Capture video from Canon PowerShot P5 IS

[Matthew Hirsch]

I have a Canon PowerShot P5 IS. I'd like to capture video over the USB
cable. Is this possible? When I give a command like this:

gphoto2 --capture-movie --get-file 1

The camera takes a picture and stores it, rather than a video.

I get the same result if I use --capture-sound or --capture-image, or
try to specify the number of frames with -F, or the interval with -I. I
am attempting this while the camera mode dial is set to movie.

Does it matter that this camera has a separate shutter button and video
record button? This is different than other canon cameras I've seen. In
movie mode the shutter button still takes a picture, and in picture mode
the video record button still records a movie.

I can upload the contents of the above commands with --debug if that
would be helpful.

I'm using the Fedora 9 version of gphoto:

$ gphoto2 --version
gphoto2 2.4.0

Copyright (c) 2000-2006 Lutz Mueller and others

gphoto2 comes with NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. You may
redistribute copies of gphoto2 under the terms of the GNU General Public
License. For more information about these matters, see the files named
COPYING.

This version of gphoto2 is using the following software versions and
options:
gphoto2         2.4.0          gcc, popt(m), exif, no cdk, no aa, jpeg,
readline
libgphoto2      2.4.0          gcc, ltdl, EXIF
libgphoto2_port 0.8.0          gcc, ltdl, USB, serial baudboy locking

Here are the config options from the camera:

$ gphoto2 --set-config capture=1 --list-config

value 1 , t 1
$ gphoto2 --list-config
/main/settings/owner                                                          
/main/settings/model
/main/settings/firmwareversion
/main/settings/time
/main/settings/capturetarget
/main/settings/capture
/main/imgsettings/imgquality
/main/imgsettings/imgsize
/main/imgsettings/iso
/main/imgsettings/whitebalance
/main/capturesettings/zoom
/main/capturesettings/assistlight
/main/capturesettings/exposurecompensation
/main/capturesettings/canonflashmode
/main/capturesettings/shootingmode
/main/capturesettings/aperture
/main/capturesettings/focusingpoint
/main/capturesettings/shutterspeed
/main/capturesettings/meteringmode
/main/capturesettings/afdistance
/main/capturesettings/focuslock


Thanks for any help.

Matt


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[Marcus Meissner]

On Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 11:25:13PM -0400, Matt Hirsch wrote:

> I have a Canon PowerShot P5 IS. I'd like to capture video over the USB
> cable. Is this possible? When I give a command like this:
>
> gphoto2 --capture-movie --get-file 1
>
> The camera takes a picture and stores it, rather than a video.
>
> I get the same result if I use --capture-sound or --capture-image, or
> try to specify the number of frames with -F, or the interval with -I. I
> am attempting this while the camera mode dial is set to movie.

The --capture-movie --capture-sound functions are not implemented for Canons
(nor any other Camera I think).
Newer libgphoto2 will report "unsupported", in 2.4.0 they just alway took
an image.

So far we have not found if we can control the movie abilities
remotely.

What would be possible would be to take a stream of preview (viewfinder)
images and turn them into a videostream. Without sound though and at one
fixed size.

> Does it matter that this camera has a separate shutter button and video
> record button? This is different than other canon cameras I've seen. In
> movie mode the shutter button still takes a picture, and in picture mode
> the video record button still records a movie.

Interesting. Does it matter how long you press it there?

Ciao, Marcus

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[Matthew Hirsch]

On Tue, 2008-09-23 at 08:48 +0200, Marcus Meissner wrote:

> On Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 11:25:13PM -0400, Matt Hirsch wrote:
> > I have a Canon PowerShot P5 IS. I'd like to capture video over the USB
> > cable. Is this possible?
>
> The --capture-movie --capture-sound functions are not implemented for Canons
> (nor any other Camera I think).
> Newer libgphoto2 will report "unsupported", in 2.4.0 they just alway took
> an image.
>
> So far we have not found if we can control the movie abilities
> remotely.
>

I saw someone using this PSRemote software to capture video from the S5
IS: http://www.breezesys.com/PSRemote/index.htm I don't have windows
installed, but maybe this would be a good place to start?

> What would be possible would be to take a stream of preview (viewfinder)
> images and turn them into a videostream. Without sound though and at one
> fixed size.
>

I'll try that. Thanks.

> > Does it matter that this camera has a separate shutter button and video
> > record button? This is different than other canon cameras I've seen. In
> > movie mode the shutter button still takes a picture, and in picture mode
> > the video record button still records a movie.
>
> Interesting. Does it matter how long you press it there?

It doesn't seem to matter how long the button is pressed. You can see
the two buttons in the photo:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=144&modelid=15207

As far as I can tell the only purpose of the video mode is to change the
video capture settings.

Thanks again for your help.
Matt


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