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Sony RX100iii as aerial mapping camera

Posted by Shawn McCracken on February 10, 2015 at 9:02am

I am looking for feedback on using the Sony RX100iii as an aerial mapping camera. Currently we use the Canon SX260 with occasional blurred shots and lower-res/quality than we would like. The RX100iii looks like an excellent replacement but I am hoping for some feedback before making a purchase.

Thanks!

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                  • Esben Nielsen > Sylvain.M March 6, 2015 at 12:07pm

                    @Reuben

                    Yup, did that and the answer is no. However, surely there is a way. There always is. The multi port is the only physical connection (not counting HDMI) and probably where testing and debugging is done. On the multi port connector, a resistor between two pins, is used by remotes to set the mode of the port. For example if it should accept serial commands, output video etc.. This is a big guessing game without some kind of documentation. Sony, unfortunately, is not very open source :-)

                    I'm sure with some persistent reverse engineering a solution could be found, however sometimes it's just more practical to go with a screwdriver and soldering iron :-)

                    I put a logic analyzer on the remote I used for the RX100III and it's pretty strait forward. You can either just short two pins for shutter and focus. When it comes to video and zoom it uses some weird LANC/VISCA protocol hybrid. It is 8 bytes with stop-bit and even parity. I'll look more into it...

                    If somebody has some information on the protocol used I will be happy to hack along :-)

                    Best

                    Esben

                  • Reuben > Sylvain.M March 6, 2015 at 11:52am

                    Hi ..one way is to email Sony support and ask if it is possible to remote trigger the camera with a wire connection.. not with the wifi one. See what they say .. I think the usb port on the body is only usb 6 pin?

                  • Esben Nielsen > Sylvain.M March 6, 2015 at 2:41am

                    Yes but it seems like Sony has crippled the interface so no LANC or wire trigger is supported. I checked today. The only solution seems to be the screw-driver/soldering-iron way.

                    Best

                    Esben

      • Sylvain.M > Reuben February 23, 2015 at 11:15am

        Bonjour Reuben,

        Thanks for the answer.

        If i can use your cable for trigger QX100, i juste want trigger the cam by Pixhawk.

        You have an email?

        A bientôt!

        Sylvain

  • Denny Rowland February 17, 2015 at 11:30am

    I have to say that the image quality from the RX100 111 is excellent I think to make a mapping camera one needs to shoot a target grid and then create a specific lens profile to correct for linear distortion at a set zoom setting. 

    • Shawn McCracken > Denny Rowland February 17, 2015 at 6:11pm

      Thanks Denny. I think for video and photo features to weight you just can't beat the RX100iii. I have also looked at the Sony QX1 but the record features are sub-optimal and once you add the lens you don't appear to be saving that much weight. I have a Nex5t and will probably pick up an RX100 in the near future.

  • MR60
    Hugues February 14, 2015 at 8:26am

    It is very easy to trigger the Sony RX100 III with a direct cable connection. The RX100 has a special micro USB port that is called a "multiport". This is more than just a micro usb.

    With the stratosnapper2 from littlesmartthings (http://alpha.littlesmartthings.com/stratosnapper2/) and the direct cable for the Sony RX100 they also provide, you do the following:

    -Plug the direct cable on one end at the "wire" port of stratosnapper 

    -Plug the other end of that cable to the multiport of the Sony camera

    -Plug a servo cable between the output of your receiver (or via your flight controller, such as pixhawk or APM if you use those) and one of the servo control input of stratosnapper

    -Program a switch of your transmitter to raise a high PWM value on that servo cable connected to the receiver

    When you will activate the switch, it will raise the PWM value high on the receiver's corresponding channel, that will go into the input of stratosnapper; stratosnappert then outputs a focus+shutter signal to that special multiport on the Sony camera.

    And you thus get a perfect in focus picture result, everytime.

    Further, if you connected the servo cable via your flight controller, you can ask it to trigger pictures based on traveled distance or elapsed time...

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