CF-to-SATA hardware interface for RAW recording (fork)

Started by Grunf, May 17, 2013, 03:10:09 PM

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Nenduka

Quote from: Jonas on January 11, 2014, 05:44:13 PM
Sorry if this has been covered already (or is stupid), but if the card controller (which I'm going to assume is a chip) in an mk3 is the road block. is there a chance it could be swapped out with a replacement one for say a 1d C? Maybe swap out the entire card slot assembly at the same time and get support for CF2?


And how exactly would the firmware support this new controller chip?

SDX

More importantly: how exactly would the hardware support this new controller chip?

A camera isn't built like a computer with standardised interfaces, connections, protocols.

PressureFM

Quote from: SDX on January 11, 2014, 06:25:12 PM
More importantly: how exactly would the hardware support this new controller chip?

A camera isn't built like a computer with standardised interfaces, connections, protocols.

Not to mention firmware and software related issues.

Jonas

@Nenduka I'm not quite sure, I guess I thought it may be possible to extract the part of the 1D C firmware that controls that and swap it out with what currently controls the 5D mk3.

@SDX That is why I was asking as you guys all know way more about it than me, I know (only from tinkering with computers) that sometimes parts can be unexpectedly swapped out with others, but have zero idea if the same freakish luck applies to cameras.

@pressurefm I figured that software mightn't be as large of a problem as magic lantern would be the software no?

Like I said, it may be a stupid idea, but I thought it better to throw it out there and have people smarter than me discuss whether it could work.

Walter Schulz

Quote from: Jonas on January 12, 2014, 09:20:10 AM
@Nenduka I'm not quite sure, I guess I thought it may be possible to extract the part of the 1D C firmware that controls that and swap it out with what currently controls the 5D mk3.

And who should do that? Messing around with firmware is no-go area for ML's devs. And messing around with pro stuff (1D C) on top of it? There are some hints Canon will hunt down those involved. Canon tolerated ML's efforts (until now) by doing nothing for/against the project.

Jonas

Quote from: Walter Schulz on January 12, 2014, 09:29:59 AM
And who should do that? Messing around with firmware is no-go area for ML's devs. And messing around with pro stuff (1D C) on top of it? There are some hints Canon will hunt down those involved. Canon tolerated ML's efforts (until now) by doing nothing for/against the project.

So it's a no go area, understood. Didn't want to jeopardise ML, was just asking the question ;)

Krane

Quote from: Walter Schulz on January 12, 2014, 09:29:59 AM
And who should do that? Messing around with firmware is no-go area for ML's devs. And messing around with pro stuff (1D C) on top of it? There are some hints Canon will hunt down those involved. Canon tolerated ML's efforts (until now) by doing nothing for/against the project.
Well I purchased my Canon 5D MK III over the Panasonic AF-100 because of ML. So I'm at least one customer Canon can be thankful to ML for.
Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM

jose_ugs

@Krane, u're far from being alone, in that regard :)

Ameet148

I was thinking completely getting rid of the digic  processor and the buffer memory with a miniITX PC running i7 and that would either directly control the sensor and the lens system or emulate the canon motherboard hardware completely.

This will require an interface for the PC to work with the canon hardware and it can be canon firmware free (which justifies the earlier name canon mark free XD).And all this to record on high frames rates on RAID SSDs.




hdx

Go for it!! Oh wait... You were just thinking without having needed knowledge, right? FYI, it is almost impossible to do.

SDX

When it comes to that, you can just build your own camera ground up, apertus style.

ilguercio

Quote from: Ameet148 on January 25, 2014, 03:03:49 PM
I was thinking completely getting rid of the digic  processor and the buffer memory with a miniITX PC running i7 and that would either directly control the sensor and the lens system or emulate the canon motherboard hardware completely.

This will require an interface for the PC to work with the canon hardware and it can be canon firmware free (which justifies the earlier name canon mark free XD).And all this to record on high frames rates on RAID SSDs.
Why not hooking a dishwasher to that as well?
Canon EOS 6D, 60D, 50D.
Sigma 70-200 EX OS HSM, Sigma 70-200 Apo EX HSM, Samyang 14 2.8, Samyang 35 1.4, Samyang 85 1.4.
Proud supporter of Magic Lantern.

alsey7

Quote from: Ameet148 on January 25, 2014, 03:03:49 PM
I was thinking completely getting rid of the digic  processor and the buffer memory with a miniITX PC running i7 and that would either directly control the sensor and the lens system or emulate the canon motherboard hardware completely.

