Chdk and Canon a480 Quic

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CHDK and Canon A480 Quick Start GuideCHDK is an alternative firmware for some Canon cameras. It provides access to lots of cool features

that are found only on high end SLR cameras, plus some features that are not found anywhere.

Why the Canon A480? Because refurbished cameras are available for $75 from Adorama with a one

year warranty and only one version of firmware has been seen on them to date. This means that there

is a very good chance the firmware in the A480 you receive will be compatible with CHDK.

This short guide shows how to quickly access some useful features. It is not intended to be exhaustive

or replace the CHDK wiki or forums.

CHDK can be set to automatically load when the camera is turned on, however I don’t use that feature

because I want to use an 8Gb SD memory card. Cards of 8Gb create complications when autoloading

CHDK, but I want the extra space for long time lapse photography.

Download and extract the A480 “full” CHDK zip file from the CHDK website. Extract the files to the top

level of your SD card and put the card into your camera.

Loading CHDK

1. Turn the camera on by pressing the Play button

2. Press the Menu button

3. Scroll down to “Firm Update” and select it, then select “OK” to confirm. After a delay the CHDK

logo and version number will appear.

4. Half press the shutter button to switch to record mode

The rest of this guide assumes your camera is in record mode, unless stated otherwise.

Turn on Histogram

1. Press Mode and “<Alt>” appears at the bottom of the screen. This allows access to the CHDK

menu

2. Press Menu. Note that the menu may occasionally disappear while you are using it. It’s still there,

just press the navigation buttons and it will reappear.

3. Choose Histogram Parameters

Página 1 de 17CHDK and Canon A480 Quick Start Guide

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4. Press the right button to change Show Live Histogram from “Don’t” to “Always”

5. Press Menu to exit the menu

6. Press Mode and “<Alt>” disappears from the bottom of the screen.

A live histogram will now be displayed on the screen.

To turn off the histogram:

1. Press Mode to get into Alt mode then Menu

2. Choose Histogram Parameters then change Show Live Histogram from “Always” to “Don’t”

3. Press Menu to exit the menu and Mode to exit the Alt mode

Display Depth of Field

CHDK can display depth of field information. To turn it on:


2. Choose OSD Parameters then DOF Calculator

3. Change Show DOF Calculator from “Don’t” to “Separat”

4. Press Menu to exit the menu then Mode to exit Alt mode

Choose a subject and half press the shutter button. On the screen you will see a set of values in

meters.

• S = distance to subject

• R1 = distance towards camera before subject is out of focus

• R2 = distance away from camera before subject is out of focus

• DOF = depth of field (R2 – R1)

• HYP = hyperfocal distance



To turn off:


2. Choose OSD Parameters then DOF Calculator

3. Change Show DOF Calculator from “Separat” to “Don’t”

4. Press Menu to exit the menu then Mode to exit Alt mode

Manual Focus

The Canon A480 doesn’t have manual focus, but CHDK does. To enable:

1. In record mode press Mode to get into Alt mode

2. Press ISO (i.e. up). The at the top left in red something like “SD: 2369 FACTOR: 1″ will appear.

2369 is the subject distance in millimeters

3. Press the flash button (i.e. right) to change the factor to 10. Press it again to change it to 100

4. Press the zoom buttons to change the subject distance. It will change 100 mm at a time.

5. Press the Macro/Infinity button (i.e. left) to change the factor back to 10.

6. Press the zoom buttons to change the subject distance 10 mm at a time

7. Press Mode to exit Alt mode. At the top left in red the current SD value should be shown

8. Half press the shutter button and the auto focus mechanism will focus on the subject. CHDK will

then immediately change the focus to the previously set value.

