Ultrasonic Autofocus

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  A photo of the ultrasonic sensor rig

Inspiration

A lot of DSLR cameras don't have any sort of autofocus feature in video mode, making it impossible to shoot high quality footage without making things look blurry.

What it does

The arduino rig uses ultrasonic distance sensors to measure distance and calculate the correct focus amount to set a camera's lens to.

How I built it

The rig is pretty simple, just an arduino hooked into a brushless motor.

Challenges I ran into

Working with hardware for the first time was interesting, lots of unexpected issues with getting the motor to accurately rotate the lens.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

The fact that I got a relatively stable autofocus system out of essentially one motor and some zip ties.

What I learned

Get better hardware next time!

What's next for Ultrasonic Autofocus

I'd like to make the rig cleaner and less janky-looking

Built With

• arduino
• c