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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Canon DSLR Off By One Images - Very Dangerous!

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I am facing a problem with a Canon DSLR 650D with KStars/INDI. Using the latest stable version 1.7~201803061317~ubuntu16.04.1.

What happens is that I tell it to take a 120 second image. But what happens is that it takes an 18 second image only, and then from that point forward, all the images will be delayed by one. So if you do a slew then a plate solve, it will be on the previous image. The result is that the scope now things it it pointing somewhere that is not right, and it may crash in the mount.

I used to see this problem in the past (last summer), and could simulate it at will, but only by doing a manual step, as per the following:
- Connect the camera to USB
- Start INDI
- Take an image.
- After the image is taken, go to the camera and take an image manually.
- From this point on, INDI will be off by one.
- When trying to turn off the camera it will display a blue image saying 'saving image' or something like that, and will hang there until you pull the power or battery out.

Now, this happens without me touching the camera at all ...

One thing I noticed is that the count down timer for the exposure now contains decimals. Previous it was always xx.00, now it is xx.99 or some other value in the fraction part.

Is this a bug? Or is there a setting to prevent this?
Last edit: 6 years 1 week ago by Khalid.
6 years 1 week ago #24230

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Ignore the first part. It was because I have left the self time setting on the camera enabled. Turning it off made things work properly.

The second part though still happens: if one takes a picture while INDI is connected to the DSLR, it will lose track of where it is. Not sure if something can be done about it or not.
Last edit: 6 years 1 week ago by Khalid.
6 years 1 week ago #24231

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What's wrong with the fractions?
6 years 1 week ago #24234

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Nothing wrong with the fractions. It is just something I have not seen before.

The part that deserves your testing is the second scenario: connect a Canon DSLR to INDI and Ekos, take an image, then after it is successfully completed, take an image from the camera itself. Now gphoto (or INDI) loses track of the sequence of images, and will be always one behind.

This happens when I am focusing and touch the screen and an image is fired inadvertently. The only way to go back to normal is to stop INDI, turn off the camera, and disconnect power to it (because it will never complete its power down sequence, it thinks an image is in progress).

Not a high priority item, since there is a work around.
6 years 1 week ago #24255

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I've been severly bitten by this bug, where I wouldn't be getting back the photos that I think I should. Like I'll point the scope at the moon, take a preview snapshot, and it gives me a picture of what I was looking at before!

I think any time you stop/abort a capture, it leaves the image in the queue on the camera, so next time you take a picture, it returns the queued up photo. And it seems to stack up. I suspect that would be the reason the camera sometimes won't power down properly, the number of photos that it says it is trying to write might be the number of frames behind gphoto is from downloading from the camera.

I will do some more testing tomorrow, now that I have an idea of what causes this.

-- Kevin
The following user(s) said Thank You: Alfred
5 years 11 months ago #25385

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This is already fixed in GIT, and INDI stable PPA is getting built right now so in a couple of hours, all drivers should be out in the PPA with the fix.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Teseo, Kevin Ross
5 years 11 months ago #25387

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Awesome!
BTW, I'm the one that submitted the bug fix for the SynScan driver. I'm brand new to INDI/Ekos/KStars, but I really like the distributed nature of it. Just because the first time using it, it doesn't work, and had to pull out the source code editor and fix it myself, I don't let that slow me down! :)
-- Kevin
5 years 11 months ago #25393

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Okay I've had some time today to do some testing, with the camera on the bench instead of outside hooked up to a telescope.

With the old version, I could queue up many images in the camera by aborting a capture. And how ever many times I aborted, that's how many images it would be behind.

With the new version, all is happy! The camera even shuts down properly now.

Thanks for all your hard work!
-- Kevin
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jasem Mutlaq, Alfred
5 years 11 months ago #25394

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Welcome to the INDI & KStars community Kevin! That's precisely the beauty of open source development! Looking forward to your future contributions!
5 years 11 months ago #25395

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Jasem,

Thanks, as always!

Kevin,

Did you try the scenario where the camera is connected to KStars, take a few pics, then go to the shutter button on the camera and take a picture? Then back to KStars and see if there is nothing in the queue?

This was one source of the problem: my Canon 650D has a touch screen, and if I touched it by mistake while zooming for focusing or something, it would go into that mode, and I have to stop INDI, shut down the camera by disconnecting power, then starting INDI again.
5 years 11 months ago #25396

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I just tried your experiment, and unfortunately, that problem remains. Since my camera doesn't have a touchscreen, it hasn't been a problem for me, so I only tested my own issues. :)
5 years 11 months ago #25397

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The danger of such a bug is that if I don't notice it, and do a plate solve, it will be on the wrong part of the sky, and the scope will wind itself around the mount. Happened to me a couple of times before I realized what is going on.

I workaround it by disabling touch capture, but sometimes I need that so I turn it on, then forget to turn it off. Then when I am fiddling with things, the shutter fires, and then INDI has to be stopped, and the camera disconnected from power.

You can simulate the exact problem by using the physical shutter button.
5 years 11 months ago #25399

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