Fairy On Camera

[Hadi Sapre]

Awhile ago I owned a camera that was before bird tracking auto-focus was a well implemented feature, but got super envious when the Sony A1 was released. I ended up adding bird tracking to the camera myself, using a Google Coral to accelerate a simple pretrained neural network to point out birds and move the focusing point around on the camera. That project involved some reverse engineering of the Picture Transfer Protocol (aka. PTP) that is used by Sony between their camera and their PC app.

There are features that require the user to edit a number, such as the interval time value for the intervalometer. Without a IMU, I have two choices, either have the user loop through some pre-defined values, or have the user first pick between adding to or subtracting from the value first, and then letting them actually modify the value. But with the help of the IMU sensor, now the user can pick between going up or down by tilting the remote left or right and then pressing the big button to actually make the change. Holding the button will change the value with an accelerating repetition.

The triggering action can also be changed from photo to video, or even start the intervalometer. If video mode is configured, the video length can be specified. When a trigger even happens, the system can be configured to re-arm itself after a delay too. This makes it usable for security or wildlife camera purposes, the number of events will be tracked. The voltage input mode allows the user to connect things like a PIR motion sensor, or laser beam-break, or some other sort of boobytrap.

The red screen can be cleared with a button if you need to, and the entire feature can also be disabled through the config menu. Oh, did I mention the M5StickC actually has magnets inside and some screw mounting points?

The code I wrote is pretty complex and messy as it is a just-for-fun project, but I did put effort into the underlying library that communicates with the camera. I hope somebody finds it useful. Maybe somebody has an amputee friend who wants foot pedals to set the shutter speed on their camera, that somebody can benefit from this code.

1. Most mobile app hobby projects either end up becoming a full time job or becomes abandonware. At some point I will need to stop keeping up with Android and iOS updates and the entire project becomes defunct.

3. I would need to replicate, and maintain, everything that the official Sony app already does. Otherwise, the user would need to constantly swap between my app and the official Sony app, which would be super annoying.

1. The user sets the interval of focus movement.

2. The ability to hold the M5Stack big button. (It was a bit inconvenient because I had to press the big button according to the number of shots.)

3. Set the number of shots when holding the big button.

Masterwork, perfect on my A1.

Having a very fast camera I would have liked more parameters to customize the focus stacking : preset number of shots and much reduced intervall among shots .

Will try to modify the focus stack ino.

My very , very best regards

Livio

This is exactly I was looking for ? Many thanx for the project! I have one question, since I am into RC stuff, is it possible somehow to sample SBUS protocol from some of the pins on the M5stick and maybe trigger the functions instead using the buttons? This would make a long range, low price remote control for Sony camera, current solutions are either abandoned or are running in 200-500 EUR price tags :/

Your project is really cool! Amazing. I own sony zv-e10 camera and decided to create my own camera bluetooth remote. It is much more simpler. Here is my approach =lLQVk2f1Jpc What you need is a smartphone and sony camera (I believe alpha series also works). Follow the instructions and enjoy.

Just curious about your use of custom PTP code vs using a library like libptp2? I shoot Nikon and this comes very close to what I am looking for (ability to remotely trigger video based on motion sensor including control over video duration) but it seems like my hurdle will be porting over Sony-specific PTP logic.

I have a Sony A1 and I was looking for solutions for focus stacking (pretty much the only functionality I need that is not out of the box). I have tried a phone app however it has bugs and performance issues.

The main problem is that the app cannot control the focus steps directly, it wiggles the focus until it reaches the desired step before shooting. This means on average 4-7 seconds between shots which is not acceptable for outdoor use. I wonder how your remote determines the focus steps and if it can simply call them directly so that shooting is quicker. I normally look at stacks up to 16 images which I would hope are taken in a time less than 2 seconds depending on exposure. If it takes longer the probability of scene change increases greatly and everything is no more useable.

Thank you for reading this

> A while ago I owned a camera that was before bird tracking auto-focus was a well implemented feature, but got super envious when the Sony A1 was released. I ended up adding bird tracking to the camera myself, using a Google Coral to accelerate a simple pretrained neural network to point out birds and move the focusing point around on the camera. That project involved some reverse engineering of the Picture Transfer Protocol (aka. PTP) that is used by Sony between their camera and their PC app.

