Intervalometer Ramping Module (adv_int.mo)

[jfgout]

This module seems extremely useful for what I want to do (pictures of a lunar eclipse), thanks for making this available. Unfortunately, I'm having some big issues running it on a 5D Mark II (ML nightly build March 22, 2015). The ramping seems to work only ~1 in 10 times and I cannot figure out what makes it work/not work (although re-booting and starting from fresh seems to help).
For example, I would set the ML intervalometer to take 8 pictures with 3 seconds interval (start when taking first picture) and turn on the advanced intervallmeter with the following keyframes:
- keyframe 1 (=after 3secs): Shutter speed = 1/2000
- keyframe 4 (=after 12secs): Shutter speed = 1/800

When I exit the menu, my shutter speed on the canon display is set to 1/800... So, I put it back to 1/2000 and start the series of pictures. The intervalometer works fine (it takes the 8 pictures, with 3 seconds in-between each) but there is no ramping at all! I was hoping to see ny shutter speed move up to 1/800 at frame #4 (with possibly some ramping between on frames 3 and 4), but no, nothing. It's like the advanced intervalometer is not doing anything!

I checked the list of keyframes before starting the series of pictures and my 2 keyframes show up correctly. I also tried with external trigger ON/OFF, but no luck.

I ran maybe 20 tests like that, trying to reboot, change the start/end parameters, ... and maybe 2 or 3 times it did what I wanted but I could not figure out why it worked on these specific occasions but not the rest of the time.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

jf

[dmilligan]

It seems there's an issue with the 'take a pic' trigger. It should work fine with 'leave menu'. I'll see if I can fix it.

[jfgout]

Thanks for the answer @dmilligan. Using "Leave menu" instead of "Take a pic" to start the sequence seems to work!
The shutter speed is now updated at the given keyframes. However, I still have a problem when trying to change the interval time. I tried to reduce interval time from 5 seconds (the parameter given in the 'normal' ML intervalometer) to 2 seconds on the third keyframe but it did not work. I'll try to run more tests tonight. One possible problem is that I was trying to change both shutter speed and interval time on this keyframe. Shutter speed did change correctly, but not interval. Maybe I should try with a key frame dedicated to changing interval.
Also, is the interval ramped or is it an absolute changed? For example, say I start with an interval of 10 seconds, and I set a keyframe to change the interval to 1 second at the 10th frame. Will the interval be 10 seconds for the first 10 images and then switch to 1 second or will the interval slowly decrease from 10 seconds, to 9, then 9, 8, 7... all the way to 1 second? If it is the latter, I imagine that one solution to obtain a direct transition would be to add a keyframe just before the one with interval=1second and set it to interval=10sec, so that there would be no ramping.

Thanks again for providing this very useful module to the community !

jf

[jfgout]

OK, so it looks like creating a keyframe dedicated to changing the interval time works! Maybe there is a bog in the code when changing multiple parameters in one keyframe? I'll try to have a look at the code when I have a minute.

jf

[dmilligan]

One possible problem is that I was trying to change both shutter speed and interval time on this keyframe. Shutter speed did change correctly, but not interval. Maybe I should try with a key frame dedicated to changing interval.

You can change multiple things in a keyframe, but if you want to do this, you need to have those items in *every* keyframe you make, otherwise it won't work correctly. Getting around this limitation is possible, but would add a lot of complexity to the code.

Example:

keyframes like this won't work:

Code: [Select]

T=1   Tv=30", Av=f/2.8
T=10  Tv=10"
T=20  Av=f/8

you have to do this:

Code: [Select]

T=1   Tv=30", Av=f/2.8
T=10  Tv=10", Av=f/4
T=20  Tv=10", Av=f/8


Also, is the interval ramped or is it an absolute changed?

Everything is ramped, always. The solution like you say is to simply create adjacent keyframes with the transition.

[jfgout]

Thanks for the precisions. The eclipse is only 3 days ago... I hope everything works!

jf

[squidman90]

hey there,

Just wanna get some opinions on making sunset time lapses using this adv_int.mo module. I've installed it on my ML Canon 7D and seems to work fine.

I'm planning next week to do a time lapse of the sunset from roughly 5pm to (Night) 6.40pm.  I'm bit of a newb so bare with me.
I understand bulb ramping and I want to ramp my shutter speed (Tv) over the course of roughly 2 hours to pitch black (night). I'm thinking of having constant ISO and Aperture - as I'm shooting mountains and don't want to change my depth of field.  I notice people keep talking about using auto-ETTR when using this module but i don't quite understand it.

I'm thinking of starting the shooting at 5.07pm which is civil twilight with these settings - (Tv) 1/8, (Av) 5.0 , (ISO) 150
then have it ramp to 6.41pm with - (Tv) 5 ", (Av) 5.0 , (ISO) 150   <<rough guess

I've work out that with a Interval of 10 seconds it would take 600 shots to get to the duration of 1 hr 40 min.

So therefore my plan would be to input keyframe settings as below.
Keyframe - Time 1           Keyframe - Time 600
Shutter - 1.8 "                 Shutter - 5.0 seconds
Aperture - 5.0                   Aperture - 5.0
ISO - 150                        ISO - 150

Questions that are coming into my mind - when the exposure is ramping (inclining) does it do it linear?  I would believe the suns light goes down in logarithmic fashion?.
Also i think it would go longer than 1 hr 40 min as when the shutter speeds time keeps increasing it adds to overall time, right?

