Simple interval shooting with A4000 - is 1 sec achievable? - Script Writing

stevesteve

9

Simple interval shooting with A4000 - is 1 sec achievable?

« on: 15 / March / 2018, 12:06:36 »

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Hi,

I have a small A4000 which I would like to set up to take pictures at 1 second intervals. It seems to take a picture every ~2 seconds using the simple script:

Quote

do
s = get_tick_count
shoot
sleep a*1000 - (get_tick_count - s)
until ( 0 )

I reduced the *1000 to *100 but it still just managed 15 frames in 60 seconds.

Shooting RAW with an 80MB/s card

What can I do to speed this up? Are there options that I can disable?
Cheers,
Steve

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waterwingz

12139

Simple interval shooting with A4000 - is 1 sec achievable?

« Reply #1 on: 15 / March / 2018, 12:36:33 »

Quote from: stevesteve on 15 / March / 2018, 12:06:36

What can I do to speed this up? Are there options that I can disable?

Most of the Powershots of that generation will not shoot much faster that 1.8 seconds per shot. That is just how long it takes the Canon firmware to check the focus and exposure, take the shot, and write it to the SD card. If you want to also save RAW you will be quite a bit slower than that.

AFAIK there are no options that you can disable to improve this. However, you can go much faster if you use a script that shoots in continuous mode. The drawback with that method is the focus and exposure are locked in the first shot. And RAW will still be slow..

See http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Fast_Shooter_Intervalometer

« Last Edit: 15 / March / 2018, 12:44:19 by waterwingz »

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c_joerg

1248

Re: Simple interval shooting with A4000 - is 1 sec achievable?

« Reply #2 on: 15 / March / 2018, 12:48:28 »

With rawopint I can go in continuous mode on G1x, S110 and SX50 to an interval of 1.1s (only RAW).
https://chdk.setepontos.com/index.php?topic=12697.msg133785#msg133785
May be only JPG is faster.
The cams limits SD card writing to around 20Mbyte/s.

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M100 100a, M3 121a, G9x II (1.00c), 2*G1x (101a,100e), S110 (103a), SX50 (100c), SX230 (101a), S45,
Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/136329431@N06/albums
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrTH0tHy9OYTVDzWIvXEMlw/videos?shelf_id=0&view=0&sort=dd

stevesteve

9

Re: Simple interval shooting with A4000 - is 1 sec achievable?

« Reply #3 on: 15 / March / 2018, 12:51:05 »

Quote

Most of the Powershots of that generation will not shoot much faster that 1.8 seconds per shot. That is just how long it takes the Canon firmware to check the focus and exposure, take the shot, and write it to the SD card. If you want to also save RAW you will be quite a bit slower than that.

AFAIK there are no options that you can disable to improve this. However, you can go much faster if you use a script that shoots in continuous mode. The drawback with that method is the focus and exposure are locked in the first shot. And RAW will still be slow..

See http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Fast_Shooter_Intervalometer

That's fair enough it can always go back on eBay where it came from! What models of Canon PS camera would be compact, able to shoot fast (~1fps in RAW?) and work with CHDK?

Cheers,
Steve

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waterwingz

12139

Re: Simple interval shooting with A4000 - is 1 sec achievable?

« Reply #4 on: 15 / March / 2018, 13:13:11 »

Quote from: stevesteve on 15 / March / 2018, 12:51:05

Quote
What models of Canon PS camera would be compact, able to shoot fast (~1fps in RAW?) and work with CHDK?
I'm guessing none unless you are willing to run in continuous mode. And maybe not even then. Do you really plan to post process that many RAW images?

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c_joerg

1248

Re: Simple interval shooting with A4000 - is 1 sec achievable?

« Reply #5 on: 15 / March / 2018, 13:18:47 »

Quote from: stevesteve on 15 / March / 2018, 12:51:05

What models of Canon PS camera would be compact, able to shoot fast (~1fps in RAW?) and work with CHDK?

Quote from: c_joerg on 15 / March / 2018, 12:48:28

With rawopint I can go in continuous mode on G1x, S110 and SX50 to an interval of 1.1s (only RAW).

