Hey guys BigNate84 here
And today I’m really excited about this video
I finally got around to creating a USB remote shutter release for my Canon SX30is
Instead of buying a fancy camera remote control for I don’t know $30 or $50
I will show you how to modify a standard USB cable and a keychain to do the same thing
So now I can be completely lazy and take a picture while sitting 10 feet away
And I’m about to show you how I did it all for less than $6
If you are not familiar with CHDK it is open source software which means you can download
it for free
And you can install it on most Canon PowerShot cameras
The CHDK software lives on your camera's memory card
And it allows you to unlock hundreds of extra features on your camera
It won’t damage your camera and it won’t void the warranty
Click here if you want to learn how to install CHDK using the firmware update method
One of the extra features included with CHDK is the ability to enable a USB remote shutter
If you’re into photography you know there are many great reasons to have a remote shutter
Maybe you’re taking long exposures and you want the camera to remain perfectly still
While you’re pressing the shutter
Or maybe you’re handicapped and you need the camera to be adapted to your situation
Here are the specs for my camera and CHDK build
The camera is a Canon SX30is
The camera firmware version is 100N
The CHDK version is 0.9.9-1210
This is not the latest and great CHDK release but it works for me
Here is everything you’ll need for this project
USB cable
LED flashlight keychain
Zip ties
Hot glue gun
Multimeter
Tiny phillips head screwdriver
Electrical tape
Soldering iron
Solder
Wire stripers
Wire cutters
Needle nose pliers
Assuming you have all the tools on hand this project shouldn’t cost more than $6
I was able to find a USB cable on Amazon for like $.60
I think it came to about $4 with shipping
And I just went down to the dollar store and got a keychain for a dollar
When choosing a USB cable make sure at least one end matches your camera’s USB receptacle
In this case the SX30is requires a USB Mini B plug
You just need to make sure one end of the USB cable is compatible with your camera
The other end does not matter because you’re just going to cut off the connector
In order to access the red and black wires
When choosing an LED flashlight keychain you don’t have to spend a lot of money
I choose this guy because it already had everything I needed for the modification
It’s got three 1.5 volt button cell batteries giving me a total of 4.5 volts
And they key to this whole project is the switch
Now this switch has a detent built into it
That’s what gives you the tactile response and feedback
So when you push this down it pops back out again
So lets listen to that
A detent is a little piece of metal that acts like a spring
At rest the detent is in the up or off position
When you press down on it with your finger it snaps down to the on position
Once your finger is removed it automatically snaps back up to the off position
The detent completes the circuit when it touches the top of the battery
Not all LED flashlight keychains have a detent so I recommend finding one that does
Before I get started let's talk a little bit about the wiring diagram
A generic wiring diagram can be found here on the CHDK wiki page
But I decided to make my own so here’s what I came up with
If you’d like to download a PDF, JPEG or PNG file of my wiring diagram
You can scan the QR code in the bottom right corner and hit send
Or send a text message or email
Containing the words “USB Remote Shutter 0001” to BigNate84HowTo@gmail.com
And you’ll get an automatic response with a link to download the diagram
As far as electrical wiring goes this is a very simple circuit
On the left you have a power source, which in this case is three 1.5 Volt LR1130 Alkaline
batteries
These batteries came with the LED keychain so I did not need to alter the enclosure
The batteries are stacked together negative to positive yielding a total of 4.5 volts
The black wire is soldered to the detent portion of the push button switch
And continues through the 10 foot USB cable to pin 5 of the USB mini B plug
The red wire is held in place with hot glue so that the exposed conductor maintains a
good connection
With the positive battery terminal
And then the red wire continues through the 10 foot USB cable to pin 1 of the USB mini
B plug
In this example the positive wire is red and negative wire is black according to the USB
specification
But with super cheap USB cables you never know
And it’s a good idea to verify what wires go to what pins
That’s where the multimeter comes in handy
Just to make sure perform two continuity tests to ensure
That the exposed red and black wires lead back to the proper pins
Test the black wire and make sure it connects back to pin 5 you’ll hear a beep if it does
And then test the red wire and make sure it connects back to pin 1
