Image session won’t go past 1 exposure

[jrbaguley]

Hey there.

I had my first night imaging with my new rig the other night and everything went perfectly.

Last night I attempted another session however things did not go so well.

I set my session for 30 exposures at 150 seconds each, however after the first exposure it would not continue and it just says BUSY and the dial just keeps spinning.

its just so odd as it was working perfectly a couple nights beforehand.

I’m running the current version 3.1.18 and using a Canon 200Dmk2 

hopefully there’s an answer for this issue.

cheers

James

[astroman133]

James,

Please post issues and questions about BYE in the BYE Forum. This makes it easier for someone who is experiencing a similar issue to see how others have solved it.

BYE uses the Canon EOS SDK software library to control the camera. The SDK does not have access to all the camera's settings, so BYE cannot warn you that they may be set inappropriately.

If it worked a few days ago, but not during your most recent session, it seems that it is likely due to one of those settings being set inappropriately for BYE's use. 

Some cameras have a setting that prevents the camera from taking an exposure without a lens attached. Is it possible that your camera has this setting and that you changed it after your last imaging session? 

The symptoms are the same as yours. Look at this post from last week in the BYE Forum:

Thanks!

[s3igell]

James, sometimes it is the easiest of mistakes that trips up an Imaging Session.

Depending on your DSLR Model (and I can't find anything specific to the Canon 200Dmk2), you will need to manually twist the Mode Dial to Bulb for Exposures >30sec (an easy one to forget).

[jrbaguley]

Hi Thanks for the feedback 

I worked out what the issue was.

On the night of imaging before I started, I changed the setting so the images would just save to the camera SD card and not both PC and card.

I’ve reverted back to the Canera +PC setting and is working fine.

Strange that that happens but at least the problem is solved.

Cheers

[admin]

4 hours ago, jrbaguley said:

Hi Thanks for the feedback 

I worked out what the issue was.

On the night of imaging before I started, I changed the setting so the images would just save to the camera SD card and not both PC and card.

I’ve reverted back to the Canera +PC setting and is working fine.

Strange that that happens but at least the problem is solved.

Cheers

Actually, not strange.  This has been reported before and and the issue is timing.  When save to camera card only the action of save takes a few seconds and during this time BYE tries to start a new image but the camera is busy and therefore fails.  The workaround is to save to PC -or- add a pause between exposures just long enough the the save action to complete before the next picture is taken.

Regards,

[astroman133]

Isn't this something that BYE could react to? If BYE attempts to start a new exposure and the camera is busy, pause and retry a certain number of times before giving up. It could expect this if the SaveTo destination is the camera only.

[admin]

4 hours ago, astroman133 said:

Isn't this something that BYE could react to? If BYE attempts to start a new exposure and the camera is busy, pause and retry a certain number of times before giving up. It could expect this if the SaveTo destination is the camera only.

No, by that time it is too late. The only way to know if the camera is busy it to send a command to it... and SD cards are not created equal in terms of write speed.  The pause between exposers is the only workaround for now... or save to PC (recommend).

[astroman133]

Could you implement a built-in Save To Camera delay time and expose it as a Setting? Then allow the user to set a value that they have determined works for their camera(s). A dropdown list, slider, or up/down control with a range of numbers from 1 to 20 seconds with an increment of 1/4 second should work.

[admin]

2 hours ago, astroman133 said:

Could you implement a built-in Save To Camera delay time and expose it as a Setting? Then allow the user to set a value that they have determined works for their camera(s). A dropdown list, slider, or up/down control with a range of numbers from 1 to 20 seconds with an increment of 1/4 second should work.

Interesting approach.

[admin]

On 7/6/2020 at 9:42 AM, astroman133 said:

Could you implement a built-in Save To Camera delay time and expose it as a Setting? Then allow the user to set a value that they have determined works for their camera(s). A dropdown list, slider, or up/down control with a range of numbers from 1 to 20 seconds with an increment of 1/4 second should work.

Looks like I may have found the camera event in the Canon SDK when the camera is busy writing to card... I'm testing it now with a Canon EOS RP, 450D, 550D, and 60D and it seems to work very well when saving to card only.

Incidentally I looked deeper in the Nikon SDK and was able to address this as well for Nikon.

A+