Tag: D300

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How many shutter actuations can your dslr survive?

Not normally an important question this becomes relevant when you start doing time lapse, which means very large numbers of pictures taken.

Consider a 1 hour time lapse at one shot per 5 seconds, that’s 720 frames for the one hour.

Particularly I’m concerned about camera models which do not have time lapse built in, so the manufacturer had a different expectation of what the total number would be that you achieve.

The camera makers have their own estimates of the total shutter life of each camera, however a more interesting exercise is actually collecting data on this and that has been done here http://olegkikin.com/shutterlife/

For my two cameras that is:

I encourage you to look up your own model, then see how many you are up to now, then do some simple calculations to know how much of your camera life you are using up by doing time lapse before getting started.

Although shutters can be replaced the general consensus is that it doesn’t make sense from a cost perspective.

You can use ExifTool by Phil Harvey to check your shutter count (instructions here), or upload an unedited jpg to flickr and look at the extended properties of the image.

If a one hour time lapse is 720 frames that is about 0.7% of the life of my D40 shutter.

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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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How long does battery last while doing tethered time lapse?

I thought that this was going to be a major limitation — the battery life of the camera — as while connected via USB the camera is constantly “on” and never goes into a sleep mode.

However while I was doing recent testing with the Nikon D40 time lapse I started with a full battery and took schedule shots every 5 seconds for about an hour, and at the end the battery still said 100% full.  Both via the camera icon, and via the battery meter in my script.

So obviously some power has been used, but very little apparently.  While this is good news it is also a bit puzzling so I’d love to hear your experience with it.

My batteries are not brand new or anything, I’ve taken many thousands of frames with the D40 and swap between two original Nikon EN-EL9 Rechargeable Li-ion Batteries.  So far they have given me great service, and they last longer than the D300 batteries even though those are physically larger.

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Demo Video for DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control 2.1

I thought it was well past time that I did some more explanation of how to use the new features in DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control 2.1.

Turns out my video skills need a bit of work though as I ended up putting together a 10 minute video, the YouTube limit, and only covered half the features. Still, I hope this is helpful both to see what sort of thing the script is useful for — in this case I’m covering self-portrait balancing flash vs ambient ala Strobist.

 

(Click through and view the high quality version if you want to read the text!)

Equipment used:

  • 1 x SB-600 at camera left set at manual 1/4 power with a folding paper grid spot  on a bamboo light stand
  • 1 x SB-800 at camera right, also manual 1/4 power
  • Nikon D300 with a 18-55mm 
  • Pop-up flash on the D300 is the trigger for the flashes
  • Long USB cable, plus a USB extender cable
  • Thinkpad X31

I cover the use of the remote shutter release, combined with shutter, aperture and ISO controls to take and download images as well as using Bridge to view them.

What I ran out of time to do before the YouTube 10 minute limit was tethered shooting from the camera, and external viewer push.  Perhaps I’ll try to do another short video covering those, but I do really want to work on the next features!

While doing this demo I also noted some odd slowness of the script in some situations, particularly M vs P mode that I’m unable to explain at the moment, so will spend some time to investigate that and hopefully speed the whole thing up.

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What works and doesn’t work

This is a summary of what Nikon DSLR models have been seen working, or not working, with the script.

DIYPhotobits Camera Control 2.1 – Greens (updated with feedback upto 5.2)
XP Vista / Win7
D300 Yes
Yes		 Yes
D40 Yes Yes (vista home, raw works)Yes (vista, raw ok)
D80 Yes No
Yes
D50 No
Yes
YesYes
D200 / Fuji S5 Almost
YesYes
YesYes		 PartialYes, Win7, jpg only
D60 Yes Yes
D70 / 70s – yes Yes Yes (win7 32bit) but no mode changeYes (vista)

Yes (vista, jpg only)
D90 – yes /w issues Yes
D3 – yes
D2x – yes
D100 — nobody has this working yet, I think (not sure) it may be impossible due to it not fully supporting ptpD1 – No
D5000 Yes
D3000 YesYes
D80 – yes with 1.01 firmware, no with 1.11 firmware No (64bit Win7)
D300s – yes
D700  yes Yes (64bit Win7)Yes Win7 jpg only
D3100  Yes
D3200  Yes
D3000 Yes
D800/D800E  No
D7000 Yes
D5100 Yes

As you can see it is quite a mixed bag – I’d love to hear more input on what works and doesn’t work.

