Thethered bracketing with EOS Utility and Papywizard

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Mon May 10, 2010 3:26 pm

Hi Guys

I'll be trying this, sometime this week with my netbook; however, forgive my ignorance, but I think I'm missing something. If I don't want to use focus blending, besides saving directly to the computer, what's the benefit compared to just using papywizard with the Merlin head. (I know the tethering is simpler too.)

The advantage and the reason for doing this is to implement extended exposure brcaketing using a wider range than the built-in AEB is capable of.

It seems to me the big problem is that no solution that exists today knows when the camera has finished the exposure and is ready to take the next shot. This means you have to try and figure out the longest exposure you're likely to have during the entire seqeunce (a pain at dusk) and then enter that as the time between shots with a safe error margin. So if I'm bracketing +1, 0, -1 and my -1 exposure is 3 secs, my total exposure should time should be 5.25 secs (assuming no delay for writing to disk, as most modern cameras can buffer 7-9 frames).

An exposure bracketing of 1/0/-1 is hardly worth bothering with if you are looking to do HDR or exposure blending for a pano - anything less that 2/0/-2 is not really worth bothering with as I understand it and one often needs more than that hence the development of support for shutter control plug-ins such as that for Breeze Systems' DSLR Remote Pro.

For this example, I would probably enter about 10 secs as my time per shot (huge error margin, but when shooting several hundred frames, missing the last one or two is a killer). This would be wasting at least 4 secs per shot, so if I'm shooting 400 images that's 1600 secs and a lot of light change ast dusk/dawn.

What would it take for Papywizard to be able to recognize that the camera is no longer busy and them move immediately instead of waiting for a pre-determined interval?

I think that's exactly what happens when using a third party program via a plug-in to trigger the shutter isn't it?

Is this a limitiation of papywizard or the plug-in controlling the camera? Canon and BreezeSys both have SDK's so if someone could write a plug-in that communicates directly with one of these products would it solve the problem. (If it will, I may consider having a go at developing it.)

Have you tried using Breeze Systems' DSLR Remote Pro via the Papywizard plug-in?

[mark_anderson_us]

by mark_anderson_us » Mon May 10, 2010 3:58 pm

Hi Andrew

Thanks for reply. Clearly, I'd missed the bit about wider AEB.

Agree with you about brackets. I do normally shoot +2/0/-2. Just chose +-1 as an example.

Wasn't aware there was a Breeze plug-in (just downloaded papywizard 2.1 last night and it was late beofre I got it all up and running). If it does work, it's great news.

Can't wait to try it

Regards

Mark

[mark_anderson_us]

by mark_anderson_us » Thu May 13, 2010 3:11 am

unfortunately no luck with dslremote. it always adds a -x option on the command line, which is not supported by many canon cameras. i tried to flind the plug-in source to modify it, but no luck.

i tried generic tethered and set it to just call dslreotetest.exe (don't need any of the command line options), but that fails to. it says shooting command ' ' in the log

so it looks like i'm totally stuffed, which is a shame because i'm so close to a solution. i don;t knwo if these are just bugs in 2.1.19

(EOS utility/autokey option is too flakey for me)

regards

mark

[Solaris]

by Solaris » Sat Jun 26, 2010 3:55 pm

Hi everybody,
After having tried for loooong hours to make sjhenry's script for EOSUtility work, having read thoroughly this topic as well as "Tethered shooting and intelligent bracketing" (where I already exposed my problem and didn't get a helpfull answer), I give it a try here.
Like other members, I always get the error message : EOSBracket.exe, Unable to find the Main Windows Button for EOSUtility. My versions are : EU 2.8.0.2, Pw 2.1.19. I think the problem is AutoHotkey script and has nothing to do with Pw since I tried to shoot EU directly with EOSBracket.exe and get the same error message.
What in the hell is the problem ?

Olivier
_________________________

EOS 5D Mark II, EF 17/40 mm f/1.4 USM, EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, Canon PowerShotPro1, Merlin, TTL-232R,EOS Utility, Papywizard 2.1.19 / Autopano Giga 2

[Solaris]

by Solaris » Mon Jul 05, 2010 12:21 pm

Don't know if anybody is interested, but I found the solution for the problem. In my case, it came from the use of the french version of EOSUtility : EOSBracket.exe was not able to recognize french string.

To correct the problem :
1) Open EOSBracket.ahk script with Notepad++
2) At lines 427 and 436 (on a total of 491) replace "Main Window" with "Fenêtre Principale"
3) Save and close script
4)Compile script to obtain run-time version (EOSBracket.exe)

Olivier
____________________________

EOS 5D Mark II, EF 17/40 mm f/1.4 USM, EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, Canon PowerShotPro1, Merlin, TTL-232R,EOS Utility, Papywizard 2.1.19 / Autopano Giga 2

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Mon Jul 05, 2010 2:56 pm

Olivier,

Are you using a Merlin head on top of your tall mast now?

