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Multi-camera setup project.

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Offline mphx

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Re: Multi-camera setup project.
« Reply #430 on: 06 / February / 2017, 15:04:08 »
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@andrew

Not at the studio either , will test it tomorrow. :)

The previous command syntax worked at 80% percentage of the cases.

Example (true story , happened today) :

I turn on all the cameras .At some point one camera lost connection.The "command" worked , reported the id of the "lost" camera.
So far so good.
I reconnect everything.At some point another camera lost connection.And at the same time some other cameras TURNED OFF completely (wtf!).
The "command" reported all the missing cameras.The one that lost connection (but stayed on) plus all the other cameras tha were turned off.
Command worked here because all the "missing cameras" (by either losing connection and stayed on or turned off) were connected at the first place.In this case "command" does the job.

But as i said before , if i forget to power on a whole tripod , lets say 8 cameras...and these 8 cameras never get connected or some cameras lose connection during shooting ,turn off and i will never notice for any reason...so they will stay turned off during next reconnection...at these 2 cases this command will miss these cameras.
« Last Edit: 06 / February / 2017, 15:05:50 by mphx »
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Offline Hardware_Hacker

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Re: Multi-camera setup project.
« Reply #431 on: 06 / February / 2017, 19:26:25 »
Quote from: andrew.stephens.754365 on 06 / February / 2017, 03:53:10
Quote from: Hardware_Hacker on 05 / February / 2017, 21:37:32
USB Device View has several options  that may be useful for additional USB Monitoring:-

a/ Display a Tray Balloon when a USB Device is Disconnected.
b/ Execute the following command when you unplug a USB device. (In Advanced Options.)
    "You can use the following variables in the command string:- "...................."


I just read that USBDeview has "all kinds of snazzy, user-callable command line capabilities as well as the basic GUI"  - hadn't realised that...potentially useful for further (e.g. AutoIt) automatic analysis.

Thanks.
Just to be clear my multi-camera arrays have a customized setup that is standardized even when using different camera models.
So even when I change to another windows computer, or a new Windows OS version, the cameras will then exhibit the same behavior.
This has been detailed in some older post's and I am still using the same basic method with a few improvements.

I something goes wrong I can then do a soft-reset back to the standard. Windows then dose its "normal-thing" and the
windows registry will then contain the, new, relevant details of Hubs, Connections, Times, Events, "JUNK", Data used for Logs. etc. etc. (example's in posts 420 &422)

There are additional options regarding, AutoIt Automatic Analysis, it can access the windows registry (i.e. "Database")
and then look at the three most important windows registry will then contain the new relevant details of the cameras in the array.

a/ Windows registry key (HKLM_CS001_Control_Class-Key)
b/ Windows registry key (HKLM_CS001_Enum_USB_(Canon Camera)-Key)
c/ Windows registry key  (HKLM_CS001_Services_LibUSB0-Key)

See the Examples in the attached Files.
Note #0 Only the, necessary,  basic CAMERA-DEPENDENT details are used, BLANK KEYS are used for the other Windows OS Stuff.
Note #1 Caution is needed when editing the registry files.
Note #2 As per Older Post's The customized setup was developed and tested using a Windows-PE (i.e. A RAM based) system using the "REAL HARDWARE".

H-H
« Last Edit: 06 / February / 2017, 22:19:14 by Hardware_Hacker »
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Offline srsa_4c

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Re: Multi-camera setup project.
« Reply #432 on: 06 / February / 2017, 19:44:40 »
Something like this?
Code: [Select]
function mc:camstatus()
local cn=0
local nc=0
    for lcon in mc:icams() do
        if not lcon:is_connected() then
            nc=nc+1
            printf('#%s NOT connected\n',lcon.mc_id)
        else
            cn=cn+1
            printf('#%s connected\n',lcon.mc_id)
        end
    end
    printf('\nSummary: %d cameras (%d connected, %d disconnected)\n',cn+nc,cn,nc)
end
Cameras that turn off: do they turn off properly (including retracting the lens)?
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Offline mphx

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Re: Multi-camera setup project.
« Reply #433 on: 06 / February / 2017, 20:02:41 »
Quote from: srsa_4c on 06 / February / 2017, 19:44:40
Something like this?
Code: [Select]
function mc:camstatus()
local cn=0
local nc=0
    for lcon in mc:icams() do
        if not lcon:is_connected() then
            nc=nc+1
            printf('#%s NOT connected\n',lcon.mc_id)
        else
            cn=cn+1
            printf('#%s connected\n',lcon.mc_id)
        end
    end
    printf('\nSummary: %d cameras (%d connected, %d disconnected)\n',cn+nc,cn,nc)
end
Cameras that turn off: do they turn off properly (including retracting the lens)?

Will test this tomorrow at studio.

About cameras that turn off.I can't answer for sure because i didn't pay attention at that moment.But i believe that they retract lens because i remember turning them on and lens going out..so they were retracted.
Cameras losing connection is something common to our rig.usb slots on cameras getting loosed sometimes , someone kicking a cable , its ok , we are used to it.
And we see it fast , since chdkptp throw out an error popup.
But turned off cameras is a mystery ...Since connecting and syncing takes some seconds we don't keep looking to chdkptp console output..so if a camera is missing and reported there..half of the times we wont see it.
There is a suspicion that during shooting , when cameras are connected , some cameras will turn off and chdkptp wont throw an error...and we keep working like nothing happened..with less cameras...
I believe the most probable scenario is that some camera(s) are losing connection and some (other) cameras turn off at the same time.
So during reconnection of the cameras , we miss the turned off ones if we are not paying attention to chdkptp output that says that cameras xx ,yy ,zz are missing (turned off).

