Is the Nikon Z9 supported by BYN?

[smee4549]

Is the Nikon Z9 supported by BYN?  I did not see it on the compatible camera list.

[aorr]

I've just successfully connected my Z9 using the x64 Pre-Release 7. Great work and thank you for your continuted support for getting this camera (and Z8) working with your software, @admin! I still have a bunch of testing to do, but my initial photo taken with the Z9 attached came through and successfully loaded into the software as expected. Really looking forward to this as I believe you're the first app to support the Z9. I know APT is also adding support soon but no word on when "soon" is yet.

[admin]

Try the prerelease

[jfahlsing@gmail.com]

Time is running out before our trip to photograph the 4/8/2024 Solar Eclipse.  What is the status on BackyardNIKON 3.5.0.RC6 X64 2024-02-04? Our Nikon's D750 & Z8 do not connect to this version and our team member, Flaxman, can not get his Nikon Z9 to work either.  I can get the Nikon D750 to connect to the old version.  

[admin]

It's still not resolved. I'm unable to make any commitments for the eclipse .

[astroman133]

There do not seem to be any enhancements or fixes to 3.5.0 that would impact shooting the eclipse. If your cameras are supported by BYN 2.1.3 then I would go with that version.

However, it seems that the Z9 issue will not be resolved before the eclipse. Sometimes the developers' day jobs just get in the way.

[admin]

On 2/22/2024 at 11:24 AM, jfahlsing@gmail.com said:

Time is running out before our trip to photograph the 4/8/2024 Solar Eclipse.  What is the status on BackyardNIKON 3.5.0.RC6 X64 2024-02-04? Our Nikon's D750 & Z8 do not connect to this version and our team member, Flaxman, can not get his Nikon Z9 to work either.  I can get the Nikon D750 to connect to the old version.  

Please the latest v3.5.0-RC7 pre-release. I made a change in how the camera locates and loads the SDK, I'm hoping this works. 

Keep us posted.

[admin]

11 minutes ago, aorr said:

I've just successfully connected my Z9 using the x64 Pre-Release 7. Great work and thank you for your continuted support for getting this camera (and Z8) working with your software, @admin! I still have a bunch of testing to do, but my initial photo taken with the Z9 attached came through and successfully loaded into the software as expected. Really looking forward to this as I believe you're the first app to support the Z9. I know APT is also adding support soon but no word on when "soon" is yet.

Thanks for confirming.

Does live view work with the Z9?

I am asking because I had to make a small adjustment for the liveview offset for the Z8, and I'm wondering if the Z9 is the same.

[aorr]

46 minutes ago, admin said:

Thanks for confirming.

Does live view work with the Z9?

I am asking because I had to make a small adjustment for the liveview offset for the Z8, and I'm wondering if the Z9 is the same.

No, unfortunately I have not been able to get LiveView to work in the focus or drift screens. When changing to those tabs the log continuously reads "16:05:06  Parameter is not valid.
16:05:07  Parameter is not valid." over and over again until you disable liveview. 

Another thing I noticed is that if you try to enable the "looping" the camera does not actually take multiple exposures. So far the only way to get the camera to take images is to use the "start capture" button. 

I'm not sure if this is too much for one post, but I'm also not having any preferences saved when I close BYN. If I change the camera to only record raw, or jpg, and then close the app and reopen it I have to set all those preferences again. Same goes for the plan that I create. It's defaults to the same settings always which is a little bit of a pain to have to manually load a saved plan before you try or test anything. 

Thanks again for your work on this, @admin!

[admin]

Ok, go to "Settings -> Advance Settings" and check the Liveview Offset check box and enter 1024 value. Please let me know if this works. If it does I will compile the next RC with those values for the Z9 so that it works out of the box.

[aorr]

This worked great, @admin. The liveview works with 1024 for the offset.

[admin]

On 3/3/2024 at 9:00 PM, aorr said:

This worked great, @admin. The liveview works with 1024 for the offset.

Thanks, I will register this value for the Z9 in code so that next time you don't have to set this manually

[astroman133]

<<
Another thing I noticed is that if you try to enable the "looping" the camera does not actually take multiple exposures. So far the only way to get the camera to take images is to use the "start capture" button. 
>>
In order to use the Loop feature in Frame  & Focus you need to press the Loop button and then press the Snap Image button to begin taking the Snap images. You can stop the Loop by clicking on the Abort button at the upper right portion of the main window.

If you are talking about the Loop feature on the Imaging screen, Loop tells BYN to start the Capture Plan again, once it has finished the last row in the plan. This also continues until you Abort it.

[aorr]

Thanks @astroman133! I appreciate the help on this.

It seems to be a big buggy at the moment where it will do a set of looping photos and then randomly get hung up and stop updating the display. I'm going to try a different cable with the camera when I get home and see if that helps things work better.

[admin]

Ok, this may help. The Z8 and Z9 produce some pretty big image/files.

When I tested with a Z8 last weekend, I was doing it with the Nikon supplied USB-C to USB3-A cable. The camera would disconnect from time to time, and I was never able to record a video in planetary or run an imaging sequence of 10 or more images without having the camera disconnect.

It was only when I changed to a high speed USB-C to USB-C cable, plugged directly into a USB-C port on the laptop, that I was able to run 50+ images runs without any camera disconnect.

So, if you have a random camera disconnect, the cable is the place to look. And having the Nikon supplied USB cable is no guarantee that it will work, in fact, it was the issue with me when I tested with a Z8.

 

 

[astroman133]

Also, please provide more complete information.

Looping is supported in both Imaging and Frame & Focus modes.

In Imaging, the Loop function repeats a capture plan until Aborted. Lets say that your capture plan has 5 rows. When Loop is active and the 5th row has finished, the capture plan starts again with the first row.

In Frame & Focus, the Loop function repeats the defined Snap image until aborted.

Which screen are you on? imaging or Frame & Focus?

If on Imaging, are you saving the captured images to the PC or to the memory card?

If on Frame & Focus are you saving the Snap images to the PC's hard drive?

Thanks!