No visuals with BYN

[bb62]

Hello - I was able to successfully download BYN for my Nikon 7100 DLSR.  The application was able to connect to the camera successfully and I can even take pictures. 

 

The camera settings are on the required "M" with no autofocus enabled.  I do have an 18-140 zoom Nikon DX lens attached.  There are 2 16GB cards in the camera with no data on them.

 

The connection from the camera to the computer is the cord supplied by Nikon (which does work).  The computer itself is running Windows 10, has 16 MB RAM, has 500GB of SSD storage, and has an i7 quad core processor.  The computer itself is virtually brand new.

 

My problem is that there is no visual in the imaging display center in any of the modes.  For example, if in planetary mode, I would think that I should be able to see the moon or other object in the imaging display, but I don't.

 

Perhaps I am overlooking something.  Please advise.

 

 

[admin]

Does live view work on the camera?  Could it be disabled by any chance?

 

Also, are you in focus?  If you are out of focus by a lot all you'll get is a blank image.

 

Also, can you please specify if you get an image.  A blank image versus no image is not the same thing.  You did not specify.

 

Regards 

[bb62]

Does live view work on the camera?  Could it be disabled by any chance?

 

Also, are you in focus?  If you are out of focus by a lot all you'll get is a blank image.

 

Also, can you please specify if you get an image.  A blank image versus no image is not the same thing.  You did not specify.

 

Regards 

 

Thank you for your prompt response.

 

When I press the live view button, I hear the camera click but the view screen is blank (completely black).  The camera is in focus as I was able to take some pictures of my bookcase (in various degrees of exposure - from over exposed to under exposed) as I was playing with the settings.  The pictures were properly stored in the specified folders.

[admin]

Then it looks like live view is not enabled on your camera.

 

Without touching any dials on the camera, if you disconnect the camera from the computer and you click live view, do you see an image on the lcd display?

 

Regards,

[bb62]

Then it looks like live view is not enabled on your camera.

 

Without touching any dials on the camera, if you disconnect the camera from the computer and you click live view, do you see an image on the lcd display?

 

Regards,

 

Thank you for the support - it looks like my battery was low - didn't allow the Live View to work on just the camera.  With a recharged battery, it seems to work fine (in BYN) - again thanks.

[admin]

awesome!

[bb62]

Follow-up questions:

 

- I successfully used the program for some pictures of the moon and Jupiter.  However, the pictures (video) of Jupiter in planetary mode were generally overexposed.  There did not seem to be any way to control either the contrast, white balance, ISO, or shutter speed though BYN with my Nikon D7100.  Is there something I am overlooking? 

 

- I recognize that the 5x feature is in the works (given the other recent threads) and would greatly help with the size of a viable image, but the BYN verbiage in the Planetary Capture plan not only notes the 5x capability but also notes the ability "to write short movies with you digital Canon DSLR"!  You may wish to update this. 

[astroman133]

Contrast is normally a processing function. White Balance, ISO, and shutter speed are all settable via the Planetary Capture Plan settings.  Note that BULB is not the only shutter option.  That control is a dropdown list where camera-timed exposures may also be chosen.

 

Errors in the manual should be posted to the Feature Suggestion Box Forum.

[admin]

Follow-up questions:

 

- I successfully used the program for some pictures of the moon and Jupiter.  However, the pictures (video) of Jupiter in planetary mode were generally overexposed.  There did not seem to be any way to control either the contrast, white balance, ISO, or shutter speed though BYN with my Nikon D7100.  Is there something I am overlooking? 

 

- I recognize that the 5x feature is in the works (given the other recent threads) and would greatly help with the size of a viable image, but the BYN verbiage in the Planetary Capture plan not only notes the 5x capability but also notes the ability "to write short movies with you digital Canon DSLR"!  You may wish to update this. 

 

Older Nikon do not allows changing values while in live view.  You need to pause liveview, make your changes, and resume live view.  Make sure you select a time value < 2 second, it will not work in BULB mode.

 

On newer high-end models you need to activate exposure simulation this way.  Disconnect the camera from the computer, activate live view, and press the OK button to activate live view simulation.  Once it is activated it stays activated so using BYN afterwards will have live view simulation activated and changing shutter speed and aperture (if a lens is connected) does change the live view image.

 

Try that on your camera and see if it makes a difference.

 

This option is only on some selected high end models.

 

[bb62]

Contrast is normally a processing function. White Balance, ISO, and shutter speed are all settable via the Planetary Capture Plan settings.  Note that BULB is not the only shutter option.  That control is a dropdown list where camera-timed exposures may also be chosen.

 

I tried a number of exposure settings from 1/800 to bulb.  Neither ISO nor shutter speed has any impact on the video.  And there is no changeable setting for white balance.  It just says "automatic" with no other choices in the drop down menu.  While I recognize that some level of contrast in in the processing function, the overwhelmingly white result of the video capture gives the processing software little to work with.  Is there a setting I need to change to allow for the Shutter and ISO to change the output of the video? 

 

Thank you for your help.

[admin]

Did you try my suggestions from my previous post?

[bb62]

Older Nikon do not allows changing values while in live view.  You need to pause liveview, make your changes, and resume live view.  Make sure you select a time value < 2 second, it will not work in BULB mode.

 

On newer high-end models you need to activate exposure simulation this way.  Disconnect the camera from the computer, activate live view, and press the OK button to activate live view simulation.  Once it is activated it stays activated so using BYN afterwards will have live view simulation activated and changing shutter speed and aperture (if a lens is connected) does change the live view image.

 

Try that on your camera and see if it makes a difference.

 

This option is only on some selected high end models.

 

 

OK, I found a way to make it work based on your suggestions.  Disconnecting the camera from the computer, I set the ISO and shutter settings while in live view on the camera.  (Aperture is limited by the telescope.)  After reconnecting the computer and activating the planetary live view, it will take the video using the settings input into the camera.  Resetting the shutter speed or the ISO through BYN makes no changes to the video. Also, when I make a change to the shutter speed on the camera, the changed speed is reflected in the BYN capture plan in the planetary section.  But whatever changes are made to the ISO at the camera are not reflected in the planetary capture plan. The shutter speeds that work are 1/30 and faster.  Nothing slower works (nor would slower speeds likely be needed).  The planetary capture plan section itself doesn't really do anything at this point - at least for my D7100.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

[admin]

When in planetary, you need to pause live view, change change ISO, then resume live view.  This is how Nikon works.  Changes can no be made while the mirror is up.

 

Regards,