Tag: Camera Control

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Interest in Photobooth functions?

I noted that several people have used the Camera control script as the software to drive a photobooth as events, such as wedding, where guests can come up and take their own picture.

The script can be used like that, but is hardly ideal. However I can imagine making a “photobooth mode” specifically for this purpose which would take away some of the problems.

E.g. you could have a simplified control – basically only one button to press.

Let me know if that sounds interesting and if you have any ideas to add and see if I should spend some more thought on it.

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Maybe it is all in the cable…

Seems strange but if you are having trouble with Camera Control being unreliable or failing to perform, try making sure that your USB cable connection is good:

  • Use a short cable
  • Use the best quality cable you have
  • Plug the cable directly into the PC, not via a hub

Strange as it may seem this has fixed some of my own problems. Apparently it is possible to have an unreliable USB connection which is good enough for some purposes (including downloading images in batches), but not good enough for tethering.

The details I don’t understand, but give it a try if all else fails.

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5.0 Tiger not working on Vista or Win7?

If you find that the Camera Control 5.0 script is not working at all on Vista or Win7 it probably is because it is trying to properly set the jpg/raw status during camera initialization and that doesn’t always work properly on non-XP systems.

Because this messes up the whole script camera initialization other things stop working as well.  So try this beta version where I have turned off the error checking for that suspect line:

DIYPhotoBits.com Camera Control 5.1 beta

Please let me know in the comments if this helps, and if so I’ll release it in proper packaged format.

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DIYPhotobits Camera Control 5.0 – Tiger

Happy Lunar New Year to those of you who celebrate it, and welcome to the Year of the Tiger release of DIYPhotobits Camera Control!

Download 5.0 here

DIYPhotobits Camera Control 5.0 – The Tiger Release – gets a new major version number (from 4 to 5) to reflect several important new enhancements, plus a “.0” to show that this is new stuff and not as well tested as I would have liked.

I’ve actually had this code on my disk for a while now but due to various interruptions I have not had time to complete testing or release it before now.  And to be honest, I’m actually releasing it here without additional testing because I’m seeing plenty of comments from people who have problems that the new version should fix.

Changelog 5.0:

  • Fixed the bug where the preview size doesn’t change during a tethered download preview.  Thanks to Frank.
  • Save the raw vs jpg setting between sessions
  • Save preview size between sessions
  • Save tethered status between sessions
  • Image viewer to view previous shots (jpg only)
  • Flagging/selection of files via file renaming so that sort-by-filename will show flagged files
  • Display latest jpg when downloading jpg+raw
  • Bracketing in manual mode via changing shutter speed
  • Change exposure compensation code so that it should work for negative values in Vista
  • Post processing command either automatically or via viewer
  • Bug fixes to savings settings in registry
  • Add more choices to preview size
  • Added more help links

Well there you go, I’m sure there will be bugs but I hope the new features will be of use to someone.

When I get some more time (haa haa) I’ll try to put together a tutorial video that shows everything working together as I realize the lack of a manual or explanation makes it hard use.

Download 5.0 here

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Do you Backup as you shoot?

I do, at least I am able to do when I’m shooting tethered with my CameraControl 4.1 script. Every image goes onto the flash memory card in the camera *and* onto the hard disk of the attached PC.

That matters to me when I’m doing a critical shoot. To me a critical shoot means one of my wife or my kids, capturing moments near to my heart which may never be exactly replicated. Particularly true with a 4 month old baby! It’s amazing how every week he is do different – so no going back and saying “I’ll take that picture again next week”, coz it won’t be the same will it?

Not that I have ever had a memory card fail in any of my DSLRs (D40 or D300), but I have had them fail either technically or due to operator error and lost shots I’m sad about. There is only one chance at a “first time” for something particularly with kids.

So if I shoot tethered, with a tiny Fujitsu Lifebook perhaps in a backpack if I’m moving about and a cable into the camera then I’m sure I have two copies of everything.

