I don't own any of those cameras but I did use my DSLR with Ekos before. So somethings you might want to check on each of the camera that aren't working.
* Are you in BULB mode on the camera?
* Do you have Mirror Lock on or off?
These values need to match with what you have in Ekos, otherwise its just going to be a nightmare. Ekos and Gphoto can't control these, so you need to make sure the values match manually.

I can't remember what happens if the camera isn't in BULB mode but Ekos is, but I do know what happens if you have a mismatch in mirror lock up as the camera will thinks it should put the mirror up waiting for another command but it doesn't receive it, then the camera's mirror lock up will time out.

Basically if you can get gphoto2 to work, you should be able to get Ekos to use the indi_gphoto driver to work, there are aliases for this different type of cameras and since you're getting camera details while it connects that says the driver is working.

Yeah, the camera is in manual mode. There is no mirror lockup option on the D5100, and the J4 is mirrorless. All I keep getting is the error message you see below, which is of absolutely zero help. However GPHOTO2 has no problems controlling the D5100 or the J4.

I think may be done with Astroberry. I've already lost half of the season trying to get this damned thing to work. The only camera it works with is the camera that I DON'T want to use, my full frame D600, and even that has it's problems. I'd hate to have to set up a wired Windows setup, but at least that will work, as opposed to this.

Thanks for your replies.

 

There is the possibility that GPhoto2 shipped with AstroBerry is older than the one used by Entangle which may explain why your cameras are not working with AstroBerry. Did you run Entangle on AstroBerry and did you verify that they are using the same version of GPhoto2?

It is possible to start the INDI server and camera driver manually on the command line. Doing that may reveal the error that happens. I agree of course that the error message isn't helpful at all.

Device support on Windows is more extensive but this is not because Linux is not mature but simply lack of support of the device vendors. Almost all work on GPhoto2, INDI and AstroBerry is done by volunteers without support from the vendors which explains the issues. This of course doesn't help you but perhaps you could redirect your frustration to the vendors instead of the volunteers

I'm not dissing the volunteers, I just frustrated Ekos can't see my cameras and GPHOTO2 can. However I have to say if you didn't have to use the damned terminal at gunpoint to get anything done in Linux, it would probably far more acceptance and support. The terminal is what holds Linux back. Linux is still stuck in 1991. The insistence on using the terminal to get anything done is the reason Linux has gone nowhere in 30 years. It may be the backbone of the internet, but the internet is run by people with computer science degrees. I don't want to go and get a computer science degree to try and figure out why I can't get my cameras to work in Ekos. I just want to set up, and shoot astrophotography, not SUDO and GREP. Windows and Macs have terminals too, but no one needs to use them to get anything done.

There was no GPHOTO2 at all in the Astroberry ISO. When I started typing the commands in this video in the terminal, I got an some error message that essentially alluded that there was no GPHOTO2. I had to install it using the add/remove software panel. After I did that, the commands listed in that video worked in the terminal. Same with Entangle, I installed that as well at someone's recommendation using the add/remove software panel.. I believe Entangle is merely a shell that accesses GPHOTO2, not sure if it has it embedded or not.

The only way I can use Astroberry right now is to use PHD2 to guide. That's it. I can only plate solve through the guide cam, but parallax means I still have to guess where my target is in my main camera, and when you're manually aiming with a single axis tracker at a small target, especially with a high mag scope, that consumes time. I have to use an external intervalometer to control the shutter while PHD2 tracks. I put the Pi right on the rig to avoid having excess cables, as you can see below, but I need to run the extra cable for the intervalometer. If I could control everything from the Pi, I would only have one cable leading into the rig, the power cable.

For the time being I'll continue to shoot this way with the Astroberry, because that's all I can do. If I can't get it to control my cameras I'll have to switch back to a Windows setup. Somebody set up a similar arrangement to the Astroberry using a Windows mini PC with a hot spot, and I may go that route if Astroberry never gets up to speed.

 

I feel like we're close. The fact that INDI can see the camera, and properly identifies it, and that gphoto2 has no problems taking images, suggests to me that there is a setting in the INDI control panel that is incorrect. The DSLR drivers in INDI are very picky about those kinds of things. For example, I see in the log message "forcing BULB mode". That might be a problem (or maybe not). Does your camera have a separate mode on the dial for BULB mode, or do you have to put the dial in manual mode, and adjust the exposure duration to get to bulb mode?

Would you mind posting screenshots of each config screen in the Nikon INDI control panel?

