USB-controlled action cam and software?

[patz2009]

Hey there all.

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, but I'm not exactly sure I have a subforum to ask my questions in.

The long and short is: I'm looking to build a photo booth for things like weddings and parties and such, and found that an action cam might be my best bet in getting a camera that'll do somewhat decent quality images, be small to mount, and have the general functionality that one would need for such a purpose.

I have a bit of a two-fold question:

a) Are there any budget action cams out there that can provide a remote control shutter via USB? i.e. have a camera take a full-quality still image with a USB command? If not possible via USB, perhaps with WiFi? I'm more than willing to do software mods if needed. (additionally, a camera that can be powered via USB and not rely on battery power would be a major plus)

and b) Is there any software for Linux or Windows that's already pre-compiled for such a purpose?

[petesimon]

a). Firefly 8s or Firefly 8SE are maybe sort of "budget" cameras when regarding financial cost, but yes they can do remote shutter via cable-wire, via wifi and via bluetooth (controller gadget). I had this camera, but decided to sell it to get another camera for better 4k video. Anyway, the 8 mp 16:9 wide photos in photo-mode are really good. See > https://extraimage.net/image/cH64 and https://extraimage.net/image/sPA8

Check this video and others like it https://youtu.be/YY11XXnGEsg and change the wireless/radio that you see in the video to something else that's more fitting. Here's bluetooth https://youtu.be/oIemdOmGyGA and wifi is as usual for most action cams.

Also Yi brand cameras are quite good and similar to FFS8s/se.

b). maybe.... and most likely for Yi brand cameras. so hm try github https://github.com/kongzii/xiaomi-yi and https://github.com/NikolayRag/cmdYi . try PC CC https://youtu.be/NM10jg21yh4 and phone CC https://youtu.be/hgcXR0yWoZ4 and phone CSP https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...cript&hl=en_US . Note that phone apps especially Android apps can be used in a PC or Mac by using an emulator or development environment. 🤓 wuuu that hurt my brain 🧠 so I'm gonna rest now hehe.

Note that "you get what you pay for" so if you pay USD $50 or less for an action cam, then you (most often) get shitty photos 'n blocky videos! haha.

[yizee]

Late to the party, but....
For photobooth doing photos, an older canon DSLR with magic lantern would probably be a better idea. Also better quality photos. Hook up a couple of cheap flashes to get lower iso shots.

Having said all that, the original yi action cam with hacked firmware could do lots of fun stuff, once ran a pair doing short (2s) 720p120 captures that were converted to slo-mo clips and played back on a separate monitor on a loop. People would go through it multiple times to do different stuff, was pretty cool to watch.