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Manual Focus @ Infinity not working

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Offline oneaty

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Manual Focus @ Infinity not working
« on: 27 / October / 2014, 09:24:16 »
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Hi,

When I set CHDK Manual Focus @ Infinity, the camera doesn't correctly focus.

When I disable it and use the camera's default focus setting at infinity (using one of the options presented when pressing its left key), the camera gets correctly focused.

What am I missing? What should I do so that CHDK Manual Focus correctly focus the camera at infinity?

The following image shows two photos side-by-side, where the leftmost was taken using canon's default infinity focus setting and the other using CHDK manual focus set @ infinity. It's not dificult to see that the leftmost is sharper than the other.



Attached, EXIF mnote info for each one of the photos:
« Last Edit: 27 / October / 2014, 10:10:11 by oneaty »
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Canon A3100IS - 100d
CHDK a3100-100d-1.2.0-3643-full_ALPHA
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Offline ahull

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Re: Manual Focus @ Infinity not working
« Reply #1 on: 27 / October / 2014, 13:15:06 »
Hmm... they do look remarkably similar.

Code: [Select]
diff exif-mnote_7434 exif-mnote_7442
56c56
< Measured EV         |10,84 EV
---
> Measured EV         |10,97 EV
75c75
< Exposure Time       |1/649
---
> Exposure Time       |1/708
78c78
< Unknown Tag         |0x000d
---
> Unknown Tag         |0x0011
89c89
< Image Number        |132-7434
---
> Image Number        |132-7442

.. not sure if there is any significant  in that "Unknown Tag"
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Offline waterwingz

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Re: Manual Focus @ Infinity not working
« Reply #2 on: 27 / October / 2014, 13:16:07 »
Manual focussing via CHDK works better on some cameras than others.  It also works a lot better in the 1.3.0 version of CHDK than the previous versions.  More information about that can be found here : Setting focus from scripts or menus

Test results for your A3100 indicate that is should be able to manually focus under CHDK scripting control.  If you are trying to set focus at infinity from the CHDK menus then you might want set AFL (auto focus lock) first from the Canon menus and see if that helps.  Upgrading to 1.3.0 might also help if you have not already done so.
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Ported :   A1200    SD940   G10    Powershot N    G16
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Offline oneaty

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Re: Manual Focus @ Infinity not working
« Reply #3 on: 28 / October / 2014, 08:08:37 »
Quote from: waterwingz on 27 / October / 2014, 13:16:07
Manual focussing via CHDK works better on some cameras than others.  It also works a lot better in the 1.3.0 version of CHDK than the previous versions.  More information about that can be found here : Setting focus from scripts or menus

Test results for your A3100 indicate that is should be able to manually focus under CHDK scripting control.  If you are trying to set focus at infinity from the CHDK menus then you might want set AFL (auto focus lock) first from the Canon menus and see if that helps.  Upgrading to 1.3.0 might also help if you have not already done so.

Thanks for telling me about AFL, I didn't even know that I could do that  :-[

Now, I don't quite understand what you meant.

Are you saying that before trying to set focus at infinity in CHDK I should set AFL (to infinity? or just set AFL, regardless what the focal point is?), only then CHDK infinity setting will work correctly?

Or that Canon AFL is to be used whenever CHDK infinity focus doesn't work?

As for v1.3, I'm a little bit concerned in using it, since I understand that it is an unstable version. Do you think I should try it? Does it increase the risk of bricking the camera, or it means only more potential bugs?
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Canon A3100IS - 100d
CHDK a3100-100d-1.2.0-3643-full_ALPHA
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Offline waterwingz

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Re: Manual Focus @ Infinity not working
« Reply #4 on: 28 / October / 2014, 09:41:46 »
Quote from: oneaty on 28 / October / 2014, 08:08:37
Are you saying that before trying to set focus at infinity in CHDK I should set AFL (to infinity? or just set AFL, regardless what the focal point is?), only then CHDK infinity setting will work correctly?
AFL does not set the focus to anything specific.  It just tells the Canon firmware to lock the focus at whatever it is currently pointed at and not make any more focus adjustments.  This function is available in pretty much every Canon P&S camera and is not something CHDK provides.

Quote
Or that Canon AFL is to be used whenever CHDK infinity focus doesn't work?
The reason I suggested using it is that once the Canon firmware stops adjusting the focus, then CHDK can do so (via scripts or menu settings) without the Canon firmware either ignoring the CHDK setting or changing it after CHDK has tried to set it.   This does not always work in every cameras and on many cameras is not necessary.  So you need to experiment a bit to figure out what works for you.  We are trying to change that but progress has been slow lately - I'll see what I can do about that.

