Hillbille, it looks like you're looking at the wrong script for your time lapse. The whole point of this one is to be able to walk away from the camera, knowing it will begin shooting at exactly 11:20 a.m. next Thursday, for instance. For RCAP is seems to me you'd just want one to start 3 minutes after you push the button, or however much time you expect to get to altitude.
A time lapse script that waits a certain time before starting, then shoots at a certain, fixed rate would be one of the simplest scripts to write, I'd think. I haven't written a TL script, but I'd start with one of the simplest ones for CHDK and strip away ALL the input parameters and replace them with constants. For instance, where the existing script might say:
@param a First shot Delay minutes
@default a 1
It would cause your scripting menu to show:
First shot delay minutes [ 1]
And wait for you to override that number with the one you want. But if you always expect to start 3 minutes after you push the button, replace those input parameter lines with:
a = 3
(Later in the code that will be converted to milliseconds like this:
d = a * 60 * 1000
where d is a name I made up to mean delay.)
You could start with a very simple script and strip it down to fixed timings with no input at all, if you want. Or have only two input parameters: First shot delay and Interval.
If your camera has a TV output, you can hook it up at home to use the TV as a display while you set the delays you want, then disconnect it and take it out to your airfield to start it blind. You would only need to press the shutter to have it start taking pictures after that initial delay, and keep running until it lands and you press the shutter again to stop it.
Look through the simplest TL scripts here, find one that you think you understand, and strip it. Or start from scratch. You don't need much more than a Title, a beginning delay:
sleep d
and a shooting loop:
do
shoot
sleep i
until 2 = 3
end
In the uBASIC example above "i" is the name I made up for Interval. "sleep" always works in milliseconds, so you'll do the same kind of calculation we did above to convert from minutes (or seconds, or a combination) to milliseconds.
Every step between "do" and "until" will repeat until the statement after "until" becomes true, which in this case is forever, since 2 will never equal 3. I put the "end" command in there, just because I thought I ought to. The script will end when you walk up to your plane and press the shutter again.
Have fun. Show us some pics.
If you really do need something more complex that a starting delay and an interval, please accept my apologies. Still, look at the existing scripts and strip & customize one for yourself. For the application I'm imagining, the few lines above are almost the entire script.
Eric
