One step closer.

Last night I successfully fired a strobe with a microswitch hooked up to my Arduino.  I’m aware that at this point, the setup is a needlessly complicated and expensive version of just pushing the “test” button on the back of the flash, but hey, progress is progress!  Now all I need to do is replace the microswitch with a break-beam or sound trigger, build a variable delay into the program, and viola, I should be up and running!  Hit the jump for a photo of the jury rigged mess of wires.

In the photo below, you can see Cybersync transmitter in a stero-plug to hot-shoe adapter and clamped to the side of my coffee table/workbench.  It’s wired into the Arduino and switch, and send the trigger signal to the Cybersync receiver velcroed to the top of my Vivitar 285HV strobe.  With the Cybersyncs, I’ll eventually be able to hook up five or more strobes, in case I need more light, or want to get a nice colored background like this photo by flickr user fpsurgeon.  With a little luck I’ll be up and running within a week or so, since right now the main hurdle is deciding what I need to order for the triggering mechanisms.

Prototype number one