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Messages - rwh

#1
From a quick discussion of this on the darktable IRC, a simple workflow would be:

  • edit a single raw in the darkroom, open the exposure module and check the Deflicker box and choose Percentile and Target level
  • return to lighttable, and use the history stack module to copy just the exposure item to all other images in the series
  • return to the darkroom and use the <space> key to advance through all of the files
The reason for the last step is that the deflicker algo needs the histogram to be evaluated, which only happens when the file is loaded in the darkroom.  If you don't do this step, then all images will get the same exposure change as the image you copied the history stack item from.
#2
General Help Q&A / Re: Remove bootflag
September 23, 2013, 11:25:13 AM
There are two main issues with the boot flag being enabled on the 5d3:

* startup time is increased from 0.1 seconds to approx 1.2 seconds (without loading ML).  If loading ML from a card, the startup time is more like 1.7s.  This is the time from switching on the camera to being able to take the first shot, and crucially wake-from-sleep takes exactly the same amount of time, which is a PITA for stills shooters.
* you can't use EyeFi cards in a camera that has the boot flag enabled.

There is currently no way to disable the boot flag on the 5d3 once enabled AFAIK.
#3
Further to what I said above, it looks like you need to check that the camera isn't in LiveView mode before you disable the bootflag, though I'm not sure why (I assume bad stuff happens).  See a1ex's comment:
Quote from: a1ex on June 02, 2013, 09:20:43 AM
I need to prepare a special FIR. Short answer: call("DisableBootDisk")

but you really have to double-check that you are not in LiveView (and people managed to go there during first install despite all my double-checks).
#4
Quote from: Trent on September 17, 2013, 10:26:04 PM
I confess, though, that's a rather unhappy state of affairs, as I'd previously thought that, worst case, Canon could flash the camera firmware and I'd simply start over again with the original firmware.
This is the first I've heard that a hardware solution would be required, which seems a bit strange since the ML firmware is just changed a bit of the 5dm3 firmware.  It's not as if the mainboard became damaged by the ML firmware, right?
Right.  It's not damaged.  But as far as I can tell, the bootflag area is in a different location than where the camera's firmware is stored.  So simply reflashing the firmware won't restore it to its default state.

Quote from: Trent on September 17, 2013, 10:26:04 PM
I'd love it if someone could confirm whether having Canon flash the camera would disable the bootflag and remove this issue.
I don't know.  That depends on whether the factory has the ability to flash the bootflag area.  I'm sure someone on here knows.

Quote from: Trent on September 17, 2013, 10:26:04 PM
Again, I know this is my own doing as I chose to load the ML firmware, etc.. I'm just interested in a solution- if one might be out there.
The solution is for someone to develop a .FIR file that will allow disabling the bootflag.  It's not like it's impossible, it just has to be done by someone, and done in such a way that it's unlikely to brick peoples' cameras.  From what I can tell from looking at the documentation and source code, this would involve decompiling the bootloader to assembler, finding the address of the DisableBootDisk function, and then developing a .FIR that is capable of calling it.  I'm not an ML developer though, so I have no idea how easy this would be.
#5
As far as I know, everything you say is correct.  My understanding is that currently the only way to disable the bootflag on a 5D3 is to have the mainboard replaced by Canon, which costs around £400.

And yes, EyeFi cards are unusable in a boot-flag enabled 5D3.

I understand that it is on a1ex's list, and I suspect that it'd be a requirement before they do a mainstream release, so I think it will be fixed eventually.  Whether that would be this year or next (or the next), I'm not sure.  From reading between the lines I think this might be because in order to test the necessary code, you're risking bricking your camera (which would mean you'd need that mainboard replacement).

I'm no expert though, I'm just interested in this the same as you. ;)
#6
I just did some tests just using a stopwatch, so accuracy is probably plus or minus 200ms or so.  As far as I can tell the resume from sleep and switching the camera on using the on/off switch take the same amount of time.  I'm measuring from shutter press or turn-on to when the AF points appear in the viewfinder.  The penalty for having the boot flag enabled in both cases seems to be just over 1 full second.  So as far as I can tell, the breakdown of approx load time is:

  • 0.1s: load time without boot flag enabled (from what I've read, obviously can't test)
  • 1.25s: load time with boot flag enabled, no SD card, or SD card with no ML
  • 1.7s: load time with boot flag enabled and ML-equipped SD card present
So the lion's share of the time penalty seems to be in simply having the boot flag enabled.

Here are the actual trials I did:

with card sleep
1.74
with card switch
1.74
no card sleep
1.31
no card switch
1.22
1.20
1.29
#7
Kicking myself for not noticing that the bootflag is not disablable, I guess I just got too excited by the prospect of ML on my 5d3.  Serves me right for using Charlie Locke and Dave Dugdale on YouTube as my documentation source as they didn't mention it.  Anyway, ML is awesome for video, I particularly wanted focus peaking because I find focusing a real pain. It's already looking amazingly polished on the 5d3.

The only problem this causes me is an increase in the restore-from-sleep time from .1s to 1s, which is a pain (as I'm mainly a stills shooter) but can be lived with (in the hopes that one day we'll be able to disable the boot flag).  That day has not yet come though, as far as I can tell.  The fact that you can enable/disable the boot flag on other cameras gives me hope. ;)