Powershot N Porting Thread - page 19 - DryOS Development - CHDK Forum

Powershot N Porting Thread

  • 212 Replies
  • 93684 Views
Re: Powershot N Porting Thread
« Reply #180 on: 04 / November / 2015, 07:21:04 »
Advertisements
I was wondering  if it is possible to initiate chdk on the N without using the lcd screen.
Yes it is.

CHDK is loaded (initiated) on every supported Canon P&S camera model in one of two ways - the firmware update method or the SD Card lock switch autoboot method.   Details of how this works are here.

For the Powershot N,  the both method are available.  The autoboot method works when the micro SD card slot cover is left open (or the little bump on the cover that engages the internal microswitch is removed  ;) ).  So the answer to your question is "Yes - you can setup the N to automatically load CHDK when the camera starts. You can also activate the CHDK GUI with the middle switch on the side of the case so you don't need the touch screen for that.  But without the touch screen there is not a lot more you can do with the GUI.

Also, CHDK can be configured to run a Lua (or uBASIC) script at startup - no LCD touch screen interaction is needed there either.

And if you use CHDKPTP to communicate to the camera from your PC,  you don't need the LCD or touchscreen at all.

Quote
This would be very interesting as I would try to remove the lcd to lighten the N. If this worked, I think it would make the N the cheapest & lightest chdk camera that can shoot 2.3 continuous  :)
You might be able to remove the entire LCD & touch screen module with its enclosure.  It's connected by just two little hinges and a small ribbon cable.  However, the camera's DIGIC4 controller might notice the missing electronics and throw a fatal hardware error message and shut down.  The only way to find out is to dissassemble it and try I'm afraid.  Fortunately the camera is assembled with small phillips screws so dissassemble should not be too hard.

I have not experimented with the maximum continuous shooting speed of the camera.  Frequently the published spec is not maintainable at full resolution for very long. If the shot rate is faster than the rate the camera can convert the image to a JPG and write to the SD card then internal camera memory will fill up quickly and the shot rate will slow down.  If you'd like I can do some experimenting with this?

Finally, I've noticed that Powershot N's occassionally show up on the Canon refurb website for about $100 so if you can grab one there it's a great deal.
Ported :   A1200    SD940   G10    Powershot N    G16

*

Offline jefike

  • *
  • 3
  • Just a Grad student who's doing research.
Re: Powershot N Porting Thread
« Reply #181 on: 02 / February / 2016, 10:43:18 »
Will the Powershoot N fit such a setup? i.e. will it possible to control it using chdkptp and will it support 'remoteshoot -cont'?
Sorry for the delayed response - I've been away.  The answer to your question is "Yes". 

With my N set to continuous mode in the Canon GUI,  I've tested on my Powershot N using :

Code: [Select]
run -i
___> list
-1:Canon PowerShot N b=001 d=006 v=0x4a9 p=0x325e s=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
___> c
connected: Canon PowerShot N, max packet size 512
con>rec
con 1> rs -cont=10

and the camera takes 10 continuous pictures and stores them on my PC hard drive without a local copy on the camera.

I am having an issue where chdkptp isn't recognizing my Powershot N cameras when they are booted with CHDK. To be clear, if I do not boot into chdk (ie, I close the sdcard door and chdk isn't loaded at all) then chdkptp recognizes it.  I've tried this on multiple Linux machines (a couple running Mint and one running Arch) and the behavior has been consistent. I admit that I haven't tried it on a Windows machine, but I might, just for completeness.

I'm using CHDKPTP on Linux and CHDK 1.3.0 on the cameras. I'm going to try an update to the latest stable branch next and see if that helps.

Any ideas on what could be causing this issue?

Thank you.

*

Offline reyalp

  • ******
  • 14128
Re: Powershot N Porting Thread
« Reply #182 on: 02 / February / 2016, 13:42:48 »
Any ideas on what could be causing this issue?
Do you have USB remote enabled in CHDK? It should be OFF to use PTP.
Don't forget what the H stands for.

*

Offline jefike

  • *
  • 3
  • Just a Grad student who's doing research.
Re: Powershot N Porting Thread
« Reply #183 on: 02 / February / 2016, 13:49:12 »
Do you have USB remote enabled in CHDK? It should be OFF to use PTP.

Yes, I did. It is working now. I kinda feel like an idiot. Was that documented somewhere that I missed?

Thank you!

Re: Powershot N Porting Thread
« Reply #184 on: 02 / February / 2016, 15:05:59 »
FWIW, CHDKPTP running on my Fedora Linux box works fine with both my Powershot N cameras with CHDK loaded.  It does not work if CHDK is not loaded on the cameras.
Ported :   A1200    SD940   G10    Powershot N    G16

*

Offline reyalp

  • ******
  • 14128
Re: Powershot N Porting Thread
« Reply #185 on: 02 / February / 2016, 17:00:11 »
Was that documented somewhere that I missed?
Yes http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/PTP_Extension#FAQ

I should probably mention it somewhere prominently in the chdkptp documentation too...
Quote
I kinda feel like an idiot
Don't feel too bad, you have a LOT of company with that particular issue ;)
Don't forget what the H stands for.