To turn off:

1. Press Mode to get into Alt mode

2. Press ISO (i.e. up). The red text showing the SD and factor values will disappear.

Continuous Bracketing

CHDK can configure the camera to change one or more of the shutter speed, ISO and subject distance

every time a shot is taken in continuous mode. Here is an example using the subject distance:

1. Press Mode to get into Alt mode then press Menu

2. Choose Extra Photo Operations followed by Bracketing in Continuous Mode

3. Set Subj. Dist. Bracket Valu to “20″

4. Set the Value Factor (mm) to “1″

5. Set the Bracketing type to +/-

6. Press Menu and then Mode to exit the Alt mode

7. Press Func/Set and enable continuous mode. At this point in red at the top left will be “BRACKET:

+/- SD:20″

8. Half press the shutter button to focus then hold down the shutter button to take a series of

pictures

Every time a picture is taken CHDK will “oscillate” the subject distance in front and behind the auto

focus point in steps of 20 mm. For example if the auto focus subject distance was 100 mm then the

sequence will be:

• 100 mm, 120 mm, 80 mm, 140 mm, 60mm, 160 mm, 40 mm, etc.

If the Bracketing type is changed to “+” then the camera will keep increasing the subject distance for

each shot and it will keep reducing the subject distance for “-”.

To turn off:


2. Choose Extra Photo Operations followed by Bracketing in Continuous Mode

3. Set the Value Factor (mm) to “Off”

4. Press Menu and then Mode to exit the Alt mode



Extreme Shutter Speeds

It is possible to set the Canon A480 to a shutter speed of 1/100,000. Yes, you read that right. To

enable:


2. Choose Extra Photo Operations

3. Change Override Shutter Speed to “1/100k” and change the Value Factor to “1″

4. Press Menu and then Mode to exit Alt mode. At red in the top left it should display “TV: 1/100k”

Now take a picture of something bright, like a macro of a lightbulb.

It is also possible to take very long exposures. Setting the Override Shutter Speed to “2048″ will use

2048 seconds, which is 34 minutes!

To turn off:

1. Press Mode to get into Alt mode the Menu

2. Choose Extra Photo Operations

3. Change the Value Factor to “Off”

4. Press Menu then Mode to exit Alt mode

Changing Camera Modes

When not using CHDK pressing the Mode button switches between Auto, P, Scene and Movie modes.

However when using CHDK the Mode button switches between Canon menus and CHDK menus. How

can the original functionality be obtained?

When CHDK is loaded press and hold the Mode button down to switch between the camera modes.

Time Lapse Scripts

The CHDK forum has a lot of different scripts. I found the one which looked the best to me and

tweaked it for the Canon A480. Copy the script at the bottom of this post and save as “LAPSED3.LUA”

in the folder CHDK\SCRIPTS on the SD card.

For high definition movies it helps to switch the camera to widescreen pictures first, as the pictures will

have the correct aspect ratio. The widescreen images taken by the Canon A480 have better than 1080P

resolution.

To run the script:

1. Put the camera into record mode

2. Press Menu and change Review to “Off”


4. Choose Scripting Parameters then Load Script From File…

5. Choose “LAPSED32.LUA”

6. Change Secs/frame to “2″

7. Change Sequence minutes to “10″

8. Change Focus to “1″

9. Make sure Display off frame is always “0″. Failure to do this will stop the time lapse script from

working

10. Press Menu. At the bottom of the screen it should show the name of the script “Time-lapse DIII

V2″

11. Fully press the shutter button to start the script. At this point the camera should start taking one

picture every two seconds, which is pretty much as fast as it will go when using scripts

12. Press the shutter button again to stop the script

13. Press Mode to exit the Alt mode



The following script was taken from the CHDK wiki and modified by me to work on the A480. I also

added notes to the CHDK wiki page describing the propcase change needed. This version differs from

the wiki version in that it uses the camera’s auto focus lock button combination, which I found works a

bit better than calling set_aflock. I didn’t modify the version in the wiki because I am not sure which

cameras have that feature.

