Canon RC-1 IR remote control reverse-engineered

This article describes how the Canon RC-1 infrared remote control communicates with the camera. To figure out the protocol I used an IR photo-diode first. Because of the bad signal quality I decided then to disassemble the RC-1 and measure the IR-LED voltage directly. I used the occasion and took some pics of the circuit.

To all appearances the circuit is build around a quartz-controlled microcontroller with an additional transistor to switch the IR-LED. The supply capacitor is large enough to maintain the function of the remote control for a few shots with removed batteries.

Communication protocol

To the hobbyist's delight there is no communication protocol like the RC-5 code which most TV remote controls use. The signal send by the remote control consists of two identical bursts of pulses as shown on the pics below. To distinguish between the two possible modes of operation of the Canon RC-1, the delay between the bursts is changed. The signal shown in the oscilloscope screenshots below was captured directly at the IR-LED of the circuit. The overlaid noise in some plots is due to an internal oscilloscope problem.

Timing for instant trigger mode

Timing for 2s delayed trigger mode

Pulse burst Timing

Timing and Tolerances

The signal timing of the original Canon RC-1 is listed in the table below. Having build my own remote control I could also find out the tolerance for each parameter. I used the Canon EOS 400D for testing.

The clock frequency is very close to the standard watch crystal frequency of 32768 Hz. The experiments were made from a very short distance. I didn't test the sensitivity reduction for the deviating parameters and didn't test them in combination.

Links

How to build a DIY Canon RC-1 clone

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Comments (12)

I just tested my Ronin S gimbal's (in theory Canon compatible) IR control in two modes:
photo: two 0.5ms width spikes with 7.8ms delay distance (128 Hz)

video: both start and stop are two 0.5ms width spikes with 5.8ms delay (171 Hz)

In the video case I didn't find any difference between the start and stop signals, which looks weird. And it's the same as the 2s delayed trigger mode here which is also weird.

(I used a TSOP4838 as receiver. I don't have compatible cameras to test with that. I'm making an IR receiver for my own electronics placed on the gimbal.)

#12 - Zoltan Pillio - 11/22/2022 - 21:31

I just tested my Ronin S gimbal's (in theory Canon compatible) IR control in two modes:
photo: two 0.5ms width spikes with 7.8ms delay distance (128 Hz)

video: both start and stop are two 0.5ms width spikes with 5.8ms delay (171 Hz)

In the video case I didn't find any difference between the start and stop signals, which looks weird. And it's the same as the 2s delayed trigger mode here which is also weird.

(I used a TSOP4838 as receiver. I don't have compatible cameras to test with that. I'm making an IR receiver for my own electronics placed on the gimbal.)

#11 - Zoltan Pillio - 11/22/2022 - 21:30

Silvestr, that's an elegant solution!

Thanks, Luk

#10 - Luk - 12/21/2017 - 08:02

I constructed RC-1 clone based on classical four NAND gates (CMOS4093), it works fine for me. Range is 15 m with two IR LEDs in series. My circuit diagram:

https://www.imgup.cz/image/LZ58

Thanks for waveforms and timings

Silvestr

#9 - Silvestr - 12/19/2017 - 16:29

IR LED wavelength

Measured wavelength of the IR LED is about 950nm. (The IR burst is too short to measure it exactly with my spectrometer)

#8 - Q - 08/15/2013 - 11:25

cool

#7 - rob - 05/07/2013 - 00:29

Ir protocols

There is some info about different ir protocols on my blog http://mroxanas.blogspot.com

#6 - Manolis Roxanas - 04/02/2012 - 03:32

Thanks to you I was able to make my own remote! Thanks! http://www.iwasz.pl/soft/canon-ir-remote-2/ - with code and eagle files.

#5 - iwasz - 10/22/2011 - 19:17

thanks

#4 - berta - 06/16/2010 - 07:52

Thanx!

Thanks a lot. Thats the information I was looking for!
The internet became a dirty bitch of capitalism but it really made my day when I was searching for "canon infrared remote control protocol" at google and this information ist TOP SEARCH RESULT. There's hope yet :-)

#3 - Tyra Misoux - 01/02/2009 - 12:12

Nice info

I'm interested in these info. Thanks for your analysis.

#2 - falleaf - 11/10/2008 - 08:04

Other manufacturers

I'm interested in the protocols of other manufacturers. Please drop a line here if you have some informations.

Luk

#1 - luk - 10/20/2008 - 08:48

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