Would You Perhaps Be Interested In A Different GX80/85 Colour Profile???

[JHB]

On ‎5‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 10:30 PM, BTM_Pix said:

Thanks.

It has its own shiny new thread with more details on here

 

Hi BTM_Pix

Thanks for all the work you have done and I have enjoyed using your 'Deploy Cinelike D and V', which I run from an ancient Blackberry Tablet. I have no access to iPhone or Android so cannot use the Panasonic Image App but would like to remotely trigger the camera shutter from my Blackberry.

If it is not giving away too much to the detriment of your above Controller, is it possible for you to share the html code that controls the shutter.

With thanks

[BTM_Pix]

15 minutes ago, JHB said:

Hi BTM_Pix

Thanks for all the work you have done and I have enjoyed using your 'Deploy Cinelike D and V', which I run from an ancient Blackberry Tablet. I have no access to iPhone or Android so cannot use the Panasonic Image App but would like to remotely trigger the camera shutter from my Blackberry.

If it is not giving away too much to the detriment of your above Controller, is it possible for you to share the html code that controls the shutter.

With thanks

Here you go, I've added it at the bottom of this new html file for you

 

 

GX800 TESTER V2.html

[JHB]

13 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Here you go, I've added it at the bottom of this new html file for you

 

 

GX800 TESTER V2.html

Thanks again. I had been trying to guess the command but was miles out!

[hatflyer]

can I do this with a PC and not a smart phone?

Clicking on Handshake yields an OK page. But when I click connect, I get this error:

"This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.
      <camrply><result>err_reject</result></camrply> "

Any ideas? I have the GX85.

[BTM_Pix]

27 minutes ago, hatflyer said:

can I do this with a PC and not a smart phone?

Clicking on Handshake yields an OK page. But when I click connect, I get this error:

"This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.
      <camrply><result>err_reject</result></camrply> "

Any ideas? I have the GX85.

It can be done with any browser so the PC will be fine.

The very first time you do it, it will probably reject the connect as its registering a new connection but second time round it will be fine.

If it fails, go back to the original html file at the beginning of the thread just in case an error crept in with that last one. Im in transit so can't check it but I doubt it's not working.

[18hans]

Hey guys,

I'm working on a project for which I need to start the video playback from the gh5 itself. I'm wondering if there is any possibility to do that. 

The original Panasonic App only offers playback on the phone/computer, but the built-in screen from the camera stays black, so I guess it is not possible.

But if you have any other information or know a way how I could achieve remote in-camera playback, it would be great.

[hatflyer]

I have the GX85. Once I set Cinelike D as C1, can I later change the aperture and SS when shooting? Seems I can change the f-stop with a dial, but then the SS is automatically set based on the f-stop. And can I change the ISO depending on the shoot environment?

[BTM_Pix]

6 hours ago, 18hans said:

Hey guys,

I'm working on a project for which I need to start the video playback from the gh5 itself. I'm wondering if there is any possibility to do that. 

The original Panasonic App only offers playback on the phone/computer, but the built-in screen from the camera stays black, so I guess it is not possible.

But if you have any other information or know a way how I could achieve remote in-camera playback, it would be great.

Just walk me through exactly what you want to do with it

[BTM_Pix]

32 minutes ago, hatflyer said:

I have the GX85. Once I set Cinelike D as C1, can I later change the aperture and SS when shooting? Seems I can change the f-stop with a dial, but then the SS is automatically set based on the f-stop. And can I change the ISO depending on the shoot environment?

I take it you got the cinelike d to work yesterday then ?

If you are in Manual mode when you Save to C1 it will be in manual mode when you recall it and should have retained the ISO, Aperture and Shutter values you had set.

Sounds like you have saved it in when you were in Aperture Priority mode.

Just change to Manual in the camera menu and save it again 

[hatflyer]

4 minutes ago, BTM_Pix said:

I take it you got the cinelike d to work yesterday then ?

If you are in Manual mode when you Save to C1 it will be in manual mode when you recall it and should have retained the ISO, Aperture and Shutter values you had set.

Sounds like you have saved it in when you were in Aperture Priority mode.

Just change to Manual in the camera menu and save it again 

Thanks. I got it to work, the second version. Not sure why it didn't before.

[18hans]

On 6/8/2018 at 10:04 PM, BTM_Pix said:

Just walk me through exactly what you want to do with it

The idea is to build a "slow motion box". The user inside the box hits a button connected with some sort of computer (Raspberry Pi i.e.) and the camera starts recording for a certain amount of time (some seconds).