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DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control 2.0 : Embarrassment

Update, try the

Camera Control 2.1 instead which fixes some bugs.

Ok so here is DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control 2.0 — the Embarrassment release.   I’ve named it that because I’ve had no time to work on it recently and so it still is a) very rough with major holes and b) fails to have all the obvious fixes and enhancements that I have discussed with people.

DOWNLOAD

– Try instead 2.1 which fixes some bugs

So why release it at all?  Well because having control of the camera exposure from the computer is cool — and at the moment I have it sitting here on my PC working and maybe you’d like to have it on your PC working as well.

New features:

  • Control exposure mode (M/S/A/P) – Tested D300 works, D40 does not (because that setting is a physical dial on the D40 and software can’t override it)
  • Control Shutter speed, Aperture, ISO, WB and Exposure Compensation from the PC – Tested  D300 and D40 work
  • Shows battery status while in tethered mode – Tested D300 works

 

New known bugs, issues and uglinesses

  • Exposure Compensation drop down makes no sense — 0 means 0 but the others are internal codes, you’ll see what they mean after a few moments though, each one is a third stop plus or minus.
  • Not all the exposure setting drop downs default to sensible values, e.g. the current camera settings.
  • Also read this bug list
Old known bugs, issues and uglinesses
  • doesn’t save the download target folder name between sessions — should be an easy fix
  • doesn’t download RAW on *some* Vista machines — a mystery
  • finds files exist and complains on each tethered download for some machines — another mystery
  • refuses to believe some cameras can take pictures — needs investigation, but perhaps I can just have it ignore this or make it a warning instead of fatal
  • crashes if the camera can’t focus — I know how to fix this
  • looses camera if cable is unplugged, even if it is plugged in again — I think I have a solution to that but it is clumsy, not sure if it will really work
Features I keep talking about but still haven’t done
  • Time lapse / intervalometer
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RAW : in remote shutter release script

Two of my scripts let you press a key on the keyboard, or click with the mouse, and remotely release the shutter.  But just like the built in Windows Explorer technique for doing these they both only are able to trigger JPG, even if the camera is set to RAW.

Until today.  It turns out this is not that hard to fix.  But the programatic technique is a bit of a laugh; because Windows Image Automation does not officially support RAW the NEF files on my Nikon D300 are typed as being of “undefined” type.  Unlike JPG files which WIA does know are JPG files and are typed appropriately.

So to get the WIA Take Picture command to get me a NEF I actually have to ask for a picture of type “undefined”!  It’s amazing it works, I guess somewhere an engineer (I’m not sure Microsoft or Nikon) decided that undefined=NEF.  I have no idea of this will also work with Canon, it might or it might not.  

Anyway it works, and it opens up a whole range of possibilities I’ll be exploring soon with the scripting.  But until then head over to the posts for those remote scripts and you can download the latest versions which support RAW.

PS.  Please please no religious RAW vs JPG comments.   It’s a free world, people are entitled to the file format of their choice.

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The Self Portrait script

Update: This is now obsolete, use instead the 

DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control 1.0 application.

Also called the “Tethered Remote Bridge” script this addition to my scripting library lets me remotely release the shutter on my D300 or D40, while tethered via USB to my Windows PC.  Then the image is downloaded and displayed in Adobe Bridge within 3-4 seconds.

DOWNLOAD (New version) – Gives you RAW or JPG choice

DOWNLOAD (Old version) – JPG only

It’s a combination of the prior scripts I’ve written so nothing very new to explain.

I am going to be using it while working on my “strobist” portrait skills.  As I don’t have a model I’m stuck with doing self-portraits and I want to sit in my chair and trigger the camera and see the results all without getting up.

