using ch 7 proportional control to trigger a camera shutter

[Martib]

Hi Guys,

I have mounted a QX10 camera and have tried WIFI control with little success, I have patched directly into the Shutter PCB by soldering wires directly on.. I intend to use the CH 7 on the transmitter to control the focus/shutter using a proportional switching device.
Does anyone have ADVICE on patching into the output on the craft ? People are calling the Channel 7 a "spare channel" It seems I will loose tilt on my existing phantom gimbal after modding this. Any ideas ? Why is there no "spare" channel available to activate other devices on the craft ?
Please let me know if you have had experience patching into the Channel 7 output on the craft.

 

[Lastor]

Re: using ch 7 proportional control to trigger a camera shut

People are calling the Channel 7 a "spare channel" It seems I will loose tilt on my existing phantom gimbal after modding this. Any ideas ? Why is there no "spare" channel available to activate other devices on the craft ?
Please let me know if you have had experience patching into the Channel 7 output on the craft.

With software you can easily hack stock gimbal to use it with 7th channel.
If you like to use tilt function on your phone/tablet you have to do the same procedure, but luckily it takes a few seconds only.

 

[Martib]

Re: using ch 7 proportional control to trigger a camera shut

People are calling the Channel 7 a "spare channel" It seems I will loose tilt on my existing phantom gimbal after modding this. Any ideas ? Why is there no "spare" channel available to activate other devices on the craft ?
Please let me know if you have had experience patching into the Channel 7 output on the craft.

With software you can easily hack stock gimbal to use it with 7th channel.
If you like to use tilt function on your phone/tablet you have to do the same procedure, but luckily it takes a few seconds only.

Hi Lastor

Please advise on the software "hack" I hope to leave the tilt function as is and use the extra proportional channel to control a second camera shutter... If you would be kind enough to let me know how to do it... I would be much appreciated...

 

[Lastor]

Re: using ch 7 proportional control to trigger a camera shut

Hi Martib!

I am not sure that you can use that 7th channel for anything else than the gimbal tilt function as it is originally gain switch/potentiometer on board for fine gain adjusting with screw driver.
Desoldering that potentiometer and installing the one I used it gives you just more convenient way to control the gimbal!
Please find below:

QUOTE
"DJI Phantom Pitch Control Lever Kit. You can install this onto your Phantom Transmitter and control the 7th channel for camera pitch.
This control lever works on all Phantoms just by simply install it. If you have a Phantom 2 Vision, you need an extra step to enable the 7th channel so you can physically control the tilt of your camera.

viewtopic.php?t=8006&p=65536 (LINK FROM OUR FORUM MEMBER)

1 dropbox.com/s/icz90nramn56mf3/phantom2-tool.rar
(Download and unzip)
2 connect your Phantom2 Vision to the computer via USB
3 start the unzipped tool you just downloaded.
4 check mark the H3 2d box ( not the vision one)
5 close tool
6 start the Naza DJI Phantom 2 Assistant_1.08
7 x1 calibrate and you're done

You can also reverse back to factory setting with the software so there will be no risk doing this."

Dropbox link is the one to be downloaded and used to enable ZENMUSE gimbal so you can use 7th channel!

 

[ResevorDG]

Re: using ch 7 proportional control to trigger a camera shut

It seems like you could use the motion of the servo to physically press the shutter release button on your camera. You would just need to rig up an arm that attaches to the servo and presses the button on your camera.

 

[MonsieurAnon]

Re: using ch 7 proportional control to trigger a camera shut

Does your camera shoot continuously if you hold down the shutter? With my Samsung, I have to set the drive to slow continuous to achieve this. I think it runs out of RAM when using the fast continuous setting. I get a shot a second with duct tape and a little nut ... but I'm working on a permanent, printable solution.

 

[Martib]

Re: using ch 7 proportional control to trigger a camera shut

Does your camera shoot continuously if you hold down the shutter? With my Samsung, I have to set the drive to slow continuous to achieve this. I think it runs out of RAM when using the fast continuous setting. I get a shot a second with duct tape and a little nut ... but I'm working on a permanent, printable solution.

The QX 10 does not shoot continuously ... Unfortunately... I had to run an android phone on the p2 in the air to maintain the WIFI timelapse program connection.. It worked .. but the shutter speeds are too low to deal with the vibration.

 

[MonsieurAnon]

Re: using ch 7 proportional control to trigger a camera shut

****. Dampening helps a bit with shutter speeds, although it took a lot of experimenting with my Samsung to get it right.

At present I've got mine in a form of shutter priority mode. I set the ISO to the highest before grain sets in (800), F stop to the largest aperture for the lens (3.5) and then the camera detects how much light it needs and sets the shutter speed. This causes the shortest possible shutter speed for consistent light. In a room with only the camera's LCD for light it can go as high as 10 seconds, but it's regularly <1/200th when flying on a regular day ... and the results are usually great.