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What are good settings for catching wildlife with the MD script

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Offline Brandon00151

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What are good settings for catching wildlife with the MD script
« on: 24 / September / 2008, 16:42:39 »
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I have Fudgey's Fast MD btw

Also I currently have year old rechargeable batteries in my camera(need to get new one) so they don't hold charge as long as they use to so if there's something that I could change in the settings to get better battery life would help too
« Last Edit: 24 / September / 2008, 16:47:18 by Brandon00151 »
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Offline fudgey

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Re: What are good settings for catching wildlife with the MD script
« Reply #1 on: 24 / September / 2008, 17:43:02 »
There is no single good set that'll work best for everything, you'll just have to read the documentation if the defaults aren't working for you.

If battery life is a problem, use slow mode (fast mode keeps shutter half pressed which is why it consumes more current). Slow mode is often fast enough for animals that like to move around in front of the camera for a while.

Other than that it's mostly about tuning the parameters to make MD trigger when an animal appears and to make MD not trigger when branches move in the wind etc and what camera settings you are going to use (manual vs auto exposure and focus etc).
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Offline poke

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Re: What are good settings for catching wildlife with the MD script
« Reply #2 on: 05 / February / 2009, 06:11:59 »
Has anyone measured current consumption with the MD scripts? It will be different for different cams, obviously, but a hunch? We're thinking of making a wildlife camera to put in the woods, near an area where a big lynx has its territory. I'm fairly sure I'll have to use an external battery anyway.
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Offline fudgey

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Re: What are good settings for catching wildlife with the MD script
« Reply #3 on: 05 / February / 2009, 13:23:29 »
Quote from: poke on 05 / February / 2009, 06:11:59
Has anyone measured current consumption with the MD scripts? It will be different for different cams, obviously, but a hunch? We're thinking of making a wildlife camera to put in the woods, near an area where a big lynx has its territory. I'm fairly sure I'll have to use an external battery anyway.

Yes,

http://chdk.setepontos.com/index.php/topic,2375.msg21957.html#msg21957
http://chdk.setepontos.com/index.php/topic,2744.msg25702.html#msg25702.

As for MD script, input power during detection (shooting consumes more of course) is equal to that during half shutter press (if you are using fast mode MD) or idle rec mode (if using slow mode MD). Disabling backlight saves some energy.

There's also a wiki page but its data appear to be in mA without mentioning voltage, making the numbers fairly worthless:http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Camera_Power_Consumption
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Offline JimA

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Re: What are good settings for catching wildlife with the MD script
« Reply #4 on: 06 / October / 2009, 07:21:30 »
I am a newbee, but I have loaded the CHDK (ver 796 Bld 0.9.8 sep 4,2009), and I have had some success using the MD script. The problem I am having with my Canon Power shot SX110 IS (firmware ver GM1.00B 6-28-08) with the MDFB-080914 by fudgey script is: If I set it to slow mode to capture birds on a feeder, the LCD shuts off and the camera stops detecting anything, I suspect since it uses the lcd image to detect the change. The longest I can set the camera to have the LCD on seems to be 3 minutes. I have also tried hooking up the video cable with nothing hooked to the other end. That does shut off the LCD but the camera still stops detecting after the 3 minute time period. The problem never occurs in fast mode and the video cable shuts off the display to save power, works great. If only I could get it to work like that in slow mode.

I have not looked into changing the script but I was hoping there must be an easier answer.
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Offline whim

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Re: What are good settings for catching wildlife with the MD script
« Reply #5 on: 06 / October / 2009, 07:33:39 »
@JimA

there is ... try Miscellaneous stuff -> Disable LCD off: set it to 'Script' and presto, your LCD won't turn off

hth,

wim
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Offline Wally

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Re: What are good settings for catching wildlife with the MD script
« Reply #6 on: 09 / October / 2009, 16:05:48 »
I am also looking for some good settings:

I am trying to use CHDK to do some observation of ice for my master thesis fieldwork.

I have to put some cameras in the tower of a church.

They stay there whole winter and take pictures every 15 min.

Now my problem is that the camera switches off.

Is it possible to let the CHDK-software turn the camera back on?

How does the power supply work if it has to stay there whole winter?

Thank you very much

Redirect me please if this is the wrong place to ask these questions!
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Offline fe50

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Re: What are good settings for catching wildlife with the MD script
« Reply #7 on: 10 / October / 2009, 07:30:37 »
Hello & welcome, Wally !

Quote from: Wally on 09 / October / 2009, 16:05:48
Now my problem is that the camera switches off.
Disable the Canon power saving (from the Canon menu).
You may also set up "Disable LCD off " from the CHDK Misc. menu to your needs. (CHDK_firmware_usage#Misc)

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Is it possible to let the CHDK-software turn the camera back on?
No.
When the camera is powered of, CHDK is not running, so how should this be possible ?

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How does the power supply work if it has to stay there whole winter?
Depends on the reliability of the power supply...

Note:
When power is lost, the camera automatically shuts down...
Dependent from your camera, you may "hold" the power button down all the time;
the camera then should power on again automatically after a current interruption.

For this, use the "Script Autostart" feature with your script...
« Last Edit: 10 / October / 2009, 07:32:35 by fe50 »
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Offline Wally

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Re: What are good settings for catching wildlife with the MD script
« Reply #8 on: 13 / October / 2009, 13:32:44 »
Thank you for your help.
I will check this out.

friendly greetings
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