Afterwards the user should watch the playback of the recorded footage. The problem is that transferring the file to the computer after recording takes too much time because it needs to record in a high quality codec for slow motion and the transfer rate is too slow. Usually a file of some 100 mb is created and transferring it even via USB-tethering takes 30secs and more which is way too long.

So my idea is to trigger the playback of the recorded footage in-camera and output it via HDMI from the camera to a TV.

I don't see any way to achieve this yet.

[BTM_Pix]

1 minute ago, 18hans said:

The idea is to build a "slow motion box". The user inside the box hits a button connected with some sort of computer (Raspberry Pi i.e.) and the camera starts recording for a certain amount of time (some seconds).

Afterwards the user should watch the playback of the recorded footage. The problem is that transferring the file to the computer after recording takes too much time because it needs to record in a high quality codec for slow motion.

So my idea is to trigger the playback of the recorded footage in-camera and output it via HDMI from the camera to a TV.

I don't see any way to achieve this yet.

OK

Leave it with me.

My initial reaction is to say this is more readily doable with a Sony camera because their remote protocol is a bit more rounded (not to mentioned documented) than the Panasonic one but I'll have a look.

[18hans]

1 minute ago, BTM_Pix said:

OK

Leave it with me.

My initial reaction is to say this is more readily doable with a Sony camera because their remote protocol is a bit more rounded (not to mentioned documented) than the Panasonic one but I'll have a look.

Yeah that's what I thought as well.

The problem is we only have A7sII and A7III cameras, and they can't produce proper slow motion video.

They only create high frame rate video files, which u need to slow down manually in software. But since the playback should start immediatly after recording, I want to avoid processing the videofile. Then also a slow machine like a raspberry probably wouldn't have enough processing power for slowing down the footage fast enough.

And the GH5 delivers exactly what I need, the only problem is the video playback ?

[BTM_Pix]

OK, I'll see what I can do.

I was thinking of incorporating some playback into my controller anyway so it could be useful.

I don't have a GH5 to test with so can you do me a favour and subscribe to this thread, that way you'll get an alert if I add something as there may be some testing I need you to do if I come up with a solution.

 

[18hans]

1 minute ago, BTM_Pix said:

OK, I'll see what I can do.

I was thinking of incorporating some playback into my controller anyway so it could be useful.

I don't have a GH5 to test with so can you do me a favour and subscribe to this thread, that way you'll get an alert if I add something as there may be some testing I need you to do if I come up with a solution.

 

Yes I have subscribed already

And thank you so much for trying to find a solution!

[tupp]

3 hours ago, 18hans said:

But since the playback should start immediatly after recording, I want to avoid processing the videofile. Then also a slow machine like a raspberry probably wouldn't have enough processing power for slowing down the footage fast enough.

Getting deeper and deeper into the age of instant gratification...

 

It probably doesn't require a lot of processing power to simply slow down the frame rate -- it just takes a buffer/storage to hold the faster playback stream from the camera.

 

Mplayer can play a stream from some video files while the file is being stored/created.  Here is an example of how to play the frames of a video file at a frame rate of 23.97 (regardless of the original frame rate):

Quote

mplayer -fps 23.97 your_video_file.mov

 

 

I think that ffplay (the ffmpeg player) can do the same, but I am not too familiar with it.

[BTM_Pix]

The issue/challenge is the automation aspect though @tupp in that the files need to be accessed from the camera directly without any manual intervention (ie taking the card out to be played in an external player or even using the camera's physical controls to instigate playback).

I think I have worked out a sneaky solution to this problem though........

Tune in tomorrow night for details

[tupp]

@BTM_Pix

Mplayer can play a file on the destination device while the file is being transferred from the camera to the destination device.  So, if the video file is the right container/codec, a simple script would enable slo-mo playback with mplayer, by starting a transfer and then starting the mplayer playback at the specified frame rate.  This method should work with both USB and wifi file transfers.

 

Looking forward to hearing your solution!

[18hans]

11 hours ago, tupp said:

Getting deeper and deeper into the age of instant gratification...

It probably doesn't require a lot of processing power to simply slow down the frame rate -- it just takes a buffer/storage to hold the faster playback stream from the camera.

Okay maybe the problem was not so much the processing but if you transfer the video completly before processing that would take too much time already.

But your idea sounds interesting. So basically you say I should use the file stream and play it back directly? 

