810a problems

[ridgesoar]

I'm having a hell of a time getting my 810a to work on the latest version download.

I'd like to eliminate anything from my camera end of it so as to concentrate on an older version etc.

Can anyone be kind enough to tell me what settings you're using--all the knobs and buttons and any internal. Assume I know photography.

My histogram , when I have it in the good exposure of a third of the way in , gives me a completely washed out picture on my computer. Thanks for any help!!!! John

[admin]

If 1.0.4 works and 1.0.5 does not then this issue the the Nikon SDK.  Both 1.0.4 and 1.0.5 are identical in operating the camera with the only difference being the SDK.

 

If this is truly the case than I will have to implement a dual SDK selection in BackyardNIKON just as I do for BackyardEOS and Canon cameras.

 

This way you'll be able to select to correct SDK in future releases.  But for now looks like you need to use 1.0.4.

[admin]

Richard Wright of Software Bisque also used BYN with a D810a a few months back when he wrote a review for Nikon.  They work fine... but you seem to have issues with yours... we need to approach this systematically to find the root cause.  I strongly believe that this is a camera setting issue.  But, I did upgrade the Nikon SDK between 1.0.4 and 1.0.5 and the D810A was tested by me personally with the SDK included in 1.0.4 and this is why this test is important to run.

 

Do you still have issues downloading 1.0.4?  If yes we need to resolve this first so we can test your D810a with 1.0.4.

 

I'm also willing to do a remote session with you tomorrow evening (Sunday) if you think this may help.

 

Regards,

[ridgesoar]

Thanks guy-- as I said in my last message, yes I have a problem downloading the previous version of BYN. When I go to your site all I can get, even though I he a key is the necessity of buying the old version. Please just tell me how to get a download and I'll see if that helps. I go to your site, select the previuos version (Jan 16) and it says " get a key" this the leads me into having to buy it..

 

Obviously what I'm thinking as an hypothesis is that all the testing of the 810 was on a previous version and my new camera is not compatable with the new version. As far as I can see I have all camera settings correct and am getting great advice from people that don't own one.

[admin]

Hi John,

 

I got your log files.  You have mirror lock enabled; I know because your camera is reporting a value of 2 for this property.  Turn it off and I'm 99.9% sure this will resolve you issue.

 

2016-06-03 09:49:54,910 [CameraTakePictureOnMessageRecieved] INFO  - CameraPropertyChangedArgs fired: MirrorLock           = '2'

2016-06-03 09:49:54,986 [CameraTakePictureOnMessageRecieved] INFO  - CameraPropertyChangedArgs fired: Tv                   = 'BULB'

2016-06-03 09:49:55,010 [CameraTakePictureOnMessageRecieved] INFO  - CameraPropertyChangedArgs fired: Av                   = '--'

2016-06-03 09:49:55,026 [CameraTakePictureOnMessageRecieved] DEBUG - TAKE PICTURE ::: Shutter(MANUAL) Cable(CameraUSB) Av(--) Duration(10.0) Iso(200) Quality(RAW + JPEG Fine) Mirror(0) SaveTo(PC)

2016-06-03 09:50:09,313 [CameraTakePictureOnMessageRecieved] ERROR - [kNkMAIDResult_DeviceBusy] (kNkMAIDCommand_CapSet, 33089, kNkMAIDDataType_Boolean, 0)

2016-06-03 09:50:09,313 [CameraTakePictureOnMessageRecieved] ERROR -    at BinaryRivers.Camera.Nikon.Wrapper.NikonTaskQueue.Invoke(Delegate d, Object[] args)

   at BinaryRivers.Camera.Nikon.Wrapper.NikonBase.Set(eNkMAIDCapability cap, Object value)

   at BinaryRivers.Camera.Nikon.Wrapper.NikonDevice.StopBulbCapture()

   at BinaryRivers.Camera.Nikon.CameraModel.<>c__DisplayClassb.<DoTakePictureBulb>b__a()

   at BinaryRivers.Common.ProviderInterfaces.Camera.CameraControllerBase.DoWithCameraLocked(Action action)

   at BinaryRivers.Camera.Nikon.CameraModel.DoTakePictureBulb(Boolean start, Single mirrorlockseconds)

   at BinaryRivers.Common.Model.CameraModelBase.TakePictureBulb(Single durationseconds, Single mirrorlockseconds, String progresstext)

   at BinaryRivers.Common.Model.CameraModelBase.<>c__DisplayClass1.<CameraTakePictureOnMessageRecieved>b__0()

2016-06-03 09:50:09,317 [CameraTakePictureOnMessageRecieved] INFO  - Imaging session cancelled

[admin]

Thanks guy-- as I said in my last message, yes I have a problem downloading the previous version of BYN. When I go to your site all I can get, even though I he a key is the necessity of buying the old version. Please just tell me how to get a download and I'll see if that helps. I go to your site, select the previuos version (Jan 16) and it says " get a key" this the leads me into having to buy it..