"Does your camera have a separate mode on the dial for BULB mode, or do you have to put the dial in manual mode, and adjust the exposure duration to get to bulb mode?"
The latter. Once in manual mode, I just turn the shutter speed dial until it hits BULB, which is right after the 30 second maximum dial-able exposure time, This is the same for the DSLR D5100, and the mirrorless J4.

"Would you mind posting screenshots of each config screen in the Nikon INDI control panel?"
Sure. Hopefully some of them will be readable here, as they're quite long. Because I had to composite some of the screens, I only did it for the D5100, but being as they both react the same way, then perhaps (hopefully) the same issue(s) affect both. As best as I can remember, these are the default Ekos settings.

I will start with a view of the rear screen of my D5100 as I have it set to be connected to Ekos, as well as the profile settings for it in Ekos. The D5100 has a non-electronic manual lens on it to emulate a telescope attached. These will be followed by the data from each tab for the camera in the INDI Control Panel. There is an 8 image maximum per post here, so I will break it up between two posts. Hopefully this is of help:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

...and here are the rest of them...
 
   
 
 
 
 
 

Phil,

I have no experience using a DSLR with INDI, however, are you using a camera lens or a telescope?

Paul

Actually that's a good point. I know some DSLRs make you jump through some hoops to take a picture with no lens attached. A telescope won't register as a lens, so it thinks there's nothing there.

As a simple test, can you put a lens on the camera (or one of the other cameras that don't work, if that would be easier), and see if Ekos can then take a picture?

Yes I know gphoto was able to take a photo. Maybe it jumps through the necessary hoops that Ekos doesn't. Or it sets a setting that we need to set manually.

Kevin you made me think of something.

Phil, you say gphoto is working for you. What is the actual commands that you're running? INDI may not be running the same command, which could lead to it not taking the image. So providing the command that is working we can check the INDI code and see if if they match.

Cheers
Will

"As a simple test, can you put a lens on the camera (or one of the other cameras that don't work, if that would be easier), and see if Ekos can then take a picture?"

I had already done that. I got the same result. I had it in both manual and program modes with the kit lens.
For completeness' sake, I put the camera in the same manual/bulb/"no" lens mode and went back to GPHOTO2, but when I tried GPHOTO2, apparently is has disappeared from my system, because I got some strange error messages that you can see below. At first I thought it was because I was in manual/bulb/"no" lens mode, but when I reverted back to the kit lens in program mode, which was how it was when I first installed and used GPHOTO2, I still had the same error. I disconnected and restarted and reconnected the camera and I still got the same errors. HOWEVER...
...I started Entangle, and it was able to see the camera, AND shoot in manual/bulb/"no" lens mode. So I don't know why GPHOTO2 has stopped working, or has disappeared off the system. Again.
Have I mentioned how much I think Linux sucks?

"Phil, you say gphoto is working for you. What is the actual commands that you're running? INDI may not be running the same command, which could lead to it not taking the image. So providing the command that is working we can check the INDI code and see if if they match."

Well, I'm sure you've read the above, but when GPHOTO2 WAS working, ALL the commands you see below worked. Anything in parenthesis were notes made by me:

ls (list files in current selected directory)
CTRL-C (cancels process)
gphoto2 --list-ports
gphoto2 --auto-detect
gphoto2 --summary
gphoto2 --list-files (on camera SD card)
gphoto2 --get-all-files (from camera SD card)
gphoto2 --list-config
gphoto2 --list-config|grep shut (or other parameter)
gphoto2 --get-config shutterspeed (must be in manual mode)
gphoto2 --set-config shutterspeed=x
gphoto2 --capture-image
gphoto2 --trigger-capture
gphoto2 --capture-image-and-download (will ask to overwrite)
gphoto2 --capture-image-and-download --filename "myphoto.jpg"
gphoto2 --capture-image-and-download --filename "%Y%m%d%H%M%s.jpg"
gphoto2 --set-config capturetarget=0 (does not write to SD card and downloads, =1 reverts)
gphoto2 --capture-tethered (CTRL-C cancels)
gphoto2 --capture-tethered=XXs (runs tethers for specified period of time)
gphoto2 --trigger-capture "--camera=(camera name)" (when more than one camera is connected)

 

...and, while I'm clutching for straws here, WHY would GPHOTO2 just disappear like that? Could that be what's causing Ekos to not work, if it tries to access GPHOTO2 in order to control the cameras? I went back to the add/remove software panel, and it still list it as installed. It was not listed this way when I first installed it, but now still is.

While we're in this panel, there appears to be a number of other GPHOTO2-related installations, are any of these uninstalled items needed by Ekos to work with GPHOTO2, and if so, why wouldn't they already be installed? Would any of them appear to help the situation?

Just reaching out into the void...