70-200 f2.8L IS II manual focus issue

[bkorcel]

Anyone having any issues with manual af adjustment with this lens? Was able to get af in one direction only on the 5dsr. Switched the lens to my 7d2 and it will not manually focus. Put my 300 f2.8 on both bodies and no problems. Using 3.1.5.

[admin]

The ability to control the lens *IS* dependent on both the lens and camera body; the lens has to support it and the camera body has to support this function as well so in can pass the command to the lens.

 

If a lens in not working on both camera then it means that lens does not support being driven by the SDK.

 

If a lens works with one camera but not the other it means the lens supports it but only one camera body passed the command to the lens motor drive.

 

Hope this makes sense.

 

Regards,

[s3igell]

One would think that if you can get ANY Lens to Adjust Focus on a specific Model via BYE/BYN, then the App is absolved from other Lens Compatibility Issues.

 

After all, BYE is simply using the Canon SDK to request the Camera to activate it's Lens Motor Control.  The rest is between the Camera and the Lens...

[cbradshaw1]

Is there a list of known good camera/lens that support the SDK?  I tried my XTi/kit lens and it did not work.  I would like to use my T3 with the 200 mm f2.8 telephoto.  This is my primary reason for purchasing BYEOS.

 

Regards,

 

Charlie

[astroman133]

I have 2 EF lenses for my T5i and I have no issue with BYE driving either of them. If the "kit" lens is a standard Canon EF lens then there should be no problem.

 

When you tested the lens did you have the switch on the lens barrel set to AF or MF?

 

Is the telephoto lens a Canon EF lens and does it autofocus when the camera is used, untethered, for daylight photography?  If so, it should work just fine.  You just need to make sure that there is no pilot error. BYE will not automatically focus the scene, but when the focus switch on the barrel is set to AF, BYE will drive the lens by using the "chevron" buttons that are above the right side of the image display area on the Frame & Focus screen.

 

Another thing is that if you already have the camera, lens, and BYE then simply test them together.  If you can get BYE to drive the kit lens then there is no camera or lens issue and I would expect that BYE would be able to drive any EF or 100% EF-compatible lens.

[cbradshaw1]

I tried both AF/MF and Stabilizer on and off.  The chevrons remained greyed out.  The lens is a Canon EFS 18-55 mm.

 

"Another thing is that if you already have the camera, lens, and BYE then simply test them together.  If you can get BYE to drive the kit lens then there is no camera or lens issue and I would expect that BYE would be able to drive any EF or 100% EF-compatible lens."

 

This is what I did when I posted the question.  I expected this to work and I assume pilot error.  I would expect the 400D SDK to be fine.

[astroman133]

Sorry, I meant that you could test with the telephoto lens if you already had it.

 

There are chevron buttons on the Frame & Focus screen for focusing the lens and there are chevron buttons above them for adjusting an ASCOM focuser (if you have the Premium version)  The focuser buttons are grayed out when BYE is not connected to a focuser.

 

The chevron buttons for the lens are either hidden if no lens is attached or are visible if a lens is attached.  I could not figure out how to gray them out, so for me they are always enabled.  However, they don't actually do anything unless LiveView is active.  When LiveView is paused, clicking on the buttons does not move the lens. 

 

This behavior could be inconvenient if you are using snap images to fine tune your focus, since it would mean that you would have to resume LiveView solely to move the lens and then pause it to take another snap.  I also don't know how this would work if the camera did not have LiveView.

[s3igell]

Is there a list of known good camera/lens that support the SDK?  I tried my XTi/kit lens and it did not work.  I would like to use my T3 with the 200 mm f2.8 telephoto.  This is my primary reason for purchasing BYEOS.

 

There is currently No Such List of Lens + Camera-Body Combinations known to work - nothing provided by Canon.  Such a List would have to be compiled via Trial / Error with the Lenses and Cameras at our collective disposal.

 

We could probably garner about 5-6 combinations from the various Posts on the subject in this Forum.  We could probably also contribute another 5-10 "Results" of Combinations from just the 2-3 of us testing the Gear that we have...