This will require an interface for the PC to work with the canon hardware and it can be canon firmware free (which justifies the earlier name canon mark free XD).And all this to record on high frames rates on RAID SSDs.


And I suppose you still aim to build this camera with magic

albert-e

Quote from: Ameet148 on January 25, 2014, 03:03:49 PM
I was thinking completely getting rid of the digic  processor and the buffer memory with a miniITX PC running i7 and that would either directly control the sensor and the lens system or emulate the canon motherboard hardware completely.

This will require an interface for the PC to work with the canon hardware and it can be canon firmware free (which justifies the earlier name canon mark free XD).And all this to record on high frames rates on RAID SSDs.

Cool idea and it can be done I'm sure but it's just...reinventing the wheel. I wish you lots of time. Good luck!

Samuel H

Just so you get an idea of why everybody is going at you so harshly: what you're proposing is to design a camera from scratch, using a sensor salvaged from an existing camera, having to reverse-engineer all the communication protocols of the sensor. Designing a camera is hard enough as it is, even when you have all the documentation for the parts you're using. It's basically impossible if you don't have that documentation.

Krane

Quote from: Ameet148 on January 25, 2014, 03:03:49 PM
I was thinking completely getting rid of the digic  processor and the buffer memory with a miniITX PC running i7 and that would either directly control the sensor and the lens system or emulate the canon motherboard hardware completely.

This will require an interface for the PC to work with the canon hardware and it can be canon firmware free (which justifies the earlier name canon mark free XD).And all this to record on high frames rates on RAID SSDs.
An interesting if not original idea. Actually many manufacturers have been offering that paradigm for a very long time.  In fact, entire industries are based on it. Definitely unique as far as cameras are concerned though.

The only thing you left out would be the financial incentive for Canon to offer such a device, Which heretofore has maintained a pretty tightly closed and exclusive market.
Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM

IMF

Back to the original intent:
So to the people who are knowledgable about the electronics.  Is building a CF to SSD interface that would give us larger capacity and more reliable writing of raw files impossible?  A hack that allows the SSD to emulate the CF card?  I can't believe that this wouldn't sell like crazy.

Samuel H

In theory, it's possible. In practice, Canon seems to be doing off-spec that makes this very, very difficult, unless you have insider info on what it is that Canon is doing off-spec.

aalloo

Hi this is my first post on the topic.  I am a software engineer and have some exposure with hardware as well.  I certainly believe that CF-SSD cannot be done in any straight way.  The experiment will need some external processor that is good enough to simulate CF interface for camera, get data from camera, buffer it up in memory, and then write is to SSD through SATA/USB3/TB port.  I am willing to invest some time on this line.  However, I'll need a little help for CF interface.  I have previously worked on buffered writing and controlling of SATA interfaces, but have never played with CF interface.  If anyone is aware of CF interface, please get in touch with me at the earliest.

The idea is to create a fake/simulated CF interface that will go to camera and will connect to processor (for now, I'll use my laptop) through USB3/TB.  There will be a running program that will control the CF simulation and data coming from camera.  This program will also write explicitly to SSD through SATA.  Logically speaking the write speed can be achieved up to 350MB/s that should be good enough for 30fps 4K RAW.  But all of this is just a theory as of now.

As mentioned earlier, I'll use my laptop as "middle-man", but once I am able to achieve some results, I can move to some other small foot-print boards like Intel Minnowboard etc.  But that's longer term plan.

On the side, I really do not want to fire up any debate.  If you have to say anything about this, just send me the private message.  I'll keep the thread updated with my progress.

anDyIII

QuoteLogically speaking the write speed can be achieved up to 350MB/s
aalloo you have to remember that, according to specs, the 5D mark III can write to CF with a maximum throughput of 160 MB/s.
5D Mark III
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5D3shooter

Quote from: anDyIII on May 12, 2014, 12:47:21 AM
aalloo you have to remember that, according to specs, the 5D mark III can write to CF with a maximum throughput of 160 MB/s.

Yeah, probably won't be able to increase the speed/resolution, but recording to SSD is still the objective.  Good luck aalloo!!!!

jose_ugs

Hey aalloo, how's your experiment coming along?

aalloo

I am making some progress ... I got some emulator is a very primitive stage ... however, I am not getting the data yet from the hardware hack.  I'll keep everyone posted here on further progress.

Parriao


albert-e

"anyone have updated information of the project?
I found this adapter that does exactly the opposite
http://hothardware.com/News/Walton-Chaintech-SSD-Converter-Makes-Two-CF-Cards-Act-As-Your-Hard-Drive/"

*************
That's nothing new.