A Mechanical Shutter Release For A Digital Camera

November 18, 2019 by Lewin Day 19 Comments

Most digital cameras these days come with some kind of electronic remote shutter release. Various solutions exist, using USB cables, smartphone apps, or dedicated remotes. [Steloherd] wasn’t happy with the options available for his Ricoh GRII, though, so built a rig to do things the old fashioned way.

The spring plate helps protect the shutter button from damage.

[Steloherd] wanted to use an old-school mechanical release cable, so devised a way to use it to trigger the Ricoh’s standard shutter button. A small aluminium bracket was created, attached to the hot shoe on top of the camera via a mounting foot from a standard flash accessory. A spring plate was then created to help spread the load from the mechanical release pin, ensuring it triggers the camera effectively without damaging anything.

Installing the mechanical release proved difficult, as the DIN standard calls for an obscure M3.4 conical tapped thread. Rather than muck about finding rare tooling, [Steloherd] simply recut the thread on the release cable to a straight M3x0.5, and did the same for the bracket.

Overall, it’s a tidy hack, and one that could be adapted to other cameras fairly easily. Other methods we’ve seen involve such odd choices as linear actuators harvested from air fresheners, if you’d believe it. As always, if it works, it works!

Heated Slippers Keep Your Feet Warm, Also Your House As It Burns To The Ground.

March 23, 2015 by Rich Bremer 20 Comments

Winter may be coming to a close but that doesn’t mean that feet are free from being cold. Sure, socks or slippers may help a little, or you can even turn up the heat in your home but none of those options are as fun or as dangerous as [Colin Furze’s] solution. He has come up with some crazy DIY heated slippers.

Sure, there’s battery powered heated slippers or even ones you can microwave to heat up but those are wicked boring. These puppies are actually gas powered and more resemble a small portable camping stove than any sort of footwear. Under each slipper is a custom-made burning chamber inside which is a small burner. Each slipper is supplied a constant flow of fuel from its own on-board gas can. Warming your feet couldn’t be easier, just turn on the gas and light the burner with a match.

It goes without saying but we should reiterate… Don’t try this at home! What you can try is watching the video of these slippers after the break.

[Colin Furze] is not new to having his projects on Hackaday. For more of his flame-based projects, check out his Pyro Gloves. And of course, who could forget these amazing retractable Wolverine Claws.

Continue reading “Heated Slippers Keep Your Feet Warm, Also Your House As It Burns To The Ground.” →

Papercraft Flash Reflector

October 10, 2012 by Mike Szczys 13 Comments

We never use the flash on our point-and-shoot. It has a way of washing out every image we take. But [Joey] has a different solution to the problem. He shows us how to make a papercraft flash reflector that will still light up your subject without washing out everything in the foreground.

[Joey] is perfectly aware that at first glance it would seem you need to have a reflective forehead for this to work. But the reflector is actually set up to aim the flash toward the ceiling. Since most ceilings are white this will reflect the light back into the room, dispersing it at the same time. His write-up includes a link to a PDF of the pattern. After cutting it out, one side is coated in black electrical tape, the other is left white to reflect the light. The design includes a tab that slides into the hot shoe of his Nikon DSLR to position it in front of the pop-up flash.

Safe-Sync Protects Your Camera From Older High-voltage Flash Modules

June 22, 2012 by Mike Szczys 10 Comments

Since we’re not high-end camera aficionados it was a surprise to us that the hot shoe that allows a camera to interface with a flash module has changed rather dramatically over the years. Apparently the interface used to be mchanical-electrical in that the camera would use mechanical means to connect two electrodes from the hot shoe. It didn’t matter the voltages it was switching because the camera didn’t have an electrical system connected to the interface. The problem is that connecting a modern camera to what [David Cook] calls ‘legacy’ flash hardware could damage it. So he developed the Safe-Sync to interface modern cameras with older flash modules.

You can see the board which he’s holding up in the image. It includes a lot of nice features, like the ability to be powered from the external flash, or from a battery. There’s also an optional momentary push switch which can be used to test the flash control (or hack it for other purposes). In addition to providing protection with older equipment, this could also be used to interface flash modules from different manufacturers with your camera.

Laser-powered DSLR Auto Focus Assist Light

May 31, 2011 by Mike Nathan 28 Comments

laser_af_assist

[Adrian] uses his Canon 40D quite often in dark or low-light situations, and found the onboard auto focus assist functionality to be a bit frustrating. In certain focus modes, the auto focus assist light is programmed to turn off once focus has been achieved. He noticed that if his subject moves or the focus point changes before he snaps the picture, the AF light does not come back on to assist in refocusing the image.

To work around this problem, he decided to build a supplemental auto focus assist light that could be triggered at will. He purchased a cheap laser pointer with an adjustable lens, then cut it open to get at the good parts. He mounted it on top of his camera and tweaked the lens to produce an unfocused beam of light that measures about 6” x 12” at five feet.

The laser pointer did the trick – his images are coming out much nicer now that he can easily recompose his shots in low light. While it works great, he’s not completely satisfied with the build, especially with the fact that he has to manually trigger the laser pointer.

Version 2 is in the works however, which employs an old hot shoe to trigger the laser whenever he pushes the shutter release halfway down. According to his blog he is having some timing issues, causing him to capture the laser in most of the pictures he takes. [Adrian] is working hard to correct the problem, and we’re sure he’d appreciate any tips you might have.