saving the first capture (and only the first one) on Sony A6000 fails

[justanenduser]

The first attempt at a capture will fail (whether using CCDciel or Kstars) when the image is being downloaded. If I wait for the camera to clear/reset (which it will do) all subsequent captures or previews (single shot, looping or sequence) work just fine.

The specific error message received "Exposure failed to save image... Unspecified error" seems to come from gphoto_cdd.cpp line 1197.

LIBINDI, LIBGPHOTO2 and KSTARS have all been built, within the last week, from their respective GitHub source. Patrick Chevalley has provided an updated CCDciel in his attempts.

What follows is an extract of the portion of the log that show the exposure and error.

DEBUG 69.608849 sec : Starting exposure (exptime: 1 secs, mirror lock: 0)
DEBUG 69.608858 sec : Mutex locked
DEBUG 69.608867 sec : Setting radio/menu widget iso: 11 (800)
DEBUG 69.609042 sec : Setting new configuration OK.
DEBUG 69.609050 sec : Using internal bulb widget:bulb
DEBUG 69.609057 sec : Setting toggle widget bulb: 1
DEBUG 69.627320 sec : Setting new configuration OK.
DEBUG 69.627359 sec : Exposure started
INFO 69.627370 sec : Starting 1 sec exposure
DEBUG 69.627449 sec : Time left: 1000
DEBUG 70.627648 sec : Reading exposure...
DEBUG 70.627695 sec : Time left: 0
DEBUG 70.627702 sec : Closing shutter
DEBUG 70.627709 sec : Using widget:bulb
DEBUG 70.627716 sec : Setting toggle widget bulb: 0
DEBUG 70.644312 sec : Setting new configuration OK.
DEBUG 70.644366 sec : Exposure complete
DEBUG 70.648790 sec : Unknown event.
DEBUG 70.651903 sec : Unknown event.
DEBUG 70.655522 sec : Unknown event.
DEBUG 71.714851 sec : Event timed out #1, retrying...
DEBUG 72.773867 sec : Event timed out #2, retrying...
DEBUG 73.829475 sec : Event timed out #3, retrying...
DEBUG 74.887770 sec : Event timed out #4, retrying...
DEBUG 75.944219 sec : Event timed out #5, retrying...
DEBUG 77.001773 sec : Event timed out #6, retrying...
DEBUG 78.059194 sec : Event timed out #7, retrying...
DEBUG 79.116672 sec : Event timed out #8, retrying...
DEBUG 80.175339 sec : Event timed out #9, retrying...
DEBUG 81.232014 sec : Event timed out #10, retrying...
ERROR 81.232088 sec : Exposure failed to save image... Unspecified error

The entire INDI log (3.7MB) is attached
indi_gphoto_ccd_23:38:04.txt

[knro]

Can you try to do the same thing with gphoto2 from the console?

[justanenduser]

I am running gphoto2 2.5.11-1 and libgphoto2 2.5.14-1 I have run 10 configurations each one beginning with the camera powered off and USB disconnected. Only 4 of them are successful. Attached is my (hopefully understandable) summary.

-gary-

On Mon, Jun 5, 2017 at 10:35 PM, Jasem Mutlaq ***@***.***> wrote: Can you try to do the same thing with gphoto2 from the console? — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#251 (comment)>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AYMO8zATQLD5bY9XnzWYuOsITm5fKFJaks5sBOUbgaJpZM4NwtT2> .

