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Not getting far

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Offline chrisr

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Not getting far
« on: 26 / September / 2012, 17:45:14 »
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A700.
Not getting far, CHDK seems to be pretty useless, I've spent hours redoing the same thing over and over trying to work out how the hell it's supposed to work. It's crashed a couple of times, have had to reload and restart a few times, to get it to start up and see files.  And the battery strength drops by 1% every several seconds even with new high capacity rechargeables.
I get random junk and blank areas of text on the screen.

LAck of documentation is much of the problem probably, some things just are like the user guide says. Different models I suppose?

 I've tried a couple of random things, like Metronome, which didn't work at all, then once spuriously (I think) I was offered start/stop prompts and it worked, but can't make it do it again .
"Edge Overlay" draws an outline which lasts a fraction of a second then often the screen fills with noise, whether filtered edges or not. I don't know what it's supposed to do, the desciption doesn't help, I'm afraid. It certainly doesn't carry the edge image forward for a next shot...

What I'm trying to get working is a focus stack.
I can set a start distance, say 123mm, but get both
SD123 and
SD2
on the screen at the same time.
The focus increments (bracketing set to  "+") by one 1mm per shot, and I can't alter that. Is that right?

I'm not encouraged to write scripts (or use it on my DSLR) with the basics looking so flaky.

Is this just the way it is?
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Offline waterwingz

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Re: Not getting far
« Reply #1 on: 26 / September / 2012, 19:26:41 »
Quote from: chrisr on 26 / September / 2012, 17:45:14
A700.
I hate to say it, but that's a pretty old camera (2006).  It's possible problems have crept into the main code base that affect that camera but with it's age and lack of users, nobody has noticed.

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LAck of documentation is much of the problem probably, some things just are like the user guide says. Different models I suppose?
Some of the documentation can be a bit out of date.  This is an all volunteer project and as you might expect, volunteers willing to write and update documentation can be hard to come by.

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I'm not encouraged to write scripts (or use it on my DSLR) with the basics looking so flaky.
Well,  the good new is that CHDK does run on DSLR's so you don't have to worry about that.

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Is this just the way it is?
Maybe.   Did you confirm that your camera actually has firmware revision 1.00B ?  That's the only version of CHDK ported for the A700 but if you have a different firmware version, that could explain the instability.

« Last Edit: 26 / September / 2012, 19:55:41 by waterwingz »
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Ported :   A1200    SD940   G10    Powershot N    G16
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Offline chrisr

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Re: Not getting far
« Reply #2 on: 26 / September / 2012, 20:53:05 »
Thanks WW

Yuh it's just the one I happened to have. (The firmware version is correct.) For the purpose I have in mind its spec is fine though. It's only 6MP  but that's plenty. For snapping small things you need to stack, cos you get such a small depth of field. The A700 will take 10 shots after the self timer so it doesn't need a remote release as long as it's sitting still. For a few tens of frames it should be fine. (Something important needs hundreds, but then I'd use better stuff!) When I get something decent I'll post it, though it's likely to be a lump of lichen or a dead bug...

I'm browsing for a newer compact. Any suggestions anyone? Remote shutter  input would be useful (via usb is ok), and a flash shoe or connection would be good, too. Don't need a wide zoom range, wide end more use, but needs to focus close all through if possible. Another attraction of the A700 type is the filter holding adapter attachment, which I can use for supplementary close up lenses which give longer working distance.  A conventional filter thread would do. A720is is about as far as that line got, I think.
The other geeky thing it gets right for closeup stacking is internal focus, so the entrance pupil stays in the same place.

I used to be an assembler/C++ programmer, technical writer, etc. (So it seems really very odd that Canon should leave things "open" like they have.) Personally I find it frustrating that when those parameters were designed onto the display, the designer didn't say much about how they would be used. >:( The guide sort of talks around the sort of thing you can do - I wish it were more "technical"!

Does anyone know if it's possible to make the camera focus with increments other than 1mm, without writing a script? I guess I'll have to try that. Not hard to make it calculate the depth of field for focus steps.

YUp, documentation was never a programmer's strong point.  Often abbreviated to "God" in my day. Short for the line
"When I wrote this, God and I knew how it worked. But now, God alone knows".
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Offline waterwingz

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Re: Not getting far
« Reply #3 on: 26 / September / 2012, 21:11:59 »
Quote from: chrisr on 26 / September / 2012, 20:53:05
Yuh it's just the one I happened to have. (The firmware version is correct.) For the purpose I have in mind its spec is fine though..... When I get something decent I'll post it, though it's likely to be a lump of lichen or a dead bug...
Generally speaking, the fancy display stuff like edge overlay, zebra & histogram needs to have all the LCD display settings just right.  If they don't work,  you may still find scripting works just fine for actually taking pictures of things.

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I'm browsing for a newer compact. Any suggestions anyone? Remote shutter  input would be useful (via usb is ok)
Pretty much all CHDK ports support this - or at least they are supposed to.

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, and a flash shoe or connection would be good, too.
With low end P&S cameras, one of those photocell remote trigger things can be just what you need.  There's a link in the forum somewhere about using a foil reflector to bounce the on-camera flash away from the subject but directly at the slave flash to fire it.

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I used to be an assembler/C++ programmer, technical writer, etc. (So it seems really very odd that Canon should leave things "open" like they have.)
After seven years and tons of media attention, they are certainly aware of the project and could disable it for new cameras by changing a couple of lines of code.  I suspect there is someone in management who actually agrees with the project and they have adopted a "don't ask,  don't tell" attitude.

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Personally I find it frustrating that when those parameters were designed onto the display, the designer didn't say much about how they would be used. >:( The guide sort of talks around the sort of thing you can do - I wish it were more "technical"!
You lost me on this one.  What parameters ?


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Does anyone know if it's possible to make the camera focus with increments other than 1mm, without writing a script? I guess I'll have to try that. Not hard to make it calculate the depth of field for focus steps.
Frankly, manual focus is problematic in many CHDK ports.  If it works for you - run with it.  And from what you say you want to do,  a small investment in time looking at focus bracketing scripts would be time well spent.
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Ported :   A1200    SD940   G10    Powershot N    G16
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Offline fe50

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Re: Not getting far
« Reply #4 on: 28 / September / 2012, 04:53:41 »
Quote from: chrisr on 26 / September / 2012, 20:53:05
Does anyone know if it's possible to make the camera focus with increments other than 1mm
--> http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK_User_Manual#Bracketing_in_continuous_mode
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* Subj. Dist. Bracket Value...[0 – 100]
Set this value to enable focus bracketing. This feature is only enabled during manual focus mode. This feature allows you to specify the manual focus distance in millimeters. This value is multiplied by the Value factor below to arrive at the final value.

* Value factor (mm)...[Off, 1, 10, 100, 1000]
Used as a multiplier for Distance bracketing value.
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Offline chrisr

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Re: Not getting far
« Reply #5 on: 11 / October / 2012, 17:26:22 »
Update - flaky card swapped which helps a lot!
Not that I was getting anything wrong of course .
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