[fma38]

by fma38 » Mon Jul 05, 2010 4:42 pm

Thanks for the tip, Olivier!

[dog-eater]

by dog-eater » Mon Jul 26, 2010 10:32 pm

Hi,

I will try this with my canon t2i / gigapanbot and acer netbook, for focus bracketing. I'm very excited to try it

Does this script allow for "unfocusing" of the lens to the initial position (or to infinity) after shooting the focus stack? This is one thing that I haven't been able to solve otherwise.

thanks,
Jeffrey

[martinlbb]

by martinlbb » Thu Dec 23, 2010 1:25 pm

Don't know if anybody is interested, but I found the solution for the problem. In my case, it came from the use of the french version of EOSUtility : EOSBracket.exe was not able to recognize french string.

To correct the problem :
1) Open EOSBracket.ahk script with Notepad++
2) At lines 427 and 436 (on a total of 491) replace "Main Window" with "Fenêtre Principale"
3) Save and close script
4)Compile script to obtain run-time version (EOSBracket.exe)

It worked for me!

Many thanks Olivier

[Skippysky]

by Skippysky » Tue Apr 26, 2011 5:30 am

Hello All,

My first post here. I've been using my SkyWatcher head for about a week now,
and I find I need help!

I'm trying to do some night time astronomy images. I selected the Bulb option, I set
60 seconds as my exposure time, and also selected mirror lockup in the standard Merlin/Orion plugin.

However, the shutter doesn't fire again to end the exposure after 60 seconds, and I ended up with
one very over exposed frame of about 5600 seconds duration!!

I'm not not interested in HDR or blending of any sort - I just want single exposure at each position,
probably longer than the default 30 second maximum available in non-bulb mode.

How do I set up for exposures of , for example, 60 seconds, such that I get one 60sec frame at each position
in the mosaic?

Any advice greatly appreciated,

Andrew Cool

www.skippysky.com.au

[fma38]

by fma38 » Tue Apr 26, 2011 6:45 am

Papywizard Bulb feature only keep the trigger on during the exposure time; this is the B mode. It seems that you need the T mode, with one trigger at the begining, and one trigger at the end.

[Skippysky]

by Skippysky » Tue Apr 26, 2011 9:40 pm

Hi Frederic,

Papywizard Bulb feature only keep the trigger on during the exposure time; this is the B mode. It seems that you need the T mode, with one trigger at the begining, and one trigger at the end.

"T mode"? Sorry, I don't understand that - is that a setting on my Canon 40D, or a setting within PapyWizard?


Regards,

Andrew

www.skippysky.com.au

[fma38]

by fma38 » Tue Apr 26, 2011 10:20 pm

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulb_%28photography%29

"Bulb, abbreviated B, is a shutter speed setting on an adjustable camera that allows for long exposure times under the direct control of the photographer. With this setting, the shutter simply stays open as long as the shutter release button remains depressed. An alternative setting common on film cameras is Time, abbreviated T, where the button is pressed once to open the shutter and again to close it."

It seems that your camera works in T mode. But Papywizard only supports B mode...

[ozbigben]

by ozbigben » Tue Apr 26, 2011 10:33 pm

Two possible solutions?

Record an autohotkey script with two shutter releases and then edit the wait in between to your desired shutter speed or..

DSLR Remote (if it supports your model) use the commandline utility via a batch file with a sleep command in between two releases (sleep is not a standard dos command but is available in a resource kit)

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Tue Apr 26, 2011 11:23 pm

How do I set up for exposures of , for example, 60 seconds, such that I get one 60sec frame at each position
in the mosaic?

Any advice greatly appreciated,

Andrew Cool

www.skippysky.com.au

What camera are using?

[Andrew Cool]

by Andrew Cool » Wed Apr 27, 2011 12:18 am

I'm using a Canon 40D.

Works just fine in B "Bulb" mode with EOS Utility and other camera control programs that understand DIGIC III.

It's a very common camera in the astronomical community where great use is made of the Bulb mode
via USB cable.

I'm using the latest PW development version 2.1.20 (?) on Win 7 64 bit and XP Pro 32 bit.

>Papywizard Bulb feature only keep the trigger on during the exposure time; this is the B mode.
> It seems that you need the T mode, with one trigger at the begining, and one trigger at the end.

Sounds like a good feature for next week's release of PW 2.2.21 ;-)

Regards,

Andrew

[Skippysky]

by Skippysky » Wed Apr 27, 2011 10:24 am

Two possible solutions?

Hi Ben,

>Record an autohotkey script with two shutter releases and then edit the wait in between to your desired shutter speed or..

>DSLR Remote (if it supports your model) use the commandline utility via a batch file with a sleep command in between two releases (sleep is not a standard dos >command but is available in a resource kit)

The DSLR Remote path sounds viable. Question though. How is the resulting Bat file executed from PapyWizard at every position?

Is the same general method available using the free EOS Utility that comes with Canon cameras rather than forking out $175 for DSLR Remote?