Re: Powershot N Porting Thread
« Reply #186 on: 23 / August / 2016, 15:28:43 »
Hello,
Long time coming on this one. But I finally got around to purchasing a PowerShot N and doing some testing. My hope was that the powershot N would work without the touchscreen attached to the camera. This seems to be the case :)  Below is a video showing the camera working with CHDKPTP via a raspberry pi using the CLI.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqxkdpzUsNk

to get access to the ribbon cable port you have to remove the back pannel of the camera body, then remove the screws for the front panel. This will allow the top panel to be disconnected. Be careful with the front panel as there is a ribbon cable attaching the zoom and shoot rings, you cannot remove the front panel without disconnecting that cable. But the front panel just needs to be moved slightly to get the top panel off. The ribbon cable port for the touchscreen is soldered onto another "ribbon cable" so its quite difficult to get leverage to open the black locking bracket on the touchscreen port. But with a delicate touch it is possible.

The next step is to remove the touchscreen completely. I will report back when its off. It looks like the the two "swing arms" are attached to a metal plate under the back panel. I think that plate just needs to be removed and the touch screen will slip off. we will see  :) .

Now I have a question for someone smarter than me in this forum....

My plan is to use this camera for two purposes. Both applications will be utilized with the camera mounted on a drone....

1: CHDKPTP for remote control of the camera via the raspi.
2: KAP/UAV script for camera triggering via ardupilot.

I would like to be able to switch between these two functions depending on the requirements of the flight. this is easy enough with access to the menu because I can turn on or off the USB remote function to allow use of KAP/UAV or full USB control via CHDKPTP. But how I would do this once I don't have access to the menu is a problem I don't have an answer to ???

My thinking was I could modify the KAP/UAV script to initiate the USB remote options so I can use my camera trigger via Ardupilot. Then when the script has finished add some code to turn off the usb remote function before the script powers off the camera, in turn giving me full USB control before and after the script is done running. But how I could achieve this is beyond my knowledge and skill level. Anyone out there with the expertise to guide me though setting this up?


Thanks in advance for any assistance!
« Last Edit: 23 / August / 2016, 15:39:41 by aquilatarot »

*

Offline reyalp

  • ******
  • 14128
Re: Powershot N Porting Thread
« Reply #187 on: 23 / August / 2016, 16:34:51 »
My plan is to use this camera for two purposes. Both applications will be utilized with the camera mounted on a drone....

1: CHDKPTP for remote control of the camera via the raspi.
2: KAP/UAV script for camera triggering via ardupilot.

I would like to be able to switch between these two functions depending on the requirements of the flight. this is easy enough with access to the menu because I can turn on or off the USB remote function to allow use of KAP/UAV or full USB control via CHDKPTP. But how I would do this once I don't have access to the menu is a problem I don't have an answer to
Nice work :)

You can change the remote options from script, using set_config_value http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Script_commands#set_config_value

You may find the script autostart option useful as well.

Another way to deal with this would be to have a set of pre made .cfg files and load the appropriate one before flight. These could be prepared on a camera with the screen connected, or using zeno's cfg editor http://zenoshrdlu.com/cfgedit/chdkcfgedit.html
You could upload them with chdkptp, or just have use different cards.
Don't forget what the H stands for.

Re: Powershot N Porting Thread
« Reply #188 on: 23 / August / 2016, 18:14:31 »
,

 or just have use different cards.



2 sd cards! man was I over thinking it! Thanks for the super simple solution :) 

LCD and flip up panel are off, not so easy but there off, lol.

I'm going to reconnect the LCD configure a secondary image with KAP/UAV set to autostart and then reassemble.

I will make a new thread detailing this mod as well as the other mods I made to the camera  8) 

Thanks again for the response!

Re: Powershot N Porting Thread
« Reply #189 on: 23 / August / 2016, 21:43:27 »
ok, I'm on the home stretch with this camera. Just one oddity to sort out...


This is KAP/UAV related...


The LED shutter sync is working, but there is a second LED "blink" that occurs after the 1st. It also happens when LED shutter sync is disabled. Its delayed by what looks like .5 seconds or so from the shutter closing. How can I turn this off? any ideas?


Its interesting that the LED that syncs is on the side by the power button! :) I didn't expect that I kept looking at the one on the front expecting that one to light up. Thought I was doing something wrong at 1st :)


Thanks in advance!




 

Related Topics


SimplePortal © 2008-2014, SimplePortal