Sony Alpha 77M2 Remote control over USB - usb

I have three Sony Alpha 77M2 cameras, and I'm trying to take photos with all three simultaneously, and retrieve these photos. I can do the simultaneous shutter release using commercial remote triggers synced off a single transmitter, and I can control a single camera over USB using the Sony Remote Camera Control software - however this can't control more than one camera, and it won't let me run more than one instance on a single machine.
My question, therefore, is whether there is an API available for the USB remote control interface for these cameras? They don't support the WiFi API, so I can't use that (and WiFi isn't much use for the environment this system will be used in, due to the likelyhood of interference)

It turned out that the camera supports enough of the PTP protocol for libgphoto to recognise it and retrieve the images in tethered mode - but not to control the shutter.

Related

Is there a way to send multiple wifi camera a signal to take a picture at the same time?

I have 20 wifi cameras that are compatible with the camera remote api (all identical).
Using the API, is it possible to trigger all of them over wifi to take a picture at the same time?
I would basically like to trigger all 20 over wifi and then fetch the pictures from all of them. So any suggestions for how to do that would be appreciated. Mainly just triggering them together would be a great start.
Also, is it possible to send commands to the camera with the API when the camera is connected to a network via the play memories camera app or can commands only be sent via connections with the Smart Remote Control? Reason being, I can have multiple cameras connect to my network this way, but via the smart remote, I can only connect to a single pc to camera at a time as the camera acts like the hot spot instead of the other way around.
Thanks,
-Scott
That would be possible but since it's only possible to connect one camera to one phone at a time, you would need 20 phones as well and then you could send the command to take a picture to all the phones which would in turn trigger the camera connected to each one.
It is not possible to send commands to the camera other than by using the Camera Remote API.
It would appear that some cameras use WPS to make outgoing connections (ie. when using 5 AZ1 with LiveViewRemote)....
If you had such a camera maybe you could connect them all to the same WiFi router, and then use the API to initiate a connection to all at the same time and quickly tell each to take a picture in quick succession.
Here's a link which might help you get there:
https://github.com/Bloodevil/sony_camera_api/issues/8

Camera Remote API beta SDK: How to synchronize multiple DSC QX 100 cameras

Can we control multiple DSC-QX100 cameras using the Camera Remote API SDK from an iPad OS7?
The objective is to cause multiple cameras to "snap" picture at the exact same time. Perhaps each camera has an address (serial number)...can the software communicate with all cameras at the same time using multiple addresses? Need is limited to still photos and so-called fast, rapid photography. Video not necessary.
If so, how?
Unfortunately you can only control one QX100 lens at a time. This is because the lens connects over WiFi and you are limited to only a single WiFi connection at once on an iPad. It may be possible using a desktop PC with multiple wireless cards installed but that would be the only way.
As the Sony rep said, there's no way to do this with "officially supported" techniques.
The reason for this is that the camera acts as a WiFi Access Point (AP) - so while multiple devices can connect to it, most mobile devices can only connect to it and not anything else (since iOS and Android don't support connection to multiple APs simultaneously). This is also why you can't use other network interfaces when connected to the camera. (I don't know about iOS, but Android always prioritizes WiFi over cell network data, for example.)
Android devices have a feature called "WiFi Direct" that provides more flexibility in terms of peer-to-peer interconnection, but iOS does not support WFD. The QX100 DOES respond to WFD invites, and you can accept a pairing request with (if I remember correctly) a long-press of the shutter button. However, the official app only supports normal WiFi AP connections.
I have not yet attempted to see if using Sony's remote API in combination with the (unsupported but apparently present) WiFi Direct capability works.
More info on Wifi Direct and Android can be found at http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/wifip2p.html
Marlin SONY, I disagree, wifi is Ethernet and by definition can handle multiple devices on the same network. If you run a phone or iPad as a hotspot and connect multiple devices, it works.
Multicam Switcher Basic is an example of a free app that supports cutting together multiple camera angles live. Unfortunately the app is still being developed so features like third party camera support isn't included, but it does show what is possible and awaits development.
I think this should be possible. Apps like CollabraCamâ„¢ (Multicam Social Video Production) or RecoLive MultiCam prove that is possible to use mulitple cams simultaneous.
I need someone too to develop an App to be able to use "two" sony dsc-qx for 3D shoots. Please, if You know how or who can do this contact me email#3-d.re

Is it available to use UIBackgroundModes and bluetooth-central to send a meesage who is in close area?

