Dynamic Perception NMX Digital Motion Controller

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Dynamic Perception sent me an NMX Digital Motion Controller so that I can integrate it into qDslrDashboard. I would like to thank them here again for sending me it and for making such a great product.
The NMX Controller allows controlling over the USB serial or Bluetooth Low Energy ports using the MoCoBus protocol.
In qDslrDashboard both communications will be supported, the USB serial will work on desktop versions (Linux, OSX and Windows) and the Bluetooth Low Energy will work on mobile platforms (Android, iOS and Linux)

In qDslrDashboard the MoCoBus manager will be used to detect and connect to devices that support the MoCoBus protocol. Here is a screenshot of  the manager dialog.

manager_dialog

Pressing the ‘Search’ button will display the detected serial ports and Bluetooth Low Energy devices as shown on the following screenshot

manager_search

In my case the NMX Controller is on COM26 on my Windows machine. With the device address the user can select the MoCo device address for connection, by default the NMX Controller address is 3. The connection with the device is established by clicking on the item.

After I clicked on COM26 qDD will establish the connection with the NMX Controller as show in the next screenshot

manager_connected

Under the ‘Connected MoCoBuses’ are listed the currently connected ports and by clicking on the item the manager will show the MoCo devices that are connected to this bus.

Under the ‘Connected MoCo devices’ are listed the MoCo devices that are connected to the selected MoCoBus port, in my case the Dynamic Perception NMX Controller.

After clicking on the MoCo device item qDD will open the NMX Controller screen;

nmx_screen

The NMX Controller screen is still under development. Till now I implemented the joystick mode where the motors connected to NMX Controller can be moved with the controls on the right side of the screen, the motor parameters can be changed and the camera parameters. Still need to implement the programming part.

Still lot of work ahead but I’m very happy with the progress I made till now.

qDslrDashbaord V0.2.7

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V0.2.7 changelog:

– fix RAW+JPG error when entering LRT for some Canon models
– add D5500 missing property values
– Rule600 dialog save values on exit
– Rule600 dialog link camera focal length (Nikon only)
– DOF calculator dialog save values on exit
– DOF calculator dialog link camera aperture and focal length (Nikon only)
– add image format filters (all, jpg, raw) to image viewer and capture history
– add image EXIF data display to image viewer and LRT image viewer
– add ‘lock zoom and pan’ option to image viewer
– faster thumb extraction for local images in image gallery
– add Canon mirror up capture
– add mirror up delay for Canon (Off – user initiated, 1s, 2s, 3s)
– add Nikon capture delay button to left buttons
– add live view record button
– fix property dialog not positioning on current value
– add cross hair option to live view (off, single, double)
– other small fixes

Submited V0.2.7 to iTunes for review.

I also added Raspbery Pi 2 package. I only tested it with the Raspbian image. The graphics memory must be set to 512 with the raspi-config utility.

qDslrDashboard V0.2.6

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This a quick fix release with the following fixes:

  • fix LRTimelapse settings dialog UI
  • add LV (live view toggle) button for DSLR that do not open/close the aperture ring in live view (Nikon D750, D800, D800E, D810, D4, D4s)
  • add aperture +/- buttons in LRTimelapse screen when aperture ramping is enabled
  • fix for some of the buttons not working in the camera properties display (live view grid, live view ascpect ratio)
  • fix for D5200 HDR mode property
  • fix for crash on Nikon DSLR when BULB capture used while live view is enabled
  • for Canon DSLR with CF+SD card added a code that should recognize if RAW is set for CF and JPG for SD so that LRTimelapse can be entered (if someone with a Canon DSLR with CF+SD card can test)
  • initial support for Nikon D5500 (wireless connection and live view)
  • did some tweaks to the image viewer so RAW files should look better

For V0.2.5 forget that I added profile support for custom bracketing, sky stacking and LRTimelapse. Will see to also add profile support for the DSLR settings.

