KAP & UAV Exposure Control Intervalometer Script

davefolts

waterwingz
The script handles cameras with a separate video button differently than those without a separate button. As I suggesterd earlier, that only works if the CHDK port is setup correctly for the camera. I'm glad srsa_4c spotted the missing definition as it saved me posting a test script to prove this out.

OK- I see a r4416 now up on the download site....so I'm going to download and go for it....and its working quite nicely!...records video...takes a few seconds to set-up tho....very nice.

thanks guys

df

waterwingz

Toshopo
Still my mind with my balloon project. I wonder how to modifiy your script for recording lens temperature.
Is there a way to have this function ?

Added in release 3.7 of script. Available at the usual download address.

davefolts

OK Guys- here is my first test of "Miniature faking using a Canon P&S camera running CHDK & KAP-UAV script". Camera mounted on my Iris+ quadcopter's hard-mount 160 feet above ground.

https://youtu.be/7YiLr1NjcZE

Thanks to all of you who helped me get started with this. There were some gremlins this AM, on the drone side, and the camera wanted to use the vertical strip instead of my desired in-focus horizontal strip....likely due to the downward pointing angle of at least 40 degrees.
Next step is to get a gimbal to eliminate the bouncing caused by wind buffeting the camera (acts like a spoiler making the Pixhawk autopilot/FMS perform constant corrections)

Dave

Toshopo

waterwingz
Added in release 3.7 of script. Available at the usual download address.

Great ! Thank you very much. I'll test during the week !

Toshopo

Hi waterwings

I've tried your new script. I've a trouble that i already had before with your first scrip , but now it's stronger.

My first tests was with 1 shoot / 5s. The scrip was sometimes crashing after 11 shoots. when it was (often) working, the ixus worked for 2h by -25Â°C in fridge (with light for exposure shutter).
I'v tried with 10 s and 7s. It always crash after few shoots.
So i've tried again with your last script with 10 s and it always crash too.

I believe Troubles can come for this two reasons :
1- CHDK start on the SD card. Chdk is it more stable with firmware update.
2- I just drag and drop your downloaded script under OS X 10.11 on SD card

I'm sorry for my bad english but I quite perfectly understand your answers !

best granting

reyalp

Toshopo
My first tests was with 1 shoot / 5s. The scrip was sometimes crashing after 11 shoots. when it was (often) working, the ixus worked for 2h by -25Â°C in fridge (with light for exposure shutter).

When you say the script is crashing, do you mean the script ends, or the whole camera shuts down?

If the camera shuts down, you should get a ROMLOG http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Debugging#Camera_crash_logs_.28romlog.29

If the script is ending, there should be some error displayed.

1- CHDK start on the SD card. Chdk is it more stable with firmware update.

This would be unusual. Normally, it shouldn't make any difference, and in the cases where there are problems it's usually the firmware update that has them.

2- I just drag and drop your downloaded script under OS X 10.11 on SD card

This should not make the script unstable. If it runs at all, it shouldn't matter how you copied it.

waterwingz

Toshopo
I've tried your new script. I've a trouble that i already had before with your first scrip , but now it's stronger.
My first tests was with 1 shoot / 5s. The scrip was sometimes crashing after 11 shoots. when it was (often) working, the ixus worked for 2h by -25Â°C in fridge (with light for exposure shutter).
I'v tried with 10 s and 7s. It always crash after few shoots. So i've tried again with your last script with 10 s and it always crash too.

In addition to reyalp's comments, I'd like to suggest that your problems are most likely not related to the script. To prove or disprove this, please rerun your refrigerator test using the simple interval.lua script that comes with CHDK at a 10s interval and see what happens.

(Edit : there may be a clue in your description. When you shoot quickly, the camera uses more power and stays warmer. When you slow down the shot rate, the camera will draw less power. As all the power drawn essentially ends up as heat, drawing less power means that the camera gets colder. As a temperature of -25 deg C is well outside of the camera's operating range, this might be significant.)

Toshopo

the camera message is
a camera error was detected
will shut down
restart your camera.

The ROMLOG is
ASSERT!! WBFace.c Line 455
Occured Time 2011:11:14 03:11:16
Task ID: 23461937
Task name: WBCtrl
SP: 0x002FBFB0

I've got the same trouble with the basic CHDK intervalometer.