gphoto2 --bulb=2 --capture-image-and-download capture=YES, download=NO, exposure time=UNKNOWN, program exits to command line [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --capture-image-and-download Bulb mode enabled (exposure time: 2s). [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --capture-image --wait-event-and-download=2s capture=YES, download=YES, requested exposure time=YES, program exits to command line [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --capture-image --wait-event-and-download=2s Bulb mode enabled (exposure time: 2s). Waiting for 2 seconds for events from camera. Press Ctrl-C to abort. UNKNOWN PTP Event c201, Param1 ffffc001 Saving file as capt0000.arw UNKNOWN PTP Property 5005 changed UNKNOWN PTP Property d219 changed UNKNOWN PTP Property 5005 changed UNKNOWN PTP Event c202, Param1 ffffc001 [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --capture-image --wait-event-and-download=5s capture=YES, download=YES, requested exposure time=YES, program exits to command line [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --capture-image --wait-event-and-download=5s Bulb mode enabled (exposure time: 2s). Waiting for 5 seconds for events from camera. Press Ctrl-C to abort. UNKNOWN PTP Event c201, Param1 ffffc001 Saving file as capt0000.arw UNKNOWN PTP Property 5005 changed UNKNOWN PTP Property 5005 changed UNKNOWN PTP Event c202, Param1 ffffc001 UNKNOWN PTP Property d21d changed UNKNOWN PTP Property d21d changed [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --capture-image --capture-tethered=2s capture=YES, download=YES, requested exposure time=YES, program exits to command line [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --capture-image --capture-tethered=2s Bulb mode enabled (exposure time: 2s). Waiting for 2 seconds for events from camera. Press Ctrl-C to abort. UNKNOWN PTP Event c201, Param1 ffffc001 Saving file as capt0000.arw UNKNOWN PTP Property 5005 changed UNKNOWN PTP Property 5005 changed UNKNOWN PTP Event c202, Param1 ffffc001 [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --capture-image --capture-tethered=2s capture=YES, download=YES, requested exposure time=YES, program exits to command line [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --capture-image --capture-tethered=5s Bulb mode enabled (exposure time: 2s). Waiting for 5 seconds for events from camera. Press Ctrl-C to abort. UNKNOWN PTP Event c201, Param1 ffffc001 Saving file as capt0000.arw UNKNOWN PTP Property 5005 changed UNKNOWN PTP Property 5005 changed UNKNOWN PTP Event c202, Param1 ffffc001 UNKNOWN PTP Property d21d changed UNKNOWN PTP Property d21d changed [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --trigger-capture --capture-image-and-download capture=YES, download=YES, requested exposure time=NO, program exits to command line [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --trigger-capture --capture-image-and-download Bulb mode enabled (exposure time: 2s). New file is in location /capt0000.arw on the camera Saving file as capt0000.arw Deleting file /capt0000.arw on the camera [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --trigger-capture --wait-event-and-download=2s capture=YES, download=YES, requested exposure time=NO, program exits to command line [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --trigger-capture --wait-event-and-download=2s Waiting for 2 seconds for events from camera. Press Ctrl-C to abort. UNKNOWN PTP Property 5004 changed Saving file as capt0000.arw [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --trigger-capture --wait-event-and-download=5s capture=YES, download=YES, requested exposure time=NO, program exits to command line [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --trigger-capture --wait-event-and-download=5s Waiting for 5 seconds for events from camera. Press Ctrl-C to abort. UNKNOWN PTP Property 5004 changed Saving file as capt0000.arw UNKNOWN PTP Event c201, Param1 ffffc001 UNKNOWN PTP Property 5005 changed UNKNOWN PTP Property 5005 changed UNKNOWN PTP Event c202, Param1 ffffc001 UNKNOWN PTP Property d21d changed UNKNOWN PTP Property d21d changed [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --trigger-capture --capture-tethered=2s capture=YES, download=YES, requested exposure time=NO, program exits to command line [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --trigger-capture --capture-tethered=2s Waiting for 2 seconds for events from camera. Press Ctrl-C to abort. UNKNOWN PTP Property 5004 changed UNKNOWN PTP Event c201, Param1 ffffc001 Saving file as capt0000.arw [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --trigger-capture --capture-tethered=5s capture=YES, download=YES, requested exposure time=NO, program exits to command line [gary@bigboote ~]$ gphoto2 --bulb=2 --trigger-capture --capture-tethered=5s Waiting for 5 seconds for events from camera. Press Ctrl-C to abort. UNKNOWN PTP Property 5004 changed UNKNOWN PTP Event c201, Param1 ffffc001 Saving file as capt0000.arw UNKNOWN PTP Property 5005 changed UNKNOWN PTP Property 5005 changed UNKNOWN PTP Event c202, Param1 ffffc001 UNKNOWN PTP Property d21d changed UNKNOWN PTP Property d21d changed UNKNOWN PTP Property d21e changed [gary@bigboote ~]$

[justanenduser]

Some further exploration of gphoto2 on the command line...

--trigger-capture --capture-tethered=#s or --wait-event-and-download=#s
this works but does NOT honor BULB (either camera exposure setting or the -B/--bulb option on command line
it WILL work in other camera exposure setting (for my Sony A6000 that is 1/4000 sec ... 30 sec)
use the SECONDS option in the command line and make it at least 7 seconds > camera exposure time

--capture-image-and-download
this works but ONLY camera exposure setting OTHER than BULB (for my Sony A6000 that is 1/4000 sec ... 30 sec)

--capture-image -B/--bulb --capture-tethered=#s or --wait-event-and-download=#s
this works
use the SECONDS option in the command line and make it at least 7 seconds > camera exposure time

[justanenduser]

The Sony A6000 uses LENR (long exposure noise reduction) by default. It has the effect of doubling the length of time it takes to save the image. If I turn LENR off indi_gphoto_ccd does manage to save and download the first image and the length of the exposure seems to have no effect. I can also cause the first image to be saved if I increase the timeout (gphoto_driver.cpp line 912) instead of turning LENR off, however as the exposure time increases I eventually hit the TIMEOUT failure.

[knro]

How long would it take to save a 30-seconds exposure for example?

[justanenduser]

I am now running gphoto2 version 2.5.15, libgphoto2 version 2.5.16.1 and libindi version 1.5.0 If I turn LENR off libindi will successfully handle exposures from 1 second to 60 seconds (I have tested these) and presumably any longer exposure. If I turn LENR on (which doubles the amount of processing time done by the camera) libindi fails (as reported by CCDciel) with any exposure longer than 9 seconds. Apparently the libgphoto2 driver for the Sony A6000 does not provide to libindi any clearly identified status/signal to indicate when LENR is being used. My "work-around" is to simply not use LENR. If I use gphoto2 from the commandline I can specify a delay (to allow for the increased time required by LENR) before downloading the processed image. I should probably have closed this issue.

…

On Thu, Oct 19, 2017 at 11:31 PM, Jasem Mutlaq ***@***.***> wrote: How long would it take to save a 30-seconds exposure for example? — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#251 (comment)>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AYMO89ISon9sneLAhuv6o1SxJByqhxe2ks5suD5FgaJpZM4NwtT2> .