[HN Gopher] USB Knob Box Doubles as a Blackmagic Designs Camera ...
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       USB Knob Box Doubles as a Blackmagic Designs Camera Remote
        
       Author : zdw
       Score  : 31 points
       Date   : 2022-08-08 06:28 UTC (16 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (bikerglen.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (bikerglen.com)
        
       | rx_tx wrote:
       | This was a a nice read, really detailed. I especially liked that
       | he had the MCU talk directly to the camera with S.BUS (a weird
       | uart with 2 stop bits for the control interface) despite the
       | issues he encountered, instead of going the slightly easier but
       | less elegant route of having a separate computer in the loop to
       | do the HID <> S.Bus translation.
        
       | gizajob wrote:
       | Biker Glen could fairly trivially get a job at Blackmagic if he's
       | doing this kind of thing for fun. Should send them a CV, and a
       | hyperlink.
        
         | dylan604 wrote:
         | I absolutely love BMD for putting these features/capabilities
         | into their cameras just knowing that people will do things
         | precisely like this. They are the company that I feel like
         | positively disrupted their industry without breaking laws and
         | what not like others have done.
        
           | mschuster91 wrote:
           | BMD has made production-grade video equipment affordable to
           | the masses. They're kind of the Behringer of the video world,
           | with the difference obviously being that BMD doesn't knock
           | off designs from others and uses high quality components.
           | 
           | Only gripe I have with BMD is that you need a separate piece
           | of utility software for each and every component and it's not
           | entirely obvious if there are firmware updates for a specific
           | device available.
        
       | noodlesUK wrote:
       | I love these sorts of little projects. I don't know else who is
       | likely to use something like this other than a really serious
       | podcaster or vlogger, but clearly the writer has a need for it.
       | It's also a great reminder of the versatility of the cheap
       | microcontrollers we are able to use these days. It's pretty
       | straightforward to use one to make just about any kind of input
       | device you might want, and with wireless microcontrollers like
       | the ESP32, you can even give it wifi! I use a variety of ESPs
       | around the house with ESPhome for home assistant, doing all sorts
       | of things. It's pretty easy to get into (home use level, not
       | production electronics) embedded just by reading some datasheets
       | and writing a little code these days.
        
         | dylan604 wrote:
         | If you ever shop for professional video devices, you'll know
         | exactly why people are DIY'ing this kind of stuff. When you're
         | on set on a "real" shoot, every mistake is expensive, so the
         | gear is priced to reflect how "solid" it is. For those on a
         | lower budget but want the same look/features, the
         | microcontroller world has been a gawd send. I've built so many
         | little motion controllers, lens controllers, ultrasonic digital
         | tape, etc types of things that I'd never purchase the "legit"
         | models. I tried building an auto-focus for manual cinema lens
         | with the ultrasonic sensor telling range, a motor on the focus
         | ring, and a whole lot of patience. I would never ever bring
         | that onto a real set, but it was an interesting couple of
         | weekends worth of learning.
        
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       (page generated 2022-08-08 23:00 UTC)