Going to Africa -worry about rebooting CHDK - multi-card use,startup modes w8gig - Hello, I'm a NEWBIE - HELP!! (Newbies assistance, User Guides and thank you notes)

bikechick

12

Going to Africa -worry about rebooting CHDK - multi-card use,startup modes w8gig

« on: 17 / December / 2008, 01:03:41 »

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I'm doing a time-lapse imaging film about biking across Africa, and I'm going to use the CHDK intervalometer script. My concern is that I will be using a lot of memory cards and have minimal access to the web. I'm also using primarily 8gig cards (and some 2 gigs in areas where my cameras can easily get stolen). I'm wondering - do I need to load CHDK onto all of my memory cards? will I have to reload CHDK onto the 8gig cards every time I go to use them? When I dump my photos into my back-up hard drive and reformat my card, will I need to re-upload chdk?
I know there have got to be answers on here somewhere, but I've been reading for hours and my head is spinning.
Thanks!

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Hacki

359
EOS 80D

Re: Going to Africa -worry about rebooting CHDK - multi-card use,startup modes w8gig

« Reply #1 on: 17 / December / 2008, 01:14:45 »

Quote

do I need to load CHDK onto all of my memory cards?

Yes.

Quote

will I have to reload CHDK onto the 8gig cards every time I go to use them?

If you dont format them between uses, no.

Quote

When I dump my photos into my back-up hard drive and reformat my card, will I need to re-upload chdk?

If you format the card, yes. But just dont, you can simply delete the DCIM/ directory and the card will be empty..

Explanation:

CHDK is a 'volatile' firmware addition which gets executed during bootup. It does not modify anything permanently, and when you unlock your sd card, or remove the diskboot.bin (in case of autoboot.. ps.fir in case of manual boot) from the card, it is gone again. I recommend you do not format the cards at any point of your journey, just delete the DCIM/ folder as i said.. that should make things easier. You dont need to format the card anyways.. The only reason for formatting would be fragmentation, which gets resolved by deleting all the data too.

Hope that helps, and hope to see your results here!

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reyalp

13965

Re: Going to Africa -worry about rebooting CHDK - multi-card use,startup modes w8gig

« Reply #2 on: 17 / December / 2008, 01:19:34 »

You need to load CHDK on each card.

If you format your card, you'll need to re-install CHDK an make it bootable again if using autoboot. However, just deleting the images should normally be sufficient. You should still be set up to re-format and re-install if needed, but you shouldn't have to do it every time.

If you are using SDHC card, make sure CHDK supports the features you need to use them on your chosen cameras. For dryos cameras, this means they must have multi-partition support. This is only present on some cameras. For vxworks cameras, you can load manually without multipartition support, but autoboot is probably more convenient.

If you already have the cameras, tell us what they are and we can let you know what they support.

My advice: Test everything as early as possible!

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Don't forget what the H stands for.

bikechick

12

Re: Going to Africa -worry about rebooting CHDK - multi-card use,startup modes w8gig

« Reply #3 on: 17 / December / 2008, 01:59:35 »

Thanks Hacki and reyalp!

I'm using two SD1000s. I don't know what dryos and vxworks cameras are. The 8 gig cards are HP SDHC. I've got a bunch of 2 gig cards too... planning to use them in Ethiopia especially - lots of kids there who throw rocks to get attention and have a tendency to pilfer souvenirs. I figure loosing 2 gigs of data would be a lot less heart breaking than 8.
And yeah, I'll make the film accessible when I'm done (so excited).

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reyalp

13965

Re: Going to Africa -worry about rebooting CHDK - multi-card use,startup modes w8gig

« Reply #4 on: 17 / December / 2008, 02:28:48 »

SD1000 - CHDK Wiki

You are in luck. The SD1000 is a vxworks camera, and also supports multi-partition.

The means you can manually start CHDK as described here: FAQ - CHDK Wiki on any size card.

If you want CHDK to load automatically from the 8 gig cards, you'll want to look at the later posts in this thread Adding Multipartition Support for Ixus70 (SD-1000)

Good luck, sounds like a great adventure.

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bikechick

12

Re: Going to Africa -worry about rebooting CHDK - multi-card use,startup modes w8gig

« Reply #5 on: 19 / December / 2008, 03:32:37 »

thanks again! I'm starting on my 2 gig cards and so far so good!

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bikechick

12

Re: Going to Africa -worry about rebooting CHDK - multi-card use,startup modes w8gig

« Reply #6 on: 19 / December / 2008, 03:42:22 »

Except one problem... of course...
I don't understand where I get the scripts from - I need a basic intervalometer script that won't take too much memory, will shoot at around 7meg at 7ish second intervals for hours on end. Is there any quick way of finding this? Also, was I supposed to have loaded scripts on before I locked my memory card (for autobooting?
I'm sorry if this is easy to find... end of the night again and I'm burning out.

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reyalp

13965

Re: Going to Africa -worry about rebooting CHDK - multi-card use,startup modes w8gig

« Reply #7 on: 19 / December / 2008, 04:40:01 »

The card only needs to be locked when you are using it in the camera. You use a card reader to copy the scripts to the card, so you can unlock the card as needed, just remember to lock it when you are done. Some card readers (mostly cheap ones) ignore the lock tab, which is very convenient if you are doing a lot of back and forth. Others require you to unlock it to install a script.

Scripts can be found posted on the forum Completed and Working Scripts and on the wiki UBASIC/Scripts - CHDK Wiki

You will probably need to do some testing to find which script is right for your needs.

CarLapse - LUA Script for timelapse out of a driving car might be a good start, since the requirements for shooting from a car or bike should be pretty similar.
UBASIC/Scripts: Ultra Intervalometer - CHDK Wiki is another option.

You probably want automatic exposure. If your camera setup allows, I'd suggest forcing focus to a specific distance (you can do this with subject distance override, or by putting it in the script), because the autofocus will probably struggle with a camera mounted on a moving bike, especially on African roads.

Testing is essential.

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Don't forget what the H stands for.

bikechick

12

Re: Going to Africa -worry about rebooting CHDK - multi-card use,startup modes w8gig

« Reply #8 on: 20 / December / 2008, 04:26:27 »

Thanks reyalp! I'll check those out!

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