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MARS MR97310 STILLCAM DRIVER
Copyright Theodore Kilgore <kilgota@auburn.edu> April, 2004. This README
revised August 27, 2006.
(Everything in libgphoto2/camlibs/mars is LGPL-licensed, including this README;
see any of the source files for a more complete statement of the license.)
INTRODUCTION
This driver is for a camera which uses the Mars MR97310 chip. I understand
that there are several of these. Mine is an Aiptek PenCam VGA+ (Vendor:Product
ID 0x08ca:0x0111). The interface is proprietary, and these cameras are
supported commercially only in Windows.
FEATURES OF THE CAMERAS
The first MR97310 camera which I encountered was the Aiptek PenCam VGA+,
a "budget" camera with resolution settings of 640x480 and 320x240.
This camera and the other MR97310 cameras can also be used as webcams
(not supportable here; would require a kernel module) or to make a "video
clip." Some of the other cameras automatically will run in compressed mode
when shooting clips, but on the Aiptek it is optional to compress clips.
Clips download nicely on all these cameras as a succession of PPM files.
The compression method (optional for the Aiptek camera) is proprietary and
not obvious. With recent progress, it ought to be usable. However, the
adventurous and persistent are hereby encouraged to play with it some more.
09/12/05: Decompression sort of works, now. Thanks to Bertrik Sikkens
for the basic algorithm, and to Michel Xhaard for testing my additional tweaks.
With some of the cameras it is possible now to get decent photos in compressed
mode, at least some of the time. For this, the camera seems to function best
at outdoor use.
Update 08/28/06: Decompression algorithm much improved, after much trial
and error. I would say it is now somewhere between 90% to 100% good now. Seems
to work almost perfectly outdoors and in strong light. Works even better at low
resolution settings, that is, 352x288 or lower.
The camera uses a configuration "block," as do the sq905 cameras. However,
here the information can be used to run options such as gphoto2 -p 3 and
gphoto2 -p 3-5. The OEM software provided with the various cameras does not
take advantage even of the mentioned abilities. With the OEM driver, one has
the choice either to download all photos, or none. If all are downloaded, then
thumbnails are created. The user can then do previews and decide what to save.
STATUS NOTES ON SUPPORTED CAMERAS (7 Feb. 2006, revised 28 Aug. 2006)
First, a special note: On many of these cameras, the LED will read "PC" when
the camera is hooked to a live USB connector. It seems locked in this position.
But all of the cameras which do this, which I have tested, will come up with
all of the other camera button commands if one runs any gphoto2 option which
accesses the camera. Consequently, one can use the camera thus tethered,
without any battery in it, to shoot and download photos. The photos will die
soon if the camera is unhooked without a good battery in it, though, because
the camera uses volatile memory for its data storage.
The only problem with using any of these cameras is the compression codec.
Bertrik's decompression algorithm seems basically correct, but it has a problem
with leaving diagonal color artifacts, a problem which can be severe in bad
lighting conditions, especially if there are lots of dark colors in the photo.
Those cameras with 352x288 max resolution instead of 640x480 do better, and the
Argus DC-1620 does better in poor light than does the Aiptek Pencam VGA+.
I have recently been able to alleviate these problems to a great extent, but
not completely. Also, not all of the cameras seem to perform equally well
in compressed mode when used to shoot similar photos under similar lighting
conditions. After the tweaks I have added as of August 2006, though, the
situation with compression mode is improved quite a bit.
Here is a report on the cameras which I own. I can not say anything
about the others unless their performance in compressed mode is reported to me:
Aiptek Pencam VGA+: Compressed mode is very sensitive to bad lighting,
especially when there are dark colors in the image (08/27/06: better now).
The camera also will refuse to shoot both in compressed and in uncompressed
mode if the light is very bad (indoors, in the evening) and that is probably
all for the best.
Argus DC-1620: Compressed mode only. No uncompressed photos. The compressed
mode works pretty well, though. Outdoor photos are pretty good, and if you are
willing to put up with a cheap, compressed-mode-only camera it might even be
worth your money. The camera does have some problems in bad light, but not so
severe as with the Aiptek Pencam VGA+. Camera does have a flash-light which can
be turned on in bad light. The camera will then decide if it wants to use it.
