Newbie says "...what?" - General Help and Assistance on using CHDK stable releases - CHDK Forum  

Newbie says "...what?"

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Offline Doug

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Newbie says "...what?"
« on: 26 / December / 2014, 16:30:00 »
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I'm using a Canon SX130IS, but mostly for video. I've seen people with this camera install CHDK and then focus videos manually, which I couldn't even do without CHDK. I've also seen people lock the iris which I've never been able to do, even though it is supposed to be a feature. I guess what I'm asking is HOW does one do these things? The CHDK manual, which seems dedicated to the still photographer, doesn't discuss it. Can anyone help? Thanks!

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Offline srsa_4c

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Re: Newbie says "...what?"
« Reply #1 on: 27 / December / 2014, 08:45:49 »
I've seen people with this camera install CHDK and then focus videos manually, which I couldn't even do without CHDK.
Try enabling "override subj. distance" in the enhanced photo operations menu, you should then be able to adjust focus with the zoom lever in ALT mode (use left/right to change the focus step). It seems that this port doesn't support focus scan and optical zoom during video recording - probably for a good reason.
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I've also seen people lock the iris which I've never been able to do, even though it is supposed to be a feature.
That is not a standard feature, there's a special script that makes it possible. The script is not completely stable, it can crash the camera.
For more scripts, see http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/User_Written_Scripts .
Last, but not least see this page: the sx130 was the most frequently reported model.

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Offline Doug

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Re: Newbie says "...what?"
« Reply #2 on: 27 / December / 2014, 15:51:12 »
Hi srsa_4c,

You said "It seems that this port doesn't support focus scan and optical zoom during video recording - probably for a good reason."

While I am retired now, most of my career was in shooting TV commercials. I can't possibly think of any "good" reason for the above, which eliminates 2 very required features of a video camera. Also, locking the iris was supposed to be a feature of the SX130IS before CHDK is installed. Does it get lost after installing CHDK?

Also, you mentioned being able to then focus with the zoom lever in ALT mode. ?? You mean to get the CHDK menu back and then focus? That isn't clear to me. Can you help?

Not trying to argue here, just trying to learn this camera with CHDK.
« Last Edit: 27 / December / 2014, 15:53:52 by Doug »

Re: Newbie says "...what?"
« Reply #3 on: 27 / December / 2014, 15:54:26 »
While I am retired now, most of my career was in shooting TV commercials. I can't possibly think of any "good" reason for the above, which eliminates 2 very required features of a video camera.
The good reason is that enabling that feature on some cameras causes them to crash.
Ported :   A1200    SD940   G10    Powershot N    G16


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Offline Doug

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Re: Newbie says "...what?"
« Reply #4 on: 27 / December / 2014, 16:09:54 »
Hummm...then perhaps not the right camera to use for video! Or poorly written scripts. Anyway, thanks for the advice!

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Offline reyalp

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Re: Newbie says "...what?"
« Reply #5 on: 27 / December / 2014, 17:05:23 »
You said "It seems that this port doesn't support focus scan and optical zoom during video recording - probably for a good reason."

While I am retired now, most of my career was in shooting TV commercials. I can't possibly think of any "good" reason for the above, which eliminates 2 very required features of a video camera.
I suspect what srsa means by "Good reason" in this case is probably that it was tried, crashed and nobody figured out how make it work. CHDK is a hack that pokes at the poorly understood guts of an undocumented system.

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Also, locking the iris was supposed to be a feature of the SX130IS before CHDK is installed. Does it get lost after installing CHDK?
No, CHDK does not disable Canon features, unless it's a bug in the CHDK port. IMO, it would be fairly unlikely for a CHDK bug to cause this symptom, so this problem is probably between you, Canon and perhaps the Canon manual.

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Also, you mentioned being able to then focus with the zoom lever in ALT mode. ?? You mean to get the CHDK menu back and then focus? That isn't clear to me. Can you help?
Yes, if this feature were enabled on the CHDK port for your camera, you would
1) set SD override in the extra operations menu
2) leave the menu
3) When you want to adjust focus, go to alt mode and move the zoom lever. You can use the left/right arrows to adjust the size of step.
However... this feature is not generally enabled on CHDK ports for cameras that have MF in the Canon firmware, since it was intended as an MF replacement. This is something that we should look into improving.
Don't forget what the H stands for.

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Offline srsa_4c

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Re: Newbie says "...what?"
« Reply #6 on: 27 / December / 2014, 17:37:14 »
You said "It seems that this port doesn't support focus scan and optical zoom during video recording - probably for a good reason."

While I am retired now, most of my career was in shooting TV commercials. I can't possibly think of any "good" reason for the above, which eliminates 2 very required features of a video camera.
I suspect what srsa means by "Good reason" in this case is probably that it was tried, crashed and nobody figured out how make it work.
Exactly, that was from developer's point of view.

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Also, locking the iris was supposed to be a feature of the SX130IS before CHDK is installed. Does it get lost after installing CHDK?
The manual mentions that the camera supports "AE lock/exposure shift" that can be enabled/adjusted prior to recording. That feature will continue to be available. However, that doesn't guarantee that the camera's iris will not change, it's just about exposure level.
The reason CHDK doesn't enable optical zoom during video is: the original firmware already supports it (found about this from the manual).

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Also, you mentioned being able to then focus with the zoom lever in ALT mode. ?? You mean to get the CHDK menu back and then focus? That isn't clear to me. Can you help?
Yes, if this feature were enabled on the CHDK port for your camera, you would
1) set SD override in the extra operations menu
2) leave the menu
3) When you want to adjust focus, go to alt mode and move the zoom lever. You can use the left/right arrows to adjust the size of step.
However... this feature is not generally enabled on CHDK ports for cameras that have MF in the Canon firmware, since it was intended as an MF replacement. This is something that we should look into improving.
I'm not sure... Even if CAM_USE_ZOOM_FOR_MF is #undef'd, this feature is still there (though I have to enable MF on my sx280 to make it work)...

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Offline reyalp

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Re: Newbie says "...what?"
« Reply #7 on: 27 / December / 2014, 19:29:34 »
I'm not sure... Even if CAM_USE_ZOOM_FOR_MF is #undef'd, this feature is still there (though I have to enable MF on my sx280 to make it work)...
:-[ oops, you are right, it works on MF cams if you are in Canon MF mode. There is some... funky code in this area.
Don't forget what the H stands for.


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Offline Doug

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Re: Newbie says "...what?"
« Reply #8 on: 27 / December / 2014, 19:55:08 »
reyalp,
Regarding manual focus you said, "However... this feature is not generally enabled on CHDK ports for cameras that have MF in the Canon firmware, since it was intended as an MF replacement. This is something that we should look into improving."

My camera HAS MF in the factory firmware, but it doesn't work in video mode, just stills. I use the camera mostly for video.


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Offline nafraf

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Re: Newbie says "...what?"
« Reply #9 on: 27 / December / 2014, 20:16:23 »
Doug, what is the firmware version of your camera?

 

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