001 [[002 Author: Fraser McCrossan003 Tested on G9, should work on most cameras.004 Modified by andy atat britishideas dotdot com for the A480 uses camera's

autofocus lock and Digic III propcases005 An accurate intervalometer script, with prefocus and screen power off

options.006007 Features:008 input is frame interval plus total desired runtime (or "endless")009 displays frame count, frame total and remaining time after each frame010 (in endless mode, displays frame count and elapsed time)011 honours the "Display" button during frame delays (so you can012 get it running then turn off the display to save power)013 can turn off the display a given number of frames after starting014 (might take a couple of frames longer to cycle to correct mode)015 can prefocus before starting then go to manual focus mode016 use SET button to exit017018 See bottom of script for main loop.019 ]]020021 [[022 @title Timelapse DIII V2023 @param s Secs/frame024 @default s 5025 @param h Sequence hours026 @default h 0027 @param m Sequence minutes028 @default m 5029 @param e Endless? 0=No 1=Yes030 @default e 0031 @param f Focus: 0=Every 1=Start032 @default f 0033 @param d Display off frame 0=never034 @default d 0035 ]]036037 convert parameters into readable variable names038



secs_frame, hours, minutes, endless, focus_at_start, display_off_frame = s, h, m, (e > 0), (f > 0), d

039040 props = require "propcase"041042 derive actual running parameters from the more humanfriendly input043 parameters044 function calculate_parameters (seconds_per_frame, hours, minutes,

start_ticks)045 local ticks_per_frame = 1000 * secs_frame ticks per frame046 local total_frames = (hours * 3600 + minutes * 60) / secs_frame total

frames047 local end_ticks = start_ticks + total_frames * ticks_per_frame ticks

at end of sequence048 return ticks_per_frame, total_frames, end_ticks049 end050051 function print_status (frame, total_frames, ticks_per_frame, end_ticks,

endless)052 local free = get_jpg_count()053 if endless then054 local h, m, s = ticks_to_hms(frame * ticks_per_frame)055 print("#" .. frame .. ", " .. h .. "h " .. m .. "m " .. s .. "s")056 else057 local h, m, s = ticks_to_hms(end_ticks get_tick_count())058 print(frame .. "/" .. total_frames .. ", " .. h .. "h" .. m .. "m" ..

s .. "s/" .. free .. " left")059 end060 end061062 function ticks_to_hms (ticks)063 local secs = (ticks + 500) / 1000 round to nearest seconds064 local s = secs % 60065 secs = secs / 60066 local m = secs % 60067 local h = secs / 60068 return h, m, s069 end070071 sleep, but using wait_click(); return true if a key was pressed, else

false072 function next_frame_sleep (frame, start_ticks, ticks_per_frame)073 this calculates the number of ticks between now and the time of074 the next frame075 local sleep_time = (start_ticks + frame * ticks_per_frame)

get_tick_count()076 if sleep_time < 1 then077 sleep_time = 1078 end079 wait_click(sleep_time)080 return not is_key("no_key")081 end082083 delay for the appropriate amount of time, but respond to084 the display key (allows turning off display to save power)085 return true if we should exit, else false086 function frame_delay (frame, start_ticks, ticks_per_frame)087 this returns true while a key has been pressed, and false if088 none089 while next_frame_sleep (frame, start_ticks, ticks_per_frame) do090 honour the display button091 if is_key("display") then092 click("display")093 end094 if set key is pressed, indicate that we should stop095 if is_key("set") then096 return true097 end098 end099 return false100 end



101102 if the display mode is not the passed mode, click display and return

true103 otherwise return false104 function seek_display_mode(mode)105 if get_prop(props.DISPLAY_MODE) == mode then106 return false107 else108 click "display"109 return true110 end111 end112113 switch to autofocus mode, prefocus, then go to manual focus mode114 function pre_focus()115 local focused = false116 local try = 1117 set focus mode to infinity118 set_prop(6, 3)119 while not focused and try <= 5 do120 print("Prefocus attempt " .. try)121 press("shoot_half")122 sleep(2000)123 if get_prop(18) > 0 then124 focused = true125 lock autofocus126 press("left")127 set_aflock(1)128 end129 release("shoot_half")130 sleep(500)131 try = try + 1132 end133 return focused134 end135136 if focus_at_start then137 if not pre_focus() then138 print "Unable to reach prefocus"139 end140 end141142 start_ticks = get_tick_count()143144 ticks_per_frame, total_frames, end_ticks = calculate_parameters

