Canon Community

alan01346 · ‎12-24-2017

OK, I've been a Nikon guy for 17 years. But every company makes dumb marketing decisions, some of which become pet peeves of otherwise loyal customers. So I picked up first an A520, then an S70 to use as a remote wildlife camera. I can take pictures with Gphoto over USB, which means I can plug it into a Raspberry Pi computer and talk to that over WiFi. All under Linux.

From studying the PDF manual and from playing with the camera, it looks like the only way to have the S70 choose the best AF area is to use "auto" on the mode selector on top. I'd rather use Av mode, why did they have to lock this feature to the mode switch? The A520 isn't that way, but the A520 I picked up for $12 has something wrong with the USB connector. Plus the S70 shoots RAWs.

Am I missing something in the instructions? Av mode gets me a nice AF box I can manually move around the screen. Which would be fine if I were holding the camera, but I don't know where the bird or squirrel or whatever is going to appear.

alan01346 · ‎12-26-2017

This seems to have done it. I can do

--get-config focusingpoint

and that originally said it was in center mode. Then I did

--set-config focusingpoint=1

and when I ran it again it said it was in auto mode:

Label: Focusing Point
Readonly: 0
Type: RADIO
Current: Multiple Focusing Points, Auto
Choice: 0 Multiple Focusing Points (Center)
Choice: 1 Multiple Focusing Points, Auto
END

I took a picture with --capture-image-and-download that looks reasonable, then I did --get-config focusingpoint again and it still says it's in auto mode.

There are also the CHDKhacks at http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK

but not for this camera model.

View solution in original post

Waddizzle · ‎12-24-2017

You want the camera to select and use an AF point, or area. But, who or what activates the shutter?

--------------------------------------------------------
"Fooling computers since 1972."

alan01346 · ‎12-24-2017

I can do that over USB. I'll probably plug it into a Raspberry Pi and either do it by pushing a button from in the house or use an algorithm that detects motion by looking for a change in the image. Blame the inspration on this article http://shallowsky.com/blog/hardware/pi-motion-camera-2.html but I had a webcam in a birdfeeder once before.

cicopo · ‎12-24-2017

If you have the option of selecting AI Servo I'd try that to see how it works out.

"A skill is developed through constant practice with a passion to improve, not bought."

alan01346 · ‎12-24-2017

"If you have the option of selecting AI Servo I'd try that to see how it works out." I don't know how to quote in this forum software.

I doubt it, the word "servo" isn't in the manual PDF anywhere. It may be possible to change it from Gphoto but it isn't going to know where the critter is either. Only something that can find the closest object could do that.

OK, maybe, if I'm doing motion detection by looking for a change in the image I can use that as an AF area. Except I wasn't sure I was going to use the Canon for that, it depends on how fast the process can be. It looks like it only goes down to 640x480 and I could use something more like 15x10.

A Gphoto "summary" connected to the camera says this, I suppose I'd have to try individual commands to see how they work. Or find an example somewhere online and try it here.

................

Camera summary:
Manufacturer: Canon Inc.
Model: Canon PowerShot S70
  Version: 1-1.0.0.0
Vendor Extension ID: 0xb (1.0)

Capture Formats: JPEG CRW
Display Formats: Association/Directory, JPEG, MS AVI, MS Wave, CRW, Script

Device Capabilities:
	File Download, File Deletion, File Upload
	Generic Image Capture, No Open Capture, Canon Capture

Storage Devices Summary:
store_00010001:
	StorageDescription: None
	VolumeLabel: D
	Storage Type: Removable RAM (memory card)
	Filesystemtype: Digital Camera Layout (DCIM)
	Access Capability: Read-Write
	Maximum Capability: 128034816 (122 MB)
	Free Space (Bytes): 120424448 (114 MB)
	Free Space (Images): -1
store_80000001:
	StorageDescription: None
	VolumeLabel: V
	Storage Type: Builtin RAM
	Filesystemtype: Unknown: 0x8001

	Access Capability: Read-Write
	Maximum Capability: 0 (0 MB)
	Free Space (Bytes): 0 (0 MB)
	Free Space (Images): -1