Of course I could get a D3 instead with two card slots which I believe allows shots to be written to both, but wouldn’t that be overkill?

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DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control 4.1 – Dog Food

Changes in 4.1 – the “Eat your own dog food” release of DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control.

4.1

– allow fractional bracketing by changing Cint to Cdbl

– don’t crash on line 157 if there is nothing to download

– removed the “download immediately” function and changed things so that the normal tether does this function
– fixed the bug where push external viewer doesn’t work unless you explicitly choose the output folder

Download it here.

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Line: 157; char: 2; Error: Index out of range

Update: Sadly this doesn’t work. Ok I really need to fix this bug soon.

Getting this message from DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control when you click the “Shutter Release” button?

It’s a bug, the script is failing to handle the fact that the camera is very slightly slow in delivering the image after taking it.

To avoid this:

Stop using the “Download Immediately” checkbox

Instead, press the “Start Tether” button.

The result is (almost) the same; when you click Shutter Release the images ARE immediately downloaded (because the tether is running), but it’s by a different piece of code that patiently waits for the image to become available rather than demanding it immediately.

Side-effect; this means if you press the shutter release button on the camera then that image also is downloaded.

Sorry I haven’t posted a proper fix for this. What with a new baby in the house (3 months next week and doing fine) we hardly have time to get our jobs done, let alone our hobbies.

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Free Mac Nikon Control Beta

Stefan Hafeneger , has built a Nikon specific camera control app for macs which is now beta and freely available.   He is using the Nikon SDK as well so should be able to implement much more Nikon specific controls than I am able to via WIA on Windows in my script.  

Apparently he is able to understand the SDK as well – which means not only can he program better than I but his English/Japanese parsing skill is much higher than mine as well and I salute him!

[via dptnt]

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DIYPhotobits.Com Camera Control 4.0 – Basic Bracketing

It is here, it is basic, but it works (somewhat) — Bracketing.  Once again I find myself either spending an hour I have available to work on the code, or publishing what I already have working, limited though it may be.

So here we have 4.0 – the Basic Bracketing version.

DOWNLOAD

Expect bugs — that’s why the version is a .0 one!  However it should do you for some basic HDR or timelapse uses.

Update:

  • Only works in P, A or S modes as the bracketing is controlled by adjusting the exposure compensation. I’ll do M mode support later.
  • The package has the wrong version number (3.1) on the Start menu icon,but once you open the script itis the correct 4.0
  • Tested on D300 and D40 ok

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DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control 3.0 – Happy New Year!

I’m please to be able to say that you can now download

the latest release of DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control.   This is release 3.0 – the Happy New Year! release.

DOWNLOAD 3.0

Upgrading to this version will get you:

  • Time Lapse!  

Yes,  at last, I’ve implemented — admittedly very very basic and boring — but still functional — time lapse.  If you have a D300 or other camera with time lapse built in then this is boring, but for those of you with D40 and similiar then this gets you what you need to do all those fun time lapse videos.

  • Persistent download directory

It now remembers the directory you selected and stays with it when you restart the application.

  • File name prefix

This field allows you to specify something to prefix the file names with.  The idea is that you use it when shooting a lot of people, say at a school or fair, and as each person comes up you can just type in their name, shoot a few shots, then change the name for the next person.  Then each file name will have the person’s name on it.

  • Reconnect camera without restarting

If you need to reconnect the camera; say the usb cable came unplugged, or you forgot to change to M mode before starting, you can now just click again on Select Camera” rather than restart the script.

Ok so that’s pretty much it — plus some small tweaks and bug fixes.   I’ll write or do a video soon with some howto time lapse, and how to actually turn it into video using free tools.

Until then, Happy New Year!

PS.  If you’ve found this site and/or my scripts helpful, please do help to spread the word by telling a friend, posting a message on a forum, blogging  about it or similiar — the more people who hear about it the better!  Thanks very much for your help which I greatly appreciate.

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