ArduPhotographer

Get Arduino to automatically trigger your SLR camera based on a web interface or a passive infrared sensor.

BACKGROUND

A friend of mine asked me if I could build something that would trigger his SLR camera automatically every time a bird was around the nest he set in his garden. He is interested in birds but this time the bird that got to nest in his garden was a very peculiar one.

OBJECTIVE

To get Arduino to trigger the shutter of a SLR camera based on the signals received from a passive infrared sensor (PIR), aka motion sensor.

MATERIAL

1) An Arduino Uno (tested on R3)
2) An Arduino Ethernet shield
3) A PIR (Passive InfraRed) sensor
4) A 433.92MHz receiver: MX-JS-05V
5) A 600Ohms resistor
6) An optocoupler 4N35
7) A 2.5mm phono socket

HARDCODED PARAMETERS

The most important parameter to hardcode (defined as a constant) is the maximum frames per second (FPS) supported by the camera. Please refer to the camera's manufacture manual for information on the maximum FPS of your camera.
One parameter that can lead to missing frames is the shutter pulse duration. This parameter is configurable on the constants declaration section.

VARIABLE PARAMETERS

For information on variable parameters, please refer to document parameter_doc.pdf.

NOTES

  • This project asumes the SLR camera features remote cable shutter.
  • This project does not offer information on how to built the physical connector cable to the SLR.