# dSLR Controller HDR interface: Cannot figure out what he did...



## jonathan7007 (Jul 3, 2015)

I wish I had the discipline to figure this out by myself but I am bit lazy so here goes: What is he thinking (the one-man Chainfire developer who came up with dSLR Controller.) I love what it does except for this. I shoot a lot of interiors and want to avoid buying an expensive attachment called "Promote" which drives a HDR exposure set for a Canon (or Nikon...) at chosen bracket interval and total number of shots. I think it will lift the mirror first if requested. Promote is about $300 - last I looked. 
dSLR controller does this too, but the screen at which you set this up does not seem to allow me to set up the exposures the way a photographer thinks of the task, and the offered buttons don't work (to me, could be operator idiocy) as they would be expected to work.

He refers to centering (good - but at what exposure?) and adding shots, (good) but they lay in oddly in the set... You can't ask questions like this directly and the developers' forum he is in (admittedly often - this is good) is hard to register in and not devoted to photo questions. 

The key to these tools is speed. In both dSLR Controller and Promote the viewing of the file is bypassed and any other method, including the Canon EOS Utility I have to fire off each one and for EOS Utility I have to use the arrow key to shift a shutterspeed. Then hit the space bar or "button" graphic.

BTW, I just got off the phone with Canon who admitted that the Japanese developers took "Test Shooting" out of EOS Utility v3! so we cannot blow up an exposure inside the program. Maybe I'll have to tether to LR now. Maybe Lightroom has spawned an HDR plug-in from an independent developer? Off to Google...

Jonathan7007


----------



## tolusina (Jul 3, 2015)

jonathan7007 said:


> ...... HDR exposure set for a Canon (or Nikon...) at chosen bracket interval and total number of shots.......
> 
> ........dSLR controller does this too, but the screen at which you set this up does not seem to allow me to set up the exposures the way a photographer thinks of the task, and the offered buttons don't work (to me, could be operator idiocy) as they would be expected to work.......


Not sure what it is that you are missing.
My set up is 6D USB cable connected to an ASUS tablet.
On the 6D I've set up the C1 custom shooting mode exclusively to use with DSLRController.
Those settings are full manual, ISO 100, f, 6.3, 1/125, AWB. 
I normally shoot with back button focus, that is switched off in the C1 set, focus returned to the shutter button.
---
I'm not seeing anyway to use the camera's in camera HDR function that merges exposures into a single .jpg and discards the original. 

As you did mention an "HDR exposure set" in your post above, I'm assuming from that that your intent is to capture separate frames, merge them yourself to taste later in post.

I've never automated HDR merging, the few I've done I've opened each of three exposures as a layer in GIMP, created shadow masks from the over and under exposures, tweaked to taste and merged from there. Never tried with more that three exposures.
So, I'm wanting DSLRController to take one exposure as I've set in live view (exposure simulation set 'on' in camera menus) one over and one under exposure, an exposure bracketed set.

Set the desired center exposure in live view.
In DSLRController hit the gear icon for settings, select HDR/Auto-exposure bracketing.
Select mode> Shutterspeed. I can't imagine wanting to change depth of field and therefore composition between exposures, ISO bracketing will change noise level between exposures, that doesn't sound good, so bracket shutter speed. 
Top choice default is 'Center; 0 EV, that'll be the exposure you set back in live view before you entered the HDR mode. Want the center over or under? + or - as you like.
Step and Shots seem pretty self explanatory.
Size of Step and number of shots will vary according to the range of light levels in the scene.


----------



## tolusina (Jul 4, 2015)

Second thoughts;

Why bother using DSLRController for this at all?

It's an easy in camera custom setting to select 2, 3, 5 or 7 shots when bracketing.

Once you've decided that, center exposure and step size are easily selected from the Q button menu.

Fire the shutter via infrared remote with the U.S.D. $20.00 Canon RC-6, 
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/683524-REG/Canon_4524B001_RC_6_Wireless_Remote_Control.html

Or, if your Android phone has an IR transmitter, DSLR Remote is a free app from Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.dslrremote
Will work with Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax etc., does some other simple tasks too.

I don't figure DSLR Remote to be any sort of competitor to DSLRController, I have both for completely different uses.
I quite like DSLRController, it allows me to do things with 6D that I can't do directly on camera, bought my ASUS tablet expressly to run this app.

