Camera Control board

Hi all,

Looking to gauge interest/feature requests for a camera control board.

I wrote the software for direct geotagging for the UMC-R10C.

With the discontinuation of the UMC-R10C I’ve integrated the rest of the Sony camera line into the CCB and added a few more features such as full mavlink camera control, a few other triggering options (pulse, mavlink message, distance, or time), Image transfers via MAVFTP, and live view streaming.

The software works with any mavlink enabled aircraft.

Unfortunately I can’t open source the software but I am happy to take some feature requests if there are any specific use cases.

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Cool - so is this something I can buy if it’s not open? How much, what’s it look like, etc.

Hi, Mathew
I own a Sony UMC-R10C, which I could never run because I couldn’t find any information or drivers for this camera. Could you please tell me where did you find this information ?
Thank you

There is a project called ghoto2 which provides remote control for quite some cams.

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Hey Charfor,

We’re partnered with sony so we have the information for control of all cameras. Unfortunately I’m not able to share how they’re controlled

Hey Rick,

The pricing and form factor aren’t fully decided. It can run on any linux based system. Right now it runs on a raspberry pi but due to the chip shortage I’ll likely end up having to move it to a different board for a commercial release.

Existing product available from https://airpixel.cz/ plus if you use a Herelink controller it is fully integrated. https://airpixel.cz/herelink-camera-control-geotagging/

I don’t think the R10C will work with that as it’s not on their supported camera list and the camera does have some quirks compared to the AXX series. I’d check with MFR before purchasing.

– edit actually it might. Looks like they might not be tagging/transfering images in real time. Would be interested in knowing that.

https://shop.airpixel.cz/product/data-bridge/ Take a look on this page. It mentions -

Please add a note for the Sony UMC-R10C sync cable.

Also they have great support if you need more info.

I can confirm that the Entire R3 works with the R10C I have. You are correct - it only tags in post upon landing (not in real time). I believe it has to do with how they access the SD card contents for geotagging - which seems to lock out normal camera functionality during that process.

Makes sense that’s how a few of the older devices did it. It does lock out normal camera functions. Those commands are part of the PIMA standard I believe. What does the geotag accuracy look like?

It just logs GPS from mavlink at the time that the camera was triggered. You can connect a hotshoe link back to the unit for additional timing improvement. So the GPS accuracy is dependent upon the GPS system onboard the aircraft.

Any clue what the error looks like after alignment in photogrammetry software with/without a hotshoe or do you have a dataset you could share?

I haven’t put it together with photogrammetry. I was in the niche subset that needed geotagging for some other purposes. I don’t have a dataset on me as it was with a design team I was on in college a couple years ago and no longer have access to that stuff.

Gotcha thanks for all the info Manav! Appreciate it.

Hi Mathew,
Any idea when pricing and form factor will be decided ? :slight_smile:
regards
Charles

Very interested in this, either on RPI (software based) or on a different board as a commercial release.

Hi Mathew
Any news ?
thank you
Charles

@mwrightE38 did this ever become a thing?

We sell it in our aircraft and it works well but it’s not a stand alone product at this time.