Device Property Summary:
Beep Mode(0xd001):(readwrite) (type=0x2) Enumeration [0,1] value: Off (1)
Battery Type(0xd002):(read only) (type=0x4) Enumeration [0,1,2,3,4,5] value: Lithium Ion (2)
Battery Mode(0xd003):(read only) (type=0x6) Enumeration [0,1,2,3] value: Normal (1)
Size Quality Mode(0xd02c):(read only) (type=0x4006) Enumeration [
	a[6] 2304,3072,1,0,0,0,
	a[6] 2304,3072,6,0,0,0,
	a[6] 2304,3072,11,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1944,2592,2,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1944,2592,7,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1944,2592,12,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1536,2048,3,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1536,2048,8,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1536,2048,13,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1200,1600,17,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1200,1600,18,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1200,1600,19,0,0,0,
	a[6] 480,640,5,0,0,0,
	a[6] 480,640,10,0,0,0,
	a[6] 480,640,15,0,0,0
	] value: a[6] 0,0,0,0,0,0
Supported Thumb Size(0xd02d):(read only) (type=0x0) Undefined
Size of Output Data from Camera(0xd02e):(read only) (type=0x6) 20480
Size of Input Data to Camera(0xd02f):(read only) (type=0x6) 5120
Remote API Version(0xd030):(read only) (type=0x6) 256
Firmware Version(0xd031):(read only) (type=0x6) 16777216
Camera Model(0xd032):(read only) (type=0xffff) 'Canon PowerShot S70'
Camera Owner(0xd033):(readwrite) (type=0x4002) a[0] 
UNIX Time(0xd034):(readwrite) (type=0x6) 1514125253
Event Emulate Mode(0xd045):(readwrite) (type=0x4) Enumeration [1,2,3,4,5,6,7] value: 1
DPOF Version(0xd046):(read only) (type=0x4) 257
Type of Slideshow(0xd047):(read only) (type=0x4) 2
Average Filesizes(0xd048):(read only) (type=0x0) Undefined
Model ID(0xd049):(read only) (type=0x6) 20447232
Property 0xd04b:(read only) (type=0x2) 0

Waddizzle · ‎12-24-2017

@alan01346 wrote:

"If you have the option of selecting AI Servo I'd try that to see how it works out." I don't know how to quote in this forum software.

I doubt it, the word "servo" isn't in the manual PDF anywhere. It may be possible to change it from Gphoto but it isn't going to know where the critter is either. Only something that can find the closest object could do that.

OK, maybe, if I'm doing motion detection by looking for a change in the image I can use that as an AF area. Except I wasn't sure I was going to use the Canon for that, it depends on how fast the process can be. It looks like it only goes down to 640x480 and I could use something more like 15x10.

A Gphoto "summary" connected to the camera says this, I suppose I'd have to try indivual commands to see how they work. Or find an example somewhere online and try it here.

................

Camera summary:
Manufacturer: Canon Inc.
Model: Canon PowerShot S70
  Version: 1-1.0.0.0
Vendor Extension ID: 0xb (1.0)

Capture Formats: JPEG CRW
Display Formats: Association/Directory, JPEG, MS AVI, MS Wave, CRW, Script

Device Capabilities:
	File Download, File Deletion, File Upload
	Generic Image Capture, No Open Capture, Canon Capture

Storage Devices Summary:
store_00010001:
	StorageDescription: None
	VolumeLabel: D
	Storage Type: Removable RAM (memory card)
	Filesystemtype: Digital Camera Layout (DCIM)
	Access Capability: Read-Write
	Maximum Capability: 128034816 (122 MB)
	Free Space (Bytes): 120424448 (114 MB)
	Free Space (Images): -1
store_80000001:
	StorageDescription: None
	VolumeLabel: V
	Storage Type: Builtin RAM
	Filesystemtype: Unknown: 0x8001

	Access Capability: Read-Write
	Maximum Capability: 0 (0 MB)
	Free Space (Bytes): 0 (0 MB)
	Free Space (Images): -1

