I have been told that models DC240, DC280, DC3400 and DC5000 use the same protocol.
Protocol for the Kodak DC280:
Hold DTR high for at least 470 milliseconds before starting communications.
Default speed is 9600 baud, 8 bit, no parity, 1 stop bit format.
Take a picture: [$7C,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$1A]
I will add more of the specs later...
Steps to control the camera with a Basic Stamp II:
I have only tried this with the DC3400, but it should work with the DC280, DC240 and DC5000
First I cut the serial cable that came with the DC3400. I has six wires. Only three of them are needed to control the camera with the stamp. You could make your own connector instead of cutting the wires, I just found it simpler to cut them
Yellow - data Orange - DTR Brown - ground
I tried connecting straight to the Basic Stamp II, but that didn't work. The camera seems to need true RS232 levels. For this I got an RS-I serial adapter from AWC Electronics .
I then connected the Stamp to the RS-I.
VDD to +5 VSS to ground Pin 15 to R (data) Pin 13 to CT (used to bring DTR high)
I then connected the DB9 header of the RS-I to the camera using the serial cord I had just cut.
9 8 7 6
5 4 3 2 1
Pin 2 to yellow (data) Pin 5 to brown (ground) Pin 8 to orange (DTR)
Then just set the camera to connect and run. Here is the sample code.
'{$STAMP BS2}
' Bring the DTR high so the camera will know that it is about to recieve input
high 13
pause 970
' Use Yellow - data Pin 2
' Brown - ground Pin 5
' Orange - dtr Pin 8 (use CTS pin)
Loop:
BAUD_MODE CON 84
' Send out the command to take a picture
serout 15, BAUD_MODE , [$7C,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$1A]
sleep 5
goto Loop
I am not an engineer and can't guarantee that this will not hurt your camera, so use at your own risk!>
Copyright 2002 Chad Phillips. This program is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License .