Agisoft Metashape > General
What cameras/lenses are preferable for photoscan?
chadfx:
Hi again...here's a brief Canon P&S primer:
Setting up CHDK on the Canon cameras isn't too difficult, and even the remote setup can be done fairly easily. It might be worthwhile to just find a super cheap used one if you want to experiment with one and get familiar with the process before committing more money to multiple cameras. There are a ton of Canon P&S models supported (most of them, actually)
Essentially it behaves like a firmware update, but it's loaded after the camera starts up and not a permanent firmware modification. You can set CHDK to automatically load at startup, so you don't need to manually load it every time you power up the camera. It does remember most of its settings, though, via saving files to its own folders on the memory card...so you can set up the camera as you'd like and it'll stay that way between power cycles and battery changes. (just don't format the memory card when clearing off photos; use the Delete All... menu option instead)
The best thing to do is study up and try it out:
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK_for_Dummies
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK_1.2.0_User_Manual
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This software (STICK) seems to be the easiest way to set up your memory card for CHDK and have it automatically install the correct CHDK build for your particular camera, based on a simple image from the camera that you drag & drop onto the app.
http://zenoshrdlu.com/stick/stick.html
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The next part is setting up a USB remote, which should work on most cameras that support CHDK.
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/USB_Remote_Cable
The remote trigger in CHDK works via a simple voltage drop. Voltage comes across via the USB cable and it triggers the shutter button. (you can choose a few methods for how the trigger works (one press and release, two presses, etc)) If you're handy with some wiring, you can set something up on your own. But you can also just use a powered USB hub and use that to be the trigger by turning the power on and off to the hub itself (which you could also rig to a switch if it doesn't have one). The bonus of the hub connection to the cameras is that you can also use it for transferring images to your computer without having to pull the cards from the cameras. The only drawback of this method is that you have to disable the USB remote functionality in the CHDK menus to enable the cameras to show up on your computer. (at least I haven't found a better workaround)
I haven't done a lot of testing to maximize synchronization yet. I just press the remote switch and wait for the half second or so for all of the cameras to beep and lock focus. Once I release the button, they all seem to fire at 'about' the same time...but it's far from exact. I need to test it so find out the variance between them, but if I fire the built in flash on each of the cameras, I can see from the photos that not all of them are getting captured by the other cameras. (shutter speed about 1/60 in those cases)
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There is also a fairly extensive scripting language (actually, more than one), which also is supported over the USB trigger. So you can get even more specialized functionality out of your pipeline if you are up for it.
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK_Scripting_Cross_Reference_Page
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Saving DNG RAW images is slow on the Canon A3300IS, at least 2-3 seconds before the camera is ready to shoot again. I'm using just basic slow speed SDHC memory cards, though; so it's possible that it could be sped up a bit by faster cards (another test for another time...).
It is absolutely worth the image quality gains it provides, despite the sluggish pipeline that's involved.
I think that's about it for the basic rundown. I'm happy to answer more questions if you have them.
One of the other bonuses of using these small cameras is in your mounting setup. You don't need the heavy duty stands and clamps as the big boy DSLR cameras, since these little things don't weigh much.
Anyway, I hope that's helpful for those of you who were curious.
Cheers and good luck! -Chad
PS: There's currently a 20% off sale going on at the Canon USA refurbished store that ends on Oct 12. Canon also operates an EBay outlet/refurbished store based out of the UK for anyone over across the Atlantic. Both sites seem to have better pricing on refurbished models with warranties than even used cameras for sale. <sales spam off...apologies to those who took offense>
chadfx:
Kirk, Photoscan seems to support most wide angle lenses and can compensate for distortion. Ultra wide and fisheye lenses are generally not recommended, though.
ikercito:
Thanks a lot chadfx, I can't wait to get started. CHDK looks easy to use, and getting a couple of Canon compacts is a very reasonable chance to start with. I was worried about triggering them all at once, but the USB hub trick sounds a great idea. Is it really that easy?
andy_s:
--- Quote from: chadfx on October 03, 2013, 12:48:02 AM ---Some people have also used PTP functionality to control their cameras, but once again, I'm not sure if there is a tool out there for solid multiple camera support:
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/PTP_Extension
--- End quote ---
Hi Chad,
early days, and many gremlins, but it looks like chdk guru 'reyalp' is on track to implement his ptp client over wifi. Technical - but very interesting http://chdk.setepontos.com/index.php?topic=6231.msg106005#msg106005
chadfx:
Thanks for keeping an eye on the development community over on those forums, Andy...they certainly are an ambitious group! I suppose wifi control would be a big win for them with so many of the newer models including some sort of wifi connection.
Do you know if any of that PTP software (PTPGui, etc) is set up to control multiple cameras simultaneously? I never tried it.
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