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Multicam Rig for Events - Step By Step Help Please!!

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Offline cpat83

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Re: Multicam Rig for Events - Step By Step Help Please!!
« Reply #50 on: 22 / September / 2017, 17:53:06 »
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Hi Guys

Things have been coming along well, but I'm running into a problem. I hook up the 16 cameras to my windows laptop (windows 8). Installed all drivers, chdk, etc. When I run chdkptp through command prompt, there seems to always be 1 to 3 cameras that don't respond. This is completely random, not the same cameras twice (or almost never). Any idea why this is happening? I've tried 2 powered usb hubs with 8 cameras on each, and I've tried 3 usb hubs with 4 on one, and 6 on each other. Same thing happens. Please help!
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Offline reyalp

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Re: Multicam Rig for Events - Step By Step Help Please!!
« Reply #51 on: 22 / September / 2017, 18:01:08 »
Quote from: cpat83 on 22 / September / 2017, 17:53:06
When I run chdkptp through command prompt, there seems to always be 1 to 3 cameras that don't respond.
Some more details would be helpful

Does chdkptp fail to connect to some cameras? If so, is there an error message?
Or does chdkptp connect, but some later actions fail? Again, is there error messages?
What happens on the failed cameras themselves: Are they still powered on, does screen look normal?
How are you powering the cameras? If you are using external power supplies, switching to battery might confirm or rule out power supply problems.
What specific hubs are you using?

Another thing would be to try with less cameras, say 12 instead of 16 and see if that is stable.

My gut instinct would be to blame USB hardware or wiring (power or USB), but purely a guess.
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Offline cpat83

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Re: Multicam Rig for Events - Step By Step Help Please!!
« Reply #52 on: 22 / September / 2017, 18:18:26 »
Thank you, I'll try with fewer first. Next time through I'll keep track of the actions and see what fails.
I'm currently powering everything with Eneloop rechargeable batteries.
Should have more info up in an hour or two. :-)
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Offline cpat83

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Re: Multicam Rig for Events - Step By Step Help Please!!
« Reply #53 on: 22 / September / 2017, 20:35:49 »
OK, Looks like I am somehow maxing out the amount of USB end ports (?) that I can use. So when I have just 14 cameras connected, using two of these USB devices (http://a.co/2pGzZZG), it works perfectly.

I read a few blogs, and from what I can gather, if I want more than that I need a USB hub with "Multi-TT" like this one (http://a.co/aWjphXp). It's a bit out of my price range for now, so I'll just stick to 14 cameras at the moment.

On to the next question: Is it possible to have all the images from each camera download into on single folder together? If yes, how?
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Offline Hardware_Hacker

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Re: Multicam Rig for Events - Step By Step Help Please!!
« Reply #54 on: 22 / September / 2017, 22:56:21 »
Quote from: cpat83 on 22 / September / 2017, 20:35:49
OK, Looks like I am somehow maxing out the amount of USB end ports (?) that I can use.....

When I run chdkptp through command prompt, there seems to always be 1 to 3 cameras that don't respond...
My guess is that there some other issue, have you tried using USB Device View, USB Log View and
USB Tree View, some have been recently up-dated. ( i.e. For both before and after USB observation's.)
Nirsoft's myeventviewer might also be usefull.

If you believe that the USB-Ports are "maxing out" what happens when all cameras have "MAX"
resolution vs  when all cameras have "MIN" resolution.

I think that, currently, buying some more expensive USB-Hubs won't help.

"...run chdkptp through command prompt,..." Some of the Nirsoft Utilities also have command line
options so you could also run them at the same time as  chdkptp.

".....cameras that don't respond...." That's very similar to the problems that other multi-cam users have
experienced.

One of my expensive USB-3 Hubs recently failed because its mini-usb-connector solder joints failed.

Also how are you syncing the multi-cam array.

H-H
« Last Edit: 22 / September / 2017, 23:19:16 by Hardware_Hacker »
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Offline reyalp

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Re: Multicam Rig for Events - Step By Step Help Please!!
« Reply #55 on: 23 / September / 2017, 01:24:06 »
Quote from: cpat83 on 22 / September / 2017, 20:35:49
OK, Looks like I am somehow maxing out the amount of USB end ports (?) that I can use. So when I have just 14 cameras connected, using two of these USB devices (http://a.co/2pGzZZG), it works perfectly.
Are the two hubs connected directly to USB ports on your computer? There may be some difference between daisy chaining or not.

