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Optimising intervalometer on A610 - Aiming for 1s.

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Offline lifechooser

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Optimising intervalometer on A610 - Aiming for 1s.
« on: 12 / May / 2008, 07:14:46 »
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I heard about CHDK last week on digg. Downloaded allbest and some scripts onto an SD card at work, followed the instructions, went home, popped the card in the camera and was stunned at how well it all worked. I was expecting to spend most of the weekend finding new builds, scripts, instructions etc, and was geniunly gobsmacked at how well it all works. Fantastic.


My one problem of the weekend however, isn't down to CHDK or any scripts. My A610 doesn't seem to be able to cope with taking more than 1 shot every 3 or so seconds.

My first attempt at timelapse (with Keoeeit's Ultra Intervalometer) was a disaster. I set the interval to 1.5s, which is the target time I want, but ended up getting a shot every 9 seconds. :(

So, a quick think later, and I did the following;
- Set the review time from 2s to off (d'oh!)
- Set manual focus - which I hate, as I never get the focus right.
- Set the interval to 0.1s

This brought the time down to 3.5s, which is still too slow for what I need. Can anyone think of a way to speed it up? Also, is there a way to take a really slow movie, rather than really fast photos? Being able to configure the frame rate in movie mode would be superb.

Thanks

Richard
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Offline vine

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Re: Optimising intervalometer on A610 - Aiming for 1s.
« Reply #1 on: 12 / May / 2008, 07:19:54 »
How fast is your A610 when using the built-in burst mode (assuming it has one) ?
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Offline lifechooser

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Re: Optimising intervalometer on A610 - Aiming for 1s.
« Reply #2 on: 12 / May / 2008, 07:22:20 »
It's at this point I regret not bringing the camera into work with me today! I'll have a look tonight.
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Offline vine

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Re: Optimising intervalometer on A610 - Aiming for 1s.
« Reply #3 on: 12 / May / 2008, 07:27:12 »
According to dpreview : Continuous Drive 2.4 fps
If you get significantly less than that your memory card is most likely very slow. Other things slowing you down could be: long exposure times (low light & low ISO) or noise reduction (turn if off in the RAW menu).
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Offline lifechooser

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Re: Optimising intervalometer on A610 - Aiming for 1s.
« Reply #4 on: 12 / May / 2008, 07:38:59 »
2.4s is a lot faster than I would like to go.

Perhaps I could write a script which goes half shutter <--> full shutter without ever releasing? I really need my camera to see if that would work.
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Offline vine

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Re: Optimising intervalometer on A610 - Aiming for 1s.
« Reply #5 on: 12 / May / 2008, 07:44:46 »
sure, try something like:
Code: [Select]
press "shoot_half"

sleep 1000
for i=1 to a
press "shoot_full"
sleep 100
release "shoot_full"
sleep b
next i

release "shoot_half"

where a is the number of shots you want to take and b is the time between shots in ms
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Offline lifechooser

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Re: Optimising intervalometer on A610 - Aiming for 1s.
« Reply #6 on: 12 / May / 2008, 08:19:15 »
Ok, here's my undebugged, untested, experimental code to try when I get home;

Code: [Select]
rem An intervalometer designed to be quicker than
rem standard ones, but slower than continuous drive
rem Author - lifechooser
rem With help from Vine
rem and minor theft from Keoeeit
rem Written for a610
rem Should work on others

@title Mid-speed Intervalometer
@param a Delay 1st Shot (Mins)
@default a 0
@param b Delay 1st Shot (Secs)
@default b 20
@param c Number of Shots x10
@default c 100
@param d Unlimited Shots? No=0 Yes=1
@default d 0
rem deliberately only allow 10th's of seconds
rem to disuade long intervals.
@param e Interval (10th Seconds)
@default e 5

rem start pause 'p' in ms
p=a*60000+b*1000
rem Interval 't' in ms
p=e*100
if d>0 then let c=999999
if p<0 then let p=0

print "Starting in "p/60000; "min", p%60000/1000; "sec"

sleep p
press "shoot_half"

for i=1 to c
  press "shoot_full"
  print "Shot number ", i; "of ", c;
  release "shoot_full"
  sleep t
  next i

release "shoot_half"
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Offline PhyrePhoX

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Re: Optimising intervalometer on A610 - Aiming for 1s.
« Reply #7 on: 12 / May / 2008, 14:20:59 »
Quote from: lifechooser on 12 / May / 2008, 07:14:46
So, a quick think later, and I did the following;
- Set the review time from 2s to off (d'oh!)
- Set manual focus - which I hate, as I never get the focus right.
- Set the interval to 0.1s

manual focus is easy, just use autofocus (wait till it is "green") then switch to manual focus - it should be set to same length as the autofocus (this way you will always have the right focus, even in manual mode).
my guess (which i think is a good guess :D) is that in the script settings, you probably have enabled the default 2 seconds "script shoot delay". set it to 0 (should work on most cams/scripts without problems). have fun with chdk :)
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