KAP & UAV Exposure Control Intervalometer Script

waterwingz

12140

Re: KAP & UAV Exposure Control Intervalometer Script

« Reply #70 on: 15 / December / 2013, 15:18:07 »

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Script updated to version 1.4. Changes include :

Addition of a minimum Tv setting to limit the slowest shutter speed that the script can use. In low lighting situations, this can lead to underexposed images that may need to be fixed in post processing but that's probably better than having correctly exposed blurred images.
Addition of an option to power the camera completely off when the specified number of shots has been taken.
Clean up to the text console to block less of the LCD image area.

Changelog and link on the wiki page : http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/KAP_%26_UAV_Exposure_Control_Script

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Ported : A1200 SD940 G10 Powershot N G16

bisenberger

31

Re: KAP & UAV Exposure Control Intervalometer Script

« Reply #71 on: 19 / December / 2013, 07:52:16 »

Quote from: waterwingz on 10 / December / 2013, 16:50:59

Quote from: bisenberger on 10 / December / 2013, 16:21:15
Hi waterwingz, would it be possible to add a function to turn off the camera when it completes shooting the total number of shots?
Doesn't sound like a big problem to add. At one point I had the code simply switch to playback when shooting was done so that the lens could retract prior to landing. I assume you are asking for the same reason?

Yes, that's the reason. Thanks for adding it to the script.

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AndrewFerrara

6

Re: KAP & UAV Exposure Control Intervalometer Script

« Reply #72 on: 19 / December / 2013, 23:49:03 »

First time on this forum. I just got a SX260 to use on a quadcopter. I want to take off without the lens extended and then start this script. How would some one go about doing that?

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waterwingz

12140

Re: KAP & UAV Exposure Control Intervalometer Script

« Reply #73 on: 19 / December / 2013, 23:59:21 »

Quote from: AndrewFerrara on 19 / December / 2013, 23:49:03

First time on this forum. I just got a SX260 to use on a quadcopter. I want to take off without the lens extended and then start this script. How would some one go about doing that?

Easy - all you need to do is set the script's Start Delay and then start the script just prior to launch.

Do this :

Start your camera in "playback" mode rather than shooting mode (i.e. so the lens is not extended)
Activate CHDK and go to the Script menu.
Load the kap_ua.lua script.
Scroll down and set the "Start Delay Time (sec)" to your desired startup delay ( i.e. 60 seconds ?)
While still in <ALT> & in playback mode, start the script by pressing the shutter button fully.
Launch your UAV.

Sixty seconds later (depending on the delay you set) the camera will switch to shooting mode and the lens will extend.

Does that do it for you ?

WW

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Ported : A1200 SD940 G10 Powershot N G16

AndrewFerrara

6

Re: KAP & UAV Exposure Control Intervalometer Script

« Reply #74 on: 20 / December / 2013, 00:57:16 »

Ok, thank you for the instructions. I just tested it and that will work well.

I see there is a parameter to turn off the backlight off. However, it doesn't appear that my backlight turns off what is this suppose to look like? Does the screen dim or turn off? It doesn't appear to be dimming.

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waterwingz

12140

Re: KAP & UAV Exposure Control Intervalometer Script

« Reply #75 on: 20 / December / 2013, 08:32:24 »

Quote from: AndrewFerrara on 20 / December / 2013, 00:57:16

I see there is a parameter to turn off the backlight off. However, it doesn't appear that my backlight turns off what is this suppose to look like? Does the screen dim or turn off? It doesn't appear to be dimming.

If you have your shot rate set fairly high, on the order of one shot every 5 sec or less, then the backlight never gets a chance to turn off. Its a long standing limitation of the CHDK script set_backlight() command caused by the fact that the backlight turns on after every shot, requiring the script to pause briefly to turn it back off again.

You can test this for yourself by changing the shot interval to 60 seconds and observing the backlight when you run the script in that mode.

Fortunately, there is a new script command, set_lcd_display() that actually turns off both the backlight and the LCD itself. It has been available in the unstable testing version of CHDK for some time now. I have not used it in the kap_uav script as it was not available in the stable public version of CHDK. That changed two days ago thanks to philmoz - I just have not had a chance to update the script yet.

And as an added bonus, set_lcd_display() should save quite a bit more battery power than set_backlight()

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Ported : A1200 SD940 G10 Powershot N G16

waterwingz

12140

Re: KAP & UAV Exposure Control Intervalometer Script

« Reply #76 on: 21 / December / 2013, 10:26:52 »

Release 1.5 now available at the regular download link.

This version used set_lcd_display() rather than set_backlight() and requires a recent version of CHDK 1.2.0 or 1.3.0.

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Ported : A1200 SD940 G10 Powershot N G16

AndrewFerrara

6

Re: KAP & UAV Exposure Control Intervalometer Script

« Reply #77 on: 22 / December / 2013, 16:50:45 »

I tired the script out the other day and it worked very well. However, I do need to make some adjustments to my setup to make it easier to use the camera (usb remote) and take better photos. A lot of them came out blurry. It was pretty windy though. Is there a way to correct this on the camera or do I just need a better anti-vibration setup? Right now the camera is directly mounted to the quadcopter in a case made from polymorph plastic (pictured below).

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reyalp

14118

Re: KAP & UAV Exposure Control Intervalometer Script

« Reply #78 on: 22 / December / 2013, 17:43:07 »

From the exif, it looks like the focus mode is set to auto. You would probably be better off focusing at infinity. With the sort of camera, infinity should be fine for the kind of altitude you are shooting from.

Since your camera has MF, you should be able to just set it to MF mode and adjust the focus before flight. There might be a way to do this from script, but it varies a lot by camera so a manual test is likely to be more reliable. It looks like the camera is in full auto mode, you may need to switch the camera to P mode to turn off autofocus.

I'm not sure if all of your problem focus, there could well be some motion blur from vibration in there too, but

Code: [Select]

exiftool -a -u -g1 -h IMG_0181.JPG > IMG_0181.HTMLreports

Code: [Select]

Focus Distance Upper	0.78 m

which I think indicates that it was trying to focus quite close. If I set my D10 to infinity in MF mode, I get

Code: [Select]

Focus Distance Upper	15.69 m
Focus Distance Lower	0 m

The exposure was 1/1000th which should be pretty good for keeping motion blur down with wide angle shots like that.

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Don't forget what the H stands for.

waterwingz

12140

Re: KAP & UAV Exposure Control Intervalometer Script

« Reply #79 on: 22 / December / 2013, 18:43:58 »

The script supports various methods of setting focus at infinity, selectable by a user defined @param value. You might have to tweak the code for your particular camera though.

Details are discussed in the Wiki page documentation for the script (linked in the first post of this thread).

« Last Edit: 22 / December / 2013, 22:21:24 by waterwingz »

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Ported : A1200 SD940 G10 Powershot N G16