Unable to set LiveviewAutoFocusMode, current setting is assumed

[astronut892010]

Tonight, I continue to get the error message: Unable to set LiveviewAutoFocusMode, current setting is assumed

I have not had a regular camera lens attached to my camera and I cannot clear this.  Furthermore, I cannot see any stars in the field of view while this error state is occurring.

 

Help

[admin]

8 hours ago, astronut892010 said:

Still getting the error though and don't know why.

I've answered this in my post above.  It's a non issue.  You don't have a lens so the setting can't be set... hence the message.  Again, it's a non issue, just ignore it.

[astroman133]

Please provide more information. Which camera? Which version of BYE.

The error is not related to a lens. What is the "AF mode" setting in the camera's LiveView menu? Make sure that you do not have the camera in movie mode.

[admin]

This is just a status message indicating it can not be set.  It's a non issue.

If you don't see any stars it is probably because you are grossly out of focus.

Keep us posted,

 

[astroman133]

Oh, so LiveView is working but you are not seeing any stars?

If so, this is not unusual. LiveView image frames are short exposures that are only a few milliseconds in duration. Because of this you need to crank up the brightness adjustment that the camera applies to each frame. You do this by doing the following:

1) enable exposure simulation in the camera's menus. This allows BYE to control the brightness by changing the ISO and exposure. This may be automatic for your camera.
2) In BYE, set the exposure to 2" (not BULB with a duration of 2 seconds, but a Tv value of 2")
3) In BYE, set the ISO to maximum

Instead of doing 2) and 3) above you can also select the Maximum Sensitivity setting in the LiveView area of BYE's Settings dialog.

This should brighten the LiveView display so that very bright stars like Vega and Capella are visible, as long as the telescope is close to focus. If the scope is not close to focus (say the drawtube is all the way in) then even a bright star may not be visible in LiveView. This is typically because as the star becomes mis-focused, it becomes larger and dimmer. It may become so large that it covers the entire field of view and effectively disappears. In this case you will need to use some arrangement (eyepiece and adaptors) that is parfocal with the camera to allow you to get close to focus before using BYE, or look through the viewfinder while focusing, before connecting the camera to the PC and BYE.

Even if you do all of the above correctly, only the very brightest stars will be visible as small, dim dots in LiveView. If you are still unable to see any stars in LiveView. then you could try the LiveView Enhancement Tools that are available in BYE. These are described in the BYE User Guide. If you are still unable to see any stars, then the final alternative method is to take short Snap exposures from the Frame & Focus screen. Even a 2 second Snap exposure will have 100 times more exposure than a single LiveView frame. You can then select a star from the snap image to see its FWHM or HFD and begin a trial-and-error process of adjusting focus and taking another image until you get to the minimum star diameter. This may seem inconvenient but it is what users of cameras without LiveView must do to get focused. With practice it should only take a few minutes to accomplish.

[astronut892010]

Great input Rick, very thorough.  Many are steps I did even before posting, but always helpful for the reminders.  Thank you both for the excellent advice.  Tonight it is behaving much better.  Didn't do anything different.  I will keep you posted.  Still getting the error though and don't know why.

Using BYE 3.1.16 on Windows.  Canon 80D camera.  Running maximum sensitivity for LiveView in the advance settings.

It was just really weird last night and I don't know why.

Cheers,

Jay

[astronut892010]

Thank you Guylain.  Just curious why I did not get the error before, but do now?  As suggested, I will not let it bother me or ask any more silly questions about it.

 

Thank you again for making such a great product that has helped me explore the heavens and make pretty pictures.

Until the next problem, clear skies.