Jump to content

Canada's top-tier Telescopes & Accessories
Be as specific as possible when reporting issues and *ALWAYS* include the full version number of the application you are using and your exact *CAMERA MODEL*
NEVER POST YOUR KEY IN ANY PUBLIC FORUM, INCLUDING THE O'TELESCOPE SUPPORT FORUM ::: IF YOU DO YOUR KEY WILL BE DEACTIVATED WITHOUT NOTICE!
  • 0

Maximum imaging session length in BYE


Bluester

Question

Hopfully I am not asking a dumb question here. I have been using BYE to acquire frames for an overnight timelapse, what I have found in the last two nights has been the session ending earlier than I expected.

The basic settings.

BYE 3.1, Windows XP and a Canon 350D camera. The imaging session is a simple loop exposure, camera on manual, 15 seconds exposure time at  ISO 1600, 5 seconds delay. It all seems to work perfectly until at some random point it simply stops, the entry in the logfile is simply "2017-09-10 05:17:10,796 [Main] INFO  - Imaging session completed successfully" which is exactly what it says (With a different timestamp of course) if you abort the session.

When it happened the first time I assumed that I must have accidentally clicked on the abort button when waking the screen (I have the PC outside running over an Ethernet connection, keeping tabs on it using Teamviewer to remote into it) I know that it was not an accidental click this time as I left it alone completely.

Is there a simple limit on session time or on number of exposures?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Answers 19
  • Created
  • Last Reply

19 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

Not that I can see. It reports low battery but it is actually running off external DC power, the only times I have interrupted that the log shows a camera shutdown rather than the end of the session. I remotely shut the laptop down earlier this morning, I thought I had copied the log file to my NAS but I have not got the right one there. I will fish it out and attach it here shortly when I go out to pack the gear up.

Is there any way to make the log more verbose to hopefully capture what is happening?

Edit, thanks Guylain, I thought I had turned off all sleep settings but I will recheck. You posted while I was writing this post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, power settings are not quite as I thought, it had the HDD sleeping after 30 minutes, I am not sure that that will be the issue as it ran for around 6 hours before it stopped but I will change it and try again. I can leave it running throughout the day and see what happens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have not yet, I will clean out log files and do some test runs to try to log something useful. I will have to examine all the files produced over the weekend and do a count to see if it is stopping at exactly the same number or not but with me messing around over the evening it is not immediately clear if it is the same fixed number taken. It seems to be related to the number of images rather than the imaging time, the daylight set I did stopped after about two hours and I set it up to run at a reduced rate overnight and it was still imaging after around 900 frames over 11 hours or so.

What I can do tonight is set it up taking bias frames with only enough delay set up in the software to allow for the image to download from the camera before taking the next, that way I should be able to reproduce it a couple of times in one evening to confirm if it shoots the same number each time or just "About" the same.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't upload the log file as it runs to 40MB, but I ran the sequence twice. My previous guess at "Approximately" 1200 frames was probably skewed by test runs of frames that ended up in the same folder and by the sequence number iterating with each of those as well. I saved to two blank folders this time, changing only the target name between runs to make it create a new folder. I got exactly 1000 images in each.

Settings this time: JPG files (To save space) Stored locally on the laptop C drive (I have been saving to a NAS share over wired ethernet) Program mode on the camera, 1 frame, 1 second delay, loop exposure. The run stopped at 1000 images both times with a "Session completed" message.

I assume that somewhere in the code it is generating a maximum of 1000 iterations for a looped exposure? The software version for your reference is 3.1.14.18958 (You can probably tell that from your license server anyway?) Given I can set 999 captures in each line of the capture plan I will try tomorrow with multiple lines set to 999 images and see what happens (My 9 year old son has just gone to bed so I cant have it rattling away next to his bedroom now)

 

I have attached a snip of the end of the log file which shows the last capture, the session complete message and shutdown. The sequence of 2007 images is correct, I took a couple and realised I needed to change a setting so I aborted it, deleted the 7 images it had taken and started again, running it twice them produced another 2000 images.

 

BYE LOG partial.txt

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got it.  No errors and 2 complete image sessions in the log files; each with an even 1000 images and no abort or cancel button was pressed.  The fact that both stopped at an even 1000 image can't be a coincidence.  Let me check in code what is happening.  

Regards

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I worked out yesterday is that if I set it to one line of one exposure with loop selected per the photo I grabbed of the screen, it stops at 1000 images. If I set two lines of 999 exposures (I have not got a screen shot of that) it continues on. I had to stop it last night at 1700 or so images but I don't see any reason why it would not have gone through to 1998 images before stopping. 999 images is the maximum number per line as it only accepts three digits.

I was using a single image and loop when doing time lapses as it was convenient and quick if I wanted to stop the run, change a setting and re start it because there was only one line to change. I will test it to see if I can loop a single line with of 999 images as that would work just as well and keeps the one line convenience.

screencap.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, knowing that limitation in the software (Limitation is not really the right word, I know you have to make some assumptions when you write it and you can not plan up front for every possible thing people will try to do with it) I can work around it. I am off work sick today so I have had it testing away behind me using loop with a one line plan set to 2 exposures. That is running at about 1300 images now so I know I can keep the plan simple for a time lapse and just set 10 exposures on one line (For instance) enable loop and know that it will run all night assuming that no errors stop it.

 

Thanks for the help.

EDIT: The only thing that occurs to me is, would it be possible in a future release to have a run that ends on the 1000 frame limit of the loop function end with a status message reflecting that it stopped due to a loop limit? That is the only thing that threw me, not knowing that it was limited to 1000 and getting a session complete message.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This site uses cookies to offer your a better browsing experience. You can adjust your cookie settings. By closing this banner, scrolling this page, clicking a link or continuing to browse otherwise, you agree to the use of cookies, our Privacy Policy, and our Terms of Use