Exposure bracketing is so simple on camera, the only reason I'd use DSLRController for this would be where I wanted extremely critical and precise live view focusing at 10X on the big screen, not worth the effort otherwise.


----------



## jonathan7007 (Jul 4, 2015)

Tolusina,
Thank you for checking in to share about this as I have seen you reply about the software in the past. I hoped you were going to post. I like the idea of a "C" setting devoted to dSLR Controller, because I use BBF in all other situations.

I was not very clear. Trouble is Canon Rumors forum-goers usually don't respond to long posts. Either I ask boring stuff, write poorly, or most of us are not here for the TLDR content and arguments. I have the Canon wired remote. I first ran the dSLR Controller on an inexpensive ASUS Transformer101. Perfect! It had the keyboard to attach which gave me a real USB connector. I now use a Samsung Note 10 2014 tablet with much higher resolution running Android 4.3. I also tether with the Canon EOS Utility packages on my Lenovo w520. 

I shoot with 5DMk3 and 1DsMk3 bodies. I use 17mm and 24mm TSE lenses almost every time I do a room and especially if there is to be tilt the live focus check is mandatory. (I have the 45mm too, and that requires real care in tilting.) So I use the 5x and 10x with all these software tools.


For me the seven-frames limit is too small. Yes, I do shoot planning to use one of four tone-mapping or enfuse-based software products back in post-processing. (That is, if I haven't chosen to use my Einsteins and build the image that way.) I want a 16-bit TIFF file at the end, and I am experimenting with Unified Color's "BEF" format for 32-bit manipulation inside Photoshop. I have taken as few as seven but usually 11, 13, 15, that range. I face a wide range of light doing interiors in Hawaii: about 14 to 15 stops. I have never really bothered to measure the exact number, but some of the interior are dark wood, making the DR problem worse. 

There is a need to move fast, so a tool that makes that possible is good. For instance, I did a dusk interior that started at 30 seconds. That's a few minutes of navigating the control and waiting for shutter, allowing it to display, and not moving too fast, which I find can freeze the whole she-bang! Thanks for writing out the Chainfire command set - I do know where the setting is for the HDR interface. If dSLR Controller gets the range of exposures right I have used that and it's WAY quicker than stepping through the same exposures in EOS Utility. What I cannot figure out is what the "center" becomes in that interface. And it seems to indicate I can shift the whole set to greater or lesser exposure, but the outer exposures seem to "compress." (spacing) And there's a red marker in the line of exposures on each end and the marked exposures outside that are not counted. But are they going to fire anyway?

This is only the beginning of my confusion...

You helped by telling me the "center" of the bracket will be the exposure set in the main window when I navigate to the HDR module? There is no indication in "HDR" what that center is.

"Step" is clear.

"Shots" reacts oddly. I wish I had it open here now with a body on it... dSLR Controller doesn't add the extra shots on both ends or even where I'd expect the top or bottom to be.

I am just ornery about spending the $330 on the Promote when I got something for $8.50 that will do the same thing. BTW, clients love the tablet thing. They walk by and go "Whoa!" -- or, I can get buy-in more easily for choice I made for point of view.

Again, thanks for the ideas. Will make a "C" profile.

Jonathan

Promote is a phone-sized product sold by Promote Systems, $330 on Amazon. You tell it how many exposures, the begiing exposure, the step up/down for each successive image capture. It rips through the set really quickly.


----------



## jonathan7007 (Jul 4, 2015)

The "he" in my Subject line refers to the software developer.


----------



## privatebydesign (Jul 4, 2015)

You should look at the CamRanger, it is the go to tool for architectural shooters. It allows as many bracketed shots as you want at whatever exposure difference you want, it will also fire the flash at the same time as the bracket sequence.


----------



## msatter (Jul 4, 2015)

Have a look at DSLRdashboard: http://dslrdashboard.info/

The development of DSLRcontroller has been halted by Chainfire.


----------



## Mt Spokane Photography (Jul 4, 2015)

Cam Ranger (Also $300), and iUSBPORT II also do this. I happened to buy a IUSBPORT II recently at B&H on sale for under $200, and it will remotely tether a Canon DSLR and bracket exposures, or will bracket focusing which is useful for macros. It works with IOS or Android.

I use it to remotely capture bird photos.

