Is there Any SPOT member left?

[Harry Sanderson]

I've been looking at your project and interesting in building a SPOT. I'm currently studying software developement at college and would like to lend a hand if there are any bugs or further developement? Would be great if I could get involved!

[Till Seyfarth]

Hi Harry,

I'm still here but there's not much activity (ok, none).

The real problem with the SPOT is not software but hardware: the display (specifically: connecting wires to it) and the case / hotshoe. They're just too tricky to assemble! If I were to start over I would use LEDs (e.g. bargraph type) instead. That way it would be possible to just mount them directly on the board, drill a few holes in the case and be done with it. 

Totally awesome would be a 3d-printed case, possibly including the hotshoe, but that's not my area of expertise.

The way I found these open projects work is this: You have a personal need, see some inspiring designs that others made. You take those as a basis, recombine, add a few ideas of your own and then present it to the public - for extra points with a heads up to those on whose designs you built. Don't expect to find a team, be the team. Others may eventually carry on in the same way - and they will be happy about documentation that helps them understand your stuff!

If you have any questions I'll be happy to help. 

Cheers!

 Till

[Marco Tedaldi]

Hi

I'm still there too. Loved the Idea of the spot from the beginning.

Maybe we should think overvsome stuff. Get rid of the Display, put in a bluetooth tranciever and publish an app for smartphones to control it?

About the case. 3-d printig sounds like an awesome idea! I should be able to draw up something there. I think it does not matter if it takes some weeks until I can present something :)

Best regards

Marco

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[Till Seyfarth]

Hi Marco,

love the smartphone app idea!! And yeah, seems that the rush phase is over :-D

Cheers

 Till

[Konstantin]

Bluetooth is too slow. I've tried it and from my experience, it's not
fast enough to get 1/100 speed sync.

The real problem with SPOT is that at this point there are very good
and functional Chinese products that do just that. When it was
originally developed, it was either Pocket wizard or Cactus. Now there
are many, many options.

[Till Seyfarth]

Konstantin, I think you misunderstood: We would keep the firing protocol and HW between the SPOTs but use BT additionally to hook them up to smartphones for GUI purposes. That way the case and HW assembly gets MUCH simpler and we still have a sophisticated GUI.

Could you name a few current alternatives please? I'd personally perfer to buy (cheaply) than to assemble 3-4 SPOTs. But as you say, that wasn't an option at the time.

Cheers

 Till

[Konstantin]

Got it about Bluetooth. You're right.

Something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yongnuo-YN-622C-Wireless-TTL-Flash-Trigger-1-8000s-Flash-Ratio-for-Canon-F335-/290909311413?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43bb8bd1b5


Also, the 2.4 GHz triggers work MUCH better than their 433 MHz
counterparts. I am a happy owner of 4 RF-603 units. No power control,
but still they're pretty reliable. Good enough for me.

[Kase Saylor]

Hmm, I like the idea of BT/phone app. Could use the phone app to set power levels, check status, etc. 

-Kase

[Harry Sanderson]

You can get the Nokia 3310 in PCB format? Could that be a possibility to help with the connection of wires?

Would you be able to point me in the direction of how the E-TTL functions actually work. i.e. How the data is transferred protocols etc for the flash?

Thanks Harry

[Till Seyfarth]

Hi Harry,

is there a PCB version? That would make things much easier. Link?

There is no E-TTL in this project. It's the manual shoot-evaluate-adapt-try again approach - see "strobist". If you were referring to the wireless protocoll between the SPOTs please have a look at the documentation...

Cheers

 Till

[Harry Sanderson]

Hi here's a link to a PCB version that's lots made by different companies now.

And okay thanks I will have a look at them!

Hoping to build some spots in the next few weeks!

Harry

[Till Seyfarth]

Thanks Harry, I wish I had this when I built the original! I didn't see your link but a quick search provided this one: 

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10168 - same controller, probably same bus protocol, just a little higher resolution(?). I'm tinkering with other stuff now, but if I ever do a SPOT v2 this is place 1 on the list.

Cheers

 Till

Harry

[Harry Sanderson]

Probably it uses the same controller as the 3310 Screen. They are practically the same to control aswell I think!

Hopefully if I manage to build a couple of spots successfully, I'll have a tinker and see if I can include any of the other features listed in the Project Requirements!

Harry