Cheap PC for Remote control

General Discussion about digiCamControl and related photography techniques.
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henri108
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2016 2:50 pm

Cheap PC for Remote control

Post by henri108 » Tue Feb 09, 2016 6:50 pm

I want to attach one of my D7000's to the seiling. It's for taking product shots of flat objects. But my workstation is more than 5m/15ft away from this camera (the maximum reach for USB). So I would need a secondary pc to attach to the camera (also on the seiling), which I can then attach to my network. I could then use remote desktop (or the web based controller) to trigger/adjust the camera, which would then save the photo's to a folder on the local server, so I can source these photo's on my workstation to adjust them in Photoshop.

So what I would need:
A relatively cheap pc that can run Digicamcontrol reliably and has ethernet connectivity.
Or a other sollution ;).

I didn't find the system requirements for digicamcontrol, so it's pretty hard to know what I need (my workstations are 6-core 4.2Ghz beasts and even my laptop is a quad i7).

Cheap PC for Remote control

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Duka Istvan
Posts: 684
Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2015 7:57 pm

Re: Cheap PC for Remote control

Post by Duka Istvan » Tue Feb 09, 2016 7:59 pm

DCC don't have any special hardware requirement, if the windows can run the application can run, some processing power required when image thumbnail is generated.

As a alternative you can use usb Repeater Cable or a active usb hub

henri108
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2016 2:50 pm

Re: Cheap PC for Remote control

Post by henri108 » Tue Feb 09, 2016 8:23 pm

Duka Istvan wrote:DCC don't have any special hardware requirement, if the windows can run the application can run, some processing power required when image thumbnail is generated.

As a alternative you can use usb Repeater Cable or a active usb hub
I once had a 10m repeater cable and it was really bad. A lot of data loss and unreliable connection.
I should try to emulate a cheap pc with my main system to try I guess.
If anyone has a repeater cable that's 10m or more and is reliable, a link would be highly appreciated ;). Might be worth trying this before buying a cheap pc.

mmeichle
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2016 5:14 am

Re: Cheap PC for Remote control

Post by mmeichle » Tue Mar 22, 2016 5:23 am

I overlooked this wonderful feature of the digicamcontrol software. It can connect, not only with a USB, but also via a WiFi connection. What is really amazing is that I use a nikon d7100 that has a cheap $35 addon WiFi adapter. It works superbly with the software. In fact, it is much better than anything Nikon says it can do (Nikon says it won't work with a PC, only android-- but it will with digicamcontrol with all the features!).

I know other cameras (nikon or canon) have adapters or builtin wifi. Maybe that will work for you. I use it to operate my camera remotely when it is outside attached to a telescope in the cold.

nlzero
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2016 11:53 am

Re: Cheap PC for Remote control

Post by nlzero » Mon Apr 11, 2016 5:48 pm

Hi
Should you still be looking, i had this issue in winter with a camera outside and me inside in the warm :)
You need power on both sides of the repeater cable so my solution was an active Hub at one end and the laptop on the other. Connected with a repeater cable. Works fine an reliable for me (astro)

1. Hama 4-Port USB 2.0 Hub (mit Netzteil und USB-Kabel, kompatibel auch mit Windows 10) schwarz

2. TRIXES USB-Erweiterungskabel Active Repeater USB2.0

Other solution, but not for me because I had other stuff outside so I needed the hub

3. High Speed black Mini USB RJ45 Cable Adapter Extension. In between you can go up to 150ft with a CAT5 LAN Cable

Regards nlzero

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