Intervelometer for SX200 questions...

bastian74

17

Intervelometer for SX200 questions...

« on: 18 / April / 2011, 17:43:00 »

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I'm looking at creating scheduled time lapses of sunsets - unattended and scheduled, as well as the occasional thunderstorm.
I was looking at http://chdk.setepontos.com/index.php?topic=6105.msg61809#msg61809.
Selective Intervalometer (days, days of week, hours/min, intervals min/sec) by SkyWalker9

Question: Can you keep the display off? I'd rather not power the LCD display for weeks if I don't have to.
For sunsets I only want to record to dusk, not dark. Scheduling them I think is sufficient.
Do you lock the settings in the script or do you set the camera to the mode you want then run the script?
Obviously manual focus at infinity, manual white balance.

Thanks in advance for any tips,
Eric

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SkyWalker9

301
SX20 IS (fw 1.02b)

Re: Intervelometer for SX200 questions...

« Reply #1 on: 18 / April / 2011, 19:44:52 »

Quote from: bastian74 on 18 / April / 2011, 17:43:00

I'm looking at creating scheduled time lapses of sunsets - unattended and scheduled, as well as the occasional thunderstorm.
I was looking at http://chdk.setepontos.com/index.php?topic=6105.msg61809#msg61809. Selective Intervalometer (days, days of week, hours/min, intervals min/sec) by SkyWalker9

Question: Can you keep the display off? I'd rather not power the LCD display for weeks if I don't have to.

Many folks use a headphone jack or an AV cable to disable the LCD (http://chdk.setepontos.com/index.php?topic=1768.msg17783#msg17783 )

Quote

For sunsets I only want to record to dusk, not dark. Scheduling them I think is sufficient.

Scheduling is probably the easiest. Another option for not shooting shots during dark would be to integrate bv96 statements into the Selective Intervalometer script mentioned above. Here is a posting to a sunrise-sunset intervalometer mini-script ("3SunInt") I created that uses bv96 statements to start and stop the shooting: http://chdk.setepontos.com/index.php?topic=6149.msg63208#msg63208

Quote

Do you lock the settings in the script or do you set the camera to the mode you want then run the script?
Obviously manual focus at infinity, manual white balance.

It best to set the modes and then start the script. The modes I tend to use are the Av and M modes, but for other types of scripts one of the other modes such as Tv might be a better choice.

Quote

...as well as the occasional thunderstorm...

It's best to use a specialized script for lightning strikes in order to capture the action.

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bastian74

17

Re: Intervelometer for SX200 questions...

« Reply #2 on: 18 / April / 2011, 20:59:33 »

I'm not trying to capture lightning, just the storms rolling in.
So I tried the Selective Int script and when I run it, the beginning just loops uncontrollably, where you are supposed to pick which days it runs. Is it incompatible with the Sx200?

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SkyWalker9

301
SX20 IS (fw 1.02b)

Re: Intervelometer for SX200 questions...

« Reply #3 on: 18 / April / 2011, 21:41:16 »

Quote from: bastian74 on 18 / April / 2011, 20:59:33

I'm not trying to capture lightning, just the storms rolling in.
So I tried the Selective Int script and when I run it, the beginning just loops uncontrollably, where you are supposed to pick which days it runs. Is it incompatible with the Sx200?

I don't have a SX200 to use for testing, so I don't know if it is incompatible. After looking at the Canon SX200 Users Manual, it seems like it should work on the SX200. Did you see a screen something like the following:

     Left=No  Right=Yes
     Set when done
     Sun: No

If not then test the following script on you camera. Save it in your CHDK scripts folder as keys.bas and then run and test if it works when you try various keys. Just press your shutter button to exit the script.

Code: [Select]

@title Test Keys
sleep 1000
print "Press a key"
:loop
        wait_click
        is_key k "left"
        if k=1 then gosub "kleft"
        is_key k "right"
        if k=1 then gosub "kright"
        is_key k "down"
        if k=1 then gosub "kdown"
        is_key k "up"
        if k=1 then gosub "kup"
        is_key k "print"
        if k=1 then gosub "kprint"
        is_key k "erase"
        if k=1 then gosub "kerase"
        is_key k "set"
        if k=1 then gosub "kset"
        is_key k "menu"
        if k=1 then gosub "kmenu"
        is_key k "display"
        if k=1 then gosub "kdisplay"
        is_key k "no_key"
        if k=1 then gosub "unknown"
        is_key k "zoom_in"
        if k=1 then gosub "zoom_in"
        is_key k "zoom_out"
        if k=1 then gosub "zoom_out"
rem begin S series buttons
        is_key k "video"
        if k=1 then gosub "video"
        is_key k "iso"
        if k=1 then gosub "iso"
        is_key k "flash"
        if k=1 then gosub "flash"
        is_key k "mf"
        if k=1 then gosub "mf"
        is_key k "timer"
        if k=1 then gosub "timer"
        is_key k "macro"
        if k=1 then gosub "macro"
goto "loop"