???

reyalp

Toshopo
the camera message is
...
Occured Time 2011:11:14 03:11:16
Task ID: 23461937

Is the clock set correctly on your camera? If it is, then this is an old romlog unrelated to the current errors.

It's quite possible your error isn't generating a romlog, usually crashes that generate a romlog don't show anything on the screen.

Toshopo

the occured time is strange â€¦ cause the the clock is set correctly.

srsa_4c

Toshopo
the camera message is
a camera error was detected
will shut down
restart your camera.

I have a suspicion. Your cam might be broken. Try using it without CHDK for more than a minute.

To retrieve the camera's error list, use the following short Lua script (copy the 2 lines to a plain text file, name it errlist.lua, copy it to the card and execute it).

call_event_proc("UI.Create")
call_event_proc("UIFS_WriteFirmInfoToFile",0)

This will produce a text file in the root of the card.

You need to enable "Lua native calls" in the Miscellaneous menu before running the script.

waterwingz

srsa_4c
I have a suspicion. Your cam might be broken. Try using it without CHDK for more than a minute.

Or his camera simply may not work well at -25 deg C (as I suggested a couple of posts earlier).

Seems like a simple test is to run either intervalometer with the camera at room temperature. Does it also crash?

If so, you will need some good insulation around the camera when you attempt your balloon project. Also, I recently read about a "GoPro" balloon flight by a high school student - he solved the temperature problem using Hand Warmers to wrap the camera.

Toshopo

srsa_4c
I have a suspicion. Your cam might be broken. Try using it without CHDK for more than a minute.

Well see srsa4. The camera shutdown after 1 minute with a E32 error >🙁
Thank you for you help !

srsa_4c

Toshopo
Well see srsa4. The camera shutdown after 1 minute with a E32 error >🙁

That's what I suspected - E32 means there's a problem with the image stabilizer. As far as I know, it's usually caused by a broken flex cable inside the lens unit (see ebay item 251353559253). That flex cable is also responsible for operating the mechanical shutter and the ND filter - if it breaks completely, you'll lose them too.

However, with CHDK it's possible to prevent camera shutdown caused by E32. If you'd like to keep using it, you can ask for a special CHDK build. (I wouldn't use that camera for an important mission like yours, though.)

[hr] (note to others: the hacky E32 patch I posted in the forum is no longer usable on current CHDK source, I'm working on a proper one)

OhSnap

Hello people,
Been setting up my canon IXUS 240HS with KAP UAV for a while now, and have a couple of notes/questions to ask.
First of all my photos were all over-exposed with default settings- What is the best way to reduce the exposure to normal levels? Is Exposure Compensation the way to go?
Secondly I run an NDVI filter on one of my cams, should I use the ND Filter setting or that would alter the results?

Thanks in advance!

waterwingz

OhSnap
First of all my photos were all over-exposed with default settings-

This is the second time this has been reported as an apparent issue. See :
https://chdk.setepontos.com/d/10822/688
Having looked at the images there, I saw a lot of contrast which I believe can be a challenging shooting situation of you want everything correctly exposed.

Please post the kap.log file from the top level folder on your SD card and a link to one of the overexposed photos saved on a download site (like box.com).

What is the best way to reduce the exposure to normal levels? Is Exposure Compensation the way to go?

Obviously it would be best to figure out why the pictures appear to be overexposed. Do you have that issue using the script to take images in normal lighting on the ground or just when the camera is "airborne"?

Secondly I run an NDVI filter on one of my cams, should I use the ND Filter setting or that would alter the results?

Assuming the filter is mounted in front of the lens, you should probably set the ND Filter option in the script menu to Off.

OhSnap

Thank you for the answer, pictures appear brighter than normal even when the camera is on the ground, airborne photos (cam pointing downwards) however are even brighter and often over-exposed.
I have attached the log file.
Here's a photo with default settings : https://www.dropbox.com/s/uned8y5y2j5nlca/IMG_0048.JPG?dl=0

KAP.log

48.64KB

waterwingz

OhSnap
I have attached the log file.

There are several potentially interesting things in the log indicating that the camera / script was having trouble setting the exposure.

Please describe in detail how you are triggering the camera? It looks like you are trying to use a USB remote connected signal? What setup are you using to create that?