Yes I know I still have to work to adjust lights and such but it is still sure to be less back-and-forth between camera and seat now!

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It’s built in, oops. Remote WIA Picture Taking

Well so much for my expensive remote control script for the D300 — yes it does work, but my script is entirely redundant as the same feature is actually built in to the Windows XP Camera and Scanner Wizard!  You know the one, described here.  It’s how most people get their digital images into their PC , even while those of us who “know better” use Adobe Bridge, or a card reader.

In fact the Wizard has advantages; as a built in part of Windows it is even better as it gives you a immediate thumbnail of the image as soon as you take it.

All you have to do is connect your PTP capable camera and when the wizard pops up you advance to the step where you can see thumbnails.  Now down below them is a row of icons for rotate left right and so on.  Well the last one in the line is “Take Picture”!

Click that and my trusty Nikon D300 instantly takes a picture, and moments later the thumbnail appears in the usual space.

It works great — and the financial breakdown is still the same as with my script, so it is either the most expensive or the cheapest wireless dslr shutter release in the world.

But is it good *enough*?  Thumbnails are great but a bigger view would be even better.   And by combining my remote shutter release script with the Tethered shooting / Adobe Bridge script that should be my next step.

Stay tuned!

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D300 Remote Control Script

Update: This is now obsolete for two reasons, firstly remote is built into windows, and secondly for advance use you have the DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control 1.0 application.

I wrote yesterday about why I need this script to be a remote shutter release for my Nikon D300 so today here are the details of what you need, and how to use it.  Oh, and why not use one of the cheap 3rd party remotes

 (e.g. Phottix N1

or Cleon N8), a real remote like a ML-3 or a MC-DC1 Remote cord?  Well if I can DIY I’d always like to try that first!

Hardware (this is what I used, you can substitute some pieces of course):

  • Long USB cable — doesn’t have to be that long but longer is more convenient
  • One Thinkpad X31 — or any laptop with a USB port and a Wifi connection
  • One Fujitsu Lifebook — or any other laptop with a Wifi connection
  • Wireless access point — so you can connect from one PC to another
  • Windows XP SP2 on both PCs
  • Microsoft Windows WIA Automation
  • The software Linked below
DOWNLOAD (2.0)remote2

– RAW or JPG, you choose

– JPG only
Installation:

Copy the files into any folder on your PC, I suggest c:program filesremote but it’s up to you.

Usage: 

  • Make sure your camera is in USB PTP mode
  • Plug the USB cable into the first laptop and into the camera, turn the camera on and cancel any pop-ups that occur for downloading etc
  • Install the Windows WIA Automation DLL by running install.cmd (you only need to do this once)
  • Run the script c:program filesremoteremote.wsf by double clicking it.

… and here’s the key thing that makes it wireless

  • Now use your second laptop and use the built in Windows Remote Desktop function to connect to the first laptop over your wireless connection.
  • To release the shutter on your D300 just click or use the enter key to press the “OK” button

Works with:

  • Nikon D300
  • Nikon D40
  • … and I presume would on any Nikon dSLR

    • Cost:

    • Long USB cable $2
    • Thankpad X31 $1,099
    • Fujitsu Lifebook $1,507
    • Linksys Wifi Access point $47
    • Windows WIA Automation $0
    • My script $0
    • Total: $2,655

    Or, if you already have all that hardware then :

    • Total: $0

    Variation, remote but not wireless:

    A very long mouse cable or keyboard cable could get you a similar effect with one laptop/computer – but that wouldn’t be so much fun now would it?  Or how about a wireless keyboard or mouse?

    And next:

    And then this could be combined with the tethered shooting script – plus a “advanced to next image” script to get some good results, that’s the next thing to do on the scripting side.

    Please let me know if you try this out and it works for you!  I know this isn’t particularly easy to understand from reading the above, but you’ll find it easy if you try – and I’ll try to do a video some time to show how it works.

     

    Update: The combined script that has the remote shutter release functionality here plus the tethered downloading I called the “Self Portrait Script” and you can download it

    here .

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