Thanks,

Andrew

[mediavets]

by mediavets » Wed Apr 27, 2011 7:57 pm

Is the same general method available using the free EOS Utility that comes with Canon cameras rather than forking out $175 for DSLR Remote?

Thanks,

Andrew

There's a Shutter plugin for the EOS utility.

[ozbigben]

by ozbigben » Wed Apr 27, 2011 11:09 pm

Hi Ben,


Is the same general method available using the free EOS Utility that comes with Canon cameras rather than forking out $175 for DSLR Remote?

Thanks,

Andrew

Both use the generic tethered plugin to run a specified program at each position. It's just a case of pointing it at the batch file or ahk script. It means your exposure time is fixed in the external script but as they're both text files it's easy to adjust... but I suspect you don't want to do that very often anyway.

[ozbigben]

by ozbigben » Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:03 pm

The EOS Bracket plugin will do the job

Turn off dry run, go to the bulb tab, enable bulb and set your exposure time.
Also make sure that the EOS utility does not display a preview of the image after shooting or you may get an error on the second shot that it can't find the window.

I also had a play with DSLR Remote but once again you're looking at an AutoHotkey solution. You can specify an exposure time in the timelapse section but that's of no use to triggering the shutter via the command line... and if you set the mode to B, the commandline only opens the shutter and won't exit to allow you to trigger the shutter again.

With B mode set in DSLR Remote Pro the AH script for a 1 minute exposure...

Code: Select all

WinWait, DSLR Remote Pro ,
IfWinNotActive, DSLR Remote Pro , , WinActivate, DSLR Remote Pro ,
WinWaitActive, DSLR Remote Pro ,

Sleep, 100
Send, {F8}
Sleep, 60000
Send, {F8}
Exit

Last edited by ozbigben on Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[pwaitzman]

Re: Thethered bracketing with EOS Utility and Papywizard

by pwaitzman » Sat Mar 14, 2015 7:30 pm

I hope that someone can help me out.

I just purchased a Sky-watcher Allview and finally got control with Papywizard (2.1.21, latest & greatest). But I'm having problems using the EOS Utility plugin. It's probably a set up issue but it looks like I can't properly connect the EOS Utility - Merlin-Orion via serial connection is selected for yaw & pitch, the connection method greys out when I select EOS Utility - if i select it anyway i get connected but there's no shutter control even though i have a good usb connection to the camera - says failed after moving to 1st shot position.

If I choose Merlin-Orion and select serial, and use the snap cable everything's fine. Any Tips would be greatly appreciated!!

[mediavets]

Re: Thethered bracketing with EOS Utility and Papywizard

by mediavets » Sat Mar 14, 2015 8:09 pm

Welcome to the forum...

I am confused.

What platform and OS are you using to run Papywizard?

How is that Papywizard host machine connected to the Allview? Is it a wireless Bluetooth connection or some wired connection?

Why did you want to use the EOS utility to trigger the shutter?
............

Have you configured the shutter plugin correctly:

Attachments

[pwaitzman]

Re: Thethered bracketing with EOS Utility and Papywizard

by pwaitzman » Sun Mar 15, 2015 4:15 pm

Hello Mediavets,

Thanks for the very fast reply and apologies for not providing complete information.

first answers to your questions:
platform & OS ... dell t3500 running Windows 7 64 bit.
connection is via serial port to allview controller for yaw and pitch and usb for the canon eos utility
my objective is to be able to execute exposure bracketed shots during the panorama
configuration is exactly as you illustrated except that dry run is not checked

now an update:
after some research i located and compiled a copy of eosbracket.ahk and placed both the ahk & exe files in the papywizard program directory - so i am now able get camera control thru eos utility. woohoo!
i also included an ini file that was posted along side the ahk.

so far so good but i still have a couple of questions that you may be able to answer

i suspect that the eosbracket.ahk file that i located is an early version (it was posted in april 2nd of 2009). perhaps you know of a more current version?
how to i make sure that the delay before the next move is sufficient to allow for the shots with longer exposures?
is there some information regarding how bracketing works - i experimented with TV, AV and Manual bracketing does not appear to be consistent from position to position.
i've tried shots with and without the ini in various camera modes and it doesn't seem to make a difference with regards to exposure. (see the file information below.) could this be due to the early version of the ahk?
i see some discussion about py files or other types of plugins - am i going about this incorrectly?

Thanks for any assistance you may be able to provide.

Attachments

[mediavets]

Re: Thethered bracketing with EOS Utility and Papywizard

by mediavets » Sun Mar 15, 2015 6:11 pm

I'm sorry I cannot help you as I shoot with Nikon cameras.

I use a Promote Control to handle extended bracketing.

[pwaitzman]

Re: Thethered bracketing with EOS Utility and Papywizard

by pwaitzman » Sun Mar 15, 2015 9:07 pm

thanks anyway - perhaps someone else may have a tip