And again you’ll hear a beep from the multimeter if it does
Alright here is a warning before we begin
If your power supply (the batteries) exceed 5 volts you could damage your camera
If you put the batteries in backwards you could damage your camera
So if you make a mistake or you have absolutely no idea what you’re doing
Here is fair warning, you are playing with electricity and something potentially could
go wrong
Step 1: Take apart the LED flashlight keychain
Remove the tiny screws, Remove the top cover and the button
Remove the detent, Remove the red plastic ring
Remove the LED, Remove the frame, Remove the three batteries
Notice the orientation of the batteries so that you can match the red wire to the positive
And the black wire to the negative
Step 2: Prepare the USB cable
Identify the end of the USB cable you do not need and cut it off
Basically just make sure you’re not cutting the wrong end off
Remove 3 to 4 inches of the outer insulation of the cabling with the wire stripers
The red and black wires should remain intact
Remove the other wires which will not be needed
Remove a half inch of the outer insulation for both the red and black wires exposing
the copper
Tin the exposed wires with some solder and a soldering iron
Tinning the red wire will keep it from coming apart over time
And possibly shorting out against the outer wall of the bottom battery
Tinning the black wire will prepare it for being soldered to the detent later on
While the soldering iron is still hot tin the detent
Be careful not to get the detent too hot because it could be damaged and lose its spring
Solder a little bead of solder to the outermost edge so that the middle of the detent is not
disturbed
Step 3: Install the USB cable
Temporarily tape the bottom of the keychain into place with electrical tape
Insert the prepared end of the USB cable through the hole where the LED used to be
Press the USB cable into place using a small screw driver
The grey plastic LED housing will now be used as internal strain relief for the USB cable
Use a zip tie on the outside of the keychain for external strain relief
For extra strain relief place a dab of hot glue where the USB cable meets the LED housing
And place another dab of hot glue over the red wire securing it to the bottom of the
keychain
Step 4: Reassemble the keychain
Place the batteries back into their housing the same way you found them
In this example the positive terminal should be facing down
Place the red plastic ring back on top of the battery housing
Place the detent on top of the red plastic ring
Bend the black wire so that it is in place and ready to be soldered
Solder the black wire to the detent so that over time the wire maintains a good connection
Place the cover and button back on the top of the frame
Fasten the screws into place
So that’s what I came up with for a CHDK USB remote shutter release
Here are some other people on YouTube who came up with their own USB remote shutters
Remote Shutter Release For A Canon Digital Camera by Kisdedtech
And Canon SX30is CHDK Remote Shutter Release by Haggismcbagpipes
I think he’s Scottish
Now after you build a remote shutter release it won’t work right off the bat
You have to go into your CHDK settings menu
And make sure the remote shutter is enabled
In order to do this you need to turn on your camera and fire up CHDK
Press the shortcut/alt/print button to toggle into CHDK mode
Hit the Menu button
Scroll down to Miscellaneous Stuff
Scroll down to Remote Parameters
At the very top of the menu make sure you select “Enable Remote”
That’s all, exit out of CHDK mode by pressing the shortcut/alt/print button
And now the USB remote shutter release is ready to go
If you’re using a recent version of CHDK no script will be needed
The remote shutter functionality is built into the firmware
It may take a little practice to get the hang of it
The button needs to be pressed down and held down
While the button is still being held down you’ll hear a beep and see a camera icon
appear
In the bottom corner of the display or viewfinder
Once you see the icon or hear the beep, release the button and press it quickly again
The picture will be taken at the time of the second button press
The entire process looks like this
Pressing and holding the button is equivalent to a half shutter press for auto focus
Letting go and pressing a second time is equivalent of a full shutter press
In closing here are a couple of side notes in case anybody is curious
There are some other options on the remote parameters menu that I did not explain
Because they are beyond the scope of this simple remote control design
It is possible to daisy chain multiple cameras together to take more than one picture simultaneously
That is when enabling syncable remote, sync and sync delay will come in handy
Thanks for watching and let me know if you have any questions