NX-KS Mod pack - installation

headroom wrote:

Hi I would like to say thank for your help w. my problem 3 NX and 1 NX 500. Info "Bluethoot on" was helpfull. But NX 500 is still making troubles - cant enable Bluetooht WLAN is possible...

Could you please post a bit more details in the other thread?

Do you mean you can't use Bluetooth and WiFi at the same time?
If that's the problem, try setting up your WiFi on channel 7 or below to avoid interference from Bluetooth. Using a single channel 20MHz (vs 40MHz) will also help to avoid interference.

headroom wrote:

Kino Seed wrote:

headroom wrote:

Hi I would like to say thank for your help w. my problem 3 NX and 1 NX 500. Info "Bluethoot on" was helpfull. But NX 500 is still making troubles - cant enable Bluetooht WLAN is possible...

Could you please post a bit more details in the other thread?

Do you mean you can't use Bluetooth and WiFi at the same time?
If that's the problem, try setting up your WiFi on channel 7 or below to avoid interference from Bluetooth. Using a single channel 20MHz (vs 40MHz) will also help to avoid interference.

I cant post in the other tread error: Maximum Post acheived. I can select WLAN and is ON Mode. With WLAN Off: Bluetooht select with OK jumps allways to OFF!

here I can't replicate the problem you describe
please make sure you have the latest version installed, and try again

about issues with the functionality of NX-Ks, you can post in this thread:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/57718618

BernardoAdam wrote:

I think only the people with some "computer" background will install the modifications. For me it is not necessary to have a "read first advice". Never the less I liked to have a kind of manual how the mods work and to do a proper installation. Until now I still have some problems with the Focus stack mode, since the manual I use is the video in youtube, which is for NX1 and not for the NX500.

This morning I just thought about Samsungs opinion to your great work? Will they disturb in future your work by offering a new firmware? OK, we are not forced to install a new version.

Focus stack and the programs, which make this work (like poker - for memory modifications, gui - which allows us to have interface, to name a few) are crated by Otto.
However since Samsung camera's division (from what I can tell) is history, I seriously doubt that we'll get any firmware updates at all. And even if they did, as this is part of open source project (started by Otto), any commercial use would be violation of the GPL.

It's great that you have found video-instructions useful, but the question here is a bit different:

- "if you want to install, should you be asked for a password, which you can know only if you have read a file which explains - who gets credit for what, has listed their donation links, and so forth"?

It's nice to have a good manual what things do, and how to install the mods which zip files you have to extract. Please no passwords and so on, it is on your risk, the risk is little, because it's simple to uninstall.

ARSPR wrote:

Why do you want to put a question? It's only going to make lazy people tick/answer it without actually reading the Read me file... So it's actually a waste of time and you are not going to get any less repeated "silly" questions (already answered in Read me). This is a known fact in this hard life. You can only fight against it answering only "Please read the readme file" whenever you get a "silly" question.

The request of having this "pass" implemented has more to do with "making people see who gets credit for what", making them see "donation links" and things like that. Nothing to do with preparing them to use the mod (which is why I rejected this request once before).

Nevertheless, having said this and please, please, please, please, do not misunderstand me, I really think you should some more time writing a thoroughly deep readme file. I know you've really done a incredible work, and no praise will be enough, but somehow the readme file is far too basic.

I'm a perfect example here. I haven't followed the developement and ALL the threads about it and I've just installed the mod, (in fact yesterday). So I'm somehow a fully "noob" about the mod itself but I consider myself "not a noob" about photography in general. But I find a lot of info missing in that readme.

Examples:

• The actual meaning of each of the categories for movie bitrates. (I mean Vasile's table and the match between each mode and NX1 or NX500).

The table Vasile shows is how the camera separates the different resolution/quality modes, something that I tried to simplify, so you don't really need to know that table, just use the menu. (keep in mind that on NX1 high fps HD uses 4K's bitrate), other than that, it should be self-explanatory.

• What does actually focus pull (EV+Half shutter) do? (¿Memory of your current focus distance in case you use "Refocus on Boot" later?)

