LED ring for photography

The Idea

One of my favorite hobbies is photography. The idea is to get nice and even light source for the photography (and videography). We made a first version of this project on Oulu Science Hack Day, but it has some issues.

• LEDs. They are too yellow and don't have enough power
• Size. Our ring is 80sm in diameter and it consists of four detachable parts
• It's fragile
• No power adjustment
• Probably, it's better to keep the battery box separate

This is first version made on Science Hack Day in Oulu

Market. Why not to buy one?

The solutions that I've found on the market have their own issues. The most important:

• Lack of features. Most of the Mass-market rings have only white color.
• Not really portable
• No power adjustment
• Size. Most of them are 30 sm in diameter

Features

My idea is to make a similar ring, but instead of using white LEDs I want to use addressed RGB led-stripe so I could control every led. That way I could make a light source by using wich I could adjust white balance on the final image.
List of main features:

• Bluetooth module
• Input from the APP
• Input from the control panel
• Addressed RGB led-stripe
• External power supply: high discharge battery or 5V AC/DC adapter
• Tripod-mounted
• Color regulation
• Precise color adjustment from an Android APP
• 3D printed plastic base
• Phototransistor to auto power adjustment (?)
• Light music (?)

What will it do?

Constant light source with RGB levels adjustment will give a wide range of possibilities for photography and videography. It can find a good application in:

• artistic portrait photography
• video blog videos
• photography as a main or an additional light source
• any interier as a smart lamp

Basically, it will read the analog signal from the regulators or digital signal from the APP via Bluetooth protocol and then shine the LEDs in the pre-set mode.

Concept of the final project.

What was done before?

The closest project I've found so far is a final project of Mohammad Elsayyed calledChandella. It's a Ring with an RGB stripe on it, equipped with the motion sensor. In my project I want to go much further in the color adjustment possibilities.

There're a lot of projects which use RGB LEDs. I really liked the wrapping Sehrish Khan did in her final project. She used Neo-Pixel LEDs to make a Segmented display.

Anothere final project with RGB LED stipe is KAT'S'CREEN - A TEMPERATURE GRAPH SCREEN by KATI PITKÄNEN. It's a matrix of LEDs which can display pretty much everything.

What will you design?

• Main board to control the LEDs
• Segmented ring base for LED stripe
• Tripod mounting system
• Android App

Materials and prices

• 5V SK6812 RGBW 5050 4 in 1 LED Strip (oredered from 2x21 EUR
• ATmega x1
• Potentiometer x4
• 5V AC/DC adapter x1
• Bluetooth module
• other SMD components
• 3D printed base

My LEDs finally arrived to me and here's a short demo with Arduino Nano and 15 LEDs.

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STL model of the ring. Approximately, I'll use about 270 LEDs for a 60 sm in diameter ring.

Questions to answer:

• How much the 3D printed base will cost?
• Which features are really needed?
• The LED stripe does not bend sideways. How to form the ring?
• Solution for the tripod mounting system.

What processes will be used?

• 3D printing for the base
• Milling for the control board
• Molding and casting for the buttons on the control panel