmega Board design and my real day job, I’m sourcing a turnkey supplier and assembly so that I only need to pay freight once.

As a side note looks like best price breaks start at 1000 units for most things so I need to make sure I do my numbers correctly so I don’t end up with alot of expensive paperweights that I can’t get rid off LOL.

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