OhSnap

The camera was mounted on a quadcopter and was indeed being triggered by a usb cable. I am using a Pixhawk autopilot that also controls the camera trigger and shoots at regular distance intervals. The usb cable I used is the one sold by http://www.tuffwing.com/ .

waterwingz

OhSnap
The camera was mounted on a quadcopter and was indeed being triggered by a usb cable. I am using a Pixhawk autopilot that also controls the camera trigger and shoots at regular distance intervals. The usb cable I used is the one sold by http://www.tuffwing.com/ .

I'm not a pixhawk expert but it would be good to know how you set it up to trigger the camera.

The log file is strange - it looks like the camera tries to shoot, fails, and tries again. Over and over. And each shot attempt causes a timeout.

2016Feb16 14:21:23    CHDK 1.4.1-4381 ixus240_elph320hs 101a Jan 27 2016
2016Feb16 14:21:23    Mode😛LAY,Continuous_AF:0,Servo_AF:0 Drive:0
2016Feb16 14:21:23     Tv:1/1000 max:1/2000 min:10 ecomp:0.0
2016Feb16 14:21:23     Av:4.0 minAv:2.8 maxAv:8.0
2016Feb16 14:21:23     ISOmin:100 ISO1:400 ISO2:800 M:0
2016Feb16 14:21:23     Focus:OFF  Video:0 USB:2:1 Tmo:0
2016Feb16 14:21:23     AvM:2 int:1 Shts:0 Dly:0 B/L:0
2016Feb16 14:21:24    waiting on USB signal
2016Feb16 14:22:42    USB start signal received
2016Feb16 14:22:46    Mode switched to P
2016Feb16 14:22:46    Logger : log file updated.
2016Feb16 14:22:53    timeout after shoot full
2016Feb16 14:22:47.500 1) IMG_0048.JPG
2016Feb16 14:22:53     meter : Tv:1/200 Av:2.8 Sv:100 649:649
2016Feb16 14:22:53     actual: Tv:1/1000 Av:- Sv:400
2016Feb16 14:22:53             AvMin:2.8 NDF:NDout foc:infinity
2016Feb16 14:22:55    timeout on hook_shoot.is_ready
2016Feb16 14:22:55.760 2) IMG_0048.JPG
2016Feb16 14:22:58     meter : Tv:1/1000 Av:2.8 Sv:400 649:649
2016Feb16 14:22:58     actual: Tv:1/1000 Av:- Sv:400
2016Feb16 14:22:58             AvMin:2.8 NDF:NDout foc:infinity
2016Feb16 14:23:12    timeout after shoot full
2016Feb16 14:23:06.790 3) IMG_0049.JPG
2016Feb16 14:23:12     meter : Tv:1/200 Av:2.8 Sv:100 646:646
2016Feb16 14:23:12     actual: Tv:1/1000 Av:- Sv:400
2016Feb16 14:23:12             AvMin:2.8 NDF:NDout foc:infinity
2016Feb16 14:23:15    timeout on hook_shoot.is_ready
2016Feb16 14:23:15.050 4) IMG_0049.JPG
2016Feb16 14:23:17     meter : Tv:1/1000 Av:2.8 Sv:400 646:646
2016Feb16 14:23:17     actual: Tv:1/1000 Av:- Sv:400
2016Feb16 14:23:17             AvMin:2.8 NDF:NDout foc:infinity
2016Feb16 14:23:25    timeout after shoot full
2016Feb16 14:23:19.180 5) IMG_0050.JPG
2016Feb16 14:23:25     meter : Tv:1/200 Av:2.8 Sv:100 623:623
2016Feb16 14:23:25     actual: Tv:1/1000 Av:- Sv:500
2016Feb16 14:23:25             AvMin:2.8 NDF:NDout foc:infinity
2016Feb16 14:23:27    timeout on hook_shoot.is_ready
2016Feb16 14:23:27.440 6) IMG_0050.JPG
2016Feb16 14:23:30     meter : Tv:1/1000 Av:2.8 Sv:500 623:623
2016Feb16 14:23:30     actual: Tv:1/1000 Av:- Sv:500
2016Feb16 14:23:30             AvMin:2.8 NDF:NDout foc:infinity
2016Feb16 14:23:38    timeout after shoot full

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