Can the Cam-Fi wireless camera controller be made ML friendly for 5D3?

Started by Hans_Punk, October 14, 2017, 05:30:44 PM

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Hans_Punk

I recently bought a Cam-Fi wireless camera controller - and when in regular canon mode, not running ML...all is really great, the video live-view monitoring alone is superb.

As I half-expected, once trying the setup when running ML, a bunch of buffer errors prevent the communication to be made or sustained for anything other than a 'start' signal to the camera to take one still, or start a video recording...then the app and camera just freeze with a load or errors and will not play ball.

To be clear, connection is lost after trying to trigger recording when camera is set to MLV or ML raw module is active....h264 recording and monitoring works fine.
I'm running build 123 Oct 10th on 5D3.

Here is the product details of what I'm very keen to get working whilst running ML:

http://www.cam-fi.com/en/index.html






Here are a couple of error examples that happens when the Cam-Fi attempts to control the camera through the usb input (I have no clue what the specific problem is):








Before embarrassing myself any further by revealing my total lack of knowledge all things to do with interpreting code and such like...is there an easy explanation as to why the communication to the camera control is unable to be achieved whilst running ML? - I suspects this issue would also happen if the camera was tethered physically?

All I want is to access live view and start/stop ML recording using the Cam-Fi wireless device...it is a very cool little device for wireless monitoring of live-view and for full camera control when in standard canon mode. It just seems to only currently work for horrible .h264 canon video :(

Any advice welcome (including me being told it is an impossible dream)...any specific info I can submit to get closer to getting a dev to work out, let me know.

Cheers!

Wayne H

Hi Hans, i to have experianced the same thing when using camfi, i never managed to get it working with ML raw, also interestingly, Zhiyun just released the Zhiyun Crane 2, with follow focus and camera controls http://www.zhiyun-tech.com/crane_2_en/ i was wondering if that too would work with ML RAW, for the price and performance i think it would be amazing with ML RAW, i did ask a few youtubers in the comments if it would work, the answers i got was "well yeh, it should", but no one has actually tested a 5d3 running ML with the Crane 2, i'm holding off purchasing becuase of the issues i've had with camfi and ML,

Obviously Camfi is different as it provides a video stream as well as camera controls, where the crane 2 provides only camera and focus controls, So does anyone think ML RAW would work with the Zhiyun crane 2 (only to control focus and camera settings, iso, Aperture etc) Any input is much appreciated, and as stated in the comment above an explanation as to why Camfi locks when you hit record would also be greatly appreciated,

Many thanks Wayne

a1ex

Are things any better with the regular nightly build?

The crop_rec_4k build uses a bunch of memory management trickery, including using some memory without telling Canon code that we have allocated it. I've checked whether these areas are unused with built-in LCD and with HDMI monitor, but not with USB apps.

Are these issues reproducible with any smartphone app that controls the camera via USB?

Wayne H

Hi Alex, Unfortunately not, just tested camfi using crop_rec_4k build 5d3 (1.2.3) oct 10th , i'm getting the same messages reported above.

additionally, i got an ERROR 70 here is the log report https://www.dropbox.com/s/jqiheug3ef79qcs/log000.log?dl=0

a1ex

Just a guess: Canon's image compression module might be in use by the remote control app (to my knowledge, the camera sends the LiveView image as JPEG). As a result, ML might not be able to use lossless compression in this mode.

Please try to answer the questions from #2.

Hans_Punk

Thanks Wayne H...I'm kind of glad I'm not the only one.

@A1ex
I can only confirm the problematic issues are with the Cam-Fi setup, with iPad, Android and iPhone all tested as app controllers (with same result). I do not have any other wireless usb or cable Tethered apps to test with at present. I also have not tried any other builds other than the 10th Oct 123 4K crop rec 5D3 build..since I'm currently away this weekend...I was curious to raise this issue in case others (more tech savvy than me would be able to chime in if they'd experienced similar control issue with a Tethered usb or wireless to usb setup like the Cam-Fi).

I too can confirm the same error 70, and I also tried various attempts with camera Live-view settings to see if I could trick the camera to stay online without errors (as it seems to do when in h264 mode - when no Raw video modules loaded). I even tried loading the simultaneous h264 proxy recording to see if that would fool it - sadly it did not. Curiously, throughout all errors on camera LCD - the live view feed on the app seems to remain live and uneffected. It is the control communication to the camera that seems to be the issue.