 

Obviously what I'm thinking as an hypothesis is that all the testing of the 810 was on a previous version and my new camera is not compatable with the new version. As far as I can see I have all camera settings correct and am getting great advice from people that don't own one.

 

I just logged with your account and I'm able to download 1.0.4.  Make sure you are in the BackyardNIKON download section and not BackyardEOS.  Alternatively you can click on "My Purchases" in the upper right corner, then click on your BackyardEOS purchase and download from that page. 

 

However, you issue is related to mirror lock as per my previous post.

 

Keep us posted,

[ridgesoar]

One problem solved. What I must have missed in your tutorial is the fact that you can't leave the "pause" in the plan on 0 or it aborts. Once I set it to 15sec (prob 10 is sufficient?) it takes all,the pictures in sequence perfectly!

Now fine tuning--any way to get rid of the huge amount of colored noise in the "frame and focus" AND I guess I naively thought because this is a colored camera I would get nice vivid colors of DSOs especially Nebs which I don't get. Were all the pr shots in the reviews exposures that had been post processed??

Thanks. John

[ridgesoar]

Just got your message about mirror lock. Don't see how it's locked cause I never selected,it, can here the mirror go,up and down and have tried it in MBulb with a friends lens. NOT saying it isn't t locked but will now scrounge through the manual again to see how it could happen. On the select knob I'm carefull to be in the simple first setting of S and think I've selected simple M and not M'

 

Good news that it may be the problem. Thanks

[admin]

1) if pause of zero cause these issues then this a bug, it should work.

 

2) Look in the camera menu, you should have a mirror lock (or mirror up) menu option somewhere in there.

 

Regards,

[ridgesoar]

Finally home free!! Mirror lock is not a player in M mode BUT the manual that I had was for the 810 not the 810A and there is a big difference. With the810a there are two M modes not just one. They are M (like the 810) and an additional M' that must be used for Astrophotography

Not knowing any better I've been using M and wondering what M' was all about ! Raining very hard here but pretty confident that when it finally clears and I can try M' all will work.

This is what I was asking people. When all is over I will post a set of settings for any other new 810a person.

Yeah, unless it,s just my camera there is a bug on the new version that doesn't allow the default of 0 sec delay to work. Must select 10 sec and all works great. Very pleased now! Thanks . John

[admin]

umm..., M and M'

 

I did not know about the dual setting.  Good catch and thank you for reporting back here on the forum.

[astroman133]

The D810a has a "M*" shooting mode for exposures up to 15 minutes. Not sure what you get with that as opposed to M mode.

[ridgesoar]

Manual is very specific about using M* for Astro and not M. I know for sure that , for my camera, M will not work for ANY exposure

[ridgesoar]

Very frustrating last night but worked with it at table in house this morning and think I'm successful.

M* selection on camera seems surpluflous in that, as soon as the program grabs it, it turns it to M BULB. Maybe M* is for just using a lens with no program!?

Version 1.0.5 does NOT work at all with my camera.. I took a video of the screen during the whole process and if that might help I can send it to you. Version 1.0.4 is wonderful ! Does it all and quickly . EVEN WIYH TWO 16' ACTIVE EXTENSIONS. Don,t have a lens to use indoors so no good idea about image quality yet but very hopeful.

Thanks. John

[astroman133]

"What do you mean by Version 1.0.5 does NOT work at all with my camera"? I would think that means that you are never able to connect BYN to your camera, but you have never said that in your previous posts...or did I miss something.  Weren't you using your camera and BYN 1.0.5 when you commented on the histogram and that your images were washed out? So it does work somewhat.

 

Vague statements like "does not work at all" do not give readers any idea about what your issues are!

 

Perhaps you could talk about how the behavior of BYN 1.0.4 and 1.0.5 differ in the most complete way that you can describe.

