A490 Porting - page 18 - DryOS Development - CHDK Forum supplierdeeply

A490 Porting

  • 224 Replies
  • 91791 Views
Re: A490 Porting
« Reply #170 on: 31 / January / 2012, 23:11:54 »
Advertisements
Thanks for the replies!

reyalp, I haven't ever run a script like you're describing, so I'll have to learn how to do that.  Should be trivial, I know, but I'm not super technical.  I'll dig into it tomorrow at work.

- Jance

*

Offline reyalp

  • ******
  • 14121
Re: A490 Porting
« Reply #171 on: 31 / January / 2012, 23:19:20 »
his can happen if the camera is refusing to take the shot (for example, autofocus can't find anything to focus on or something like that).
From IRC information, this theory is wrong because the camera takes the shot first. This implies it's not detecting the shot was completed, which seems more likely to be a bug in the port.
Don't forget what the H stands for.

Re: A490 Porting
« Reply #172 on: 31 / January / 2012, 23:23:22 »
his can happen if the camera is refusing to take the shot (for example, autofocus can't find anything to focus on or something like that).
From IRC information, this theory is wrong because the camera takes the shot first. This implies it's not detecting the shot was completed, which seems more likely to be a bug in the port.
I think its more an issue that he is setting both Enable Remote and Enable Syncable Remote.  If the timing is not exact, some cameras get behind and miss the sync signal.
Ported :   A1200    SD940   G10    Powershot N    G16

Re: A490 Porting
« Reply #173 on: 01 / February / 2012, 00:36:52 »
Just to review, we've been discussing two issues that I'm having:

1.  Using ptpCamGui, I can get my A490 to take a picture, but then it hangs (this is with all the Remote options turned off).  So we're trying to figure out why the shoot() process doesn't exit cleanly.

2.  Using the Remote options (so far with all three turned on) and a USB remote switch, I am triggering multiple cameras simultaneously.  Sometimes, some don't shoot, so then when I trigger again, some shoot while the others that had previously triggered so into Autofocus/wait mode.  So we're trying to figure out what settings would be more stable/consistent so all the cameras stay in the same mode.

reyalp and waterwingz, thanks again.  For issue 2. I'll try the different remote settings and see how the cameras act.  For issue 1. let me know of any suggestions for testing.

Thanks!

- Jance


*

Offline philmoz

  • *****
  • 3450
    • Photos
Re: A490 Porting
« Reply #174 on: 01 / February / 2012, 02:16:07 »

The PTPCAM Console just shows

>>script-status<<script-status:0x1 run=yes msg=no (Length: 32)

over and over.  It seems like it's not terminating the "take picture" command or something?
1.  Using ptpCamGui, I can get my A490 to take a picture, but then it hangs (this is with all the Remote options turned off).  So we're trying to figure out why the shoot() process doesn't exit cleanly.

Just a thought - you don't have the 'Review' time setting in the camera set to 'Hold' by any chance?

Phil.
CHDK ports:
  sx30is (1.00c, 1.00h, 1.00l, 1.00n & 1.00p)
  g12 (1.00c, 1.00e, 1.00f & 1.00g)
  sx130is (1.01d & 1.01f)
  ixus310hs (1.00a & 1.01a)
  sx40hs (1.00d, 1.00g & 1.00i)
  g1x (1.00e, 1.00f & 1.00g)
  g5x (1.00c, 1.01a, 1.01b)
  g7x2 (1.01a, 1.01b, 1.10b)

Re: A490 Porting
« Reply #175 on: 01 / February / 2012, 02:43:40 »
Yes, I do!  (That way I can walk around the rig and see that all the cameras have taken a picture.)

Could that be related to the shoot() not exiting with ptpCam?  I'll definitely see if changing that setting makes a difference.

- Jance

*

Offline philmoz

  • *****
  • 3450
    • Photos
Re: A490 Porting
« Reply #176 on: 01 / February / 2012, 02:46:34 »
Yes, I do!  (That way I can walk around the rig and see that all the cameras have taken a picture.)