It seems that once the live view signal from active ML raw module is detected, then starts a chain of errors that causes disconnection of control and ultimately an error 70 situation. It is possible to trigger a start record command, but then the errors and freezing of the app/ camera make it unable to send a stop command. The camera can however stop recording if manually pressing stop record on back of camera - which at least gives me some glimmer of hope that the signal is in there somewhere, but being frozen out  as the avalanche of errors are initiated.

The Cam-Fi device is a really neat little thing, I can't imagine it is too different from other wireless tether Wi-Fi app controllers. I assume it is something to do with the usb being the gateway of command AND display that for some reason is not liking the live view signal from the camera once raw rec module/s are loaded? The actual live view feed seems to be active/live and present in the app during the errors, but it is these overlayed errors on the camera LCD  that ultimately freeze the operation of usb control after record command has been initiated (or sometimes before upon raw module activation).

Apologies for a non formal error report, but it is tricky to explain without visually demonstrating.

Cheers A1ex

a1ex


Hans_Punk

Quote from: a1ex on October 14, 2017, 10:56:03 PM
Does it help if you disable lossless compression?

I believe I tried that with no success. I will try again tomorrow evening when I get back home - hopefully with some more concise findings to report.

Cheers

Wayne H

Hi, did some testing with normal raw 14 and 10bit non lossless, liveview is fine no messages as seen in lossless, hit record, records fine, (with video stream working on iphone) then hit stop (via camera) and the camera locks up (same when i hit stop on the app), red light stays on and liveview goes black, and mirror switches to photo mode, almost like camfi or something is telling the camera to switch to photo mode, removed battery, tried again, only this time viewview was clearing buffer frames, (shown on liveview) then after that i got error 70. reomoved battery, checked card, and mlv succesfully recorded to card.

Also the camera can sometimes randomly just switch to photo mode -intermitermitently.
so it seems something is going when the recording ends, some communication issue between camfi and the camera. will try to test more later when i get home.

In regards to testing other apps, camfi via usb connected to iphone is the only communication app i have, so if anyone has a camranger or anything similar to test, that would be greatly appreciated.

Wayne H

Hi again, yep can confirm non lossless raw streams to iphone fine i when hit record, soon as i hit stop on camera (tried over 10 times) first couple of clips recorded fine no camera lock up (small clips 3-4 seconds) but then automatically switched to photo mode (mirror goes down), few more attempts hit stop and error 70 appeared again and again, using the app to stop recording locks up camera everytime. seems camfi is telling the camera to switch to photo mode automatically as soon as i hit stop.

what we're your finding's using normal raw mode Hans? If we could some how get this working properly, then touch screen auto focus comes to magic lantern raw on the 5d3, lol

PS included some crash log reports that came up on liveview, may or may not help.

ASSERT: IsSuiteSignature( hSuite )
at ./PackMemory/PackMem.c:599, Epp:aefc
lv:0 mode:3

Epp stack: 17dbc0 [17dca8-17d0a8]
0xUNKNOWN  @ de48:17dca0
0xUNKNOWN  @ 17bbc:17dc78
0x000178B4 @ ff0de67c:17dc58
0xUNKNOWN  @ 178e4:17dc48
0xUNKNOWN  @ 1796c:17dc28
0x0000AEB0 @ ff1859f8:17dc08
0x00001900 @ aef8:17dbf8
0x00069868 @ 69c1c:17dbc0

Magic Lantern version : crop_rec_4k.2017Oct07.5D3123
Mercurial changeset   : 1a47ac994cc5 (crop_rec_4k) tip
Built on 2017-10-06 22:56:28 UTC by jenkins@nightly.
Free Memory  : 134K + 3610K



ASSERT: hLvJob->hJpegMemSuite
at ./Epp/Vram/VramStage.c:891, Epp:ff1859cc
lv:1 mode:3

Epp stack: 17dbd0 [17dca8-17d0a8]
0xUNKNOWN  @ de48:17dca0
0xUNKNOWN  @ 17bbc:17dc78
0x000178B4 @ ff0de67c:17dc58
0xUNKNOWN  @ 178e4:17dc48
0xUNKNOWN  @ 1796c:17dc28
0x00001900 @ ff1859c8:17dc08
0x00069868 @ 69c1c:17dbd0

