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I wonder if someone on this forum could give me some pointers. I am trying to use the EOS M + intervalometer to collect aerial imagery from a Cessna, but I have a problem - in AF, when flying over water sometimes the reflection stops the AF from achieving focus and the rest of the flight there are no images. Even when not over water the AF makes it so that the minimum delay between pics is too long ( > 3 sec) to get continuous coverage.

But in MF I can't reliably get the 22mm pancake to stay in focus, even using magic zoom on a faraway object to manually focus before takeoff. I think I've had about 1 out of ~20 flights work ok.

I am also flying with a D10 modified with CHDK, and in that case, I have an intervalometer script that tells CHDK to focus to infinity and lock focus. Is there any way to do something like that programattically with the EOS M? Someone at some point told me to "use '70s glass" Can anyone be a little more specific and tell me what lens and adapter I would need to get the closest to 35mm as possible on the EOS M?

Sorry if I am beating a dead horse, or offending anyone by comparing CHDK with Magic Lantern. I am a scientist, not a photography wizard, and I am currently contemplating an experiment whereby I determine how many pieces the EOS M fragments into when dropped from an airplane at 600 meters.

Andy

I noticed on the build features page that none of the focus features are supported (checked). Does this mean that the focus infinity module won't work? I am trying to get the EOS M to reliably take pictures from an aerial platform, but it loses AF lock and freezes pretty reliably, and I am having trouble focusing to infinity before mounting it on the platform.  With the 22mm lens in MF it loses MF when powered off, and I have to power it off to mount it. I have a 40mm lens, but am having trouble keeping MF focused to infinity there too...

If anyone has any idea on how I can achieve MF to infinity and keep it there, I would be most grateful. In CHDK I can tell the camera to focus to infinity and stay there. That would be sooo very nice if I could do it in ML too.

Thanks for any time.

Andy

It sure does seem like the AF stability (intervalometer stability?) is getting better. I upgraded to the latest version of TL last week and I just got the camera back from another flight. Got pics the whole time this time w/40mm lens and AF (1025 pics w the internal battery). WooHoo! The 22mm lense seems more sensitive to freezing do to AF errors in my tests.

I wish I could do MF, but the temp change from ground to air makes it impossible to pre-focus, at least with the 40mm lens, and the 18-55 and 22 both lose their focus on powercycle (and I have to turn cameras off to mount them in the wing mount). If there is a lens that's ~35mm equivalent and doesn't change focal length with temp, I would love to learn about it.

Andy

I've still been struggling with the intervalometer freezing if it fails to get AF lock, and I was reading more about ML and came across a post that mentioned another way to do timelapse by shooting video with fps override. In my case, I am trying to shoot pics every 1/3 sec (less than 1799 pics generally). I was wondering if I can potentially get the same image quality (need shutter speed of ~1/1000s and full resolution).

I am still learning tons about ML and in the userguide the description about adjusting the rolling shutter effect scared me off - rolling shutter is a big problem with SfM-based 3D reconstruction, and I am trying to get this camera to work for aerial mapping.

On another note, I was wondering if 1% or anyone else might be able to tell me if the failure to get lock is something that can be fixed with ML/TL, and if there is any kind of debugging work I could do on the code (definitely an amateur programmer, but I am capable of generating crash logs and reading code and sort of figuring out what's going on if someone points me in the right direction.

Thanks for your all of your time and work on this.

Andy

I notice using EOS-M with intervalometer function that when in AF, the intervalometer will sometimes freeze when brightness shifts suddenly, but when in MF, it works fine.

I am trying to use TL with the EOS-M in an aircraft to shoot aerials at 3 sec intervals from a wing-mounted camera. I can't use MF because the camera cools off too much during flight so the focus to infinity is different in-flight than it is when I mount the camera. I have tried the intervalometer with the 40mm lens and adapter and 22mm pancake and in both cases MF works reliably but AF sometimes quits when exposed to rapid dark/light changes at the wrong time (like when a plane is banking and goes from ground to sky view). I simulate by pointing at ground/under desk, then at sky/light.

Any suggestions?

Is there any programmatic way to set focus to infinity with the EOS-M (and 22mm EF-M lens) and lock it there when the camera is powered on?

FYI my workaround for this was to buy the EF-EOS M adapter and a 40mm pancake. Then I just taped my lens after focusing to infinity. Hopefully the temp changes from having the camera on a wing won't need me to re-focus up on a mountain somewhere after leaving the camera outside for a couple hours...

