I am new to CHDK. I am having some issues and not sure if it is me, the camera, or the script.
I wanted to do some time lapse. The plan is to take a picture every day until late fall of my garden growing. I decided instead of just one picture a day I would take a picture every 15 min during daylight hours. That way during playback each day would last about a second.
I got a Canon A800 second hand (software still in Beta). This is day three in my experiment.
I am currently using batteries. And going through them more quickly than expected. I am not even getting 30 pictures from my NiMH.
I have the LCD set to turn off after 10 seconds. I have the override to disable the LCD to never. This is working, the screen comes on to take a picture and turns off.
I have the script set to auto run.
Question 1: When the camera is sitting idle waiting for the next shot is it using lots of power? Although I did have the screen on several times adjusting and testing various settings the batteries are not lasting a whole day. Are there other power saving options that I missed? Or is this a bug with the A800 beta software. With so few pictures being taken I was hoping the batteries would last several days.
Question 2: Can the zoom setting be remembered from when the camera was last on?
When ever the camera is turned back on (like when the batteries need changed), the previous zoom setting is not remembered so I need to interrupt the script, get into regular mode, adjust the zoom, then start the script again. Is there a way to avoid this?
Question 3: Even though I think I set the camera to use a focus distance it is refocusing for each shot. What are the correct steps to ensure the camera does not refocus? Trying to save battery power.
Question 4: If I have the script to start on the hour and take a picture every 15 min I would expect the shot to happen on the 15 min marks regardless of what time the script was restarted.
Jim