Tethered Camera Control

howler · 22 Apr 2013 at 10:09

I'm looking to control a camera plugged into a USB port on a windows PC

Has anyone done this before? Initially I only really need to activate the shutter and store the file on the computers HDD but I'm not really finding much info on the web

I'm happy to write the application in C# or C++

Confused · 22 Apr 2013 at 16:42

A number DSLRs have a utility from the manufacturer to do this, such as EOS Utility for Canon cameras.

howler · 22 Apr 2013 at 16:46

Yeah I'm aware of that but I need my own application so I can have full control of it

dfarrall · 22 Apr 2013 at 17:02

Just a bog standard webcam? Cant imagine it being to hard to code that to take a pic

howler · 23 Apr 2013 at 08:37

Sorry should have said, I want to control a DSLR

Capturing a frame from a webcam is easy, triggering a camera seems to be a bit more tricky

AHarvey · 23 Apr 2013 at 17:50

Not sure how much control you really need. I know there are quite a few programs out there for this already, from branded ones for each camera and some 3rd party ones. Most allow you to do everything for the camera from camera settings covering shutter speed, ISO and aperture as well as setting them up to timelapse photography.

I'm not sure what you are planning on doing with it, but as pointed out, there's many programs out there that give full control over the camera.

Here:

http://www.tethertools.com/plugging-in/software/

Kirstyg · 23 Apr 2013 at 21:39

I use Lightroom to do all of my photo-editing from my DSLR and I know you can do tethered capture too - not ever had need to use it myself, but I would image that it would give you full control as its designed for photographers.

And you can download the Lightroom 5 Beta from Adobe for free.

Dingle · 24 Apr 2013 at 11:32

Is it a canon dlsr?

Canon Digital Camera Software Developer's Kit General Information:
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/standard_display/sdk_homepage

visibleman · 24 Apr 2013 at 15:14

As Dingle pointed out, look at your DSLR manufacturers site and see if they offer an SDK (Canon and Nikon but i believe it's limited to a handful of models).
Failing that, Google around your camera/manufacturer as see if there is any info on tethering and USB protocol/commands.

howler · 25 Apr 2013 at 08:29

Managed to get the Canon SDK in the end, though I did have to apply for it through their website