Could that be related to the shoot() not exiting with ptpCam?  I'll definitely see if changing that setting makes a difference.

- Jance

That's why it's 'hanging' the 'shoot' command won't exit until the camera returns to record mode.

Phil.
CHDK ports:
  sx30is (1.00c, 1.00h, 1.00l, 1.00n & 1.00p)
  g12 (1.00c, 1.00e, 1.00f & 1.00g)
  sx130is (1.01d & 1.01f)
  ixus310hs (1.00a & 1.01a)
  sx40hs (1.00d, 1.00g & 1.00i)
  g1x (1.00e, 1.00f & 1.00g)
  g5x (1.00c, 1.01a, 1.01b)
  g7x2 (1.01a, 1.01b, 1.10b)

Re: A490 Porting
« Reply #177 on: 01 / February / 2012, 13:23:38 »
Yay! Yep, having Review set to Hold was preventing the shoot() process from exiting.  Now it works!

Seems obvious now, of course.  Thanks for the suggestion, philmoz!

On my other research path, I'll test the Remote options with the usb remote setup based on waterwingz's suggestions.

- Jance



Re: A490 Porting
« Reply #178 on: 01 / February / 2012, 14:05:49 »
So, my obvious next step is to see if there's a way to use ptpCamGui (modified, or something like it) with one computer and multiple usb hubs, to control all the cameras, shoot simultaneously (as close as possible) and grab all the images remotely.

Right now, with the usb trigger, I have to physically un-mount each camera, pull the sd cards (24 right now, probably 36 soon) and bring those all back to a computer, mount them one by one, and copy the images.  Then go back and install the cards and re-mount the cameras and re-aim them.

If it could all be done remotely, that would be so cool.

Can y'all point me to the best forum topic to post to, to see if anyone has done something similar, or has suggestions?  It would be good to know what kind of coding work would be involved, and if anyone is up for it (even for hire), and I can push for coding support here at work too.

Thanks again for all the help!

- Jance

*

Offline reyalp

  • ******
  • 14121
Re: A490 Porting
« Reply #179 on: 02 / February / 2012, 00:53:27 »
You might consider starting a separate thread for this project, since it isn't really realated to a490 development...
So, my obvious next step is to see if there's a way to use ptpCamGui (modified, or something like it)
Is a GUI required ?
Quote
with one computer and multiple usb hubs, to control all the cameras, shoot simultaneously (as close as possible) and grab all the images remotely.
How precise does the sync need to be ? This will determine whether this approach is even worth pursuing.

My gut feeling (based on spending a lot of time developing CHDK PTP code, but not with large numbers of cameras) is that >1 second should be easy, down to ~ 1/10th ought to be possible with moderate effort, < 1/100th would require heroic efforts if possible at all.

All that is assuming that nothing (windows, in PTP client, the usb interfaces) just freaks out from having so many cameras connected.
Quote
Can y'all point me to the best forum topic to post to, to see if anyone has done something similar, or has suggestions?  It would be good to know what kind of coding work would be involved, and if anyone is up for it (even for hire), and I can push for coding support here at work too.
Coding will definitely be required. The PTP client I developed http://www.assembla.com/wiki/show/chdkptp does support controlling multiple cameras simultaneously using a client side Lua API. It does not support multiple cameras in the normal command line or GUI, but given that you are going to have to do coding somewhere, doing in the client application would make sense. The script API is currently not well documented, but if you have an experienced programmer I'd be happy to help them get up to speed.

Note that chdkptp is still pre-alpha. The existing functionality mostly works (as far as I know) but future builds will change interfaces without notice or backward compatibility.

An alternative would be to write an external program that controls a whole bunch of copies of ptpcam.exe, or write your own program that talks directly to the USB stack.
Don't forget what the H stands for.

 

Related Topics


SimplePortal 2.3.6 © 2008-2014, SimplePortal