DIY Camera Laser Break Beam Trigger MK 2

A DIY optical camera flash or camera trigger using a laser and PIC Processor based timer circuit.

Following from the basic high speed photography trigger we made, we found that it was difficult to be precise with the timing using the simple 556 timer based circuit.

We decided to try to make a new version using a PIC Processor and LCD display to display the timing settings.

The program was written in C and uses the ADC on the PIC as the input to take data direct from a photodiode and the processor deals with all the timing and delays before sending a pulse to a optical isolator to trigger a camera or flash unit.

The prototype build on a breadboard to allow easy development of the code.

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I found this video on youtube about social media very interesting

A DIY optical camera flash or camera trigger using a laser and basic timer circuit.

I have always enjoyed trying to take water drop photos but getting the flash and camera to trigger at the right moment by hand was always very difficult.

After researching commercial (very expensive) and various DIY triggers which activate via a light beam, infrared or sound, I decided to try to make a trigger which would fire a remote flash using a red laser as the light source.

I found a lot of very useful info on www.instructables.com/id/Laser-Triggered-High-Speed-Photography/ regarding timer circuits an I was able to adapt and add modify a circuit posted on the website to use an optical isolator to trigger my external flash unit.

Parts List:

• Stripboard
• 1 x Photodiode
• 1 x Red Laser module 5V (this came from a gun sight but the laser from a laser pen should be ok)
• 1 x 556 timer chip
• 1 x High Voltage optical isolator
• 2 x 1M 22 turn variable resistor
• 2 x 1K 1/4 watt resistor
• 1 x 22K 1.4 watt resistor
• 2 x 120R 1.4 watt resistor
• 3 x 1uF 35V Electrolytic Cap
• 1 x 10uF 35V Electrolytic Cap
• 4 x 100n Ceramic Cap

The prototype circuit board

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Over the past few days we have had a large increase of virus hoax emails claiming to be a mail server upgrade or security fix.

We would never send an email with any attachments or links to files you have to download and run to any of our clients who use our servers for hosting and email.

The hoax emails are in the following format:

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From new my Mac Pro tower has had an annoying high pitched squeal or whine when moving windows or scrolling windows on the screen.

The sound is not there all the time but only after the machine has been on for a few hours so it had to be heat related.

After spending an hour or two tracking down the sound it was coming from the Nvidia 8800GT graphics card which is fitted as standard into the Mac Pro’s.

Other blogs and forums suggested that the noise is caused by the inductors on the graphics card resonating when under load and needed to be fixed down.

After removing the graphics card and taking the heatsink cover off which was held on with cross head screws, I found several large inductors on the board.

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