Microflash to fire optical strobes without using camera's flash

VERY nice...you've clearly got access to some good circuit etching capability.

I'm guessing your chip is on the bottom side, and that's a double-side etched circuit board. Or maybe it's on the hotshoe sub-board?

Thanks,

pic controller is located at the bottom and the prototype double side circuit boards are indeed not cheep

Hi

I have been using my original micro flash during 3 trips and thousands of photos, without even changing batteries. It works great with my rig but it didn't work in some other housing if the leds were not properly aligned or when the fiber optic wires are not in perfect condition. So I have made a more universal version, much more powerful that will work with most systems.

This is a pre-serie version:

I will doing some in water tests next week.

I tested in my friend's Olympus SLR and he could go from 1/180 to 1/400 sync speed without seeing the rear curtain. He was so happy to see he will have much more control over background ambient light.

Thanks,

pic controller is located at the bottom and the prototype double side circuit boards are indeed not cheep

Nice, i suppose you have implemented TTL with that pick controller, right?

Cheers

/O

Nice, i suppose you have implemented TTL with that pick controller, right?

Cheers

/O

No TTL

if somebody can explain me how you can transfer TTL trough fibers?(how the length of the discharges can be controlled?)

With electrical signals you can start the strobe with the X and cut it off (IGBT) with the Q signal, off coarse when the strobe is build for it.

No TTL

 

if somebody can explain me how you can transfer TTL trough fibers?(how the length of the discharges can be controlled?)

 

 

With electrical signals you can start the strobe with the X and cut it off (IGBT) with the Q signal, off coarse when the strobe is build for it.

Well, i actually meant that if you go the length having a pic-controlled led flash, i suppose it is doing some form of i/eTTL in the sense that it is performing pre flashes as well as reacting at the cut-off signal. If you have a underwater strobe that is said to do optical TTL, that will be enough to let the camera controll the strobe's output.

I don't know but I don't thing that any manufacturer has implemented a TTL protocol for fibre, but it would be useful with a standardized data format based on messages rather than propriatory pin configurations and propitiatory data interchange.

I made a triggerflash a year ago, but it is just dumb just using the 1ms camera trigger pulse.

cheers

Cheers

/O

The trick is to find out the TTL protocol. Once you know that, you can control it in software using the pic.

I don't know but I don't thing that any manufacturer has implemented a TTL protocol for fibre, but it would be useful with a standardized data format based on messages rather than propriatory pin configurations and propitiatory data interchange.

That is also my conclusion. And still, many photographers claim TTL works trough fibers with the Inons Z240!

@Cor: totally agree, if you work with electrical transfer TTL protocol is needed, like HW converter does, they now the protocol ..... almost

oskar..que? My inon Z240s do TTL over fiber with my D7000 popup flash. Tested it for accuracy on my recent trip and it's pretty good. If only we could get their timing data, then making your own TTL in a DIY hotshoe led connector would be easy.

Hi all!

Maybe the device that Nauticam are building for their Nikon D4 housing will have this TTL compatibility?

And would be re-usable in my Hugyfot D7000 housing!!!

I'm mentioning Nauticam, but kudos to you guys for being precursors in this direction!!

There was a bit of TTL confusion in this thread before.

* The popup flash of the camera will do TTL. If you connect it with a fibre to an external flash that supports "TTL pre flash mimicry" you get TTL with that too.

* I think the confusion come from that the hot shoe has a standardized middle pin that will give short pulse (1ms) when the main flash should go. Without any TTL. This function is the same for most cameras.This is what I use to trigger my microstrobe. Any power adjustments must be done on the strobe.

The thing with getting TTL with a microflash, or any ordinary hot shoe flash for that matter, is that they must use the TTL protocol of the camera. This varies between camera makes (e.g. Canon and Nikon are different). This "protocol" involves both different pin layout in the hot shoe connector and different signals. It is not rocket science and it's definitely doable.

And now we're waiting for the first one to produce a TTL microflash ;-)

Cheers

/O

I'll give a try to the project using a 1W IR LED. I was wondering, can I power that using 2x CR2032's?

Another electronic question: My camera (E-PL5) is theoretically capable of 1/400sec sync speed. This means, the microflash should react in <0.1ms. Do I need to get a special MOSFET or another LED to make the system as fast as possible? Or a stronger power source (e.g. 2x CR2)/higher current is the deal?

The irf540 datasheet talks in nanoseconds - should be fast enough...

Hi

I have been using my original micro flash during 3 trips and thousands of photos, without even changing batteries. It works great with my rig but it didn't work in some other housing if the leds were not properly aligned or when the fiber optic wires are not in perfect condition. So I have made a more universal version, much more powerful that will work with most systems.

This is a pre-serie version:

 

 

I will doing some in water tests next week.

I tested in my friend's Olympus SLR and he could go from 1/180 to 1/400 sync speed without seeing the rear curtain. He was so happy to see he will have much more control over background ambient light.

Hi,

Any way I can buy one of these? Will it fit a Nikon D300 with a Nauticam Housing?

Cheers

Hi everybody,

I'm planning to do a kind of Microflash by myself if Carlos did not put it into production soon .

Some improvements I would try:

- 5.5V 1F super capacitor (rechargeable) instead of coin batteries.

- Microprocessor for special strobe effects, like delays and multiple triggers.

If I had the time I would implement S-TTL as well, but it is a lot of work.

Kind regards,

Alvaro

Hi everybody,

 

I'm planning to do a kind of Microflash by myself if Carlos did not put it into production soon .

 

Some improvements I would try:

 

- 5.5V 1F super capacitor (rechargeable) instead of coin batteries.

- Microprocessor for special strobe effects, like delays and multiple triggers.

 

If I had the time I would implement S-TTL as well, but it is a lot of work.

 

Kind regards,

 

Alvaro

any luck?