New User - Can't take Image

[ABT42]

Just installed the premium version. BYE recognizes my T3i on the USB port, and I can snap pictures in Planetary or focus mode and everything is as expected - the activity indicator shows the shot being taken, and the image ends up only on the  PC per settings, but in image mode nothing happens.  I set the plan to the same settings as when in focus mode.  When I press the button BYE just beeps, and I get a message to the effect that the image has been canceled.  No activity, nothing on the screen, nothing in storage.  I can go back to focus mode and take a snapshot right after.  What am I doing wrong?  The manual doesn't match the GUI - the manual looks like it is for an older version of the software.

[ABT42]

Yes, I mean the camera menu on the camera itself.  Access the Custom Option menu and find the mirror lock.  Make sure it is disable.  Also make sure the self timer is off on the camera, though I doubt this is the issue.

 

By BULB I mean the shutter field MUST be set to BULB, not 0.4" (or any other value), these are Time Value (TV) shutter speed.  Select BULB... then use the duration field to enter the number of second you want your image to be.

 

Also, send me the log files in you have not done so already.  They are in  "My Pictures\BackyardTEMP\logs"

 

Regards,

 

Just FYI I finally got around to resolving the issue.  I looked at the log, and did not see anything wrong with the camera settings.  However, I noticed that there was a Low Disk Space error.  Setting BYE to skip the disk space check solved the problem - at least temporarily ;-).  Turns out the mirror lock setting is irrelevant - it appears BYE overrides it.  Also, the shutter field can be set to any value and it still works.  As a suggestion, it would have been more informative and saved me a lot of trouble if instead of the status line displaying "image session canceled" it had displayed "disk space low".  By my standards, I still have plenty of space on the HD.

 

 

[admin]

The low disk space is set a 1GB.  The reason is that it needs to make sure you have enough space for an entire night image session for both your image files, the BackyardTEMP temporary working area and log files, and still have enough for Windows not to go bonkers.

 

I have changes the error so that it logs on the UI as well so with the next release users will at least get a UI notification instead of only in the log files.

 

Thank you,

[astroman133]

How long is the exposure of the image that you are trying to shoot?  If it is longer than 30 seconds then make sure that the Shooting mode on the camera is set to Manual (M).

 

Do you have a lens attached or is the camera attached to a scope?

 

If you download BYE 3.1 Release Candidate 5, you will get a beta version of the next release that is pretty solid. 

 

Here is the download link -->

 

http://www.binaryrivers.com/download/setup-BackyardEOS-v310-RC05.exe

 

This Release Candidate will NOT overwrite your current v3.0.x installation. It also contains a new user manual.

 

Please provide more details about your shooting parameters and configuration.  It will help others to assist with troubleshooting.

[ABT42]

>

How long is the exposure of the image that you are trying to shoot?  If it is >longer than 30 seconds then make sure that the Shooting mode on the camera is set to Manual >(M).

 

Camera is in Manual.  Exposure was set to 0.4".  I set the ISO to 100 (I am shooting indoors at the moment).  Everything else is default.  The fact that it takes a snapshot properly in focus and planetary mode even after I get the image plan canceled message is what has me puzzled - that eliminates a lot of possibilities. I was thinking perhaps I am missing a step setting up for image. 

 

> Do you have a lens attached or is the camera attached to a scope?

 

I am just using the camera lens at the moment, w/ AF off, IS off.

 

> If you download BYE 3.1 Release Candidate 5, you will get a beta version of the next release that >is pretty solid. 

 

>Here is the download link -->

 

>http://www.binaryrivers.com/download/setup-BackyardEOS-v310-RC05.exe

 

>This Release Candidate will NOT overwrite your current v3.0.x installation. It also contains a new >user manual.

 

Thanks,  I will try this when I get home.

 

>Please provide more details about your shooting parameters and configuration.  It will help others >to assist with troubleshooting.

 

I have a Thinkpad laptop, 32-bit, 4G memory, 100 GB HD w/ Windows XP / Linux Mint 17.  The BYE version is v3.03.  Camera is a Canon T3i.

[admin]

If you can take snap images but not BULB images part of a capture plan it is because you have your in-camera mirror lock set to on.  Turn it off using the camera menu and it should all work.

 

Keep me posted,

 

Regards,

[ABT42]

If you can take snap images but not BULB images part of a capture plan it is because you have your in-camera mirror lock set to on.  Turn it off using the camera menu and it should all work.

