Can a Nikon D80's autofocus signals be decoded to drive a motorized telescope focuser?
Asked 12/21/2012
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I want to use a Nikon D80 attached to a reflecting telescope for imaging bright, textured night-sky subjects such as the Moon. The camera body supports autofocus, but the telescope does not. Some people add motors to telescope focusers, so I'm wondering whether the camera's lens-mount autofocus signals could be intercepted and translated into focuser movement. Is there any standard protocol for this, or would it require reverse engineering?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
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Yes and no. It's possible, but there is no standard. The lens mount communication protocol for each brand is a proprietary secret. The closest to open is the Four Thirds system, which is still secret but you can buy into it. For everything else, reverse engineering is the only option. (That's how lens makers like Sigma produce AF lenses for other systems.)
It's possible that some DIY reverse-engineering work has been published online, but I'm not aware of any.
Originally by user1943. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1943
13y ago
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In principle, yes—but practically it’s difficult. There is no cross-brand standard for autofocus communication between camera body and lens. For Nikon and most other systems, the mount protocol is proprietary, so decoding the signals would require reverse engineering.
That means the camera won’t output a simple universal command like “move focus by X amount” that you can easily map to telescope focuser travel. Even if you capture the communication, you’d still need to understand the specific protocol and how the body expects a lens to respond.
A more realistic path is to study or salvage electronics from a compatible lens, especially a broken one with working motor/driver electronics, and examine the signals going to the focus motor. That may be easier than decoding the full body-to-lens protocol.
So: possible, but not standardized, and likely a significant reverse-engineering project.
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