Goes back to previous focus distance that was used. Focus to subject 1, press EV+Half-shutter, focus on subject 2. Now when you half-press EV+Shutter you will switch back to the other subject in focus.

• What do Focus Buttons do? How do I use the 1 to 6 "keys"?

there are some youtube videos, but that's something Otto developed, so I'm not familiar with it's operations in detail

• How does Focus Stack work? I've pressed Near (to select near distance), then Far and then Stack and nothing happens. (Shouldn't my NX1 start taking pictures as in a bracketing mode?)

again something Otto developed, and since I use manual lenses it's not something I'm familiar with

• What's Batch recording (continuous recording)? How can you record without being continuous? (Is it just a No time limit?)

on NX500 recording limit is not removed from 4K / UHD, so it's an easy way to make one video after another

• What's Swap 256MB?

a virtual memory extension

• Is No Rec Limit setting the very same one set through the Auto:Down-OK.... "service" hidden menu? Or is it another different thing?

same thing, just no need for service menu

• What's Kill switch (removes keyscan and gui from memory)? (What's a "keyscan"?) I can swear that this custom feature is REAAAALY scary for a noob...

This one removes the programs from memory (so no more key-combination which are watched for by keyscan, no gui), until the next reboot, or they will get restarted in 3 min.

I'll try to make the readme more detailed when I have time : )
cheers

vasile wrote:

The pack should be complete on its own, it should include the information needed for a total uninformed person to get it installed, without needing to refer to other websites, etc.

A comprehensive README included in the pack should suffice.

Passwords/etc. are not needed.

1. If the person already knows how to install it, it can simply unzip in a sdcard and go.
2. If the person does not know, they will open the zip and notice the README. They should be able to read it and get from it all info they need to install and hopefully to operate the pack.

rgds

So you want a zip, inside the zip with a readme?
(no more proof of read?)

Considering that it's available from github and the readme is next to it, personally I think it's pointless, and overbearing having a zip inside a zip.
Packing it in just one zip and having a readme on the sdcard makes even less sense.
I'll pack it any way the community wants, as it is for them.
(what I use and how I pack it for myself has nothing to do with it,
and as it's available and easy modifiable, anyone else can customize it too)
cheers

vasile wrote:

Kino Seed wrote:

vasile wrote:

The pack should be complete on its own, it should include the information needed for a total uninformed person to get it installed, without needing to refer to other websites, etc.

A comprehensive README included in the pack should suffice.

Passwords/etc. are not needed.

1. If the person already knows how to install it, it can simply unzip in a sdcard and go.
2. If the person does not know, they will open the zip and notice the README. They should be able to read it and get from it all info they need to install and hopefully to operate the pack.

rgds

So you want a zip, inside the zip with a readme?
(no more proof of read?)

Considering that it's available from github and the readme is next to it, personally I think it's pointless, and overbearing having a zip inside a zip.

You still assume people that are given a direct link to the zip file will automatically know there is a readme stored next to it on github and that they will know to go there to find out how to install it and what it can do.

Not true. See here for an example. They were given a direct link to the zipfile, and had to ask about it.

this group requires membership, so I can't see it

but as I said, it doesn't matter, as anyone can modify the contents and re-zip it pretty easily, and imho, penalizing people by complicating the installation will make no difference to the links/posts, you are worried about.

rgds

Packing it in just one zip and having a readme on the sdcard makes even less sense.
I'll pack it any way the community wants, as it is for them.
(what I use and how I pack it for myself has nothing to do with it,
and as it's available and easy modifiable, anyone else can customize it too)
cheers

This feels a lot like the early Magic Lantern Canon hack days... Now that software really made me feel like a noob! Hopefully there will be a wiki for this at some point, nightly builds and all that - but it will take support from the Samsung user base, which the readme enforcement could help with.

vasile wrote:

Kino Seed wrote:

vasile wrote:

The pack should be complete on its own, it should include the information needed for a total uninformed person to get it installed, without needing to refer to other websites, etc.

A comprehensive README included in the pack should suffice.

Passwords/etc. are not needed.