Before i go any further i would love to get your opinions?

thanks matt

[dmilligan]

It would be extremely difficult to guess exposure correctly, and what you're describing is not really the intention of this module. I would suggest following this method: http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=5705.0

[leandroprz]

Lately I've been reading about this module and after experimenting a bit I noticed the interval ramping only works with integers. Would it be possible to change that behavior to have it ramp using decimal intervals? That way it would be more accurate and more similar to a bulb ramping when used along with Auto ETTR.

[dmilligan]

I assume you're talking about the "interval time" being in integer seconds? The current ML intervalometer implementation is only accurate to seconds (it only allows integer number of seconds as the interval)

[leandroprz]

Yes, that's what I meant. So even though this is a separate module you can't change that behavior? Is that because it depends on the core intervalometer?

[dmilligan]

correct

[keepersdungeon]

This is amazing! I've just heard of it. Was wondering Why it's added to the nightly builds by default? Anw thanks for sharing this!

[pdiegmann]

Hi everyone!

Really seems to be just the plugin I needed. I just got a question regarding an external intervalometer. Which settings should I use for "Take a pic every" and "Start trigger" to leave the timing up to the external intervalometer (assuming I already have set "Advanced Intervalometer" -> "External Source" to "on").

Thank you for your help and this great plugin!

Best,
Phil

[dmilligan]

If you are using an external intervalometer, the internal one should be turned off, and the settings for it don't matter. Only make sure that 'Advanced Intervalometer' is enabled and set to 'External Source'

[pdiegmann]

If you are using an external intervalometer, the internal one should be turned off, and the settings for it don't matter. Only make sure that 'Advanced Intervalometer' is enabled and set to 'External Source'

I've connected the external intervalometer via the standard cable and tried it with different settings. If I have the intervalometer setting set to on, i get more shots than planned, as both the internal intervalometer as well as my external one are firing. If I disable the internal intervalometer, but have keyframes set, these keyframes have no effect. I'm using a 5DIII with ML 1.2.3. I attached some screenshots of the settings used.

Thank you for any ideas

[dmilligan]

You need to turn regular ML intervalometer off. Only Advanced Intervalometer should be On.

Do you have image review off in Canon Menu? Works fine here as long as image review is not turned off.

[pdiegmann]

You need to turn regular ML intervalometer off. Only Advanced Intervalometer should be On.

Do you have image review off in Canon Menu? Works fine here as long as image review is not turned off.

Okay, I just tried your suggestions, but the keyframes do not have any effect, neither on ISO, nor on Aperture.
Do you see any setting I set wrong? Preview is currently set to 2 seconds.

[dmilligan]

Do you see the words "Ramping X" (where X is some number) on the screen after you take each photo?

[pdiegmann]

Nope. I'll be on the road for about two weeks and won't be able to check this forum, but thank you for your support

[Piotr.23]

dmilligan, where can I download version 5.0 of the module?
The most recent version 6.0 works with 5DIII firmware of 2015-12-20, but I'm, getting pink frames in MLV, so I downgraded to no-pink frames firmware of 2014-05-23
And firmware of 2014-05-23 says I need 5.0

Thanks | P

[tucson50]

Thanks to all who have worked on this module! I use it frequently and have had great success.

I have a question, however.  I want to Use Global Time for a time lapse that runs from before sunset until after sunrise, but that means I am entering frames from about 16:00:00 to 19:00:00, and then from about 6:00:00 to 9:00:00.

Will this work?  Does the algorithm essentially loop around after midnight to start over with the lower times to hit my sunrise target?  I have had problems with this, but with as many variables as there are making a long time lapse, I am unsure of whether I might have made some other mistake.

Thanks for your feedback and your great work.

EOS M, Sigma 4.5mm fisheye

[Ottoga]

@dmilligan

April 19, 20 and 21 nightlies display the flowing error message on my 7D when trying to load the adv_int module:


Linking..
tcc: error: undefined symbol 'get_out_of_play_mode'
    [E] failed to link modules

Note that error only appears if the adv_int module has been selected to load. I proved this by trying to load it on its own with no other modules selected and got the error. If I exclude this module then all other modules load successfully.

Nightlies prior to April 19 don't have this error.

[Walter Schulz]

Fall back or compile latest changes. Or wait about about 16 hours to see it in next build. Has been merged today ... https://bitbucket.org/hudson/magic-lantern/pull-requests/678/advanced-intervalometer-module/diff

[a1ex]

Today I had the chance to try the advanced intervalometer.

Background: we have a flower that opens at 9 pm, like this. I wanted to record a timelapse of it, but with intervalometer set to 3 seconds, I would run out of card space very quickly, and with larger intervals, I would miss the action. Therefore, I enabled the advanced intervalometer to ramp the interval time from 30 seconds (outside the blooming time) to 3 seconds in the middle of the action.

Result: it didn't ramp - probably I've restarted the camera after setting up the keyframes. Will try again.

Meanwhile, here are my initial suggestions:

- keyframe auto-load (already implemented it locally)
- keyframe editing (after defining them)
- debug messages on the console (to check what is ramping)
- ETTR slowest shutter in sync with intervalometer time, to allow longer exposures as the interval time increases (already implemented it locally)
- minor: what about renaming the module to ramping.mo and the menu entry to Intervalometer -> Ramping options ?

Possible bug:
- saving/loading sometimes introduces a dummy keyframe (T=00:00:00, no options, sometimes at the beginning, sometimes at the end of the list, seems random; not sure if it has any effect on the functionality)