I would have gone with AF but I tried that and the intervalometer died right as the plane got to where I cared about. Although I think that might have been due to the auto-rotate interfering. Not sure. It was that or AF.

Posting this because I had a few PMs about aerial imagery with the EOS M. Hope it's not off-topic.

Is there any programmatic way to set focus to infinity with the EOS-M (and 22mm EF-M lens) and lock it there when the camera is powered on?

I am trying to get the EOS-M with 22mm EF-M lens working in a wing-mounted system on a plane running the intervalometer function (to monitor a dam removal). I did my first flight in AF mode and the intervalometer stopped shortly after takeoff when the camera was over water - I think because AF lock wasn't obtained before the next intervalometer shot. I did the second flight in MF mode, but I have to power the camera off to mount it in the wing mount, and I can't turn the focus ring after powering it back on, so I was focused past infinity on that flight and all of the images are slightly blurry.

Basically I have to make the whole thing pretty bullet proof so contracted pilots can put the camera in the plane, press a button to turn it on (and hit the screen with two fingers if need be) and come back with pictures for me.

I fly successfully right now with a Canon D10 running CHDK, and I have a Lua script that focuses to infinity then locks the focus and takes a shot every 3 seconds. Ideally I'd like to do the same thing with the EOS M, but I don't know a reliable way to either focus to infinity every time the camera starts up, or set focus to infinity and lock it there forever. If need be I can get a different lens + adapter. But unfortunately the one thing I can't do is power up the camera, focus to infinity, then put it in the wing mount and start the intervalometer.

I am a geologist, not a photographer, so any help/hint is appreciated. Thank you all for your time,

-EDIT- after reading more about the intervalometer function, I am wondering if there is another way to do this that I am not realizing - I see that rather than shooting stills with an intervalometer I could shoot with a low FPS rate. If I could maintain autofocus this way it might work, but I don't know if it would dramatically shorten battery life. As is I get >1.5 hours, and I need at least 1 hr for the flight.

Alternatively, if there is a simple way to focus to infinity in AF then switch to MF I could do that. I thought at first that maybe the trap focus option with Intervalometer might work, but I see that I still need MF mode to do that. If somehow I could take the first picture at the horizon in AF and lock focus to that, I would be golden. And finally I didn't see if scripting is enabled yet in ML for the EOS-M, but if it is, I could try to do something with a script.
Andy

me too

[@a1ex:]

Can you confirm the findings from post #43?

@a1ex: I replaced the autoexec in Rootwang's build with your "minimum build" and still had the shutterbug (installed and bootflagged with the full autoexec though first, and saw the shutterbug - would that make a difference?)

I can reliably remove the shutterbug if I disable bootflag from the fw update menu (install new fw, switch to auto settings on the top dial). I always low-level format the card in-camera.

Andy

[@funkysound:]

I wrote a few times that I don´t have the shutter bug with using the compiled old version from Rootwang.
...I had to uninstal bootflag, then to format the card, install the old version again, instal bootflag ... and it works again - no shutter bug!
There has to be an important differnce between these versions. I think it may be interesting that I had to unistal the bootflag and to format the card to make the old version work again.

@funkysound: I tried to duplicate your findings, installing the Rootwang build from http://www.sendspace.com/file/37061u after removing the bootflag and reformatting my card (low level format in-camera). I still get the shutterbug with that build.

Does everyone with the bug have 2.02 on the camera and 2.00 on the lens? Does anyone (with or without the bug) have different firmware on the 18-55 mm lens?


Andy

I installed the most recent ML build from http://ml.bot-fly.com/magiclantern-v2.3.NEXT.2013Sep22.EOSM202.zip on top of magiclantern-v2.3.NEXT.2013Sep17.EOSM202, and I still have the bug.

I tried wiping the ML directory and copying new files over but got a "missing fonts" error, so re-copied the 9/17 files back, then the 9/22 files on top of those.

I am a little confused about Gary's shutterbug problem being associated with a particular card, but after reading his post I decided to try another card just for the heck of it, so I broke out a Kingston SDHC Class 10 16GB card, low-level formatted in-camera, copied the 9/17 files (minus the .FIR), then the 9/22 files.

Shutterbug is still present.

@andyroo thats the power cycle fix, you can also get the same result by just rotating your lens on the body after you turned it on. Breaks the connection with the lens and body momentarily. I outlined it here

Aw shucks. I got all excited because I thought I found something new.

That's what I get for skipping a few pages of the dev discussion.