I don't think there should be hard limit at 14, or that you should need multi-TT hubs. However, having large hubs like that fully populated like this isn't terribly common, so it wouldn't be too surprising some random cheap USB hardware didn't behave correctly.

I'd still be interested to know what the specific behavior is when it fails.

Quote
On to the next question: Is it possible to have all the images from each camera download into on single folder together? If yes, how?
Yes. Using the mc:download_images function, you can control the downloaded file name using substitution strings in the dst option. See this post https://chdk.setepontos.com/index.php?topic=13226.msg134435#msg134435

You do need to be sure the names from each camera are unique so they don't overwrite each other.

You could modify my example in the post linked above like
Code: [Select]
!mc:download_images({dst='c:/temp/${id}-${name}',verbose=true})
to use the camera id number at the start of the filename instead of of a subdirectory. You can use pretend=true to try things out.
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Offline cpat83

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Re: Multicam Rig for Events - Step By Step Help Please!!
« Reply #56 on: 24 / September / 2017, 02:27:00 »
Perfect, thank you
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Offline cpat83

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Re: Multicam Rig for Events - Step By Step Help Please!!
« Reply #57 on: 19 / October / 2017, 18:07:26 »
Hi Guys! I'm really getting this fine tuned thanks to your help.
Is there a way in CHDK or CHDKPTP to set a specific number or name to the files in each camera?  I have 14 cameras, and am downloading after each subject takes a photo, then running it through Lightroom and Photoshop. But sometimes Lightroom gets confused because some of the images have the same number/filename.
For example, camera 1 and camera 13 both create an image with the title 001.jpg, Lightroom then skips one of these images on import, thinking its a duplicate. If I could tell the cameras to use specific file naming, such as Cam1-001.jpg, I could overcome this problem. The A480 cameras I am using don't allow for custom file naming in the original Canon firmware, so I'm hoping CHDK can help here :-) Thank you.
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Offline reyalp

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Re: Multicam Rig for Events - Step By Step Help Please!!
« Reply #58 on: 19 / October / 2017, 18:39:10 »
Quote from: cpat83 on 19 / October / 2017, 18:07:26
Hi Guys! I'm really getting this fine tuned thanks to your help.
Is there a way in CHDK or CHDKPTP to set a specific number or name to the files in each camera?  I have 14 cameras, and am downloading after each subject takes a photo, then running it through Lightroom and Photoshop. But sometimes Lightroom gets confused because some of the images have the same number/filename.
CHDK can't change the name saved on the camera, but you can rename it on download in the download_images command.

There currently isn't a simple way to get sequential numbers for a given session or download (been meaning to add this but haven't got around to it...), but you can name based on date/time, e.g.

Code: [Select]
con 1> !mc:download_images{dst='c:/temp/Cam${id,%02d}-${ldate,%Y%m%d_%H%M%S}${ext}',pretend=true,verbose=true}
A/DCIM/139___10/IMG_5607.JPG->c:/temp/Cam01-20171019_153110.JPG
A/DCIM/139___10/IMG_5608.JPG->c:/temp/Cam01-20171019_153110.JPG
The pretend=true option is useful to get the right command without actually downloading.

id is the camera id. The %02d makes it consistently use 2 digits with a leading 0

ldate is the local time on the computer when you start the download. %Y%m%d_%H%M%S is year, month day, hour, minute and second. mdate works like ldate, but is the modified time of the file on the camera.

In multicam, I think ldate is set for each individual camera, so the minute/second might vary between cameras.

You can use
Code: [Select]
help imdl
to get a list of most of the available substitutions.
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Offline cpat83

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Re: Multicam Rig for Events - Step By Step Help Please!!
« Reply #59 on: 19 / October / 2017, 23:12:41 »
Very cool, thank you. Two questions:
1. Should i modify the code to be 3 digits, instead of 2, since I have 14 cameras?
2. Where and how do i use the code you sent? Do i just copy and paste into command line? I’m a newb, so step by step directions are much appreciated :-)
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