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New member, questions.

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Offline ju1234

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New member, questions.
« on: 25 / August / 2017, 23:14:06 »
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Hello every one,

I stumbled upon CHDK, a very useful site. I have a Canon SX400IS. I have installed CHDK 1.4.0. After a long time I finally understood how to use at least some of the functions. I have absolutely no knowledge of programming. I have minimal understanding of computers and software.

I have some questions and will perhaps have many more in the near future.

Regarding scripts: I downloaded two scripts. Counter.BAS and MDFB2013.LUA the 2016 version (fastest motion detection script). The counter.BAS works great but the other does not seem to. In the <ALT> mode, the screen shows MDFB2013.LUA on the bottom left. Pressing on the shutter button says "starting ...". Then the yellow window in the center of the screen saying MDFB2013, standard mode video etc appears. It flickers few times and then the camera powers off. Lens remains out but nothing else happens. Does that mean the camera is waiting for "motion" to activate it? However any motion in front of the camera and flashing lights in front of it, did not activate/wake up the camera. So I am not sure if the script is running properly. I will appreciate some guidance on this.

While "loading" these, I realized that several similar scripts are already present in the camera. it has interval.bas, interval.lua, motion.bas and motion.lua. Where can I go to see what these scripts do and how to use them?

Question: Can more than one scripts be "loaded" at a time?

Does removing a script involve just deleting the file from the SD card or is there a process of "unloading script" like "loading script". Does "loading a new script from file" remove or unload the prior script?

Thanks.
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Offline waterwingz

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Re: New member, questions.
« Reply #1 on: 25 / August / 2017, 23:38:16 »
Quote from: ju1234 on 25 / August / 2017, 23:14:06
Regarding scripts: I downloaded two scripts. Counter.BAS and MDFB2013.LUA the 2016 version (fastest motion detection script). The counter.BAS works great but the other does not seem to. In the <ALT> mode, the screen shows MDFB2013.LUA on the bottom left. Pressing on the shutter button says "starting ...". Then the yellow window in the center of the screen saying MDFB2013, standard mode video etc appears. It flickers few times and then the camera powers off. Lens remains out but nothing else happens. Does that mean the camera is waiting for "motion" to activate it? However any motion in front of the camera and flashing lights in front of it, did not activate/wake up the camera. So I am not sure if the script is running properly. I will appreciate some guidance on this
Well, from what you describe it appears the script succeeds in crashing the camera. But does the camera actually power off or does the display just shut down? Try turning off the "Display Power Saving" option in the Script parameter menu before running your tests?

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While "loading" these, I realized that several similar scripts are already present in the camera. it has interval.bas, interval.lua, motion.bas and motion.lua. Where can I go to see what these scripts do and how to use them?
Sorry - there is not a lot of documentation on those simple scripts.  FWIW, the interval.bas (or interval.lua) script simply shoots repetitively as a user specified interval, and motion.bas (or motion.lua) invokes the CHDK motion detection function.

The CHDK install also inclues a shoot.bas (or shoot.lua) script that takes one image after a user defined delay and an hdr.bas (or hdr.lua)  script that takes three shot quickly with varying exposure that are designed to be used in post processing to create HDR effects.

Note that the .bas files do exactly the same thing as the .lua files - same script coded in two different programming languages.

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Question: Can more than one scripts be "loaded" at a time?
No.

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Does removing a script involve just deleting the file from the SD card or is there a process of "unloading script" like "loading script". Does "loading a new script from file" remove or unload the prior script?
Loading a new script causes CHDK to "forget" the older script.  Removing the script file from the SD card means (obviously) that the script can not longer be loaded.  If you remove the "current script" from the SD card then it will no longer work the next time the camera is restarted.
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Ported :   A1200    SD940   G10    Powershot N    G16
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Offline ju1234

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Re: New member, questions.
« Reply #2 on: 26 / August / 2017, 11:06:05 »
Thank you for the quick reply. MDBF2013.lua: yes the camera actually powers off without retracting lens. No lights are on. In this off condition, pressing the on/off button or the playback button starts the power back up. So, I am assuming that it does shut the camera down completely. After changing the "display power saving" to off: same thing.

