Nikon D810 control and image transfer

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Andy Davies
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Nikon D810 control and image transfer

Post by Andy Davies »

I am triggering the D810 via the ISO 519 sync terminal with an Arduino Mega.

The camera is also connected to my laptop via the USB3 port to my laptop with qDSLR Dashboard so that I can record the images to a portable disk connected to the laptop.

The problem I have is that I cannot trigger the camera and record the images at the same time!

Any ideas other than using another computer?

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

I do not know about the D810 in particular.

But I have encountered a similar problem on other Nikon cameras, that the camera will ignore an external shutter release signal if the camera is in Live View mode.

My notes about how to use D5000 with StackShot and Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 say to "Close the Camera Control Pro Live View Window. (The StackShot controller cannot trigger exposures if this window is left open.)"

--Rik

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

An update on this issue...

Yesterday I encountered what sounds like exactly the same problem, trying to use my D800E with qDslrDashboard on an iMac running macOS Mojave.

The difficulty was that the camera could be triggered by shutter release cable if it was not talking to the iMac, but the trigger would stop working as soon as the camera got USB-connected to the iMac, even when qDslrDashboard was not running.

The solution to the problem (after literally hours of frustration) was to install Sofortbild and use that instead of qDslrDashboard or whatever is built into the iMac.

Running Sofortbild, I eventually had no problems with external triggering while Sofortbild downloads images.

However, it is still true that the camera cannot be in Live View. When the camera is in Live View, images cannot be captured by external trigger.

Important: note that just closing the Sofortbild Live View window does not automatically take the camera out of Live View mode. You have to click the little square box at upper right of the Live View window to do that. Then you can close the window.

Also important: opening the Sofortbild Live View window does not automatically put the camera into Live View mode. The window just opens up blank and gray. I found this very confusing and thought the facility was not working. But no, after opening the LV window, the user interface requires to click the arrow control, also at the upper right corner, to actually put the camera into Live View mode.

--Rik

Andy Davies
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Post by Andy Davies »

Many thanks Rik!! Turning off Live View in qDSLR dashboard now allows my Mega to fire the shutter and write the images to a portable drive!!

This was the final step in a build that has taken 5 years to complete!!! Would have failed if this was did not work.

Now I need to get to grips with Bugslabber that will hopefully organise a series of images into different folders for each stack set.
Last edited by Andy Davies on Tue Feb 25, 2020 10:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

Andy Davies
Posts: 142
Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2014 3:25 pm

Post by Andy Davies »

Looks like a need a utility that will move a defined number of images into a series of sub-folders. Any suggestions?

Macro_Cosmos
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Post by Macro_Cosmos »

Sorry to derail the topic, but it appears that Controlmynikon works with the Z50 mirrorless camera and Zerene Stacker is listed as one of the software supported.

Does this mean I can control the Z50 to shoot in electronic shutter mode via the program which also communicates with my stackshot, or rather it can communicate with Zerene Stacker that controls the stackshot?

This might be worthwhile.

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Looks like a need a utility that will move a defined number of images into a series of sub-folders. Any suggestions?
Depends on what type of computer you're using.

When searching for such software, the magic search terms are "split folder".

On a Google search just now, when I type those words, Google offers specific queries for "split folder into smaller folders Windows" and so on.

--Rik

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Macro_Cosmos wrote:Does this mean I can control the Z50 to shoot in electronic shutter mode via the program which also communicates with my stackshot, or rather it can communicate with Zerene Stacker that controls the stackshot?
Recent versions of ControlMyNikon can control the StackShot directly.

Edited to add: see https://www.tetherscript.com/kbcmn/focus-stacking/ for some discussion.

--Rik

Macro_Cosmos
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Post by Macro_Cosmos »

rjlittlefield wrote:
Macro_Cosmos wrote:Does this mean I can control the Z50 to shoot in electronic shutter mode via the program which also communicates with my stackshot, or rather it can communicate with Zerene Stacker that controls the stackshot?
Recent versions of ControlMyNikon can control the StackShot directly.

Edited to add: see https://www.tetherscript.com/kbcmn/focus-stacking/ for some discussion.

--Rik
Oh that's so nice, the thing is like $50 now.
I should definitely give the stacks a shot...
Unintentional horrible pun.

Thanks, I'll take a look!

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