Tests for crop_rec_4k_mlv_snd_raw_only_2022Apr30.EOSM202
Presets tested 2K, 2.5K, 2.8k, 5K Ana frtp.
Monitor: Asus PB278Q Hdmi in, hdmi 1.4 cable
Phone: LG V30
Capture Dongle: Hagibis UHC06
Capture App: USB Cam (MJPEG 1920x1080 60P)
Hello Everyone, (And thank you Danne)
I tested the latest build and here are my findings:
This build is a lot more stable than the previous ones: very few camera restarts were required.
One tip for smoother operation is to give the cam time to operate and reconfigure between button presses.
If you experience something weird (More Below) A camera Restart and Reloading the preset fixes it.
1- 2.5k 1:1 Centered hdmi can be used with an hdmi monitor, or without, (Phone works with 2.5k 1:1 Centered or the default 2.5k preset), without pink frames. But the preview on screen makes it not very usable.
With hdmi, Only 5k Ana frtp gives an accurate representation of what is being recorded (A few screenshots below)
2-One time Autofocus works better, and can come in handy, once you get a feel for it.
When setting the cam to AF, you can autofocus with the half-shutter button and record. It is not continuous and it may let you refocus only once during the recording.
The best way I found to use it is to press and hold the set button to get to sticky-zoom, Aim, hold half-shutter until focus, keep holding for 1 second, release and it goes back to the preview. You then press record. Can be handy if it is very bright outside and you cannot see the screen properly.
AF+MF behaves like AF. Maybe you could send a dummy MF signal so that it releases the Autofocus after focus confirm, so we could have the option to manually adjust from there, if needs be.
After a few uses, the AF stops giving the confirmation beep, but is still finds the spot.
The results are not always as sharp as if you do it yourself, but it has been usable in every test I did.
Sometimes the screen displays Vertical green lines or gets corrupted. Camera Restart is then required.
3-Half-Shutter button and STAR button work faster and more consistently when used for X10 Zoom.
When used in MF mode, as long as you do not rush the keypresses, both buttons work reliably and as expected. If you press and relase too quick, you may have to do it twice.
4-The Framing / Preview function works reliably across every preset tested.
When using the eos-m screen, what you see in framing is what you get.
Exception: The 5K Ana frtp preset must be used in preview mode. (it says frtp in the title so...)
In framing, the image on screen is shifted downwards, but it records the framing you get in preview.
5-Sometimes, the x10 zoom "Gets lost" somewhere off-center (You may not realize what part of the image you are looking at if shooting a row of flowers or a forest with few distinctive visual cues, for example.
I could not reproduce the issue every time, but there is a screenshot below. Most times it zooms-in close enough to the center.
6- I had a white screen on power up on 2 occasions (Preset reload fixed it). I cannot reproduce it on demand.
7-Recording times are in line with my previous tests, except for the 2.8k preset, I were able to get 14bit 23.976 fps, 2608x1092, at least 1 minute (2022April 10 build).
Now I need to set it to 12 bits to get 1 minute+
Hdmi Monitor and PhoneThe chart , a DIY chart made with water bottle wrappers
(Nice patterns to check for moiré and lots of little characters)
The Recorded Output, 2.5k Centered hdmi preset:
What we see on the phone-as-a-monitor:
What we see on the Asus hdmi monitor:
I won't post every screenshot to save space, but what we see on the monitors is always a cropped version of the final image; sometimes centered, sometimes not.
Only the 5k Ana frtp preset displays the whole image, but it doesn't work when using the phone. In the latter case, only the interface displays and the preview is scrambled.
x10 ZoomThe recorded output
What we see on the Eos-m
What I saw when I zoomed in (Star Button or Shutter Half-Press)
It often displays an area close to the center (Easier to notice when on a tripod). Also, if I use the invisible arrows on the tap screen to navigate to a region of interest, the next time I zoom in it will display the default area, and on a subsequent press, the arrow-navigated area.
Edit: With the latest Build, crop_rec_4k_mlv_snd_raw_only_2022May04.EOSM202_test.zip, the zooming has been greatly enhanced. It now always land close to the center and doesn't get lost anymore. It is also more responsive.Not Exclusive to this build: Image QualityWhen recording surfaces with a lot of details (Hair, Fur, certain surfaces), some quasi-static dots appear over those areas. It sometimes make the image look "dirty". Changing debayer type sometimes improves it a bit, but there are always traces left. If I take a picture, those artifacts do not appear.
Is there a parameter that can be tweaked to make the sensor scanning more precise? (Even if it is at the expense of some resolution)
Example 5k Ana frtp
Example 2.5k
A link to the mlv file
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zV7A2JUXOpxUrt-ewXol6s-eiM6BhBjB/view?usp=sharingAlso, maybe this is only anecdotal, but when installing a new build, the camera needs an on/off cycle before working with consistency.