New question: I understand the CHDK overtakes the Canon's original settings. So, before I go to <Alt> mode by clicking the play back button a second time, should I bother making any of the Canon's original settings at all? I assume some of those settings may still be active.
Thanks again.
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Offline waterwingz

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Re: New member, questions.
« Reply #3 on: 26 / August / 2017, 11:58:13 »
Quote from: ju1234 on 26 / August / 2017, 11:06:05
Thank you for the quick reply. MDBF2013.lua: yes the camera actually powers off without retracting lens. No lights are on. In this off condition, pressing the on/off button or the playback button starts the power back up. So, I am assuming that it does shut the camera down completely. After changing the "display power saving" to off: same thing.
Interesting.  Many times when the camera actually crashes it is necessary to dissconnect the battery in order to restart the camera. So  there may be a bug in the port for the SX400IS or the script file might be corrupted?  Try downloading and installing the script file again?

EDIT : what happens if you run the simple motion.lua script included by default with each CHDK install?   According to the astol in the SX400 porting thread, the MD_tune.bas script works.

Also, a ROMLOG crash dump might help.  Details here : CHDK User Manual : Save ROM Crash Log
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New question: I understand the CHDK overtakes the Canon's original settings. So, before I go to <Alt> mode by clicking the play back button a second time, should I bother making any of the Canon's original settings at all? I assume some of those settings may still be active.  Thanks again.
By default, CHDK does not override any of Canon's settings. And there are many many Canon setting that CHDK does not or cannot modify.  So you'll want to pay attention to the Canon settings that you care about.
« Last Edit: 26 / August / 2017, 12:11:23 by waterwingz »
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Offline ju1234

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Re: New member, questions.
« Reply #4 on: 26 / August / 2017, 13:56:52 »
Thank you.

First: The motion.lua works fine.

There is no sub-directory 100canon in folder DCIM. There are no files with names CRW___. All new files are named IMG___.

New question: After loading any script in <Alt> mode, the shutter button does not work or put camera in record mode. I have to turn the power off. Turn it back on with the power on/off button hold for more than one second. Then click on playback button brings the red <Alt> icon. Now I am able to take a picture and execute what ever script is loaded. Is this normal? Is there another way to go into <alt> mode so record function will work.

Also in the <alt> mode, menu of <alt> shortcuts / Shutter half press remains on the screen covering the live view and unable to compose a photo. However shutter button works and takes a picture, the menu screen disappears for a while and comes back.

How do I exit a script? For example: I loaded the motion.lua. It is working and it remains loaded and working. To exit this do I have to load some other script? Turning the <alt> mode off and then back on does bring it back on the screen.

Thank you very much.
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Offline reyalp

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Re: New member, questions.
« Reply #5 on: 26 / August / 2017, 15:38:26 »
Quote from: waterwingz on 25 / August / 2017, 23:38:16
Well, from what you describe it appears the script succeeds in crashing the camera.
Reminder this script also crashes g7x, though not in quite the same way (https://chdk.setepontos.com/index.php?topic=10864.msg132240#msg132240)
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Offline waterwingz

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Re: New member, questions.
« Reply #6 on: 26 / August / 2017, 16:12:03 »
Quote from: ju1234 on 26 / August / 2017, 13:56:52
First: The motion.lua works fine.
As reyalp just pointed out,  there is a known issue with the MDFB2013.lua script that I had forgotten about and not gotten around to fixing yet.

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There is no sub-directory 100canon in folder DCIM. There are no files with names CRW___. All new files are named IMG___.
I think you are asking about RAW or DNG images?

Did you go into the RAW (digitial negative) menu and enable Save RAW [ * ] ?

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New question: After loading any script in <Alt> mode, the shutter button does not work or put camera in record mode. I have to turn the power off. Turn it back on with the power on/off button hold for more than one second. Then click on playback button brings the red <Alt> icon. Now I am able to take a picture and execute what ever script is loaded. Is this normal? Is there another way to go into <alt> mode so record function will work.
In <ALT> mode, pressing the shutter button will only start the currently loaded script. You should be able to exit <ALT> and to switch to record mode or take a picture with the shutter button.  It's a bit hard to follow your description - is that not working?

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Also in the <alt> mode, menu of <alt> shortcuts / Shutter half press remains on the screen covering the live view and unable to compose a photo. However shutter button works and takes a picture, the menu screen disappears for a while and comes back.
Ah yes - the most annoying feature of CHDK and my pet peeve. 

Go to  CHDK Settings  and select Menu Settings.

