Canon 1DX Images not Saving - RESOLVED

Hello all. I have looked through the forums and online and have not been able to find this issue. I suspect someone else has had it before, and my locating skills are lacking.

I am using StellarMate OS on a Raspberry Pi, connected to a Skywatcher mount with a ZWO guide cam and a Canon EOS 1DX. I am running KStars/EKOS on a Mac. I'm able to connect to all devices through INDI.

In the Capture module I try to take a preview and nothing comes up. If I use Live View the image does appear. If I set a sequence to run no images are acquired. The Logs show "Event Timed Out", although sometimes I receive "Unknown Error" instead. I've tried saving on Both Local and Client.

I switched cameras to a 30D and captured images properly. I'm open to any ideas. Thanks.

[2019-04-23T17:13:05.162 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Starting exposure (exptime: 0.25 secs, mirror lock: 0) "
[2019-04-23T17:13:05.162 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Mutex locked "
[2019-04-23T17:13:05.163 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Using internal bulb widget:eosremoterelease "
[2019-04-23T17:13:05.163 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Setting radio/menu widget eosremoterelease: 2 (Press Full) "
[2019-04-23T17:13:05.194 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Setting new configuration OK. "
[2019-04-23T17:13:05.199 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Exposure started. "
[2019-04-23T17:13:05.201 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Time left: 249 ms "
[2019-04-23T17:13:05.459 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Reading exposure... "
[2019-04-23T17:13:05.467 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Time left: -1 ms "
[2019-04-23T17:13:05.468 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Closing internal shutter. "
[2019-04-23T17:13:05.468 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Using widget:eosremoterelease "
[2019-04-23T17:13:05.468 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Setting radio/menu widget eosremoterelease: 4 (Release Full) "
[2019-04-23T17:13:05.471 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Setting new configuration OK. "
[2019-04-23T17:13:05.476 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Exposure complete. "
[2019-04-23T17:13:06.673 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Event timed out #1, retrying... "
[2019-04-23T17:13:07.675 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Event timed out #2, retrying... "
[2019-04-23T17:13:08.770 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Event timed out #3, retrying... "
[2019-04-23T17:13:09.792 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Event timed out #4, retrying... "
[2019-04-23T17:13:10.816 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Event timed out #5, retrying... "
[2019-04-23T17:13:11.840 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Event timed out #6, retrying... "
[2019-04-23T17:13:12.866 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Event timed out #7, retrying... "
[2019-04-23T17:13:13.889 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Event timed out #8, retrying... "
[2019-04-23T17:13:14.719 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Event timed out #9, retrying... "
[2019-04-23T17:13:15.731 PDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[DEBUG] Event timed out #10, retrying... "
[2019-04-23T17:13:15.742 PDT INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1D X : "[ERROR] Exposure failed to save image... Unspecified error "
[2019-04-23T17:13:15.742 PDT INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.capture] - "Capture failed. Check INDI Control Panel for details."
[2019-04-23T17:13:15.765 PDT

Another update, I think I have it working.

Thank you Jasem for the input. I did have the camera in Bulb mode. But that suggestion pushed me back to camera settings. I tried again and received a different error - Cannot start exposure. I tried assorted combinations, but finally I did the following and it started saving the images:

- Turn Mirror Lockup OFF - counter-intuitive since I was using mirror lockup in EKOS; with the feature turned off on the 1DX it still functions properly when set in EKOS
- Change Save to SD card to ON in EKOS

I am not sure if I need to save to the SD card, those were the last changes I did that got it working. When I get some more time I am going to try with and without saving to SD to see if that makes a difference.

I'm getting further along on this. The latest information - I am able to get the camera to execute from the queue. I need to have Build off and Save to SD on. (If Save to SD is off I get intermittent issues where the camera quits responding).

I am now running into exposure issues. I have setup a queue to run 5 lights at 30 seconds each, then 5 darks at 30 seconds each. I have a 2 second mirror lock up set and the camera is in Build mine. When I run the camera performs as expected, opens the shutter for 30 seconds, then moves to the next image. Each shot is 30 seconds on the camera. I then put the lens cap on and run 5 darks. All images are being saved local (on the Stellarmate). When I pull up the images after the run is complete the lights come in as follows:

1. 1/10 sec
2. 30 sec
3. 1/10 sec
4. 30 sec
5. 1/10 sec

The darks come in:

1. 30 sec, but the Light (same picture as in the lights folder)
2. 1/10
3. 30 sec, but the Light
4. 1/10
5. 30 Sec but the Light

So I am getting one Light followed by 1 1/10s exposure for both light and darks in the queue. I've tried force bulb on and off with no change.

I tried disabling mirror lockup in INDI (Mirror lockup-0), when I do this the shutter opens for 30 seconds, but all images (Lights and Darks) are 1/10 second (black images).

I have logging enabled, but no errors are received so I do not see a log file. I suspect a camera setting, but not sure what to try. Any ideas?

Thanks-

The images are different. The test was done inside with just the camera connected. The 30 second exposures are what I would expect, overexposed. The 1/10 images are black. The file sizes are different as well. Puzzling is that the Darks folder has the same images.

A few nights ago I was successfully taking pictures, and I cannot identify what I changed. This leads me to potential cabling / USB issue. Next chance I get I'm going to play around with the cables and the powered USB Hub.

Update: Tonight I was successful running multiple sequences with the 1DX. The settings I used were below. If I changed one it would return to having 1 light image and 1 dark image, and the entire sequence were the same 2 images alternating (light, dark, light, dark). The Lights and the Darks both had the same 2 images. I think they were queued up in the camera but not saving, so it kept sending the first images it had. When I turned off the camera it was giving me a "Saving Images" graphic on the camera display that would not go away (which caused me to think about images getting caught in the buffer).

Settings that worked:

Main Control:
Mirror Lockup = 0 (It I set the mirror lockup on it would fail, and I would need to reboot the system and restart KStars on the Mac)

Options:
Force Bulb = OFF (Camera was set to Bulb mode, if I used Force Bulb it would fail)

Image Settings:
Capture Format = RAW
Transfer Format - Native
Capture Target = SD Card (I think this one was the key in the Image Settings tab)
SD Image = Delete

I'm going to setup with the mount tomorrow evening and give it another go. There really isn't anything here that is a problem. I like mirror lockup, but on these long exposures I do not think it will make a difference.

I still suspect there could be something in the camera settings affecting this, but my bench trials this evening were working.

If you want to have mirror lock active, you have to activate it in the camera's menu and in Indi as well. Both settings must be the same, otherwise you'll run into problems. Have done it with a 5D Mk2. It does work well if settings are the same.

Getting rid of "saving image" message in the display is achieved by disconnecting and re-connecting the USB cable.

Thank you Herrhausen - that worked. Previously I had mirror lockup turned on and it was refusing to take the picture; I suspect I had it turned on in the camera and off in INDI. With both enabled it seems to be working.

For the "Saving Image", once I changed to save to SD it hasn't come back. I'm hopeful it's ready to go.

It's all working! Last night I took multiple sequences, lights and darks, all automated. Plate solving worked well, Guiding was good, and no issues with the camera. Now to work on fine tuning the settings (and processing), but first images are below. What a great tool!

What a success! Glad to hear everything did work well for you. Keep up the excellent work!