Hi! I am new to ML too (Long term user of CHDK).

The EOS M is my first larger sensor camera, and I am trying to make it into a stable intervalometer that just turns on, so I can bolt it onto a plane and collect aerial imagery. I read through other forum posts and saw that PicoC was/is implemented(ish) in ML, but is that the case for the EOS M alpha builds too? When I tried to put an autorun.c script in the /scripts directory on my EOS M install, (1) it didn't run and (2) I couldn't figure out how to even find it from the ML menus.

If the Picoc code isn't implemented, then is there any way to autostart the built-in intervalometer on boot up? If not, and I want to try to add it in, would I be able to access the source code for the ongoing alpha on the bitbucket link, or is it elsewhere?

I almost hate to admit it, but I am a scientist, not a photographer, so my only goal is to make it so when the camera is powered on, it starts taking pictures. Ideally it would just start taking pics at whatever the intervalometer is set at, but since I have the "shutter-bug" too, it's already more complicated than I hoped. And I have to make this simple enough that a pilot can get the camera up and running without me (I already have a Canon D10 doing this with CHDK, and got the EOS M because I am excited about the HUGE sensor, and the camera is small enough to fit in the wing of a Cessna 172).

Incidentally, my first post was over on the shutter-bug thread - I found a (pain-in-the-ass) workaround, and a repeatable way to both exhibit and bypass the shutter-bug, and it seems like that was something lacking so far.

I have the 18-55 mm lens, camera fw 2.02, lens fw 2.00 (never upgraded, my camera came with 2.02). ML on a Transcend SDHC Class 10 32 GB card

I installed magiclantern from these two files:

http://ml.bot-fly.com/EOSM1202.FIR
http://ml.bot-fly.com/magiclantern-v2.3.NEXT.2013Sep17.EOSM202.zip

Anyway here's the baby script I am trying to run. Power saving and "yes I am working" indicators are in the wings but I want this to work first:

Code Select Expand

/*
@title PlaneCam intervalometer
*/
//adapted from Francis' demo code on ML website
//http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=5155.msg31568#msg31568

printf("Hello from PlaneCam!\n");
sleep(10); //Wait 10s before starting to take pics

for (int i = 0; i < 5000; i++) //Repeat the stuff below 5000 times or until there is no more power
{

takepic(); //Take a picture
sleep(3); //Wait 3 seconds
}

[with the shutterbug, here's what I have to do to take a picture:]

I think I might have figured something out about the shutter bug. For me it's also a workaround.

First, here's my camera behavior on powerup.

1. Press powerbutton
2.  four-five rapid green flashes, then 14-15 amber flashes
3. LCD comes on
4. one quick amber flash
4. Half-press shutter button and get focus, full press and nothing happens - AKA "shutter bug"
5. press powerbutton. LCD goes off and
6a. one quick amber flash,
6b. a couple seconds later, another long flash after the "Sensor cleaning" icon disappears
7. camera is off.

BUT, if I press the power button a second time between 6a and 6b - basically right after I turn it off, turn it back on again, then I get about 20 quick green flashes (or sometimes just a long pause until the LCD comes back on) and I can take a picture EVERY TIME. In other words, with the shutterbug, here's what I have to do to take a picture:

1. Press powerbutton
2.  four-five rapid green flashes, then 14-15 amber flashes
3. LCD comes on
4. one quick amber flash
5. press powerbutton
6a. one quick amber flash,
7. quickly press the powerbutton again (like 0.5 seconds or so - if there's a second amber flash it's too late)
8. about 20 quick green flashes (or sometimes just a long pause)
9. LCD comes on again
10. happily take pictures

If I powercycle normally, I used to think that I had about a 20% chance of a working shutter. But now that I've been watching the LEDs, if I wait for the long orange light at the end, so far I've powercycled a dozen times and had the shutter bug every time. Conversely, the quick off/on cycle after initial powerup has worked the last dozen twenty times too.

I installed magiclantern from these two files:

http://ml.bot-fly.com/EOSM1202.FIR
http://ml.bot-fly.com/magiclantern-v2.3.NEXT.2013Sep17.EOSM202.zip

I have the 18-55 mm lens, camera fw 2.02, lens fw 2.00 (never upgraded, my camera came with 2.02). ML on a Transcend SDHC Class 10 32 GB card

Here's a question for folks with the 18-55mm lens and no shutter bug - when you initially power up, do you see the green and amber lights rapidly flashing, or only green? Are the other light sequences the same?