1. If the person already knows how to install it, it can simply unzip in a sdcard and go.
2. If the person does not know, they will open the zip and notice the README. They should be able to read it and get from it all info they need to install and hopefully to operate the pack.

rgds

So you want a zip, inside the zip with a readme?
(no more proof of read?)

Considering that it's available from github and the readme is next to it, personally I think it's pointless, and overbearing having a zip inside a zip.

You still assume people that are given a direct link to the zip file will automatically know there is a readme stored next to it on github and that they will know to go there to find out how to install it and what it can do.

Not true. See here for an example. They were given a direct link to the zipfile, and had to ask about it.

rgds

Packing it in just one zip and having a readme on the sdcard makes even less sense.
I'll pack it any way the community wants, as it is for them.
(what I use and how I pack it for myself has nothing to do with it,
and as it's available and easy modifiable, anyone else can customize it too)
cheers

btw, I'm still not clear what you want.
- One zip containing ( readme and a second zip with installation files) ?
- One zip containing mod-installation and included in them a readme, which will get left on the SDcard?
- One zip, a readme and the installation file in a sub-directory, in which the installation files are located?

ARSPR wrote:

First of all: MANY THANKS FOR YOUR REPLY. (In big capital letters).

Kino Seed wrote:

ARSPR wrote:

Why do you want to put a question? It's only going to make lazy people tick/answer it without actually reading the Read me file... So it's actually a waste of time and you are not going to get any less repeated "silly" questions (already answered in Read me). This is a known fact in this hard life. You can only fight against it answering only "Please read the readme file" whenever you get a "silly" question.

The request of having this "pass" implemented has more to do with "making people see who gets credit for what", making them see "donation links" and things like that. Nothing to do with preparing them to use the mod (which is why I rejected this request once before).

If that is the reason (you want to put a big "made by xxxx" and "please support us doing yyyy"), of course I've got nothing to say about it.

But nevertheless you could add all this info inside the readme file (in fact the "made by Vasile and ottok" is there, what it's missing is "made by Kino Seed"). More over when ottok is currently saying "if you want to make a donation go to your nearest church, NGO, mosque or just the Red Cross..." (an attitude which highly speaks of him).

Nevertheless, having said this and please, please, please, please, do not misunderstand me, I really think you should some more time writing a thoroughly deep readme file. I know you've really done a incredible work, and no praise will be enough, but somehow the readme file is far too basic.

I'm a perfect example here. I haven't followed the developement and ALL the threads about it and I've just installed the mod, (in fact yesterday). So I'm somehow a fully "noob" about the mod itself but I consider myself "not a noob" about photography in general. But I find a lot of info missing in that readme.

Examples:

• The actual meaning of each of the categories for movie bitrates. (I mean Vasile's table and the match between each mode and NX1 or NX500).

The table Vasile shows is how the camera separates the different resolution/quality modes, something that I tried to simplify, so you don't really need to know that table, just use the menu. (keep in mind that on NX1 high fps HD uses 4K's bitrate), other than that, it should be self-explanatory.

No it's not self explanatory. As example I could concede that a 4K setting (NX1 pro1, aka 4K Pro) affects 4K and UHD at the same time (as both resolutions are more or less the same). But then that setting is also affecting some Full HD modes which is not obvious at all.

It's not a perfect world. Those high fps are only a case with NX1, and actually can't be separated from the 4K settings. How would you explain it better?

And also the very first time I saw the menu (where there's only 4K and HD listed), before I started digging in the forums, I actually thought "Aren't UHD and FHD resolutions tweakable?"

This is the type of info you have to add to the readme, like the NX1 User Manual contains the NX1 default bitrates...

well... it's in Vasile's table, however it sounds like it's just as confusing for people on a first look.

• What does actually focus pull (EV+Half shutter) do? (¿Memory of your current focus distance in case you use "Refocus on Boot" later?)

Goes back to previous focus distance that was used. Focus to subject 1, press EV+Half-shutter, focus on subject 2. Now when you half-press EV+Shutter you will switch back to the other subject in focus.