Sony wireless additions

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In the V0.2.5 version I added the following for the Sony cameras that have wireless communication

  • exposure mode button – for models that don’t have an exposure mode dial
  • capture mode button – user can select with this button between still/movie mode
  • preview image size button – with this button the user can select the preview image size after capture. On a5100 it has the option original/2M
  • zoom in/out in live view
  • added LRTimelapse support
  • add touch AF to live view – after the user touches the live view surface the camera will try to focus at that point. Unfortunately Sony touchAF is a bit odd, as while it is in touchAF mode the properties can’t be changed, only the capture button will work. To exit the touchAF mode the user needs to press the ‘AF’ button.

Regarding the LRTimelapse support I did some testing (using the qDD interval timer) and it worked good for shutter speeds shorter then 1 second. Unfortunately on a5100 there is no option to disable the long exposure NR so a 8 second exposure becomes a 18 second one (with the processing).

Probably on the higher models it can be disabled so maybe someone can test it.

qDslrDashboard V0.2.5 and updated manual

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New qDslrDashboard V0.2.5 with the following additions/fixes

  • added Sky Stacking – it can create series of captures that can be then used in application like DeepSkyStacker
  • added a simple Rule 600 calculator dialog
  • moved Custom Bracketing to a separate display
  • added option to start Custom Bracketing with shutter speed set to BULB (the camera must support BULB capture)
  • added option to Custom Bracketing to use BULB for shutter speeds longer or equeal to 1 second (the camera must support BULB capture)
  • add aperture ramping to LRTimelapse
  • added BLV (bright live view) button to live view
  • added 100% zoom to image viewer (single click/touch will toggle between not zoomed/100% zoomed
  • added left/right swipe for image viewer (will display next/previous image)
  • added a toggle button to image viewer that will show/hide the buttons and the quick gallery
  • added some more properties for Sony wireless models and also enabled LRTimelapse
  • added a ‘Connection lost’ audio option
  • added synchronized starting of movie recording (all connected cameras must be in live view and in movie mode)
  • some UI fixes
  • stability fixes
  • updated the manual to reflect the changes

The files can be download at http://dslrdashboard.info/downloads/

I also uploaded the V0.2.5 for iOS devices to Apple for review

qDslrDashboard V0.2.4 and manual

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Here is the new qDslrDashboard V0.2.4 with the following changes:

  • added delayed capture
  • added live view fliping (vertical, horizontal, both)
  • fixed USB not working with Android 5.0
  • added Sony image preview after capture
  • EXIF data should be saved on iOS (the iOS version is uploaded to iTunes and awaits Apple approval)
  • lot of small fixes

The is also a qDslrDashboard manual (V1.0) that will extend in future. It is in .docx format, if anyone needs other format please let me know

Here are the Drive, OneDrive, Mega link (my hosting company asked me to provide mirrors as the downloads where generating to much trafic)

Drive: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BxMZ8XY3H2wiZGVjdmV4TFpLT0U&usp=sharing

OneDrive: http://1drv.ms/1zqNiZC

Mega: https://mega.co.nz/#F!dsdmEbAS!MGeAN_UZAhKsO-ON4wR1FQ

qDslrDashboard V0.2.3

180 Comments

Released a new qDslrDashboard version V0.2.3

  • fixes for the Canon wireless communication
  • added a wakelock to Android when LRTimelapse is started (now it should work even if the screen goes off)
  • added focus points definition (works with Nikon and Canon – will see to make a tutorial)
  • changed the ‘Image viewer’ loading notification
  • added an option to disable image info download for images that are already on the camera SD card (you can still load them by pressing the ‘Refresh’ button in image gallery)
  • added a generic PTP class that should work with non Nikon and Canon DSLR that support PTP (I can’t test this as I only have a Nikon and Canon)
  • other small fixes

Files can be found on the Downloads page

In the upcoming days will also upload a new iOS version with these changes and also the ability to save images to ‘Photos’ – still working on it