Device Property Summary:
Beep Mode(0xd001):(readwrite) (type=0x2) Enumeration [0,1] value: Off (1)
Battery Type(0xd002):(read only) (type=0x4) Enumeration [0,1,2,3,4,5] value: Lithium Ion (2)
Battery Mode(0xd003):(read only) (type=0x6) Enumeration [0,1,2,3] value: Normal (1)
Size Quality Mode(0xd02c):(read only) (type=0x4006) Enumeration [
	a[6] 2304,3072,1,0,0,0,
	a[6] 2304,3072,6,0,0,0,
	a[6] 2304,3072,11,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1944,2592,2,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1944,2592,7,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1944,2592,12,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1536,2048,3,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1536,2048,8,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1536,2048,13,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1200,1600,17,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1200,1600,18,0,0,0,
	a[6] 1200,1600,19,0,0,0,
	a[6] 480,640,5,0,0,0,
	a[6] 480,640,10,0,0,0,
	a[6] 480,640,15,0,0,0
	] value: a[6] 0,0,0,0,0,0
Supported Thumb Size(0xd02d):(read only) (type=0x0) Undefined
Size of Output Data from Camera(0xd02e):(read only) (type=0x6) 20480
Size of Input Data to Camera(0xd02f):(read only) (type=0x6) 5120
Remote API Version(0xd030):(read only) (type=0x6) 256
Firmware Version(0xd031):(read only) (type=0x6) 16777216
Camera Model(0xd032):(read only) (type=0xffff) 'Canon PowerShot S70'
Camera Owner(0xd033):(readwrite) (type=0x4002) a[0] 
UNIX Time(0xd034):(readwrite) (type=0x6) 1514125253
Event Emulate Mode(0xd045):(readwrite) (type=0x4) Enumeration [1,2,3,4,5,6,7] value: 1
DPOF Version(0xd046):(read only) (type=0x4) 257
Type of Slideshow(0xd047):(read only) (type=0x4) 2
Average Filesizes(0xd048):(read only) (type=0x0) Undefined
Model ID(0xd049):(read only) (type=0x6) 20447232
Property 0xd04b:(read only) (type=0x2) 0

The camera specifications refer to "flexi-zone AF/AE" mode. Most digital cameras have two basic focusing modes: a fixed, static mode; and a dynamic mode, which is controlled by the user.

If you are looking for programming assistance, I am not sure if this is the correct place for that topic. I have no idea where to recommend that you go for assistance. I would suspect that info would be included in whatever SDK you might be using.

--------------------------------------------------------
"Fooling computers since 1972."

alan01346 · ‎12-25-2017

Because somebody may find this helpful I'm posting these notes here. This is on a Raspbery Pi, gphoto2 and libgphoto were built fresh from the tarballs at sourceforge.net.. Once I started getting things working I kept making little scripts. Which is the way most people use it, making scripts to do what they need most often. I'm only specifying the camera because there's more than 1 plugged in. I haven't experimented with changing settings like image size yet (or know how at this point). The preview image I got was 320x240, that will do for motion detection. It's probably the viewfinder size.

Gphoto's documentation is not wonderful but it comes from Germany so that's understandable. There are authors in a few countries I think. Join the mailing list to ask questions.

Using ; as a comment delimiter here, gphoto doesn't actually know it.

; list all configs:

gphoto2 --port usb:. --camera "Canon Powershot S70 (PTP mode)" \
--list-all-config

; list files on the camera

gphoto2 --port usb:. --camera "Canon Powershot S70 (PTP mode)" \
--list-files

; capture a preview image and download to the computer

gphoto2 --port usb:. --camera "Canon Powershot S70 (PTP mode)" \
--capture-preview

; Start an interactive shell (q to quit, help for help)

gphoto2 --port usb:. --camera "Canon Powershot S70 (PTP mode)" \
--shell

; Take a picture and download to the computer

gphoto2 --port usb:. --camera "Canon Powershot S70 (PTP mode)" \
--capture-image-and-download

You can see that they're basically all the same thing, only the command at the end is different. You can get a list of those from the gphoto2 man page or by calling gphoto2 and feeding it any gibberish it can't understand. If you want to do time-lapse this might be useful (anything in [ ] is optional, | means or):

[-F|--frames=COUNT] [-I|--interval=SECONDS] [--reset-interval]

Oh, the gphoto homepage: http://gphoto.sourceforge.net/

Well, it's Mon Dec 25 00:01:41 EST 2017, Merry Christmas

alan01346 · ‎12-26-2017