DSLR Camera Controller Using Intel Edison

Yet another DSLR Camera DIY add-on from the maker community, after the $80 Sound Blimp, but this one is more brainy and hip, and based on the cool new Intel Edison. The Intel team loved it when its maker Dave Hunt showed it to them and then the gadget was displayed at the Intel kiosk at European Maker Faire!

Talking about the power first – in order to feed the 5v power to the Edison board, Dave uses a DC-DC converter for modifying LiPo’s 3.7 v to 5V. Since a USB port is needed to work in host mode so that the DSLR is connected, a direct battery source is not used to power up the Intel board. The DC-DC converter ensures that there is a free USB port, and that the size of the controller does not increase. The battery, by the way, can run for 8-10 hours on a single charge so that’s good enough practically too.

The shelf components are often too heavy or large for the sleek DIY gadgets such as this one. Dave does the cool thing here of creating his own OTG cable by shorting pins 1 and 2 together, to overcome the limitations imposed by ready-made components )large size). The result is a light and suitable USB OTG wire to plug the gadget to the camera.

Edison circuit board comes with a built-in wifi antenna, but to increase the wifi reach another one is placed here onto the UFL connector, and out to a standard 2.4GHz whip antenna.

A customized iPhone app links with server software coded on the Edison. This maneuvers the camera – moves it, gets thumbnail, clicks images, and leaves room for other features that a maker may want to make their camera do.