D90 sdk

Finally!

If nothing else, it shouldn't be terribly difficult to show what settings the camera is deciding to use during D-Movie, much like the 5D.

Nikonhack.com, anyone??
 
After a quick review of the SDK for the D90 it appears to be for controlling a camera tethered to a computer. I found nothing that addresses the firmware definitions for sensor pixels, compression, LiveView time limits, etc.

As you would expect, almost all of the commands and capabilities have to do with still photos. The SDK is for several other Nikon models in addition to the D90. I did find a few sections that might be useful for improving video capture - specifically in terms of controlling the shutter speed and ISO.

Besides controlling the camera from a computer, it might be possible to use it to create a video specific profile that could be loaded on a card like with Picture Control included with ViewNX. It might be that this profile could include specific shutter rates, ISO definitions, etc.

Like most SDK's there is some cross-over between Windows and Mac apps but there are enough differences that it's likely that you'd need to choose one OS.

I'm not enough of a programmer to take this on but I've managed enough programming projects to know that you won't get this done over a weekend or two. Still, there may be something here...

-a-
 
What are the chances someone could write a code for less compression/higher (or constant) bitrate during shooting? This would be one of the most helpful things I think, next to manual control.
 
Vertical said:
so?

I was wondering if the SDK is for the camera's CPU or mac and pcs. I am a programmer, so no need to tell me what an SDK is...hahhah
Click to expand...

That's great to hear. Check it out (11MB download), its for either mac or pc, the binaries are in different folders.
 
brunsona said:
After a quick review of the SDK for the D90 it appears to be for controlling a camera tethered to a computer. I found nothing that addresses the firmware definitions for sensor pixels, compression, LiveView time limits, etc.
....

Besides controlling the camera from a computer, it might be possible to use it to create a video specific profile that could be loaded on a card like with Picture Control included with ViewNX. It might be that this profile could include specific shutter rates, ISO definitions, etc.
Click to expand...

I wonder if anyone could check this out.
 
I would particularly be interested in a *tweak* of the current in-camera process. Perhaps taking the footage from the sensor, bypassing all camera technology (compression, filters, OSD, etc) and sending the raw footage right out the HDMI port. Then we'd have a variety of options for the recording of raw, uncompressed high res footage.

A little hacking around may uncover some undocumented API methods for video. Looks like their documentation only covers still-photo specific calls. The video-specific methods have to be in there somewhere.
 
How about we start compiling a list of realistic, usable features that we might like to see in a desktop application to control our D90s?
 
at least be able to start recording from clicking something on the computer... even if it still records to a camera
 
Even if video is not easily modified, we might be able to execute a script that takes 24 high res still images per second off the camera and wraps it into an uncompressed MOV file.

USB2 has 480Mbps bandwidth - which is about 60MB per second, or 2.5MB per still frame. Resolution could be variable as long as it stays that small.

There are bottlenecks with that theory, though. If the camera has the ability to push the data out, you'd need either a significant RAID0 array or a solid-state disk to write data that fast. Those are pretty expensive... last time I checked, a (quality) 64GB solid state disk was about $1,000. Of course, depending on the amount you're shooting, you might be able to get away with a handful of CF2 cards (assuming you're shooting 10-15 minute scenes and dumping the footage to hard disk in between).

Just some thoughts...
 
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