That would be an interesting alternative if the transferrates are high enough and of course if the codec can be streamed.
 And the the slowing down playback would not be needed anymore because I that case I can just use the video from the GH5 which can slow down internally, so only a normal speed playback would be needed.

If @BTM_Pix doesn't find a better solution I will have a look at it. 

[BTM_Pix]

OK, here we go ...

My understanding of what the actual setup is going to be is that it is pretty much akin to a photobooth but for slo motion video.  (please chime in @18hans if I'm mistaken)

I'm guessing its either an art installation or something to help people with their golf swing

So, the flow would be as follows :

1. Person enters booth
2. Person presses physical switch to instigate recording 
3. After a defined period of time recording is stopped
4. Recorded video is automatically replayed on a screen in the booth

To instigate the recording, we are going to need some way of interfacing with that physical switch and putting the camera in record whether thats via wifi or with a shutter release cable and then having a counter and then stopping the recording.

Consequently we are going to need some sort of microcontroller  to handle the switch, the logic and the camera control, whether thats a Pi or an Arduino or some such.

That bit is the easy part.

The main issue is in having a way to extract files off the camera whilst still keeping it operative.

Going into playback mode over wifi by spoofing being Panasonic's app is a non-starter as it kills the HDMI output.

The standard USB mode will stop the camera functionality and just use it as a very expensive SD card reader whilst the Tether app for the GH5 has a few drawbacks

1. It lists 'some limitations' when being used for video (I have no idea what they are but that doesn't sound good
2. It needs a 'real' computer to run it on, which may or may not present budget and/or footprint issues for the application its being used for
3. There is no way within the Tether app to instigate the record start/stop from a physical switch complete with the timer aspect

If the budget does allow for a Mac to run it on then it might well be a workable solution as whilst its not possible to create the record start/stop logic inside the Tether app it is possible to create it using something like Keyboard Maestro https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/ to record screen macros of the record button being pressed and trigger it from a keyboard or even over midi. Midi might well be the way to do it because there are numerous small controllers and foot switches available off the shelf that could be used to handle the input from the user of the booth.

That setup would keep the camera operative whilst it is transferring files back to the Mac.

I'm not familiar with mplayer scripting so @tupp can chime in here but my presumption would be that it can be scripted to play the last file in a folder which could then be triggered by a watch folder option on the incoming folder?

So, if you've got the budget and the space for the computer and the midi controller then this could be all you need.

However.....

If you don't or would prefer a smaller and cheaper option, my £40 solution would be to put one of these Toshiba FlashAir wifi SD cards in the camera :

Because the camera doesn't know or care that it has these extra capabilities, there is no interruption to the camera operations as it just thinks it is an SD card.

Although it serves a similar purpose to the EyeFi cards, its actually a lot more open in terms of what you can do with it and can be used just as if it were a typical network drive.

So if you simply put "http://192.168.0.1/DCIM/101_PANA/P1010790.MP4" into mplayer then it will play that file off the camera without the camera being any the wiser or stopping you doing anything.

This includes recording another video on the camera at the same time as you are streaming from it by the way !

Obviously, from a programming point of view, this openness makes it easy and fast to come up with custom solutions as it can all be done with standard http commands (it stores its file list on a specific html page on the card for instance for quick retrieval).

It also means that you can remotely manipulate files on there to do routine file deletions (or moving to another drive in your network if you use it in Station mode) so it can be left running unattended.

It can also run LUA scripts from the card to do even more stuff like being able to ftp in and out of it.

Full documentation here :

https://www.flashair-developers.com/en/documents/api/

From the control of the camera point of view, if you are using a Pi, then its a small Python script with the GPIO to get the user switch, instigate the camera record out of another GPIO (hack a cheap remote shutter release), timer, stop recording, get the file list html file off the card, extract the last file name and then fire up mplayer to auto play it.

This script looks like it would be easily modifiable to get something up and running fairly painlessly

https://github.com/baudm/mplayer.py/wiki/Player

You could also instigate the record start/stop over wifi to the camera but you would then have to use a small router for the Pi to be able to address both the camera and the FlashAir card.

If you do go this route, make sure you get the W-04 version obviously as this has the fastest performance.

In summary ( ) the PC/Macro/Midi/Mplayer route would be something that you can get up and running with a USB cable quicker but at quite a big cost expense and footprint wise but the FlashAir route is cheaper, smaller and a bit neater if you can invest the time in the Python/hardware side of it.