Magic Lantern version : crop_rec_4k.2017Oct07.5D3123
Mercurial changeset   : 1a47ac994cc5 (crop_rec_4k) tip
Built on 2017-10-06 22:56:28 UTC by jenkins@nightly.
Free Memory  : 133K + 3610K


kichetof

Same issue with qDslrDashboard with 5D3 113 crop_rec_4k build

Cam crash when I try to record video from qDslrDashboard app on iPad. Err70
When I leave LiveView from qDslr, console on screen with assert message.

crash logs : https://pastebin.ubuntu.com/25745110/

assert (always the same message):

ML ASSERT:
measured_compression_ratio
at mlv_lite.c:764 (measure_compression_ratio), task shoot_task
lv:1 mode:3

shoot_task stack: 1c48e8 [1c4a10-1c2a10]
0x000B71B8 @ 9657c:1c49b0
0xUNKNOWN  @ b7210:1c4998
0x00A94FBC @ a988cc:1c4928
0x00069FF0 @ a9513c:1c4918
0x00069868 @ 6a05c:1c48e8

Magic Lantern version : crop_rec_4k.2017Oct07.5D3113
Mercurial changeset   : 1a47ac994cc5 (crop_rec_4k) tip
Built on 2017-10-06 22:55:40 UTC by jenkins@nightly.
Free Memory  : 129K + 2812K


Modules loaded: adtg_gui, dual_iso, mlv_snd, crop_rec, ettr, mlv_lite, pic_view, silent, file_man, mlv_play, raw_diag, iso_regs, mlv_rec, raw_twk

kichetof

Some changes from last build (17oct16); always with qDslrDashboard

  • No problem in photo mode
  • No problem with RAW video (assert when stopping video)
  • Unable to get LV display on iPad and unable to start video with RAW video with Crop rec enable (3K and more) and get a crash and LV on iPad freeze in pink



ML ASSERT:
0
at mlv_lite.c:2493 (compress_task), task compress_task
lv:1 mode:3

compress_task stack: 1ae538 [1ae5c0-1ad5c0]
0x00069FF0 @ a6a26c:1ae568
0x00069868 @ 6a05c:1ae538

Magic Lantern version : crop_rec_4k.2017Oct16.5D3113
Mercurial changeset   : 8ee7858f0d7e (crop_rec_4k) tip
Built on 2017-10-16 20:22:35 UTC by jenkins@nightly.
Free Memory  : 127K + 3065K


ASSERT: fInitialize == TRUE
at ./System/PostPostman/PostPostman.c:243, Epp:19210
lv:0 mode:3

Epp stack: 17bb90 [17bca0-17b0a0]
0xUNKNOWN  @ de48:17bc98
0xUNKNOWN  @ 17bbc:17bc70
0x000178B4 @ ff0de5ec:17bc50
0xUNKNOWN  @ 178e4:17bc40
0xUNKNOWN  @ 1796c:17bc20
0xFF33E01C @ ff183f1c:17bc10
0xFF508348 @ ff33e0a4:17bc00
0x000191D8 @ ff50837c:17bbf0
0x00001900 @ 1920c:17bbc8
0x00069868 @ 69c1c:17bb90

Magic Lantern version : crop_rec_4k.2017Oct16.5D3113
Mercurial changeset   : 8ee7858f0d7e (crop_rec_4k) tip
Built on 2017-10-16 20:22:35 UTC by jenkins@nightly.
Free Memory  : 128K + 3088K


Personally I don't use video mode, so no problem for me, only a bug report :)

Hans_Punk

Just a confirmation from my opening post that there does not seem to be a solution that works. I've followed the thread so far and tested pretty much what everyone else here has tried (with variations) and have concluded identical results. Seems there must be a conflict in protocol when utilising usb as an external controller, in most cases triggered when initiating/using ML modules (especially MLV and Raw video modes).

It would be an amazing feature to be able to control the camera via wireless usb input solutions. Giving the 5D3 wireless, touchscreen control with a liveview feed to phone or tablet is a wonderful tool for remote triggering and monitoring.