Trouble with Backyark Nikon

[jmaikner]

Hello!

 

I am new to this forum, but I would like to set the stage for the setup and problems that are occurring.

 

I have a 2008 MacBook Pro 10.6.8 running VMware Fusion 3.1.2 (virtual machine) with Windows XP Professional loaded and I have Nikon D 5100.  As of yesterday, and following all directions, I was able to connect the camera with the 2 cables mentioned in the directions (one cable is the one that came with the camera and the other is the cable sent by SteveRosenow (I believe the cable is the MC-DC 2_USB).

 

This required telling the USB and the computer to let the camera connect to the windows side. The camera gets connected successfully and the COM Port is 10. I went into the device manager to confirm that, that is in fact the correct one. Unless it should be something different?  Also charged the battery and so forth. What I am noticing is that  when connected I am unable to download an image. Basically the shutter is not triggering and then it terminates the event after 120 seconds.

 

Any hints, help, guidance? Or if you want to point me to a direction of a post with the same issues that would be greatly appreciated. 

 

I just wonder if the setup with the mac, virtual machine, windows loaded, drivers... are the issue. Again, after due diligence and a few hours the camera is able to connect, but from there, no luck.

 

Thank you!

 

John Maikner

 

 

[admin]

Hello!

 

I am new to this forum, but I would like to set the stage for the setup and problems that are occurring.

 

I have a 2008 MacBook Pro 10.6.8 running VMware Fusion 3.1.2 (virtual machine) with Windows XP Professional loaded and I have Nikon D 5100.  As of yesterday, and following all directions, I was able to connect the camera with the 2 cables mentioned in the directions (one cable is the one that came with the camera and the other is the cable sent by SteveRosenow (I believe the cable is the MC-DC 2_USB).

 

This required telling the USB and the computer to let the camera connect to the windows side. The camera gets connected successfully and the COM Port is 10. I went into the device manager to confirm that, that is in fact the correct one. Unless it should be something different?  Also charged the battery and so forth. What I am noticing is that  when connected I am unable to download an image. Basically the shutter is not triggering and then it terminates the event after 120 seconds.

 

Any hints, help, guidance? Or if you want to point me to a direction of a post with the same issues that would be greatly appreciated. 

 

I just wonder if the setup with the mac, virtual machine, windows loaded, drivers... are the issue. Again, after due diligence and a few hours the camera is able to connect, but from there, no luck.

 

Thank you!

 

John Maikner

 

 

This looks like your serial com cable is not configured properly.  Did you choose COM10 in BackyardNIKON too?

 

Can you take non BULB images?  If yes this confirms the serial cable/connection/config is the root cause.

 

Regards,

[jmaikner]

Thank you for such a quick response.

To answer your first question. Yes, in the right hand section, the COM10 is selected.

 

As far as your question for non-bulb. I will be honest, I have no idea what that means. Can you further clarify?

As a side note, I tried to test the cable to listen for if the shutter goes off and no luck either, but it does connect in the very beginning.

 

Thank you!

 

John Maikner

 

 

[astroman133]

John,

 

Bulb exposures are triggered and timed by BYN/BYE instead of being timed by the camera.

 

In the Capture Plan Center in BYN set the Shutter to any setting other than "BULB".  The exposure will then be timed by the camera.  This will not use the serial cable, only the USB cable.

[admin]

As far as your question for non-bulb. I will be honest, I have no idea what that means. Can you further clarify?

 

Select anything but BULB (it's a pulldown) in the Capture plan centre , say 1".  Does it work?

 

 

 

As a side note, I tried to test the cable to listen for if the shutter goes off and no luck either, but it does connect in the very beginning.

 

 

Click the TEST button in the lower right corner, do you hear the shutter?

 

You can also try this... Keep you camera on, reboot your PC, do you hear the shutter when rebooting?  You should, this is because Windows goes a series of test when rebooting and that includes opening all com ports.  When this occurs the shutter should open.

 

Regards,

[jmaikner]

Thank you for such quick replies.

After much fiddling, I tried to test the cable and no luck. I do not hear the shutter. I also tried the method of rebooting the PC with the camera on and I don't hear the shutter either. I also tried the non-bulb as suggested. I tried 1 and other settings. No luck.

 

Any other suggestions, ideas, or advice?

 

Thank you again for providing assistance.

 

John Maikner

[SteveRosenow]

John, I sent you a reply to the e-mail you sent me but in case you haven't had a chance to check that yet - and appears you've done the first step (confirming its device status in Device Manager).

 

The next step is to force it to use a different COM port (one in which was previously unassigned) - and to do this you go into the Device Manager, find the cable and then change its Port Settings.

I had that issue happen twice on two previous cable builds (I've built over a dozen of these), and when I used up all the COM ports, I had to reassign it.

 

Let me know if that step works. If not, I can test and/or repair the cable if needed.