:unknown
print "unknown key"
return

:kleft
print "left"
return

:kup
print "up"
return

:kdown
print "down"
return

:kright
print "right"
return

:kprint
print "print"
return

:kerase
print "erase"
return

:kset
print "set"
return

:kmenu
print "menu"
return

:kdisplay
print "display"
return

:zoom_in
print "zoom_in"
return

:zoom_out
print "zoom_out"
return


rem Begin S series buttons

:video
print "video"
return

:iso
print "iso"
return

:flash
print "flash"
return

:mf
print "mf"
return

:timer
print "timer"
return

:macro
print "macro"
return

:end
end

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bastian74

17

Re: Intervelometer for SX200 questions...

« Reply #4 on: 18 / April / 2011, 22:30:53 »

Quote from: SkyWalker9 on 18 / April / 2011, 21:41:16

Quote from: bastian74 on 18 / April / 2011, 20:59:33
I'm not trying to capture lightning, just the storms rolling in.
So I tried the Selective Int script and when I run it, the beginning just loops uncontrollably, where you are supposed to pick which days it runs. Is it incompatible with the Sx200?
I don't have a SX200 to use for testing, so I don't know if it is incompatible. After looking at the Canon SX200 Users Manual, it seems like it should work on the SX200. Did you see a screen something like the following:
     Left=No  Right=Yes
     Set when done
     Sun: No
If not then test the following script on you camera. Save it in your CHDK scripts folder as keys.bas and then run and test if it works when you try various keys. Just press your shutter button to exit the script.

It kept flashing those three lines of text as if it was in a goto 10 loop

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bastian74

17

Re: Intervelometer for SX200 questions...

« Reply #5 on: 18 / April / 2011, 22:45:04 »

I tried keys.bas and it says:
Started
Press a key

Then scrolls automatically
invalid key
invalid key
invalid key
.
.
.

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SkyWalker9

301
SX20 IS (fw 1.02b)

Re: Intervelometer for SX200 questions...

« Reply #6 on: 19 / April / 2011, 00:01:24 »

Quote from: bastian74 on 18 / April / 2011, 22:45:04

I tried keys.bas and it says:
Started
Press a key

Then scrolls automatically
invalid key
invalid key
invalid key
.
.
.

It appears that your SX200 may be having problems with the wait_click statements. I'd suggest changing the "wait_click" statement in the keys.bas to "wait_click 5000" to test and see if that helps. I found a posting in one of the forums that mentioned adding the extra delay (5 seconds in this case) helped with a similar problem.

If this helps, you could then apply the change to the two wait_click statements in the Selective Int script, maybe even using 20000 (20 seconds) delay to give yourself more time.

« Last Edit: 19 / April / 2011, 00:20:45 by SkyWalker9 »

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reyalp

14119

Re: Intervelometer for SX200 questions...

« Reply #7 on: 19 / April / 2011, 02:25:13 »

in current versions of chdk, wait_click with no value waits for no time... This is not terribly useful.

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Don't forget what the H stands for.

SkyWalker9

301
SX20 IS (fw 1.02b)

Re: Intervelometer for SX200 questions...

« Reply #8 on: 19 / April / 2011, 10:40:23 »

Quote from: reyalp on 19 / April / 2011, 02:25:13

in current versions of chdk, wait_click with no value waits for no time... This is not terribly useful.

Interesting... I'm still using a CHDK build from January 2011 that I used when I created the script. If adding the extra delay works for @bastian74, then I'll incorporate that change in future scripts and go back and modify the decriptions on other scripts I've posted (with wait_click statements) and add "Update" statements at the bottom.

Thanks for the insight @reyalp!

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reyalp

14119

Re: Intervelometer for SX200 questions...

« Reply #9 on: 19 / April / 2011, 12:03:08 »

Quote from: SkyWalker9 on 19 / April / 2011, 10:40:23

Interesting... I'm still using a CHDK build from January 2011 that I used when I created the script.

If it has changed, the change should be much older than that. There was a thread about this a while back, but I can't seem to find it. I'd be tempted to make wait_click without a number wait indefinitely, but some scripts would probably break...

if all the keys in your camera were known, then your script would "work" the loop would just run very quickly.

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Don't forget what the H stands for.