 

Keep me posted,

 

Regards,

 

Camera menu on the camera?  As far as I know it is not set to lock - taking a snapshot flips the mirror.  Also, when you say bulb, do you mean the shutter column?  If it is set to an actual value - e.g. 0.4" as in the attached screenshot does that still apply? 

 

[admin]

Yes, I mean the camera menu on the camera itself.  Access the Custom Option menu and find the mirror lock.  Make sure it is disable.  Also make sure the self timer is off on the camera, though I doubt this is the issue.

 

By BULB I mean the shutter field MUST be set to BULB, not 0.4" (or any other value), these are Time Value (TV) shutter speed.  Select BULB... then use the duration field to enter the number of second you want your image to be.

 

Also, send me the log files in you have not done so already.  They are in  "My Pictures\BackyardTEMP\logs"

 

Regards,

[astroman133]

Guylain,

 

The OP is shooting Tv, 0.4 second images, when his issue occurs.  Will Av be affected by the in-camera Mirror Lock? According to the user, 0.4 second exposures works on the Frame & Focus tab, but not on the Imaging tab.

 

It appears that the OP installed BYE 3.1.0 RC5, but never said if he still has the same issue.

 

It may be time to send/post the log files, preferably of RC5, since it is not likely that you will be making any changes to 3.0.x.

 

To ABT42,

 

The BULB setting is for exposures longer than 30 seconds, where the PC (BYE) controls opening and closing the shutter.  For your camera, the rotary, shooting mode, knob must be set to Manual (M) to shoot bulb exposures.

[admin]

Thanks Rick.

 

To the OP.  The only difference between snapping images in Frame & Focus and taking images in imaging mode is that in live view the mirror is already up... which means the only known (to me at least) cause of this is in-camera mirror lock is turned on but the T3i is a DIGIC 4 camera which supports mirror-lock over usb so this should be a mute point.

 

I really need the log file for this one.  Without them there is not much I can do.  Please send them to me

 

Regards,

[ABT42]

If you can take snap images but not BULB images part of a capture plan it is because you have your in-camera mirror lock set to on.  Turn it off using the camera menu and it should all work.

 

Keep me posted,

 

Regards,

[ABT42]

Sorry if this is a duplicate. Didn't look like it posted first time.  Will check camera settings tonight.  That seems to be the most promising possibility, as RC5 behaves exactly like 3.0.3.  To clarify, camera knob has been set to M - not Tv for all my attempts.  I will also reset shutter to bulb - but as I recall the duration column was greyed out when set to bulb - which is why I set the exposure time under shutter. 

 

If this doesn't work, I will send the log files - though I suspect they will be of little use - when I looked last time, the only line beyond the "Image session canceled" ones says something like "T3i successfully connected".

[s3igell]

If this doesn't work, I will send the log files - though I suspect they will be of little use - when I looked last time, the only line beyond the "Image session canceled" ones says something like "T3i successfully connected".

 

Do send the log-files to Guylain (or attach to a Post in this Thread).  Make sure that you send the actual log files, not just the quick screen list of high-level actions shown to the screen.  Use the "View Log History" link under the Connect button, and then the "Open Log Folder" button at the bottom of the "Log History" pop-up.

 

You might also want to double-check your USB Connections between Camera and Laptop.  The "T3i connected" message sounds suspiciously as if the Camera is getting "disconnected" by the USB Hub or Cable.  Use as short a cable as possible, and remove any USB Hub or other devices, for testing purposes.

[admin]

Sorry if this is a duplicate. Didn't look like it posted first time.  Will check camera settings tonight.  That seems to be the most promising possibility, as RC5 behaves exactly like 3.0.3.  To clarify, camera knob has been set to M - not Tv for all my attempts.  I will also reset shutter to bulb - but as I recall the duration column was greyed out when set to bulb - which is why I set the exposure time under shutter. 

 

If this doesn't work, I will send the log files - though I suspect they will be of little use - when I looked last time, the only line beyond the "Image session canceled" ones says something like "T3i successfully connected".

 

Yes, set the camera to M (always).

 

No, the duration field is enabled when BULB is selected and greyed out when any other option is selected

 

What the message center says is NOT enough for troubleshooting issues like yours, it represents barely 1% of what the actual log files contains.  I need the full log file.

 

Regards,