SD870 IS remote control from a computer

thebat137

1

« on: 17 / July / 2008, 22:16:58 »

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So, when I was choosing which camera to buy I looked around and thought I'd seen info suggesting that CHDK would allow me to remotely control the SD870 IS by plugging it into the USB port of my computer. (My intention was to use it for video chat, in addition to more ordinary purposes.) Looking more closely now that I've actually got the thing, it seems that all this "remote capture" talk I saw referred to a simple mechanical remote shutter that plugs into the USB port, not to computer triggering of the shutter and other such controls. Certainly the CHDK/gphoto2 combination does not seem to be allowing me to do this. Is it possible to remote control this camera with a computer at all, or did I just make a very stupid purchase?

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BB

164

Re: SD870 IS remote control from a computer

« Reply #1 on: 18 / July / 2008, 01:24:54 »

As I understand, Canon has been removing USB support for their cameras for a while now... And, I believe there will be no support for any new Powershot cameras going forward.

I believe the compatibility with Canon's SDK (software developer's kit) list shows what cameras you would have a prayer of trying to remote control:

compatibility with Canon's SDK (software developer's kit) list

And, the SD870 is listed as a NC (not compatible?) with the SDK.

It is possible that with further work, the USB interface can be ported into CHDK--but I would not make any plans (unless you are the one to try it).

Otherwise, the USB interface could be setup with a polling loop and you could try to implement some uBasic functions (zoom in, zoom out, shoot, etc.) with some simple pulse coding on the USB (basically, very slow serial, one way,l interface).

If you want to download photos from the camera without stopping it--perhaps the Eye-Fi card would provide some hope (WiFi SD Card which can download automatically from the camera to your WiFi network).

Automatic transfer of images to PC over USB
CHDK Autoboot w/ Eye-Fi

Eye-Fi is a bit of a moving target right now--but if you are into hardware and software--it may be a very interesting project (and do some more searching on the web for the latest news).

-Bill

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fudgey

1705
a570is

Re: SD870 IS remote control from a computer

« Reply #2 on: 18 / July / 2008, 01:48:38 »

Quote from: thebat137 on 17 / July / 2008, 22:16:58

So, when I was choosing which camera to buy I looked around and thought I'd seen info suggesting that CHDK would allow me to remotely control the SD870 IS by plugging it into the USB port of my computer. (My intention was to use it for video

We do have USB remote trigger, which is based on detecting USB supply voltage connect/disconnect (cable detect). It can be also used to transfer some slightly more sophisticated commands like "zoom in", but the data transfer speed is exremely low.

Using USB to work the camera fully, for example in webcam setup is the one thing we don't know how to do except for the few cameras originally capable of such things by Canon.

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