[ridgesoar]

Yup. Thanks

[admin]

Yup. Thanks

 

Hi,

 

I'm almost done implementing a multi-sdk version selector before connecting the camera just as in BackyardEOS.  This should allow you to select the sdk version of your choice in BYN. This means you should be able to select the older SDK (as in BYN 1.0.4) which is working with your D810A in BYN 1.0.5.

 

Send me an email at support@otelescope.com and I will send you a download link to test.

 

If this is working then 810A will work in 1.0.5 and later versions as they are released.

 

Thanks again.

[astroman133]

John,

 

What is your equipment setup? mount? scope type, aperture, focal length, etc? Are you at prime focus or using eyepiece projection or using a HyperStar setup? Are you autoguiding?

 

What exposure settings are you using? ISO and Duration? Are you using any filters?

 

What are your sky conditions? Are you shooting from a dark sky area or is there light pollution? What part of the sky are you pointing at? high overhead or near the horizon and a light dome?

 

My reasons for asking all this is that while there are some camera settings that should be set in a particular way for astrophotography, other settings may change from setup to setup.  I could provide a suggestions for in-camera settings and shooting parameters that may work for me, but not be optimal for you due to differences in our hardware and sky conditions.

 

For the sake of experimentation, do you get a better raw image if you shorten the exposure by a significant amount?

 

If you are new to imaging with a DSLR, I would suggest resetting all the camera settings to the factory default values and then read in the camera's manual about each of the settings. For those settings that you are unsure of, make a list and ask about them in this group. You will get better responses than asking people what their settings are.

[ridgesoar]

Thanks. For what I mean for settings for instance is this example: on the shutter select wheel I have a choice of S,Cl, Ch, Q, Qc,timer and Mup. As far as I can see from the manual this selection, except for Mup shouldn't matter in shooting M Bulb? DOES IT??? Nothing to do with my scope or mount or guiding. Those I've got working fine.

[s3igell]

As Rick (astroman133) asks, what Equipment and Settings are you using??  Mode and Settings in BYN as well as on your Camera??  These will markedly impact the results of any Imaging Efforts.

 

As well, without knowing at least the basic configuration of your Camera / Scope setup, and some of your Imaging Condition details, it's hard to respond to something rather non-descriptive as:

 

gives me a completely washed out picture on my computer

 

For instance:  

What was your Exposure Time??  The Focal Ratio of your Scope??

What are your Environmental Conditions??  Heavy Sky-Glow / Light Pollution??  Very Warm ambient Temps??  Moon out or dark??

 

Combinations of the above will easily impact your Image with either Overpowering Sky Glow or Sensor Noise.

As well could any of the myriad of In-Camera Image Processing Functions/Settings of a High-End DSLR such as the D810a.

[s3igell]

on the shutter select wheel I have a choice of S,Cl, Ch, Q, Qc,timer and Mup. As far as I can see from the manual this selection, except for Mup shouldn't matter in shooting M Bulb? DOES IT??? 

 

It is important to NOT make too many assumptions that Nikon makes "Rational Choices" of which Mode Settings of the Advanced Features of a High-End DSLR are actually SUPPORTED via the Nikon SDK (Guylain and BYE/BYN have no control of this).  

It is BEST to always start with the SIMPLEST of Settings.  Then, IF you have Success, move forward and Change one Setting at a time...

 

In the case of the Drive Mode Wheel selections - it's quite possible that only the simplest "S" mode is supported.

[ridgesoar]

Sorry. I thought it was a simple request not a school for thoughts on Astro photography. Yes the "simplest settings " is great. Any idea what they are? Does anyone actually use an 810a or is this a theoretical discussion of " high end DSLR s" If someone asked me after using my camera for a while I could easily say-- set this and this and for God's sake don't do this.

[astroman133]

You asked what settings should be used. That means in-camera settings as well as image capture settings. You also asked for ideas on why your images were washed out.

 

The obvious answer about the images is that they were overexposed (despite the position of the histogram). That is why I asked about the equipment, sky conditions, and capture settings.

 

I'll defer to Nikon owners about the in-camera settings.  However my thought was that Long Exposure Noise Reduction would not be enabled by default.  That is why I suggested doing a "factory reset" to reset that and any other settings that you may have changed back to their original values.

 

Guylain used an 810a for testing.  There are also others on this forum who are using the 810a. You can search for them.