Hello,

is it possible to define simultaneous captures?

I have 2 DSLR conntected to my pi4, one is connected to the tube and one is mounted on top of the telescope.

So i can choose the different cameras in the capture tab and add can add the jobs to the list.

But they will be processed in a batch, one by one ...

So is it possible to capture from two different cameras at the same time with Ekos?

I think the answer to simultaneous captures is no, it can't be done at present.
It's quite a complex problem because all the capture devices need to be synchronised to the mount control so that you don't get the mount moving while a capture is in progress.

There's been talk of doing this but the people with the expertise are already pretty busy.

Chris

I agree that mount/image acquisition control for more than 1 camera is complex, but I wonder whether a second and even third camera could not be set up in a “dumb” slave mode configuration. I.e. have a master camera that is integrated into mount control and the slaves operating simply on glorified timers to acquire images along the ride. The worst thing that could happen is that an occasional image gets trashed when the mount moves during exposure.
It could be made more fancy over time.

Yes, i think a stupid slave capture module would do the trick!

The only thing what this has to check, is the availability of the camera ...

If you want an unsynchronised separate image capture then wouldn't just starting a second instance of KStars using simulators for everything except the camera do it?

Worth a try.

I will try it, but will this not stop my other indi services?

So i can't test it, i have connected to dslr cameras, a canon 550d and a sony alpha 6400 ...

When starting the canon and the sony dslr driver, the canon driver tries to connect with the sony camera ... and the sony driver failes to connect ....

I have not seen any possiblity to change a device or something?

What about running two INDI servers in parallel, using two different ports? And having one Kstars instance for each of them? With one Kstars instance, you can run the full fledged program with guiding, aligning, meridian flip etc. The other one simply shoots pictures.

And sorry guys, a "simple" slaving mode is not that simple at all - at least for my humble programming skills

Cheers
Wolfgang

Per aspera ad astra, Wolfgang!


Nonetheless, there is a Linux capture program that runs on the RPi4 on Ubuntu MATE 18.04. It's called 'entangle'. Just install it using

$ sudo apt-get install entangle

I have installed, but not tested it with my DSLR. However it supports a variety of DSLRs, so you may be able to run that in parallel to KStars.

Well, this will not help, because when both cameras are plugged in, the canon driver takes and blocks the sony

Bummer!

What happens when you start Entangle first, connect the Sony, then start KStars and connect the Canon?

Alternatively, you could install DSLR Shutter:

www.stark-labs.com/page26/DSLR_Shutter.html

And see if that works. You need to install Wine and enable 32-bit support for that, though, so that will involve a little more work than Entangle. Also, Wine may suck additional resources, so I do not know whether that will conflict with Ekos function. I have not tried this.

There is no "Canon driver" or "Nikon driver" nor "Sony driver". There is simply a indi_gphoto_ccd driver with 3/4 symlinks pointing at it (4th is Pentax).
So basically, you're using the same driver simultaneously for your two cameras. This won't work.
Better use one instance of kstars/INDI per camera. One Kstars/INDI deals with the mount, one camera, etc..
The other kstars/INDI deals with the second camera. And you have to calculate your captures so the two images won't download at the same time.
As long as you have a CCD driver set, you don't even need any simulator on the second Kstars/INDI.

- Marc