I prefer it over Cam Ranger because of the better hardware. I don't know how often they go on sale.


----------



## jonathan7007 (Jul 4, 2015)

PbD, I have seen a lot of positive comments about CamRanger, however I am doing all my work on Windows and Android. I see other products mentioned here which I will research. I never seemed to need the wireless function in my interiors, but shooting yesterday I needed to hide a light behind a refrigerator or under a kitchen cabinet and although the shot was going to be available light/HDR a tiny flash capable of dialing way down would have done the trick with a gel. I do light spaces (strobe) when appropriate, too. 

I will also check out the news that Chainfire stopped dSLR Controller development.


----------



## jonathan7007 (Jul 4, 2015)

Here is a statement by the Chainfire developer which is interesting and a must-read for those using or considering the software:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1202082&page=364

...and the evidence (posted pleas for help) proving the difficulties of supporting photographers keep on coming right after his statement. Here I was complaining, too! Lazy fool that I am... His software helped me on a lot of shoots.

I was part of the digital camera business long ago so I get how tough this is, and he mentions that SLR sales are falling fast. Fact. 

Thanks for all the responses, folks.
Jonathan7007


----------



## tolusina (Jul 6, 2015)

jonathan7007 said:


> ......
> 
> I shoot with 5DMk3 and 1DsMk3 bodies.....
> 
> ...


I can't talk to the 5D or 1D, I have only 6D for reference.
Here's my take including some assumptions I think reasonable.


Your seven frame limit sure rules out creating an entire set easily in camera, you'd have to do multiple sets with hands on camera, avoiding hands on camera is one of the reasons to tether for sure.

6D in camera has a + - 5EV bracketing range limit.
DSLRController shows a fine red line showing where the +5EV limit is, curiously there is no lower limit showing in DSLRController.
If I create a set where some exposures fall beyond the thin red line of the scale, the line representing those exposures goes bold red, those exposures will not be captured.
If you need to get beyond the +5EV limit, set your initial/center lower, then add exposures or increase step size to fill the range.
Playing silly, I was able to expose as low as -9EV even though the scale bottoms at -8EV, I did not explore the actual lower limit.
More silly, went as low as -11EV to +5EV in one set.

Also while playing silly, I bracketed a set of 31, these I shot in jpg so as to avoid any buffer issues with so large a set.

Regarding the odd spacing, yes indeed. I thought it's was a shortcoming of the scale markings in 1/3EV steps., not the case. 
Odd spacing between the steps happens when there's a conflict between the step size set in camera (1/3EV or 1/2EV) and the step size you've selected in DSLRController. If the step size chosen in DSLRController is not the same or an exact multiple of the step size selected in camera, DSLRController will display AND shoot the odd spacing It rounds up or down, didn't spend time on this point, seemed irrelevant.
Granted it took some mucking about to figure what's happening but overall I think well done by Chainfire, it's how (I think) it should be even though not initially intuitive.

Good, educational fun this post.
Along the way I've learned some fine points about both DSLRController and 6D's Custom shooting modes. I learned that Exposure level increments can be set in the 'C' modes independently of that in use in the creative modes, I'm chalking this down as good to know.

As far as Promote's speed, I've no idea but DSLRController's set up time seems pretty quick to me. The only thing time consuming is exposure time on the overexposed images. Buffer could be an issue too, but that seems a camera issue. Maybe an external recorder like video shooters use could overcome buffer issues, seems like more gear to haul and configure, no idea if it'd be workable or not.


- - -
Did we get clear on the 'center' topic?
Do 5D and 1D have under exposure red line limits where 6D does not?


----------



## tolusina (Jul 6, 2015)

Has anyone else noticed that DSLRController reports camera shutter count along with everything else it does?


----------



## Valvebounce (Jul 7, 2015)

Hi tolusina. 
Yes, just has to be the best value for a shutter count given everything else it does. I just read chainfire's post about stopping the development, very sad news for such a great product, no idea why anyone would complain about the price, it is so cheap! I think if there was a limited time trial so that people could see what they are getting he could easily have charged double! I was hesitant about buying as I didn't know if it would be any good, especially when you factor in the crap that you can get for android. 

Cheers,Graham. 



tolusina said:


> Has anyone else noticed that DSLRController reports camera shutter count along with everything else it does?


----------