Scroll down that menu to  Show < ALT > Help Screen [ * ] and disable it.

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How do I exit a script? For example: I loaded the motion.lua. It is working and it remains loaded and working. To exit this do I have to load some other script? Turning the <alt> mode off and then back on does bring it back on the screen.
Typically, when a script is running and you are in <ALT> mode, pressing the shutter button will cause it to halt.  I said "typically" because some scripts disable  the shutter button when they run.  There will usually be note in the documents if that's the case - or a message on screen.
« Last Edit: 26 / August / 2017, 16:15:31 by waterwingz »
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Offline ju1234

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Re: New member, questions.
« Reply #7 on: 26 / August / 2017, 19:43:43 »
Thank you so much for clearing up issues so far. The more I work with the camera, the more questions keep popping up.

In the <alt> there are items I can select from the menus that will provide additional function without loading any script. I do not know how to remove/deactivate a script that has already been loaded.

This camera does not have built in bracketing. So I wanted to test that function in CHDK. So I have selected the "bracketing in continuous mode" from the menu and set the "TV bracketing to 1EV". In the canon function menu I have selected the "continuous mode". Now I should be able to shoot photos with EV bracket by holding down the shutter. The <alt> has the "default.lua" loaded, which you just told me does not do any thing. Now pressing the shutter only does "start   finished " just above the "default script" in the left botto of the screen and does not take any photos. I know I was able to take photos with bracket on when I first installed the CHDK and tested that function without any scripts loaded. So, it is the "default.lua" which is preventing any photos to be taken. How do I exit this script and not have any script loaded? How can I use only the menu items without loading any script? Thanks.

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Offline waterwingz

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Re: New member, questions.
« Reply #8 on: 26 / August / 2017, 19:53:52 »
Quote from: ju1234 on 26 / August / 2017, 19:43:43
In the <alt> there are items I can select from the menus that will provide additional function without loading any script. I do not know how to remove/deactivate a script that has already been loaded.
There is no need to remove/deactivate a script that has already been loaded.  Loading does nothing other than tell CHDK which script to run when you push the shutter button in <ALT> mode.  Until you do that, nothing happens with the script - it's just sitting there waiting for you to activate it.  To stop a running script, press the shutter button again. There is no need to unload it.

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This camera does not have built in bracketing. So I wanted to test that function in CHDK. So I have selected the "bracketing in continuous mode" from the menu and set the "TV bracketing to 1EV". In the canon function menu I have selected the "continuous mode". Now I should be able to shoot photos with EV bracket by holding down the shutter. The <alt> has the "default.lua" loaded, which you just told me does not do any thing. Now pressing the shutter only does "start   finished " just above the "default script" in the left botto of the screen and does not take any photos.
When you press the shutter button in <ALT> mode, it always starts the current script.  In your case, it started default.lua - which just runs and stops.

The thing you are missing here is that just because CHDK is not in <ALT> mode does not mean it is not still active in the background.  So many things you configure in <ALT> mode actually take effect when you are out of <ALT> mode and doing regular Canon mode shooting.  Exposure overrides and bracketing stuff configured in CHDK <ALT> mode actually take effect when you are out of <ALT> mode shooting "normally".   CHDK sneaks in during the shot and adjusts things to get the effect or change you requested.


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I know I was able to take photos with bracket on when I first installed the CHDK and tested that function without any scripts loaded. So, it is the "default.lua" which is preventing any photos to be taken. How do I exit this script and not have any script loaded? How can I use only the menu items without loading any script?
Hopefully if you have read this far you know that this is not an issue? Default.lua runs when you take press the shutter button in <ALT> mode.  Normal pictures are taken when the shutter button is pressed outside of <ALT> mode - albiet with CHDK overrides and hacks applied when that happens.
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Offline ju1234

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Re: New member, questions.
« Reply #9 on: 27 / August / 2017, 09:57:03 »
Thank you very much.

Yes, I misunderstood that CHDK is active only when in <Alt>mode. If I want to use the camera without any CHDK modifiers, I assume the easiest way would be to change the SD card back to not write protected. That will stop CHDK from loading. Am I correct?

I have read the entire manual twice so far. I should perhaps read it again and make brief notes. I need to now experiment with the camera, try out the CHDK settings one at a time and see how they work and commit them to practice. I am sure as I do that more questions will come up.

You have been great help.
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