Porting A410 - help wanted - page 7 - General Discussion and Assistance

bunnisorn

5

Re: Porting A410 - help wanted

« Reply #60 on: 08 / February / 2012, 17:59:57 »

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Finally got around to trying out the port, and am happy to say everything seems to be working great.

After reading the Intro to CHDK manual some things are a bit unclear, likely due to the older button layout on this model. For instance, some CHDK commands are controlled from the zoom in/out keys, while others use arrow/selection up and down - but on the A410 the up/down buttons ARE the zoom in/out buttons. If anyone knows of a thread addressing this (or of a CHDK guide for a model with this button layout), info would be appreciated.

I also have two questions regarding focus bracketing:

Once manual focus is enabled, what does (Alt)Arrow Down do?

When pressed once it seems to set Subject Distance to ~364 & HYP to .327, the second time ~343 and HYP .321, then does not respond again until Subject Distance is been manually changed, at which point it will again jump to two values seemingly some interval apart.

The CHDK manual refers to Continuous shooting mode - after looking for it a while, I am guessing this is an actual setting on the camera (which the A410 does not have). How is this best resolved?

Using the Custom Timer drive mode, we have a limit of 10 shots - however the first shot appears to use auto-focus rather than the selected Subject Distance, so at best it seems we can take 9 consecutive shots with the selected bracketing (without further intervention). Alternatively, we can use any one-shot mode and shoot as many times as needed - which is obviously slower and not suitable for anything that might move. As such I am guessing the best workaround would be a script for continuous shooting, but would the bracketing steps need to be included in the code, or will those Alt Menu variables be utilised as normal when it is run?

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srsa_4c

4451

Re: Porting A410 - help wanted

« Reply #61 on: 08 / February / 2012, 21:26:36 »

Can't answer every question (I mainly hack on my cameras but barely use them

), but:

Quote from: bunnisorn on 08 / February / 2012, 17:59:57

The CHDK manual refers to Continuous shooting mode - after looking for it a while, I am guessing this is an actual setting on the camera (which the A410 does not have). How is this best resolved?

There is a continuous shooting mode, you can find it in "M" mode, in the shooting menu.

AF-scan can be avoided by switching the camera into MF mode (it's not a real MF mode and is not exposed normally). As this is not implemented by the port, it has to be done from a script. There are two firmware functions to switch this on and off (addresses only apply for the A410):
MFOff(), its location is 0xffd24c48
MFOn(), its location is 0xffd24c18

These can be called from Lua (using a CHDK build that has the native call interface enabled), like this:

call_func_ptr(0xffd24c48) -- MFOff
call_func_ptr(0xffd24c18) -- MFOn

The camera keeps the state of this setting until it's switched off.

As the CHDK autobuild has native calls disabled, I've attached a build (diskboot.bin only) of the current stable CHDK with this enabled. Calling random addresses can be fatal for the camera's health, so don't do that

Quote from: bunnisorn on 08 / February / 2012, 17:59:57

Alternatively, we can use any one-shot mode and shoot as many times as needed - which is obviously slower

With disabled AF, not much slower.

Quote

As such I am guessing the best workaround would be a script for continuous shooting, but would the bracketing steps need to be included in the code, or will those Alt Menu variables be utilised as normal when it is run?

I guess when bracketing is enabled and your script simply simulates pressing the shutter button, it should work. But better take a look at the forum's scripting section, as this doesn't sound like a professional solution

CHDK-a410-100f-1.0.0-r1651.7Z (131.27 kB - downloaded 52 times.)

« Last Edit: 08 / February / 2012, 23:30:47 by srsa_4c »

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bunnisorn

5

Re: Porting A410 - help wanted

« Reply #62 on: 09 / February / 2012, 03:53:04 »

Quote from: srsa_4c on 08 / February / 2012, 21:26:36

There is a continuous shooting mode, you can find it in "M" mode, in the shooting menu.

Oh, the little "multiple layered squares" in Drive Mode, got it! I've only ever used the Timer mode, since it was the only way to let go of/stop shaking the camera before a USB remote was a possibility.

Quote from: srsa_4c on 08 / February / 2012, 21:26:36

As the CHDK autobuild has native calls disabled, I've attached a build (diskboot.bin only) of the current stable CHDK with this enabled.

Awesome, thank you very much. So basically, a simple script should be similar to this (but not in pseudo-code)?

Code: [Select]

MFOn();
For x=[desired shots] (
FullShutterPress();
Sleep([processing time]);
x=x+1; );
MFOff();

Never having used CHDK before, I'm still a bit confused about how the bracketing is supposed to work (and/or how it works on this camera). As I posted earlier, it seems like the first shot uses AF, but what about the next one? If I set for example (in the bracketing sub-menu), Subject Distance = 8 and Value Factor = 10, should the second shot move the focus to "80mm", then "160mm", etc.? And how does the Subject Distance set with (Alt)Directional Arrows affect this?

When I was trying it, I was using (Alt)Arrows so that the Subject Distance was just slightly out of focus, thinking that's where the first shot would start. I then set the sub-menu values as the increment I wanted that initial value to increase.

But in practice (with the 10-shot timer), that seemed to yield something like: 1. AF shot, 2. Extremely Blurry, 3. Very Blurry, [...] [...] X. slightly out of focus, X+1. nearest subjects in focus, and so on. The result was that usually, by the time I got to an in-focus shot, the 10 shots would be up... Obviously with Continuous mode this won't be an issue as I can just keep shooting, but if I start using RAWs then disk space will quickly become an issue. I don't know if the A410 supports SDHC, but seeing as it doesn't even support USB 2.0 I would say it's unlikely.

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fe50

3139
IXUS50 & 860, SX10 Star WARs-Star RAWs

Re: Porting A410 - help wanted

« Reply #63 on: 09 / February / 2012, 05:15:35 »

Quote from: bunnisorn on 09 / February / 2012, 03:53:04

... I'm still a bit confused about how the bracketing is supposed to work (and/or how it works on this camera). As I posted earlier, it seems like the first shot uses AF, but what about the next one? If I set for example (in the bracketing sub-menu), Subject Distance = 8 and Value Factor = 10, should the second shot move the focus to "80mm", then "160mm", etc.?

Bracketing starts with the current distance, set by AF or manually, then increments/decrements (+,- or +/- for alternating) the focus with the value (distance * value factor) in mm from this start point...

* http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK_User_Manual#Bracketing_in_continuous_mode

« Last Edit: 09 / February / 2012, 05:28:05 by fe50 »

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