My fastest cam is my EOS M3 which have a faster SD Card Interface. With RAW and continuous mode I can go to 0.6s Interval.

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M100 100a, M3 121a, G9x II (1.00c), 2*G1x (101a,100e), S110 (103a), SX50 (100c), SX230 (101a), S45,
Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/136329431@N06/albums
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrTH0tHy9OYTVDzWIvXEMlw/videos?shelf_id=0&view=0&sort=dd

reyalp

14080

Re: Simple interval shooting with A4000 - is 1 sec achievable?

« Reply #6 on: 15 / March / 2018, 17:10:54 »

Quote from: stevesteve on 15 / March / 2018, 12:51:05

That's fair enough it can always go back on eBay where it came from! What models of Canon PS camera would be compact, able to shoot fast (~1fps in RAW?) and work with CHDK?

You need quite a high end cam to shoot raw at ~1 FPS. Only some Digic 6 models support UHS speeds. Other cameras max out at ~20 MB/s write speed, so > 20 MB raw alone will take more than that, and some time is also required for shooting. The very earlier digic 6 (sx280 and probably a few others) do not support UHS.

From personal experience:
G7 X can shoot Canon raw at >1 FPS with a fast card and jpeg disabled. Note only the original G7 X is supported by CHDK, not the MK2.

~~SX720~~ SX710 (edit, corrected) can do CHDK raw at ~0.6 FPS (1.6s interval)

Old cameras with smaller sensors are sometimes faster than low end cameras with big sensors.

Canon native raw is usually a bit faster than CHDK on the cameras that support it.

« Last Edit: 16 / March / 2018, 14:19:54 by reyalp »

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stevesteve

9

Re: Simple interval shooting with A4000 - is 1 sec achievable?

« Reply #7 on: 16 / March / 2018, 08:16:59 »

Quote

You need quite a high end cam to shoot raw at ~1 FPS. Only some Digic 6 models support UHS speeds. Other cameras max out at ~20 MB/s write speed, so > 20 MB raw alone will take more than that, and some time is also required for shooting. The very earlier digic 6 (sx280 and probably a few others) do not support UHS.

From personal experience:
G7 X can shoot Canon raw at >1 FPS with a fast card and jpeg disabled. Note only the original G7 X is supported by CHDK, not the MK2.

SX720 can do CHDK raw at ~0.6 FPS (1.6s interval)

Old cameras with smaller sensors are sometimes faster than low end cameras with big sensors.

Canon native raw is usually a bit faster than CHDK on the cameras that support it.

Thanks but one of my first actions will be to dismantle the camera to replace the infra red filter for NDVI work, so I don't fancy stripping something more expensive such as the G7. However I am seeing better speeds quoted for something like the S100/S110 in 'continuous' mode. Is it simple to put a camera into continuous mode in CHDK scripts (so not using the ticks but just going for max speed)?

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reyalp

14080

Re: Simple interval shooting with A4000 - is 1 sec achievable?

« Reply #8 on: 16 / March / 2018, 14:19:15 »

Quote from: stevesteve on 16 / March / 2018, 08:16:59

Thanks but one of my first actions will be to dismantle the camera to replace the infra red filter for NDVI work, so I don't fancy stripping something more expensive such as the G7.

Just in case you find yourself looking on ebay or whatever, the G7 is a 2006 camera, different from the G7 X. Also, my earlier post had a typo, it said SX720 where it should have said SX710 (now fixed). The SX720 is not supported.

You can sometimes get quite good deals on refurbished cameras from Canon.

I don't think you will find a cheap camera that can shoot raw at 1 FPS. There are some that shoot jpeg at around that speed or better.

Quote

However I am seeing better speeds quoted for something like the S100/S110 in 'continuous' mode.

For RAW? I would assume the rates on https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/powershot-s100-black-refurbished are jpeg.

Whether continuous mode is usable for you depends on your application. Normally, exposure is and focus is locked with the first shot. Some cameras have a slower continuous + AF mode. Using CHDK, you can adjust the exposure while shooting in continuous, but this requires non-trivial scripting like the previously mentioned rawopint.

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