I wouldn't recommend running this program every time you are imaging, but if there is a reproducible crash and you want to send the details about what causes it, this would be nice.

Jasem, now I can see the changes you have made. Thanks a lot for taking the time! The shutter speeds displayed by clicking arrows next to Exposure: remain the same but the actual shutter speeds executed are adjusted to what is offered by the camera. I can still enter 0.01s but Ekos now takes a 1/90s exposure when I do so. I didn't realize this when I posted earlier this evening. So for single exposures it looks like a success. The first logfile is for a 0.01s exposure. Ekos adjusted the shutter speed to 0.11111 which is offered by my camera (1/90s). Perfect!

For flats we're getting closer but didn't succeed yet. The second logfile is for flats of ADU=29500 being requested, starting at 0.01s again.
1) Ekos takes a 1/90s exposure (correct), ADU of the image received is 1070.
2) Ekos reacts by requesting a 0,012500s exposure. The closest match is 1/90s again, ADU is basically the same, 1069.
3) Ekos increases exposure time to 0.015625s which is adjusted to my cam's closest match of 0.01666667s (1/60s, correct). The image received has an ADU of 1086,96.
4) Ekos reacts by requesting a 9,2615s exposure, adjusted to 10s (correct).
5) For whatever reason the 10s picture is not taken by way of "widget shutterspeed" but instead Ekos falls back to "B" mode sending "eosremoterelease press full" and starting a 10s countdown. This is where the procedure fails. Immediately before that, Ekos correctly reports "Closest match: 10 seconds Index: 3 ". I can't see why Ekos does not request a "widget shutterspeed: 3" similar to what it did before. Is there something like a 1s threshold implemented that prevents Ekos from using widget shutterspeed for exposures of >1s? This is not necessary since available shutter speeds range from 1/8000 up to 30s.

Ekos should *never* fall back to "B" mode while the camera is in "M" mode.

Anyway, we're getting there!. I'll be available for more testing today and tomorrow.

So the *driver* was always falling back to BULB when the exposure > 1 second. I just removed this limitation in the indi-gphoto driver, so please test. Please note that in my camera (600D), I can still take proper exposures (e.g. 10 s) with camera being in Manual & Bulb modes without using camera predefined exposures. I think this behavior differs in different cameras so this is why.

I am now able to successfully take flats! I ran a couple tests with several ADU values and it did work very well. I'd like to do more tests before sounding the all clear horn though.

It would be helpful to have a few minor modifications:
- FORCE BULB should be disabled 100% of the time when a "B/M camera" is detected just as you had suggested before.
- Ekos should display an error message once out-of-range shutter speeds are requested. During one of my tests I had entered a too high ADU value. Ekos increased exposure times (just as an example) to 34s which was adjusted to 30s. Since the ADU came in below target, Ekos increased the requested exposure time further to 54s or so which again was adjusted to 30s. In this case the process will fail requesting 3600s flats.
- If the value entered in the Calibration - Tolerance field is too tight, Ekos might be unable to successfully take flats due to the limited number of available shutter speeds.
- In the CCD tab's Exposure field only valid shutter speeds should be accepted/displayed. The up/down arrows should browse through the list of available shutter speeds.
- The CCD tab's countdown should be synchronized with actual shutter speeds. As it is now, Ekos does for instance a 54s countdown while in fact the camera takes a 30s exposure.


Exactly. The 5D can't take bulb exposures in "M" mode. The 600D can.

How can we tell that camera is a "B/M camera"? and do it reliably?

I think that is tied again to the first question. In my camera, it would have taken 34 and 54 seconds respectively just fine. Actually it never adjusted the exposure down to 30s as it only adjust exposures that fall within the minimum and maximum ranges available.

The default value 1000 is OK though?

I actually thought about that. We can make valid shutter speeds available there as decimals. I was thinking more along the lines of fractional exposures (i.e. 1/4000) but that would require a different GUI widget and more work. Maybe this change would confuse users, so I decided to sit on it for now.

Again, this is tied to "B/M camera". Once this type of cameras are identified, such special-case adjustments can be made.

When autoexposuremode: lists "Bulb" that should indicate a B/M camera. (I assume your 600D does not list "Bulb" there? Or when shutterspeed: does not list "B" or "bulb" this should indicate a B/M camera, too.

You're right. Something similar happened though (logfile attached). The 20s exposure runs fine. Since ADU is lower than target, it is increased to 30,85s which is out of range. Ekos falls back to "B" and sends an eosremoterelease Press Full which triggers another 20s shot in my camera (the "M" subdial was set to 20s when the most recent shot was taken). It would have been better if it had been adjusted to 30s. Instead it was inadvertently "adjusted" to 20s forever. I assume this will be fixed once a B/M camera is identified and treated as such.

So far this setting didn't cause any problems. This is with a Canon 5D Mk2 and a reasonable ADU target of ~8000. 1000 could become a problem with higher ADU cameras though. Maybe the default Tolerance value should be derived from the camera's max ADU/bpp instead of being fixed at 1000.

Fractional would be nice to have but decimals are OK, too. Let's make the process of taking flats 100% bullet proof first.

Perfect!

Hi Jasem. I downloaded the nightly version onto my RPi4 last night and no issues with flats or Kstars crashing.

Many thanks,

David.

autoexposuremode lists Bulb here, and shutterspeed lists bulb too. Check the logs, we need to find a reliably and consistent method to identify a B/M camera.

That's excellent! Probing shutterspeed will do the trick. Your camera lists bulb (speed 0), mine does not. Speed 0 is 30s here.

and what would be the policy when detecting such camera? Can you capture in bulb more than the maximum speed listed in the shutterspeed?

A simple approach would be this: For shutterspeeds of <=30s force bulb should be disabled automatically. For shutterspeeds of >30s it must be enabled automatically. The disadvantage of this method is the user would still have to make sure that camera setting and Ekos setting are the same.

A more reliable method would be to detect whether the camera's dial is actually set to "B" (autoexposuremode = "B" ) or "M" shortly before any picture is taken. If it is set to "B", force bulb must be ON, if it is "M", force bulb must be OFF.

In case the exposure time selected in Ekos is >30s but the camera is set to M, a warning should be displayed. When the exposure time selected in Ekos is <1s but the dial is set to B that should trigger a warning, too.