 

We could contribute "Results" to a special purpose Thread - I'll await a response from Guylain before Initiating such a Thread (he may be able to contribute some "auto" Table functionality buried in the Forum Software).

[s3igell]

I would like to use my T3 with the 200 mm f2.8 telephoto.  This is my primary reason for purchasing BYEOS.

 

Please realize that even if your combo of Lens and Body do not work to provide "Manual Focus through BYE" Functionality, that BYE still provides numerous AP Imaging Functions that are Quite Valuable to your Lens-based Widefield AP Imaging goals.

 

All the other Tethered Imaging Tools - Frame&Focus (with you manipulating the Lens Focus Ring directly); Capture Plan; Image Center; PHD2 Integration - still work for you.

Heck, some folks Buy BYE simply so that the Sensor Temp is embedded into their Image Filenames...

[astroman133]

It does not seem likely to me that the Canon SDK would fail to support focusing of the standard 18-55mm EF lens on the XTi body.  There is something else going on here and we need more information.  The OP indicated that the chevron buttons are grayed out when they should not be.  I could not figure out how to make this happen. Granted that it may be due to BYE reacting to some difference between the XTi and my T5i, but it could be due to any one of a number of other things.

 

My guess is that if a lens is compatible with the camera for autofocus during daytime, terrestrial use that it would also be compatible with the SDK and BYE.  I do not recall any posts from other users over the last 4 years that contradict this.

[cbradshaw1]

I am currently using both Nebulosity and SGP, which have focus aids similar to BYE.  However, BYE has the remote lens focuser and, in my mind, is worth the purchase price.  I mentioned the chevrons being greyed out, but I now realize that was the ASCOM control chevrons.  I never saw the lens chevrons above the image window.

[astroman133]

So, if the lens chevron buttons are hidden it seems like the SDK is not recognizing that the lens is attached. If that is true than I would also expect that you would have an Aperture column in the capture plan area of the Imaging screen.

 

I would expect that Guylain will want to see the log files from that session to try to help figure out what is happening.

[cbradshaw1]

"So, if the lens chevron buttons are hidden it seems like the SDK is not recognizing that the lens is attached. If that is true than I would also expect that you would have an Aperture column in the capture plan area of the Imaging screen."​

 

I was successful with the T3 and 200mm lens.  Likely, the problem before is that the XTi requires GPUSB for shutter control (Duh!).

 

Regards,

 

Charlie

[astroman133]

Charlie,

 

The GPUSB cable is only required to control the shutter for BULB exposures.  I would not expect that the absence of a GPUSB cable to affect lens control while LiveView is active.

 

Also, I left a critical "not" from my previous post. It should have said "If that is true than I would also expect that you would NOT have an Aperture column in the capture plan area of the Imaging screen."

 

So, do you still have a problem focusing the standard 18-55 mm EF lens with BYE, but you can control it when the camera is untethered by pressing the shutter halfway down?

[cbradshaw1]

Remember that the XTi does not have live view. 

 

Charlie

[astroman133]

OK, that probably explains why it can't drive the lens.  I guess that I mis-read the camera support grid when I was replying to the earlier post.

 

It appears that BYE will not drive a lens for a camera that does not have LiveView.  This could be a limitation that is imposed by the Canon SDK or a design decision that was made by Guylain.

 

Sorry for taking so long to come to that conclusion.

[cbradshaw1]

No problem!  My senior moment.  It still may work with the XTi if I have the GPUSB hooked up for shutter control and am looping.  I will have to test that someday, but the T3 is my primary camera for astrophotos because Canon's SDK stopped supporting the 20D.  I only used the XTi because it was available at the time.

 

Charlie

[admin]

OK, that probably explains why it can't drive the lens.  I guess that I mis-read the camera support grid when I was replying to the earlier post.

 

It appears that BYE will not drive a lens for a camera that does not have LiveView.  This could be a limitation that is imposed by the Canon SDK or a design decision that was made by Guylain.

 

Sorry for taking so long to come to that conclusion.

 

 

Canon allows the lens to be driven in live view only and with AF on on most models; it can not be driven otherwise.  It is a limited functionality for sure but these are the hard limits imposed by the SDK.

 

Regards,

[astroman133]

Thanks for clearing that up!