(secs_frame, hours, minutes, start_ticks)145146 frame = 1147 original_display_mode = get_prop(props.DISPLAY_MODE)148 target_display_mode = 2 off149150 print "Press shutter button to exit"151152 while endless or frame <= total_frames do153 print_status(frame, total_frames, ticks_per_frame, end_ticks, endless)154 if display_off_frame > 0 and frame >= display_off_frame then155 seek_display_mode(target_display_mode)156 end157 shoot()158 if frame_delay(frame, start_ticks, ticks_per_frame) then159 print "User quit"160 break161 end162 frame = frame + 1163 end164165 restore display mode166 if display_off_frame > 0 then167 while seek_display_mode(original_display_mode) do168 sleep(1000)169 end



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This entry was posted by Andy on June 3, 2010 at 10:35 pm, and is filed under Photography.

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RELATED POSTSTRACKBACKS (2)

Sorry to say, but on my A480, pressing ISO (up) does not get me the SD 2369 Factor 1

screen… ?

You have to be in shooting mode AND alt mode. I just tried it and it works for me. If

you can’t get it to work then I recommend you post on the CHDK forum.

As I am new to this, the line numbers I should strip out of the script before loading it?

Yes. If you scroll to the top of the script and put the pointer over it, some icons should

appear. Click on the one that copies the script to the clipboard. You can then paste it

into Nodepad and save to your memory card.

When I save as an LUA file, my A480 sees it as a TXT file… ?

There is a red square top left saying CHDK Unk Stat

#1 written by John

about 3 years ago

#2 written by Andy

about 3 years ago

#3 written by John

about 3 years ago

#4 written by Andy

about 3 years ago

#5 written by John

about 3 years ago

#6 written by John

about 3 years ago

COMMENTS (49)



Sorry not CHDK, but UBASIC Unk stat

Thank you so much for posting this guide!

I’m trying to take multiple shots (of a book, flipping page between each shot), and am

considering using an a480. I’ll be using CHDK for ‘remote’ shooting via USB. I’ve been

concerned about lack of Manual Focus. So, a question: will manual focus settings as

you’ve described remain constant across multiple shots? Or will the camera

automatically revert to autofocus after the first shot?

You have to enable hidden file extensions in Windows then rename the file to remove

the txt extension that Notepad secretly added. CHDK is assuming the script is uBasic

and not Lua because of the extension problem.

Works like a dream – the 2 second setting on my camera translates to about 7 seconds

per shot, what with write-time to the SD card… perhaps a faste card? Thanks again, will

try the wi-fi SD card and see if that simultaneously will write to my server so that I can

review all photos remotely…

Nope, you have a problem somewhere. I get an average of 2 – 2.7 seconds per shot

with a regular 8Gb Sandisk card. Made sure you disable picture reviewing in the regular

Canon menu.

If it is still slow try disabling raw mode in CHDK and also try disabling noise subtraction

in CHDK. If the scene is dark then noise subtraction can significantly slow things down.

Even though it’s on the Raw menu it also affects jpegs.

Got the time per shot (set at 2 seconds as per tutorial) – down to 3 seconds – by

turning OFF RAW+JPEG, and using smallest JPEG size of 640×480 (fine resolution). Any

further trimming is due to write-delay, I’m sure!

#7 written by John

about 3 years ago

#8 written by Jonathan P

about 3 years ago

#9 written by Andy

about 3 years ago

#10 written by John

about 3 years ago

#11 written by Andy

about 3 years ago

#12 written by John

about 3 years ago



The widescreen option is smaller than 10MP and allows you to create high definition

time lapse movies.

My A480 “seems to shoot in RAW” but only my Picasa viewer can open it – CS3 doesn’t

like, neither does another dedicated RAW editor called Picture Style Editor…

It may be a small bug in my CHDK but when I try to select DNG Format a dialog box

shows up saying “Cannot load CHDK/badpixel.bin Please run

CHDK/SCRIPTS/TEST/badpixel.lua” …

Doesn’t sound like a bug to me. Sounds like instructions.

