Camera Controller sample images

This is a good example of the extremely tight focus that can be obtained using Camera Controller.  This image was shot from more than 50 feet away, through an open window, using a tripod mounted C750 at full zoom.  I used the Focus Bracketing SnapIn to quickly locate exactly the focus I wanted.  Note the clarity of the spots on the bird's breast and the detail in the claw. 

This is made even more remarkable by the fact that due to C750 firmware bugs, the manual focus on the C750 does not work well under PC control.

Another interesting fact about this photo is that it was taken using Camera Controller's built in motion detection.  There was a Poppa bird busily hollowing out a nest for Momma.  I simply pointed the camera at the tree, set up the exposure and created a motion detection zone at the entrance of the new nest hole.  During the course of a couple days, Camera Controller automatically took a number of nice shots of Poppa and Momma, busy as bees, making a nest.

This is lightning.  Taken through a window on a closed inside door, a closed screen door, rain-spots on the window, and angled sharply upward to catch the small patch of clear sky visible, it's not a particularly good shot composition-wise. 

The interesting thing about this shot is that it was taken using timelapse mode.  Timelapse was started before the thunderstorm began and allowed to run for the duration of the storm.  The timelapse interval, not including capture, download and deletion time, was 1 sec.  This photo was easily culled from the several hundred resulting photos using the slideshow tool.

A composite of the moon.  This is a composite of several shots taken through a open window with my C750 mounted to my old (very old) Meade LM4420 telescope using my homemade mount (made from $6.00 worth of parts and a couple of hours of magic in my workshop).

The images were stacked using Photoshop elements using lighten layering and a wee bit of editing - erasing actually, to allow well focused areas to blend through the layers while removing poorly focused areas.  Sharpened, ever so slightly, using an Unsharp Mask.

This is a wonderful shot of an American Robin.  I'm not sure what this demonstrates - except that I like green and birds.  Perhaps that it is certainly possible to get good shots of fast moving birds while tethered to your PC.

Taken using my C750 at full zoom.  Subject distance approximately 100 feet away.

Star Trails.  For those who are unfamiliar with star trails, astrophotographers make star trails by pointing their camera at a fixed position in the sky, often at the north star, and take repeated exposures without moving the camera.  The resulting composite is a nice trail of each star as it moves through the sky.

This composite is 209 images taken during an approximately 90 minute period.  Each image had a 4 second exposure.  Camera Controller was running in Timelapse mode with a 10 second interval - not counting capture, download, and delete time - actual interval between the images is approximately 26 seconds.

The images were stacked into this single composite using the StarTrails SnapIn.

Slideshow.  This demostrates several great features of Camera Controller.

First, this is a timelapse sequence of me bucking a tree that fell on our house on July 5th, 2004.  No, no significant damage and no one was hurt - thanks for wondering.

Second, this entire three hour sequence was webcast live (woohoo!) to the sample webcam page at http://www.pinetreecomputing.com/webcam.asp.  The entire webcast was handled automatically by Camera Controller.  The images were automatically timestamped, EXIF data removed, and JPEG compressed for minimum file size on the web using the Webcam Tool SnapIn.

Third, not only can you use the slideshow tool to quickly review your photos on your PC, you can upload the entire slideshow to the web and allow your friends to see your surgeon-esque skills with a chainsaw, too.  The image to the right is the first image in the slideshow and is a hyperlink to the PTCss.xml file automatically created by the slideshow tool when you open a folder.  If you have a fast enough PC and downspeed link to the internet, this slideshow will replay the entire 3 hour elapsed time back in only 10 seconds or so once the images have been downloaded and cached by your browser.

You can also click the controls at the top of the slideshow to start/stop playback, move forward/backward through the slideshow, and jump to a specific photo in the slideshow. 

This slideshow will work and play automatically, for anyone with a browser that has good XML support without any software downloads.  Internet Explorter 4 and above includes the necessary software, for example. 

To put this on the web, I simply copied the timelapse photos to a new folder using Windows Explorer, culled out the photos I didn't want to be part of the web version of the slideshow using the slideshow tool, and uploaded the entire contents of the folder to a folder on the web.