Discussions

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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Replies

    • Esben Nielsen > Sylvain.M March 6, 2015 at 1:11pm

      I took a look at a QX100 and the 10 extra pin are located behind the 5 usb pins. (Or maybe I am just getting a bit blind)

      The QX1 might have more functionality, or someone just figured it out :-) According to this page its doable: http://e4e.ucsd.edu/wordpress/?p=2746

      That approach, however, will not work for the QX100.

      Best

      Esben

      • Developer
        Jaime Machuca > Esben Nielsen March 18, 2015 at 10:33am

        You can control both the QX1 and the QX100 via WiFi interface. I have successfully flown the QX1 on a fixed wing triggering over WiFi with an interface that I designed and wrote. This interface will allow you to control all aspects of the camera including shooting mode, ISO, F Stop, Shutter Speed, Zoom (if a power zoom lens is there), etc. You could potentially also transfer the images in real time to a ground station. I have however not tried that because currently my RC is on the same WiFi frequency so with small transfers like just the shooting commands I get no interference. But I fear transferring images over WiFi may introduce more interference. TBD though.

        • Tobias Witting > Jaime Machuca May 4, 2015 at 5:55am

          Hi Jamie, that sounds great! how did you manage to control the camera? Would your method also work for the much cheaper QX10?

  • Walter Volkmann February 21, 2015 at 3:02pm

    Although I am very happy with my Samsung NX1000 - very reliable, light weight and good value for money, some 15000 trouble free shots to date - I changed to the Sony Alpha 6000 because it has live video out - something the NX1000 des not have. See http://diydrones.com/profiles/blog/list?user=2amo6urztvqt6 for a robust quality check on the Alpha 6000.

    • Shawn McCracken > Walter Volkmann February 24, 2015 at 12:06pm

      I saw that post. Nice work.

      I like the specs of the Alpha 6000. What 16mm lens are you using with it?

      • Moderator
        Sgt Ric > Shawn McCracken February 24, 2015 at 12:27pm

        Pardon my jumping in here, but with GIS, a wide angle lens like your 16mm would normally introduce too much distortion, does it not?

        • Oscar Avellaneda-Cruz > Sgt Ric February 25, 2015 at 1:21am

          @Sgt Ric you are thinking of a traditional full frame 16mm. On APS-C sized sensors it converts to about 24mm.

          ?width=721

          • Esben Nielsen > Oscar Avellaneda-Cruz March 5, 2015 at 2:56pm

            Hi,

            I have had a bit of experience with the RX100 III for geo-mapping. In my opinion it offers one of the best weight to quality ratios that a have seen. However..

            For very precise mapping a feedback mechanism on the exact trigger time is important in order to tie this to a GPS position. The RX100 III does not have a normal flash-shoe, which is ideal for this. This is also neat in order to detect missed shots. The meta data on the RX100 only has internal time precision down to a sec. so this can be difficult to do in software afterwards. 

            It might be possible through the multi-port to get some feedback through a LANC request. Haven't tried that and Sony is not overly helpful when it comes to documenting their multi-port :-)

            I'd be happy to exchange ideas towards the more technical side if anybody is up for a bit of Sony hacking :-) Maybe a bit off-topic for this thread.

            Best

            Esben

            • Tagôre > Esben Nielsen April 4, 2015 at 7:56pm

              Hi Esben,

              How to you triggered your RX100 III? I bought one and I'm trying to build a trigger cable.

              Thanks

              • Esben Nielsen > Tagôre April 5, 2015 at 1:18am

                Hi Brenner,

                You need a cable that breaks out the focus and shutter pins from the multi port. They need to be shorted to ground to command the RX100III to shoot. If your trigger is based on a PWM (servo) signal then you need something like the StratoSnapper2 to make that translation.

                Best

                Esben

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