Canon DLSR image download hanging

Sequence Generator Equipment Compatibility
1

I’ve upgraded to the latest version of SGP (2.5.1.17) on my Windows 10 laptop and found a problem capturing with my Canon EOS 100D DSLR.

SGP connects to the camera OK, and LiveView works for frame & focus, but still images fail to download. SGP just hangs at the “downloading…” message.

I have tried to capture an image via “Frame & Focus” and from a sequence with the same result. I either have to stop the frame & focus or abort the sequence.

I have checked the USB cable, removed hubs etc., and the fact that SGP connects to the camera and live view is working implies the problem is not just a simple connectivity issue.

I have tried the following:

  1. Created a new sequence - ensuring there are write-premissions to the download directory.
  2. Created a new equipment profile adding “Canon EOS” as the camera choice
  3. Tested both RAW CR2 image and the default FITS-compatible image format.
  4. Done a clean install on a new Windows 7 machine and tried all of the above.
  5. Installed Canon EOS utility and successfully captured an image and downloaded to the PC with the same cables etc. - so no fundamental problem with the camera that I can see.

Are there any known issues with Canon DSLRs on v 2.5.1? I can’t positively say that it was working with previous version I had 2.5.x - but it was working a couple of months ago when I last used this camera, possibly on a version 2.4.x installation.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

John

2

[Update] I have tried capture with an alternate camera (ZWO224) and everything works as expected, so this is an issue the Canon camera with SGP - the camera works with other software.

Is anyone else using a Canon EOS 100D / Rebel SL1 with SGP?]

3

Are you in Manual or Bulb mode (not sure which that camera has)? Also do you recall doing anything previously to get it working like moving over an EDSDK.dll?

Thanks,
Jared

4

Heres a section from the log file after attempting to take a single 1 second capture:

[8/09/2016 2:57:36 PM] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SGM_FRAME_AND_FOCUS message received…
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] EOS camera: frame and focus…
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Canon: Setting ISO to: 800
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Canon: ISO look val: 96
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Canon: Exposing for 1 seconds…
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 40A, parameter 0,
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property B, parameter 0,
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 40A, parameter 0,
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property B, parameter 0,
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 40A, parameter 0,
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 40A, parameter 0,
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 40A, parameter 0,
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 402, parameter 0,
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 402, parameter 0,
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 100, parameter 0,
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 406, parameter 0,
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 40E, parameter 0,
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 102, property 40E, parameter 0,
[8/09/2016 2:57:37 PM] [DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 102, property 100, parameter 0,

Full log file (with various attempts) uploaded.

sg_logfile_20160908112819.txt (278.8 KB)

5

Hi Jared,

The camera is in manual mode and exposure time set to “BULB”. I only use this camera for imaging, so I never change the camera settings. It seems to work as normal in the EOS Utility.

I have never had to do anything strange, such as deleting .dlls to get it working - it was just “plug and play”.

Out of interest, is there any way to use SGP to capture to the camera’s SD card rather than downloading to the PC? This might be a temporary workaround.

Thanks,

John.

6

Just a thought, but do you still have EOS Utility open in the background? Just tonight i had something very similar happen to me with my Nikon D5300 (it was the first time i had seen this). As it turned out, i had DigicamControl open in the background, which meant both programs were connected to the camera, which i don’t think SGP likes. As soon as i closed DigicamControl my captures were able to download ok.

Worth a try!

7

[SOLVED]

No I didn’t have EOS Utility open (& in fact I had previously uninstalled it to prevent it opening every time I turned on the camera), but it did give me an idea based on another Canon related thread with a similar problem (Canon 60Da download issue - #9 by Marc - Equipment Compatibility - Main Sequence Software)

I couldn’t find a way to control the mirror lock in EOS Utility, but I did recall that in the camera setting dialog in SGP (next to the device connect button) there is a field to set “mirror settle time”. I had this set to zero (default) and changing it to a non-zero value fixed the problem! I have always set this to “2 seconds”, and for some reason (after setting up the new equipment profile I guess), it had reverted back to “0”.

I’m pretty sure that this is THE cause of the problem. I’m not sure if it’s a limitation of the Canon DSLR mirror-lock system, or a “feature” of SGP, but it’s good to know!

Thank you for your suggestions.

Kind regards,

John

8

Yes, very likely the issue. SGP needs to know when the camera is in “Mirror Lock” mode as we have to fire the shutter an additional time. So if the camera was in mirror lock but SGP didn’t know about it (by having the Mirror Settle Time be non-zero) then we would fire the shutter only twice. Once to start and once to end. However with mirror lock on the camera that gets translated to “Mirror Up” and “Bulb Start” so we never end the exposure…so there is nothing to download.

Thanks,
Jared

9

Thanks Jared. So is this a property of the Canon camera or an oversight in the software? Even if it’s nothing that SGP can predict, it might be a good idea to put a warning message next to the “settle time” field and mention it in the documentation.

In any case, I’m back in business! I did have a couple of frustrating nights trying to work out why my camera suddenly wasn’t working so hopefully this experience will help somebody!

Thanks,

John.