First of all. I would put a HUGE text saying that this feature is specially useful in MF mode (at least with both S lenses), because the camera can actually move the focus here. (The camera moving a lens in MF mode is not anything intuitive at all... unless explicitly told). Remember that in AF this function is more or less useless as the camera re-focuses again.

(In fact all the focus functions (stack and buttons) actually work in MF which is just great).

Suggestion for improvement in order to use this feature in AF: Is it possible to make EV+Shutter actually take the picture? I mean imagine that in AF, I've made EV+HalfShutter. Yes, the camera has actually moved to a previous focus position, but I cannot do anything more from here. If I go to EV+S it doesn't do anything, if I release EV and go to S it still doesn't do anything and if I release EV+HS and I press HS->S it refocuses...

Nevertheless I still don't understand exactly how this works.

I mean:

• Power on cycle. Lens in MF.
• First EV+HalfShutter: Remember focus position 1.
• Move focus to 2.
• Second EV+HalfShutter: Move focus to 2.
• Third EV+HalfShutter: Move focus to 1.
• Fourth EV+HalfShutter: Move focus to 2.
• Move focus to 3.
• Fifth EV+HS: What is going to happen? Do you memorize 3 and move to 1 (in fact, this is what seems to happen)? Do you memorize 3 and move to 2 (this is what I would expect to happen as my previous focus position was 2, not 1)

actually only memorizes one : ) so it is flexible
when you press EV+HS, it records the current focus position, and goes back to the previous last, which disappears and the current position which we recorded before the focus-jump becomes "the last" on record, to which will be jumping on next EV+HS

• What do Focus Buttons do? How do I use the 1 to 6 "keys"?

there are some youtube videos, but that's something Otto developed, so I'm not familiar with it's operations in detail

• How does Focus Stack work? I've pressed Near (to select near distance), then Far and then Stack and nothing happens. (Shouldn't my NX1 start taking pictures as in a bracketing mode?)

again something Otto developed, and since I use manual lenses it's not something I'm familiar with

• What's Batch recording (continuous recording)? How can you record without being continuous? (Is it just a No time limit?)

on NX500 recording limit is not removed from 4K / UHD, so it's an easy way to make one video after another

So it's just record till limit then start again. I suppose this also works in NX1 if you haven't disabled movie limit.

it makes 840sec. files.
it should work with NX1 too

• What's Swap 256MB?

a virtual memory extension

And???

there were some reports that when the rec-limit is removed, there is a crash due to a memory leak (camera gets to be out of memory), this should/may help with this issue, however its not tested/confirmed yet. It was tested for buffer extension and high-bitrates, but it did not improve them

I mean, we are photographers, no computer geeks. So my question remains unchanged: what does that virtual memory does?

it's like having more RAM but on a disk (it's slow but increases the available amount of memory)

• Is No Rec Limit setting the very same one set through the Auto:Down-OK.... "service" hidden menu? Or is it another different thing?

same thing, just no need for service menu

• What's Kill switch (removes keyscan and gui from memory)? (What's a "keyscan"?) I can swear that this custom feature is REAAAALY scary for a noob...

This one removes the programs from memory (so no more key-combination which are watched for by keyscan, no gui), until the next reboot, or they will get restarted in 3 min.

Voilà. So it just "temporally" turns off the Mod. That info should go in the readme.

it used to be called "KillKillKill" : )) I can only imagine your reaction then ; )
It does not turn off the mod, as the modified bitrates remain. (it will be confusing and people would think that the regular bitrates will be active on turning off the mod, but  they remain modified)

I'll try to make the readme more detailed when I have time : )
cheers

Oh, I nearly forgot my last "stupid" question. Can I delete all the "strange" folders that my SD now contains? (I suppose I can't, but this is not EXPLICITLY specified in the readme). And of course, formatting the card is evidently forbidden therefore.

All install folders should disappear on install. The folder "presets" holds your custom profiles, and camera settings-backup, which you can make from the menu (which you can store and replace later too if you wish to have backup settings)
The only other folder is the one, in which your pictures are stored ; )

btw, please use this thread for questions about the mod-pack:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/57718618

cheers