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D10 motion detection for bird bath?

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Offline koshy

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D10 motion detection for bird bath?
« on: 15 / June / 2015, 21:42:59 »
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I had figured that I'd like to take a look at CHDK's scripting where it comes to motion detection but due to high work load didn't get around to it. The thing is we have a bird bath outside and I have D10 which should be ruggedized enough to shoot bathers up close. So the question to anyone who cares to help is: is this easy to set up so that I can get away with it despite my other obligations or should I just postpone the matter?

Whish list:

- on detected motion measure exposure taking exp. compensation into account
    - or even better expose so that nothing clips in the RAW
- auto focus that is half shutter press
- and shoot DNG
- keep doing that at as high a pace as possible while there is motion
- auto focus before each shot seems important as the subject is expected to move
- minimize exposure time at predefined ISO as subject will move

If I cannot have all of that right away I'm totally fine with anything that will get me a DNG and can be used as a first attempt... I think I might need more like a do this and that with that D10 of yours instead of a pointer to the right resource. If you don't have the time for that let's just postpone this.

Thanks a lot.
Koshy had a little ELPH which wasn't white as snow but everywhere that Koshy went the ELPH was sure to go. (actually an SD, but that detail ruins the rhyme...)

Re: D10 motion detection for bird bath?
« Reply #1 on: 15 / June / 2015, 23:09:35 »
Whish list:
- on detected motion measure exposure taking exp. compensation into account
    - or even better expose so that nothing clips in the RAW
IMHO, just letting the MD script function do the shooting and letting the camera work out the exposure is likely to be pretty effective.  Especially if you put it into "Sports" or "Kids & Pets" to force a high shutter speed.

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- auto focus that is half shutter press
You might want to lock the focus before you start.  These little cameras have amazing depth of field so I suggest doing that rather than adding the delay time that auto focus takes.

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- and shoot DNG
That's pretty simple to setup in the CHDK menus - not script intervention required.  Although you could of course have your script select the CHDK menu items for DNG automatically.

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keep doing that at as high a pace as possible while there is motion - auto focus before each shot seems important as the subject is expected to move
See my earlier note about "depth of field"

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- minimize exposure time at predefined ISO as subject will move
I'd venture to suggest that if your first exposure is correct, you can use that for all subsequent shots with impunity.

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If I cannot have all of that right away I'm totally fine with anything that will get me a DNG and can be used as a first attempt... I think I might need more like a do this and that with that D10 of yours instead of a pointer to the right resource. If you don't have the time for that let's just postpone this.
Even though you requested not to have "pointers to the right resource",  there is this : Birding with CHDK and also this : Motion Detect Plus.  which I think might cover most of your requested needs with  a few tweaks.

There are bunch of other scripts here  that are almost suitable - other than some being quite old, written in uBASIC, and camera specific.   I suppose if I got energetic I could convert the best of them to Lua, generalize the camera specific stuff and do a general refresh for the best of them.
« Last Edit: 15 / June / 2015, 23:28:15 by waterwingz »
Ported :   A1200    SD940   G10    Powershot N    G16

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Offline koshy

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Re: D10 motion detection for bird bath?
« Reply #2 on: 16 / June / 2015, 21:15:41 »
@wwz Thanks a lot for this write-up. It should at least get me as far as a first test session. Maybe it is indeed a good idea to Lock the subject distance using CHDK menu>Enhanced Photo Operations>Override Subject Distance... I'll report back on how I fared with the test once I get around to it.
Koshy had a little ELPH which wasn't white as snow but everywhere that Koshy went the ELPH was sure to go. (actually an SD, but that detail ruins the rhyme...)

Re: D10 motion detection for bird bath?
« Reply #3 on: 16 / June / 2015, 22:33:04 »
Maybe it is indeed a good idea to Lock the subject distance using CHDK menu>Enhanced Photo Operations>Override Subject Distance... I'll report back on how I fared with the test once I get around to it.
SD overrides from the CHDK menus can be hit or miss but according to what is reported on the CHDK MF Testing Xref the D30 should work properly. 

However,  I'm not sure if using CHDK menu SD overrides will give you the response speed you hoped for.  I think that the camera will still attempt to focus at the half-press before the CHDK override is applied just before the full-press happens. 

One solution to this would normally be to engage the Canon native AFL.  Except the xref linked above says that CHDK SD overrides stop working when you do that on a D30.  So either you engage the AFL while focussed at your desired distance (all in  Canon mode)  or you use as script to set the focus (using set_mf(1) and set_focus(n) )

« Last Edit: 16 / June / 2015, 23:19:01 by waterwingz »
Ported :   A1200    SD940   G10    Powershot N    G16


 

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