USB?linux remote shutter control of Nikons ?

radiance-general
1

Dear folks,

out of curisosity: has someone got a Nikon (model 8400/880/4500) remotely controlled (shutter speed etc. for HDR) under Linux ?
Paul's informative posting from March 2005
    http://www.radiance-online.org/pipermail/radiance-general/2005-March/002512.html
mentions hacking the firmware to get a remote controlled sequence of shutter speeds on a Nikon.

Linux USB pages say that most Nikons are supported by gphoto2:
    http://www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/showdev.php?id=1353
    http://www.teaser.fr/~hfiguiere/linux/digicam.html
Reading images on a 4500 with PTP mode works, remote trigger works, but mostly likely the firmware doesn't support setting of the shutter speed:

Nikon Europe support tells me that only the 8400,8800,L1/L101,S4 support remote control via USB (firmware of the 4500 at hand is 1.2, most recent one at Nikon is 1.3, which they say differs only in flash control). Has someone info on the inofficial side to this ?
(If you are not aware of it, holding the 'menu' button at power-on displays the firmware version)
Someone I talked to mentioned some undocumented pins on the 4500 USB connector, which are supposed to be RS232 with remote control features. Apparently he'd be testing this soon.

Anyone aware of 3rd party companies selling something like an HDR firmware for NIkons (or other cameras) ?

Info on positive experiences with other brands and HDR control via USB on Linux would also be much appreciated.

TIA
-Peter

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pab-opto, Freiburg, Germany, http://www.pab-opto.de
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2

Hi Peter,

out of curisosity: has someone got a Nikon (model 8400/880/4500)
remotely controlled (shutter speed etc. for HDR) under Linux ?

E995:
- USB interface shows up as hard drive, so is no good for remote control
- RS232 cable (available for E990) allows for remote control, BUT not
setting of shutter/aperture, so you are limited to the +/- 2 EV AEB which
can be combined with +/- 2 EV MEC to give in theory +/- 4EV.

E990:
- Starting with this model, Nikon have systematically removed remote
control funtionality (hence 995 problems)
- Both, USB and serial may be used to change settings (USB will not show
up as HD)
- my particular model hangs when remotely pushing the trigger via USB, but
serial works. This seems to be a general problem with 990s.
- AEB only +/- 0.7 EV
- no built-in noise reduction!
- full remote control over aperture and shutter speed

E4500:

Reading images on a 4500 with PTP mode works, remote trigger works, but
mostly likely the firmware doesn't support setting of the shutter speed:

Same problem as 995 -- Nikon deliberately crippled this functionality,
probably to force people to go D-range ($$$!)

Someone I talked to mentioned some undocumented pins on the 4500 USB
connector, which are supposed to be RS232 with remote control
features. Apparently he'd be testing this soon.

What appears to be a USB connector is on fact a combination of USB and
RS232. There are enough pins to break out both. I'd be terribly surprised
if the MC-EU1 serial remote control would not work with the E4500.
However, unless you get one given to you, I wouldn't recommend buying one
(at least not for the full RRP). It only gives you zoom, trigger and a
sorta time lapse that can't go below 2 mins, and doesn't even display the
time remaining until the next shot.

Anyone aware of 3rd party companies selling something like an HDR
firmware for NIkons (or other cameras) ?

TechnoTeam in Ilmenau, DE have teamed up with Rollei to produce a camera
that has a special firmware for HDR (-9T, -3T, T, +3T, +9T). This gizmo
also comes with a complete set of calibration files and some Windoze
software. Don't know about the pricing, though.

I've recently got myself a 5 Pound (price, not weight!) Palm pilot on
e-bay. They have a serial interface and can control CoolPixes. There is
sone stuff on the web:
a) http://vyskocil.free.fr/cool (closed source)
b) http://timeguy.com/cradek/palmshotcom/ (GPL)

Based on b), I intend to hack together 'PalmHDR', once I've got some time.
I'll keep you updated.

Cheers

Axel