MultiCamera Rig via multicam.lua how to mass ZOOM In/out on all cameras?

reyalp

13947

Re: MultiCamera Rig via multicam.lua how to mass ZOOM In/out on all cameras?

« Reply #10 on: 15 / February / 2016, 13:57:57 »

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Quote from: Kam_mim on 15 / February / 2016, 04:59:45

Tested the file and it works for single camera. I tried running with multiple camera's and it starts giving problem intermittently. The errors are mostly I/O errors. I think those are due to inferior USB hub quality than the camera or CHDKPTP itself.

Will it help if I send the RAMLOG after I/O error on PC? On camera side , the camera just turns off with lens retracted.

If the lens retracts, this may be the camera power saving. If it's idle for a few minutes it will shut down. You should set "disable LCD off" to "always" in the CHDK options.

In this case, the IO error would just be a symptom of the camera going away.

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Kam_mim

10

Re: MultiCamera Rig via multicam.lua how to mass ZOOM In/out on all cameras?

« Reply #11 on: 23 / February / 2016, 05:25:40 »

Update: I tried multiple times with different USB hubs but almost every time some of the cameras crash when I try to zoom or focus using chdkptp.

Is it possible to set a default zoom and focus value when the camera starts. If this can be done, it will take away the need of zoom and focus value change during shoot.

This popped to my mind during one of the test runs when @7 camera's crashed during zoom but rest were working normally when I run through Rec--Sync-- Preshoot-- Shoot steps multiple times. The camera's which were still connected were able to retain the zoom and focus levels which was set in the first run. Once the camera was restarted, the zoom and focus values were reset.

So I'm looking for possibility of setting the initial zoom and focus values when camera starts and lens is opened in rec mode.

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waterwingz

12134

Re: MultiCamera Rig via multicam.lua how to mass ZOOM In/out on all cameras?

« Reply #12 on: 23 / February / 2016, 09:15:49 »

Quote from: Kam_mim on 23 / February / 2016, 05:25:40

Is it possible to set a default zoom and focus value when the camera starts. If this can be done, it will take away the need of zoom and focus value change during shoot.

Assuming that the A2500 only has a few zoom steps, it would be very easy to have a startup script set the zoom position through simulated "clicks" on the zoom lever. As the CHDK set_zoom( ) function appears to be unstable on that camera, this seems like a good work around. You could also attempt to lock focus at that point with the same script although the precision of that function can vary a lot from camera to camera.

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srsa_4c

4451

Re: MultiCamera Rig via multicam.lua how to mass ZOOM In/out on all cameras?

« Reply #13 on: 23 / February / 2016, 12:42:31 »

Quote from: Kam_mim on 23 / February / 2016, 05:25:40

Update: I tried multiple times with different USB hubs but almost every time some of the cameras crash when I try to zoom or focus using chdkptp.

Are you sure they really crash? Can you try retrieving ROMLOGs from those cameras that "crash" on a new set_zoom attempt?

And another question: how are you powering the cameras?

And a suggestion for a possible test: what happens if you instruct the cameras to zoom at the same time - without using set_zoom. For example click('zoom_in')

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Kam_mim

10

Re: MultiCamera Rig via multicam.lua how to mass ZOOM In/out on all cameras?

« Reply #14 on: 26 / February / 2016, 04:22:06 »

@srsa_4c

I tried "click('zoom_in')" on single camera and that works for about 5-6 zoom steps and then camera crashes (Powers off with lens extended without any error display). Chdkptp starts giving I/O error after that. On multiple retries same failure happens between 5-9 zoom steps. Attaching RAMLOG for the same. I will try with multiple cameras over weekend and post the results.

For the power, I'm using the batteries supplied with camera at the moment. It's soooo tedious to charge so many of them so will be considering AC power soon.

@waterwingz
Do you suggest to use click "('zoom_in')" immediately after the camera comes to "Rec" mode?
Another test I have done is to set the zoom level with set_zoom( ) in increments from 0 to 65 (I noticed it does not zoom beyond 65). There is no Focus set at this time. It almost every-time crashes in between the steps but I'm able to complete the zoom steps in multiple chunks.

When I use "click('zoom_in')", I think it is increasing 6-7 steps at a time as it reaches full zoom in @10 steps when it has chosen not to crash.

ROMLOG.LOG (3.61 kB - downloaded 48 times.)

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srsa_4c

4451

Re: MultiCamera Rig via multicam.lua how to mass ZOOM In/out on all cameras?

« Reply #15 on: 26 / February / 2016, 13:53:40 »

Quote from: Kam_mim on 26 / February / 2016, 04:22:06

I tried "click('zoom_in')" on single camera and that works for about 5-6 zoom steps and then camera crashes (Powers off with lens extended without any error display).

That's something that should not be happening (you can retry the experiment manually, without CHDK, if you want - that would rule out a firmware bug). I don't see obvious CHDK involvement in the log, but I could be wrong.
The log appears to show however, that the cam tries to enter playback mode at the same time when the zoom lever returns to its normal state. I don't know why that would happen.

Quote

For the power, I'm using the batteries supplied with camera at the moment. It's soooo tedious to charge so many of them so will be considering AC power soon.

I suspected an issue with a shared power supply, so that's obviously not the cause.

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