The Banana Fairy's Camera,[1] also called the Banana Camera,[2][3] Banana Cam,[4] Banana Fairy Camera,[5] or Camera,[5] is an item in Donkey Kong 64. It is a camera provided by the Banana Fairy Princess when Tiny Kong meets her on Banana Fairy Island. The Banana Fairy's Camera uses Banana Camera Films for capturing photographs, and it uses up one film roll is used each time. The purpose of the Banana Fairy's Camera is for retrieving stray Banana Fairies. The camera mode can be activated by pressing and simultaneously, though pressing allows the player to capture a photo. The face at the top right corner is red and sad by default, but when the player character aligns the Camera's lens to a Banana Fairy, it changes to a green, happy face. The camera can align with the Banana Fairy to capture it, causing a check mark to display briefly, otherwise an X mark appears briefly instead. If the Banana Fairy's Camera is used while no Banana Fairy is nearby, then no mark will appear if a photo is taken, nor will the face icon.

Banana Fairy's CameraThe camera successfully taking a photo of a Banana Fairy.Chronological informationFirst gameDonkey Kong 64Game appearancesDonkey Kong 64General informationOwnerBanana Fairy PrincessTypeItemEffectsAllows the Kongs to capture the Banana Fairies.The Banana Fairy's Camera is an item that appears in Donkey Kong 64.

The Banana Fairy's Camera is acquired once Tiny Kong makes it inside Banana Fairy Island using her Mini-Monkey ability and agrees to help the Banana Fairy Princess. The Banana Fairy Princess explains the Camera has special properties that allow it to capture the missing Banana Fairies. It also requires special film that can be found throughout levels. Whenever Tiny or another Kong has captured a Banana Fairy using the camera, the Banana Fairy Princess will appear and restore all of the Kong's supplies (such as ammunition, orange grenades, and music power) as well as increase their max supply of Crystal Coconuts.

Long term I am hoping to get together a selection of pretty dresses for my little fairies, but for now I point the parents towards the best colours, fabrics and accessories in a seasonal Pinterest board. I find this helps them choose suitable clothing and gives them an idea of my creative vision.

Christmas is just around the corner and if you are interested in a fairy photo shoot but would prefer a different season, why not ask your loved ones for a Wildgoose Photographics gift voucher for Christmas.

I recently watched a movie with my kids about the Cottingley Fairies. The film was a bit of a snoozer but it was my introduction to the true story of two little girls who, between 1917 and 1920 took beautiful b&w glass plate photographs of one another interacting with fairies in the forest behind their home in Cottingley, England.

In attempt to produce more evidence of the existence of fairies, a member of the Theosophical Society of Bedford furnished the girls with two, newer, higher quality, W. Butcher & Sons Cameo quarter plate folding cameras (the old Wikipedia entry here said they were Kodak cameras but I found that they were actually Butcher & Sons again and corrected the entry!) and a set of secretly marked plates, with intent for Sir Author Conan Doyle to publish the resulting images.

Occasionally, vintage prints from the original glass plates turn up at auction and sell for princely sums. Despite being incomplete, the four original hand-tinted prints pictured here sold at auction this past April for nearly $31,000 USD. I found a vintage silver gelatin print of a Photo #4 on eBay for over $3,300 USD.

Each of their pieces is completely unique and has its own personality, back story, and theme. An incredible amount of effort goes into the creation of each character, their outfit, mask, and pet. When you combine this with the breathtakingly stark shooting locations in each photograph it adds a whole new level of depth and meaning. The duo then creates a story behind each picture, tying them into themed collections that transport the viewer to a dark surreal reality, half in this world and half in a fantasy world.

While I could try to tell you more about their work, I feel that the artists would be able to do a far better job explaining it themselves. I took a chance and reached out to Mothmeister to see if they would be interested in answering a few questions. Not only were they interested but their willingness to contribute and the depth of detail in their answers was truly humbling and insipiring.

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