Its confusing – RAW dialog lets you set .CR2 as raw suffix, then later asks if you

want .DNG set as raw suffix – I am assuming that setting .DNG overwrites the

previous .CR2 command? If so, mine is not allowing the change…

OK, solved that last by running badpixel.bin. Now all I need is a RAW editor that can

open A480 CHDK .DNG files… any offers? @:)

PS7 I haven’t yet been able to open the DNG files, but CS3 it works fine!

#13 written by Andy

about 3 years ago

#14 written by John

about 3 years ago

#15 written by John

about 3 years ago

#16 written by Andy

about 3 years ago

#17 written by John

about 3 years ago

#18 written by John

about 3 years ago

#19 written by John

about 3 years ago

#20 written by Ram Pathak

about 3 years ago



Sir ,on running the script i am getting the error “40: module propcase not found no

field package .preload['propcase'] ” using A480. please help,Thanks

Nice page, really helped me to get into CHDK. I have also bought A480 for its small

size, CHDK and relatively low cost. I have used your scripts for Timelapse and KAP in

timer and full remote control. It works, some tuning of fardware and scripts are still

necessary as well as learning of CHDH.

Now I’am waiting for wind..

Hi,

The A480 sounds the perfect camera for my project. I want to setup a time-lapse

camera for my new house build – only trouble is it is taking 8 months and i have no

external power – and i don’t think the A480 batteries would last that long! I’m visiting

the site every 2 weeks so could change batteries then and am wanting to take around 5

photos a day. Any ideas on how i can setup an external power supply for the A480? I

was thinking of using a car battery and wiring to the battery compartment – with the

appropriate voltage/current conversion.

Dear Mr. Andy

thank you very much for sharing the very useful information on timelapse photography.

I use A480 canon. I tried Time lapse as per your instructions, its perfect. But, the output

file format is .thm. I don’t know how to open .thm file!!!

please help me….

Dr.V.Balaji, India

Never heard of a .thm file. Sorry.

Dear Mr. Andy,

#21 written by Pawel

about 3 years ago

#22 written by Peter

about 3 years ago

#23 written by Dr.Balaji

about 3 years ago

#24 written by Andy

about 3 years ago


about 3 years ago



After following your valuble instructions, the camera works perfect.

I just found that I have video file and .thm file (in the same name). But, I need to take

time lapse photographs (jpeg),

How to adjust the camera to get the time lapse photos (jpeg) instead of video

thanking you

Dr.V.Balaji

Finally I got it

I think i’ve worked out how to do my remote camera. I notice there is a DC input on the

camera, if I can get a car charger that fits the camera then i can use this to power the

camera off a standard car/motorbike 12v battery (with the right connections). Just need

to find a compatible car charger for the A480.

This is working really great – well done on some good tips…….although watch out if you

are copying files from a Mac rather than a PC, as the Mac adds some hidden stuff to the

SD card you need to get rid of – see http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ/Mac

If you are not seeing the ‘Firm Update’ menu and you are using a Mac then this is the

problem!

I’m trying to take photos over a number of days – any ideas on how i can not take

photos overnight? I was wondering if i could use the clock and restrict it to take photos

only between, say, 9am and 4pm ?

Also need to disable the flash – but i guess i can do this before i run the script, which

would be the easiest option.

Have now managed to power the camera from a car ‘cigarette charger’. Found the spec

of the DC-In socket and bought a regulated car charger with the right DC fitting and it

works great with the 12V battery!


about 3 years ago


about 3 years ago


about 3 years ago


about 3 years ago


about 3 years ago



This guide is great. The time lapse script works like a charm on my A480 thanks Andy

for sharing it with us.

@ Peter what type of regulated car charger did you use? How much is the rated output

current and voltage of the regulator? Thanks…

Jay – I bought a universal charger witch adjustable voltage on Amazon – it has 2Amp

output and variable voltage – i set the voltage to 3v, based on the spec for the ACK800

official canon power supply. They just don’t do a car charger one.

The difficult bit was the connector, it needs a 0.75 x 2.5 DC jack, which was much

smaller than the ones supplied with the universal charger – so i had to buy an

additional ‘tip’ for the charger.

