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Manually choose the white balance (else the cam needs to calculate it for each shot). |
Manually choose the white balance (else the cam needs to calculate it for each shot). |
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If the lighting in your scene is relatively unchanging (your cam is aimed at an anthill? waiting for an insect to emerge from its cocoon? etc) you can half-press to premeter the scene, then set ModeDial to Manual and select the appropriate aperture and shutter values manually. You can also pre-focus, then shoot using an appropriate manual focus. Each of these steps will reduce the pre-shot lag time; all of them combined should reduce the lag to less than one second. ~Russ |
If the lighting in your scene is relatively unchanging (your cam is aimed at an anthill? waiting for an insect to emerge from its cocoon? etc) you can half-press to premeter the scene, then set ModeDial to Manual and select the appropriate aperture and shutter values manually. You can also pre-focus, then shoot using an appropriate manual focus. Each of these steps will reduce the pre-shot lag time; all of them combined should reduce the lag to less than one second. ~Russ |
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| + | p.s. |
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| + | If miminizing shot-to-shot time, in addition to mimimizing initial lag, is important to your shooting session, you might consider capturing a "burst" each time the cable release is pressed rather than just a single frame. |
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| + | '''Script Code''' (save as "cbl_rls_b.bas" to your /CHDK/SCRIPTS/ folder) |
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| + | <pre> |
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| + | @title CableRelease Burst |
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| + | @param a Burst Duration (sec) |
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| + | @default a 2 |
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| + | let s=a*1000 |
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| + | print "remember to preselect" |
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| + | print"continuous shooting" |
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| + | print "via FUNCTION menu" |
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| + | :press |
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| + | wait_click |
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| + | is_key x "display" |
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| + | if x=1 then press "shoot" |
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| + | sleep s |
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| + | release "shoot" |
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| + | goto "press" |
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| + | </pre> |
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[[Category:CHDK|Scripts: {{PAGENAME}}]] |
[[Category:CHDK|Scripts: {{PAGENAME}}]] |
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Revision as of 17:35, 30 July 2007
Cable Release
- Written for/on: S3 IS
- Also works on: Easy to modify for any of them.
There's no really easy way to add a cable-release to these cameras. The shutter-button on them is at an odd angle, with very little in the body-design to allow you to easily add a cable-release socket near the shutter-button. So, I got to thinking ... there's tons of other buttons on the camera that are much easier to reach with a very simple bracket screwed into the tripod socket. Using the scripting commands I rerouted the shutter-release button to the [DISP] button on my S3. As that one is nearest the tripod socket. A very small right-angle bracket a little over an inch-long, with one hole for a 1/4-20 bolt and another hole with threads cut for a mechanical cable-release ... bingo! I have a simple, small, easy to fit in my camera-bag cable-release! I put a small bit of rubber over the cable-release bracket threaded opening, so as not to mar my [DISP] button when the end of the cable-release hits it. It needs so little movement to press that button that the cable-release flexes the rubber-guard nicely to do just that.
If you want to modify it for your camera's particular button-layout, just replace the is_key x "display" line with whatever button other than the "display" button that you want to press as your alternate shutter-button, preferably the one nearest your tripod socket, Refer to the scripting tutorial for available button-names that you can use. And then using a cable-release and home-made bracket to reach that button.
Documentation/Help (save as a small "cbl_rls.txt" file to your /CHDK/SCRIPTS/ folder)
Attach your home-made cable-release mount to your camera so the cable-release end is over your [DISP] button on the back of the camera. Load, then run the script by pressing the shutter button. As long as the script is running your [DISP] button will act as your shutter-button. To end the script press your REAL shutter-button again.
Script Code (save as "cbl_rls.bas" to your /CHDK/SCRIPTS/ folder)
@title Cable Release :press wait_click is_key x "display" if x=1 then shoot goto "press"
One small drawback, and I'm not sure how to get around it. When using my cable-release with this script, there's about a 2.5 to 3 second delay between pressing the [DISP] button and the camera actually taking the photo. (Does anyone know how to speed that up?)
I'll upload a photo of the bracket that I made for this after I get some flat-black paint to make it look nicer.
--- Can you speedup the operation? Sure. Things you can do: Manually choose the white balance (else the cam needs to calculate it for each shot). If the lighting in your scene is relatively unchanging (your cam is aimed at an anthill? waiting for an insect to emerge from its cocoon? etc) you can half-press to premeter the scene, then set ModeDial to Manual and select the appropriate aperture and shutter values manually. You can also pre-focus, then shoot using an appropriate manual focus. Each of these steps will reduce the pre-shot lag time; all of them combined should reduce the lag to less than one second. ~Russ p.s. If miminizing shot-to-shot time, in addition to mimimizing initial lag, is important to your shooting session, you might consider capturing a "burst" each time the cable release is pressed rather than just a single frame.
Script Code (save as "cbl_rls_b.bas" to your /CHDK/SCRIPTS/ folder)
@title CableRelease Burst @param a Burst Duration (sec) @default a 2 let s=a*1000 print "remember to preselect" print"continuous shooting" print "via FUNCTION menu" :press wait_click is_key x "display" if x=1 then press "shoot" sleep s release "shoot" goto "press"