Monthly Archives: March 2018

DIY Camera Trap – How to control the shutter of a Panasonic Lumix with Arduino and HC-SR501 Motion Detector

31. March 2018AllgemeinFluxing

Wouldn’t it be great to have a camera that starts recording when something moves? If you look for “wildlife camera” or “camera trap” you can buy cameras that do just that. But first, they are quite expensive, and second, the image quality leaves a lot to be desired. But most cameras have a connection for a remote release. Can’t we combine that with a motion sensor?

I ordered some of these HC-SR501* infrared or PIR motion detectors from Aliexpress, a link is in the description. The sensitivity and the duration of the switching time can be set on the two potentiometers on the side, for example for a light that is to remain switched on for a certain time. That doesn’t help us, because we need a start impulse at the beginning and a stop impulse at the end of the recording. We need an Arduino for that. Now the remote shutter release on my Panasonic Lumix works measuring the resistance of whatever is connected to the socket.

Schematic of Panasonic Lumix Remote Shutter Release Pinout, Will suit G3, G4, Gh4, Gh3, Gh5, G7, G70

I don’t use the Focus button here. So I use an optocoupler instead of the shutter push button on the remote. This is a double one, a single one would have done it, but I still had this one. Continue reading DIY Camera Trap – How to control the shutter of a Panasonic Lumix with Arduino and HC-SR501 Motion Detector →

3 Super Simple 3D Prints for YouTubers – A Sketchup Tutorial for beginners

23. March 2018AllgemeinFluxing

When I tell people that I have a 3D printer, many of them ask something like „what on earth could you possibly want to print with that?“. The best answer would be: a lot! I have only recently startet this YouTube channel. To help me with that, I have already printed a number of things, three of which I would like to show you now.

Here are the files: sketchup-tutorial.zip

This is the 3D-printer that I use:

CTC 3D printer at ebay.com*
or at Amazon.com*
or at Aliexpress.com*

SD Card box

If you work a lot with cameras, you usually also have lots of SD cards. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a little box where you can put them in? I’ll show you how I design such things with Sketchup, but of course you can also download the files on Fluxing.de.

First I need to know the dimensions of the SD card. Then I open the CAD program Sketchup. The free version will do. It is important that the unit of the model is set to millimeters.

First I draw a rectangle. I click into one corner and draw the rectangle. However, I do not click for the other corner, but I simply enter the desired edge lengths in millimeters and confirm this with the return key.

Continue reading 3 Super Simple 3D Prints for YouTubers – A Sketchup Tutorial for beginners →

3D Printed Roller Blind?

16. March 2018AllgemeinFluxing

A 3D printed roller blinds – is that possible? Well, yeah – sort of.

I had the Fluxing logo printed on a tarp to hang it in front of my window as a roller blind. Unfortunately you can’t buy a roller blind with your own design, and I thought it was too expensive buy a suitable roller blind just to disassemble it, especially since I still had a chain from an old roller blind.

So I used Sketchup to reconstruct the mechanism. To explain that in detail takes too long here, but I wil happily make a Sketchup Tutorial if you want me to. Here are the files:

roller.zip

Now I have printed the designed parts with my 3D printer. This will take a while, of course. By the way, I have a very inexpensive 3D printer, but it does the job very well:

CTC 3D printer at ebay.com*
or at Amazon.com*
or at Aliexpress.com*

I trimmed a broom stick with a diameter of 24mm to the correct length. Continue reading 3D Printed Roller Blind? →

DIY camera dolly for time lapses – quick, easy, and dirt cheap!

6. March 2018AllgemeinFluxing

Have you ever watched snow melt? Or snails racing? Or grass growing?

Modern cameras usually have a time-lapse function, which allows actions that take hours to be compressed into a few seconds. But how do you get a smooth camera movement over this long time?

With a motorized dolly. And where do you get one? Build it yourself. It’s not difficult, it’s fast, and its ridiculously cheap. I’ll show you how I did it.

We need some kind of base plate first. I still had this sawn off end of a shelf lying around. I ordered most of the other components directly from Aliexpress in China. It takes forever for the parts to arrive, but everything is incredibly cheap. We need a motor controller, a very slow running motor and three furniture castors. I bought them locally and together they are the most expensive part in this project. Also a battery holder for eight AA-batteries. 8 times 1,5v results in 12V. In the description I will give you links to the parts.

This is the full list:

3 rpm 12v motor (the slower one): € 2,81 https://goo.gl/DyGYjh*

1-channel relay module (for motor only): € 0,44 https://goo.gl/zgD7uS*

2-channel relay module (for shutter and motor): € 0,83 https://goo.gl/4Gk3LX*

8-channel relay module (the one I used): € 3,13 https://goo.gl/Zw24r2*

Arduino Uno: € 2,69 https://goo.gl/TFuEgX*

Motor controller: € 1,19 https://goo.gl/5u8sSV*

Battery holder: € 1,12 https://goo.gl/h4LG5L*

Caster wheels (8 pcs): € 4,51 https://goo.gl/Y4KXms*

Also used in this video:

bendy Octopus tripod: € 1,47 https://goo.gl/d9zYKh*

for the timelapse dolly we need a slow geared motor, dc motor controller, battery box, furniture casters as wheels

The axle of one of the three furniture castors is drilled out. I’ll put the wheel on the motor for a trial. The motor gets connected to the controller. I first had to figure out what goes where, because everything is labeled in Chinese. in this case the motor connectors are left and the input voltage right.

Continue reading DIY camera dolly for time lapses – quick, easy, and dirt cheap! →