Sakar Digital #77379: Also compressed mode only. Seems to work pretty well. Has
a very high cutoff threshold and will not take photos in the evening, even if
one points it at a bright monitor screen. Color mapping is cruddy, though, even
running in uncompressed mode.
Philips Keychain and INNOVAGE Mini Digital: These seem to be clones, even
having very similar cases. They will do max resolution 352x488. But for what
they are they work very well. It seems that these shoot clips in compressed
mode (no matter if you otherwise turned compression on, or not), but at the
resolution settings these cameras use the decompression works nicely, too.
Argus QuickClix: Compressed mode only. The compression algorithm is different
from the compression algorithm in the other known Mars cameras, too. I have
no idea how the compression algorithm works, either. Thus, this camera is a
paperweight unless someone figures out how to decompress the data. Don't buy
one unless you are adventurous, patient, and want to help out. That's why it
is listed as DEPRECATED.
SPECIFIC WARNING REGARDING ARGUS QUICKCLIX
For the Mars cameras, all data for raw photos begins with a signature. The
uncompressed photos begin with FF FF 00 FF 96 64 00, and raw photos using the
compression which is solved begin with FF FF 00 FF 96 64 50. If you get a
camera in which the raw data begins with the signature FF FF 00 FF 96 64 20
then your camera uses the same compression algorithm as the Argus QuickClix.
That compression method is as yet unknown; a camera using it is a paperweight.
Finally, one can not distinguish an Argus QuickClix from an Argus DC-1620 by
appearance. From the outside they are identical. Also they and several other
cameras use the same USB Vendor:Product number and do not give any
identification string after they are connected, either. So, unless the new
compression algorithm is unlocked, there is a real problem here.
USABILITY OF DRIVER WITH GUI FRONTENDS
The camera library presented here seems to work with gtkam as a frontend. To
use gtkam for the first time with any camera, you must choose the camera.
For this purpose, after starting gtkam click on "Camera." Then choose
"Add Camera." Then "Detect." Click on the name of the camera to get photos.
Gtkam creates its own thumbnails for cameras which do not offer them. These
cameras do not offer thumbnails.
Digikam as a frontend works, too. But for some reason
digikam seems unable to display thumbnails from this camera. Anyone who knows
what the problem is here, please let me know.
Flphoto works well, too, with no obvious glitches. Flphoto is also willing to
create thumbnails and does so without any tweaking.
SAVING RAW FILES AND USING THEM LATER (09-23-06)
All raw photos downloaded from the camera come with a signature and a header
which is 12 bytes in length. This header has always been retained if the
photo is saved in raw format. The last few of the bytes in this header seem to
pertain to things like brightness and color balance (not usable information,
at this time, but may be in the future). The first bytes are always
FF FF 00 FF 96 64
and the next byte (as received from the camera) is either 00 (if the image is
uncompressed) or is 50 if the image has been subjected to the "standard"
MR97310 compression or is 20 if the image has been subjected to the totally
unknown Argus QuickClix compression.
Thus the header of any given image as it comes from the camera tells us in
byte 6 of the header whether the image is compressed or if compressed then
which algorithm has been used. That information uses the most significant nibble
of the "compression" byte. But if we do not do something, the pixel dimension of
the photo to be obtained from the raw file is not recorded. As the camera also
codes this information in one nibble, we place that nibble here, too:
Original raw signature pixel dim. Saved as Comp.
FF FF 00 FF 96 64 00 176x144 FF FF 00 FF 96 64 00 no
352x288 FF FF 00 FF 96 64 02 no
320x240 FF FF 00 FF 96 64 06 no
640x480 FF FF 00 FF 96 64 08 no
FF FF 00 FF 96 64 50 176x144 FF FF 00 FF 96 64 50 yes
352x288 FF FF 00 FF 96 64 52 yes
320x240 FF FF 00 FF 96 64 56 yes
640x480 FF FF 00 FF 96 64 58 yes
(similar will happen if compression code is the bad 0x20, as well)
With this small change, the raw file now contains all information within
itself that is needed for processing it.
FURTHER DETAILS
Further details are given in "protocol.txt". These details have been obtained
through trial and error and are intended solely to meet the problems of
compatibility in other than a Microsoft Windows (trademark) environment.
WARRANTY?
Absolutely none. Remember, I did not sell you this software. I have written
this driver for my own edification and in the sincere hope that it might help
you to use of your camera. Please see also the warranty clauses
in the LGPL license.
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