My house build cam is all setup now – many thanks for the script Andy. I’ve even

modified slightly to only take pictures in the daytime as I’m running my time lapse over

a number of days. After a bit of research I added the following function to test the light

before taking a picture and then wait until it is light enough….

function wait_for_light()

repeat

sleep(5000)

print(“Waiting for light…”)

t=read_bv96()

until t>0

end

Just added a call to this function as the first line after your ‘while’ loop, ie,

while endless or frame <= total_frames do

wait_for_light()

print_status………etc

Works a treat!

“Change Secs/frame to “2″”

Can you change this to another number other than 2 or do you have to edit the script

to change the interval?

#31 written by Jay

about 3 years ago


about 3 years ago


about 3 years ago

#34 written by Mike.noob

about 2 years ago



I just purchased an a480. I’m looking at another memory card. Is there a particular

reason for using 8gb or can you go higher?

i keep getting this error with this script –

UBASIC:1Unk stmt – ? it’s very small and difficult to read. i’m on a mac. Help please !

The shit works. I got it working without help from anyone and have never done this

before. There is plenty of forum info out there. Dave with the Mac…. make sure you use

something that will save the script to ANSI text.

I’m trying to use the script above as is and I can’t seem to turn off the display while in

time lapse mode.

I know the author said to set the ‘Display off frame’ to zero in order for the script to

work but then how does one turn off the LCD to achieve longer battery life?

the A480 doesn’t have a display button so I can’t turn off the display and then run the

script.

Thanks

Plug the video out cable in, but leave it unconnected to anything else.

i used acid and SDMinst – works like a charm.

i now have two a480s rolling on a home remodel.

I’m in Minnesota, and the cameras will be outside, so i’m curious if the cold will gum

things up.


about 2 years ago

#36 written by David

about 2 years ago


about 2 years ago

#38 written by henry

about 2 years ago

#39 written by Andy

about 2 years ago

#40 written by David

about 2 years ago

#41 written by Bob

about 2 years ago



Thanks for posting this. My new A480 is my third CHDK equipped Canon. For some

reason I had a lot of trouble getting it running on my 480 but thanks to your complete

guide it works like a charm.

@Peter and others looking for external power:

Check ebay, I found many external power supplies available specifically for the A480 at

around $10. MacGyver not needed.

as far as being outside in the cold:

I place mine in a modified plexi-glass box with a chem pack hand warmer that lasts

about 12 hrs for cold overnights.

Hello, I finally chdk installed on my Canon A480, which is also new to me. 3 Qs:

1) I can’t get the camera to give me shots with 10M resolution. Each shot is only

about .5M

3) In the Adobe Bridge Advanced Dialog, I see files with .RAW extension. Adobe

Photoshop CS3 won’t open them. In chdk I changed the file extension to .CR2; when I

upload the files to the Mac, they still display as .RAW and Adobe Photoshop CS3 still

won’t open them. Any ideas? Thanks so much.

1) Never mind on the 1st one; I just discovered that the tiny brochure with my used

camera was only a “Quick Start” & not a manual. No wonder I couldn’t figure anything

out.

Never mind on 3) either for now; I just found a CHDK user guide in Wikipedia. Thanks.

Thank you! Everything works just fine after half an hour of setting up all of this stuff!

#42 written by Strype

about 2 years ago

#43 written by Peggy

about 2 years ago


about 2 years ago


about 2 years ago

#46 written by Aaron A. Aaronson

about 2 years ago

#47 written by John

about 2 years ago



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.thm file is a THuMbnail file! CHDK works very well – recently, there have been

burglaries in my area – I have just purchased some cheap power-supplies, and will have

3 x A480 cameras shooting at 10 second intervals – which I can render into a movie

using VirtualDub – economic security cameras with great detail and resolution. I also

intend to make a Eurostar movie – London to Brussels – and post it to YouTube

Hi Guys,

I’m using a A480 with chdk, i’m also using a power supply bough on ebay however

when ever i try and enter camera mode to start the time laps script the camera tells me

to “charge the batteries” but only when the power supply is connected i’ve tried fully

charged batteries and no batteries same result.

Any one know why this is?

M

Thanks! It works like a charm.

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#48 written by Mike

about 2 years ago

#49 written by Spanish

about 2 years ago

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