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Mirror lock on Canon with serial shutter?

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Hi,
Your log file does contain message like:

Locking mirror by opening remote serial shutter port: /dev/shutter ...

So, at least the code to lock the mirror is being executed.
Have you activated the mirror lock up feature in the camera menu when you set the mirror lock time to a non-zero value?
7 years 4 months ago #11874

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Hi!

No, of course, I hadn't. But when I do enable mirror lock on the camera, it doesn't work anymore. It starts an exposure, and then hangs. See attached log file.

With mirror lock set to not possible, it works again.

Magnus
7 years 4 months ago #11945
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Hi,

There are a few things that you might want to check.
First, after configuring the camera for mirror lock, does mirror lock and exposing work when you press the button on the camera (twice of course)?
Second, when the exposure hangs, can you end it by pressing the button on the camera?
My serial shutter release has a LED indicating whether the shutter is active or not. If yours has too can you check what this LED indicates? It should first light up briefly for the mirror lock and then longer for the exposure.

Camiel
7 years 4 months ago #11966

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Hi!

Had a chance to test it now. When I set the camera to allow mirror lock, and I press the button on the camera manually, it works. One press - mirror lockad, next pres - exposure.

My seiral has no LED, though, so I cannot see any indication that anything is happening.

Anything else I can try or test?

Magnus
7 years 4 months ago #12017

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Hi,
Okay, and when the exposure hangs, can you end it by pressing the camera''s exposure button?

Another thing you can check is the exposure setting: when taking short exposures (less than 1 s) the camera''s built-in exposure times are used, for anything longer "bulb" is selected. Is this shown on the camera's display? This should be the case when mirror lock is enabled and disabled.

Camiel
7 years 4 months ago #12036

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Hi,
Two other things that you might want to check are whether your camera actually responds to an external shutter release other than your serial shutter release, and that your serial shutter release is actually working using a multimeter.
Camiel
7 years 4 months ago #12052

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Hi!

Suddenly, after an update of the system, I cannot take any images at all. Ekos tells me:
Image transfer is disabled for this camera. For guide cameras configured for external guiding applications, please enable remote images in Guide module options.

Before that, I managed to try what you said - with somewhat confusing results. I set the camera to enable mirror lock, and took an exposure, then pressed the buttton on the camera, and then it took an exposure. However, image was not downloaded. I need to try it more. That was when I upgraded the system, and capturing stopped working.

Do you recognize this "Image transfor disabled"?

Magnus
7 years 4 months ago #12302

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So, an update: I did not have the guidescope connected before. When I do, I do not get this message "Image transfer disabled". The camera takes an exposure.

However - the image is not downloaded. Log file attached. Any ideas on what this is?

Magnus
Last edit: 7 years 4 months ago by Magnus Larsson.
7 years 4 months ago #12304
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My camera does not show this problem even with the latest version of the driver.
You said that you have tried the tests I suggested. Since I can't reproduce the problem you are having, it would help if you could be specific on which tests you did and what the result was.
Regards,
Camiel
7 years 4 months ago #12305

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OK, so now my 350D works again, so I've tried. This is what I did:
Turned on mirror lock on the camera.
Tried taking a preview with ekos, mirror lock set to 0.
Result: no exposure, Indi manager says error.

Then I set the mirror lock to 1 sec in Indi manager, and tried preview again.
Result: The log in indi manager says it is starting exposure, but nothing happens.
When I manually press the button on camera mirror is locked, then I press again and an exposure is taken. But this does not affect Ekos/INdi.

Log attached.

Magnus
7 years 4 months ago #12333
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Hi,
In your log I see:

DEBUG 186.167612 sec : Opening remote serial shutter port: dev/shutter ...
DEBUG 186.167684 sec : Failed to open serial port: dev/shutter
ERROR 186.167735 sec : Error starting exposure

Did you attach the serial shutter release to your computer?

Based on the information that I got from you, it could be that your serial shutter release is malfunctioning. Can you verify that it works properly? (See my post 12052 in this thread.)

Regards,
Camiel
7 years 4 months ago #12381

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Hi!

So I've tried again, this time making sure the serial shutter works. I cannot measure anything with a multimeter, but it might be because it is practicall tricky. However, when I only have the serial shutter attached to the camera (no USB) and start an exposure, it takes an exposure, and then of course reports an error. But the shutter must work becuase the shutter on the camera (including the mirror) is operating.

So. restarting everything, with both USB and serial shutter attached, I set the camera to enable mirror lock, set the mirror lock to a non zero value, and try. Now it actually takes an exposure. But it is not correct. There are 3 events: mirror lock, shutter opening, shutter closing+mirror down. Listening to the camera, it sounds as if the first event is mirror up+ shutter release. At event 2, where there just should be shutter opening, it sounds as if the mirror goes down. And nothning much happens at event 3 - however, frequently there is an "unspecified error" so at the time of event 3, instead I get a new event 1 for a new exposure.

The downloaded images does not reflect the exposire time either, but the fits header value represents the exposure time I've set. So: when I set mirror lock to 1 sec, and exposure to 45, I get an image that looks as if it is exposed 1 sec, not 45. But the fits header says 45 secs.

Further: when I have mirror lock disabled in camera, the small LED window on the camera counts the exposure time. When mirror lock is enabled, it does not count - as if it does not really take an exposure, which is what I believe (it closes mirror and shutter at event 2, instead of opening shutter).

I do hope this makes sense.

Log file attached.

Magnus
7 years 4 months ago #12393
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