I want to create an Application that will send a message or pop up an alert when an people is using a same Iphone Application. And the requirement is , it also need to pop up an alert even it is in background or in sleep mode.
I found an function named UIBackgroundModes and bluetooth-central that will allow to move bluetooth in background.
Somebody help me and i will also be happy if there is sample code.
Not while app is in background mode. For background mode, you will have to fallback to push notification.
Excerpt from Apple Docs:
Peer-to-Peer Connectivity Provides Local Wireless and Bluetooth Networking
Peer-to-peer connectivity allows your game to create an ad-hoc Bluetooth or local wireless network between multiple iOS-based devices. Although designed with games in mind, this network is useful for any type of data exchange among users of your application. For example, an application could use peer-to-peer connectivity to share electronic business cards or other data.
Peer-to-peer connectivity is provided in iOS 3.0 and later.

Web cam type video camera to iPad2 streaming over wired communication

I want to develop an App that requires wired communication between Web cam type video camera and iPad2. Basically I will directly connect Web cam and iPad2 using cable and when I start web cam, whatever images(picture/video) captured by web cam should be displayed on iPad2.
Based on my research on this I found that iPad2 cable is only made for iPod Program so the connector is not a traditional USB port I can't do direct communication between web cam and iPad2. Am I missing anything?
We are going to use Vivotek camera and they have mentioned here that we can use safari to receive the Motion-JPEG stream. I am wondering if that could also possible on iPad 2 and is it reliable?
Further I found Apple's MFi Program to develop electronic accessories that connect to iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Is there anyone out here used this already and know more about this if I can go for this?
Thanks.
You can receive a motion jpeg stream in mobile Safari or in a UIWebView in a custom app. I am not able to (yet) successfully receive a motion jpeg stream via an AVPlayer, AVPlayerItem or AVURLAsset.
Becoming a MFI authorized company is non-trivial (I tried once). They want larger established companies that have demonstrated they have the skills and manufacturing know-how/contacts to produce quality accessories.
Curious if you can step back from your initial requirement and see if you can figure out how to do it wirelessly for at least the last step to the iPad 2. Can go wired up to 2 feet away from the iPad and use a local private wifi network for that last 2 feet (say).
I recommend you add (use existing, or purchase) a wireless gateway. Connect the camera to the gateway, and then connect the iPAD to the wireless network, and then browse in safari to the camera and then you can view the image. There is no "hard wired" way to get this to work.
As for the "hard wired" portion of the question, I do not believe that is not possible without a lot of work and hardware. There is no "video in" on an ipad to make it a monitor for a camera.

Transferring images from one iPad to another

I have an app which displays an image when I say some word, and the word is from my dictionary which I had exclusively created for the app.
Now I want that image displayed on my friends iPad simultaneously, when it shows on my iPad. Is there any way for that?
Thanks and regards,
Christy
If both iPads are in the same local network, you can use cocoahttpserver to run a HTTP-Server on every device and announce the services via Bonjour. Once a new picture is available, that devices connects the server on the other devices and informs it, that new data is available. The second device than will connect the server running on the first device and download the picture.
the advantage of this approach: the protocols you are using are well-know and a lot of additionally tools are available.
But you can also have a similar, more downlevel appoach, where you design your own network protocol. In that case I'd use Asyncsocket
Use synchronize image with both ipad using internet or use APN to notify that image is ready.