Reach beta 2.1 - Hardware integration and how to trigger Sony a6000

Reach Module / M+ / M2 Hardware integration
1

please help me as i m stuck on the initilizing window

2

Hi, and welcome. Could you please post a screenshot from where you are stuck?
Also what reachview version you have, browser you use and if you have flashed reach with 1.2 image?

3

thanks for the reply i just updated my reach from 1.3 to beta 2.1 and that initilization issue was solved as i was unable to think what to do after flashing so i manually entered my wifi network and than refreshed that window after that all worked fine . nw i m in configuration settings learning more how to trigger cammera with reach module so if u can enlighten me with the hardware integration procedure thn it would b very helpful i have sony a6000 just ordered its hotshoe connector just want to noe how can i trigger and record tags at the same using reach module once again thanks for help…

4

Good.
Im not into camera things, Somebody els might have a input here :+1:

5

@Satveer_Singh just wire the hotshoe cable to the time mark input on the Reach. That is all that is required.

6

i got that but my question was does it triggers and time stamps at the same time? @igor.vereninov

7

You have to trigger with your flight controller and then you have camera feedback on reach with timemark pin.
There is a shutter lag so you couldn’t have same thing at the same time

8

@Sylvain_POULAIN is right, using flight controller to trigger came is the best way.

Alternatively camera can be set to continuously shoot photos with a certain period (sometimes called “timelapse mode”).

9

at present we r using the pixhawk and a trigger for clicking images … bt it would b more useful if we can trigger and timestamp through reach module!

10

We do have an option of camera trigger in ReachView, but it can only do time based trigger (which is basically the same as periodic trigger in camera), not by distance or waypoints. If that is sufficient for you check the camera tab in ReachView.

11

Interesting, what about the wiring of this triggering ?
Trigger is log in ubx or it’s a separate yocto event ?

12

@Sylvain_POULAIN pin marked PWM\GPIO183 can be used to generate a signal to trigger the camera. Check the electrical specs for the pinout and mind the voltage levels of your camera.
The trigger itself is not tied to the log, ReachView handles the process of trigger generation and then the receiver can detect an event from the hotshoe connected to the Event pin and make a time mark.

2 Likes
13

Currently I’m also struggling with camera triggering and as I read your comment I get confused a little bit. So, currently if I switch on Camera Triggering in ReachView, configuring duty cicle and period, Reach will send out a pulse on PWM/GPIO183 port to camera repeatedly and trigger my camera?
If I make a second cable between my camera and Time_mark-GND pins of Reach, it will record trigger events?

Currently I try to use this method: flight controller triggers camera via its USB-port and also pull high (higher than 3.3V as it mentioned in manual as logic level threshold) Time_mark pin on Reach. This could also work, right?

14

This is correct.

This way your are not gaining the precision that we have designed into the Event Mark feature. It is critical that pulse that is registered by the Time Mark is emitted by the camera hotshoe in order to eliminate the precision loss due to trigger-shutter delay.

15

This way your are not gaining the precision that we have designed into the Event Mark feature. It is critical that pulse that is registered by the Time Mark is emitted by the camera hotshoe in order to eliminate the precision loss due to trigger-shutter delay.

Thank you for your help. I understand trigger-shutter delay problem but I’m currently using a Canon A1200 (yes, I know it’s quite old but still produce decent images and very durable) camera which has no hotshoe adapter, only a mini-USB connector for triggering.