To be honest we cannot pinpoint the exact time the turning off of the cameras is occured.During shooting ?during when some cameras losing connection and that affects the turning off of some other cameras?We cant really say.
I wasn't even shooting today..just had the cameras turned on and connected to chdkptp...noone was touching the cameras , noone was touching the cables...and had cameras failing connection..turning off...
And i am 99.99999% sure i have disable any powersaving setting...

I will do some more tests tomorrow.
« Last Edit: 06 / February / 2017, 20:05:56 by mphx »
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Offline srsa_4c

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Re: Multi-camera setup project.
« Reply #434 on: 06 / February / 2017, 20:29:05 »
Quote from: mphx on 06 / February / 2017, 20:02:41
I believe the most probable scenario is that some camera(s) are losing connection and some (other) cameras turn off at the same time.
This is IMHO unlikely to be a software issue. If things worsen gradually, it might be that the camera power supplies deteriorate (especially if they are cheap Chinese ones). It's also possible that you have ground loop issues (computer / usb hubs and camera power supplies are not on the same ground).
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Offline mphx

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Re: Multi-camera setup project.
« Reply #435 on: 06 / February / 2017, 21:39:36 »
Quote from: srsa_4c on 06 / February / 2017, 20:29:05
Quote from: mphx on 06 / February / 2017, 20:02:41
I believe the most probable scenario is that some camera(s) are losing connection and some (other) cameras turn off at the same time.
This is IMHO unlikely to be a software issue. If things worsen gradually, it might be that the camera power supplies deteriorate (especially if they are cheap Chinese ones). It's also possible that you have ground loop issues (computer / usb hubs and camera power supplies are not on the same ground).


Well , hardware and setup hasnt change from day one.And this mysterious turn offs started only recently. What you said about camera power supplies makes me worry...because they are indeed chinese ones and not original canon power supplies.
I will investigate this angle too.
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Offline andrew.stephens.754365

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Re: Multi-camera setup project.
« Reply #436 on: 07 / February / 2017, 04:55:53 »
Quote from: Hardware_Hacker on 06 / February / 2017, 19:26:25
I something goes wrong I can then do a soft-reset back to the standard.

Nice.

I recently considered simply installing a known good disk image (using a freeware PE) every morning from a remote script over the newtwork - not so elegant as yours.
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Offline mphx

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Re: Multi-camera setup project.
« Reply #437 on: 07 / February / 2017, 15:59:05 »
UPDATE

I think we found the cause of the problem (of random cameras turning off).

A little background so everyone can follow the story.

We have 3 shooting modes.

1.Single shooting (for kids and pets)
2.Double shooting (for adults)
3.Preshoot + shoot (for kids and pets)

Single shooting , just preshoots and shoots. Mode number #3 , has preshoot and shoot seperated , so we preshoot and then issue shoots at will.

Few months ago , i was searching a way to shoot multiple shots in short time , like 2-3 secs.At that point reyalp introduced shoot_burst command.
I modified the "shoot" button of the mode #3 shooting just to make some tests.
After i was done , i left that button to use shoot_burst and just shoot one shoot at a time.
Good thing about shoot_burst is that it "keeps" preshoot during shooting.So i issue preshoot once and then issue "shoot_burst" at my will multiple times without issue preshoot anymore.

Today after many tests and experiments we found out what was causing the problem .

Shoot_burst + preview mode.

We did MANY MANY tests doing "preshoot" + shoot_burst x multiple times...the moment we pressed preview mode , cameras were turning off (90% of the turned off cameras were the same every time).
And i was wrong before when i said lens were retracted when they turn off.They don't retract.

I edited the button and instead of shoot_burst i put shoot_hook_sync...did the same thing....clicked preview mode button...none of the cameras turned off.

So i want to believe that this was the problem.

Using shoot_burst may be overkill but it offered "preshoot pressed constantly" and we could only press shoot ...very useful when u have kids and they move all the time.
Now i modified the button to use shoot_hook_sync but we have to press preshoot before every shot...2-3 secs will be lost there..and kids are hard to be kept still.
Anyways....i dont know if shoot_burst has a bug or anything , or its the combination of shoot_burst , preview mode and the specific cameras that were affected...
« Last Edit: 07 / February / 2017, 16:01:27 by mphx »
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Offline reyalp

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Re: Multi-camera setup project.
« Reply #438 on: 07 / February / 2017, 16:31:43 »
Quote from: mphx on 07 / February / 2017, 15:59:05

Shoot_burst + preview mode.

We did MANY MANY tests doing "preshoot" + shoot_burst x multiple times...the moment we pressed preview mode , cameras were turning off (90% of the turned off cameras were the same every time).
I don't understand what you mean by "preview mode".

I also don't really get from your post which specific sequence of calls causes the problem or not. I would like to fix or at least understand crashes, but I do not have enough information to do anything.
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Offline mphx

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Re: Multi-camera setup project.
« Reply #439 on: 07 / February / 2017, 16:46:50 »
Quote from: reyalp on 07 / February / 2017, 16:31:43
I don't understand what you mean by "preview mode".

I also don't really get from your post which specific sequence of calls causes the problem or not. I would like to fix or at least understand crashes, but I do not have enough information to do anything.


Ah yes my bad , when i say "preview mode" , i mean the "play" mode. Atleast in chdkptp the command is "play" .When camera's display , shows the last photo taken.
So the sequence of calls is "preshoot" + "shoot_burst" (the number of shoot_burst used is irrelevant , the problem occurs even with one shoot_burst) and then issuing "play" command (you know so you can review the photo taken on camera's display).
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