Quote
As for v1.3, I'm a little bit concerned in using it, since I understand that it is an unstable version. Do you think I should try it? Does it increase the risk of bricking the camera, or it means only more potential bugs?
Today, v1.3 is where we put the shinny new stuff.  However, the new stuff tends to be carefully vetted by the various developers and is usually fairly low risk by the time it gets into the autobuild version.  And we are almost ready to make v1.2 obsolete by declaring v1.3 to be the new stable version. 

FWIW,  I only use v1.3 on my five or six cameras.  And doing CHDK development over the last five years or so, I've crashed my cameras more times testing new code than I can count.  If there is something bad CHDK can do to a camera then I've probably done it.  A few times.  But so far,  no bricked cameras, although by tomorrow that could all change. It just does not seem likely.

So yes,  by all means use 1.3 - especially if you want to experiment with focus settings.
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Ported :   A1200    SD940   G10    Powershot N    G16
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Offline oneaty

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Re: Manual Focus @ Infinity not working
« Reply #5 on: 28 / October / 2014, 10:04:37 »
Thanks, waterwingz.

So, here's my plan: I'll upgrade to v1.3 and do my tests on the following days.

Then I'll get back and post my results.

Although I still have some questions on your first two answers from the previous post, I'll let them for now and go straight for the v1.3.

Thanks once more  8)
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Canon A3100IS - 100d
CHDK a3100-100d-1.2.0-3643-full_ALPHA
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Offline oneaty

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Re: Manual Focus @ Infinity not working
« Reply #6 on: 28 / October / 2014, 13:58:34 »
Well, earlier than I thought, I was able to either upgrade to v1.3 and redo some tests.

Basically, the tests were:

1) Shoot with CHDK Manual Focus disabled - Result: Focus correctly set @ infinity

2) Shoot with CHDK Manual Focus enabled - Result: Blurred as in the photos shown in the first post of this topic

In both tests, the shooting was done outside the ALT mode.

I would seriously consider the possibility of a focus malfunction in my camera if it were not the fact that under DryOS I can correctly focus @ infinity.


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Canon A3100IS - 100d
CHDK a3100-100d-1.2.0-3643-full_ALPHA
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Offline waterwingz

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Re: Manual Focus @ Infinity not working
« Reply #7 on: 28 / October / 2014, 15:49:36 »


Quote from: oneaty on 28 / October / 2014, 13:58:34
I would seriously consider the possibility of a focus malfunction in my camera if it were not the fact that under DryOS I can correctly focus @ infinity.
Interesting.  As I said earlier, the whole MF thing with CHDK conditinues to be a work-in-process. 

One thing you might try is a simple script to see if that will focus at infinity.   I'll post something if you are interested. Although in some of my testing, my S100 worked perfectly while the same camera model belonging to other CHDK users did not.

When you set focus at infinity with the Canon controls, I assume you are selecting the "mountain" option? It would be interesting to know where that was setting the subject distance. You can display that with the CHDK OSD DOF calculator. Can you check and let us know what it says?
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Ported :   A1200    SD940   G10    Powershot N    G16
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Offline oneaty

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Re: Manual Focus @ Infinity not working
« Reply #8 on: 28 / October / 2014, 16:50:15 »
Quote from: waterwingz on 28 / October / 2014, 15:49:36

When you set focus at infinity with the Canon controls, I assume you are selecting the "mountain" option? It would be interesting to know where that was setting the subject distance. You can display that with the CHDK OSD DOF calculator. Can you check and let us know what it says?

Indeed, that's what I did, I'm taking those infinity pictures in P mode, then selecting the "mountain" option.

I enabled the dof calculator like you said and that's what I got:

1) MF disabled, just relying on Canon's "mountain" and pointing at a very far subject

S/NL/FL -> inf/inf/inf
DOF/HYP -> inf/2.87

2) MF enabled, set at infinity (SD=65535), pointing at the same subject

S/NL/FL-> INF/INF/INF
DOF/HYP -> inf/1.01 (before halpressing the shutter to get focus); inf/2.87 (after halfpressing the shutter)
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Canon A3100IS - 100d
CHDK a3100-100d-1.2.0-3643-full_ALPHA
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Offline waterwingz

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Re: Manual Focus @ Infinity not working
« Reply #9 on: 28 / October / 2014, 16:54:17 »
And the resulting image from the second shot was out of focus?
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Ported :   A1200    SD940   G10    Powershot N    G16
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