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Lost connection with Nikon D810 and D850

Posted: 25 Nov 2018, 16:06
by htqch
Hi,

I have Samsung Galaxy Tab A tablet, android qdslrdashboard 3.5.5 app, Nikon D800E, D810 and D850. I mainly work on LRTimelapse for day to night time-lapse. It works pretty good on D800E, seldom lost connection. But with D810 and D850, I cannot rely on the app. Normally lost connection in 10 minutes.

Does any one has the same experience?

Re: Lost connection with Nikon D810 and D850

Posted: 26 Nov 2018, 12:14
by hubaiz
How do you connect? When does it lose the connection, any pattern?

Re: Lost connection with Nikon D810 and D850

Posted: 10 Dec 2018, 23:32
by htqch
I'm using USB-C on Tablet side and Micro-USB on Camera side. Normally after 10-30 minutes shooting. Sometimes I can reconnect, sometimes have to turn off camera and restart the App. It is more likely occur when I'm adjusting parameters, but even I don't touch the tablet it will lost connection no longer than one hour.

Re: Lost connection with Nikon D810 and D850

Posted: 27 Jan 2019, 21:17
by NotASpeckOfCereal
Hey there,

Was there ever a resolution to this issue?

I'm using the Nikon D850 with the Tab A (SM-T580). I'm using the latest Android Dashboard, purchased just a week or two ago.

Wired: I'm using OTG cables and can connection just fine.
Wireless: With the help of Nikon Snapbridge, I can connect Wi-Fi to the D850

But in both cases, the app drops out with the error "qdslrdashboard has stopped working. Send feedback". There is no pattern I can see, but it's usually just a few hundred shots.

After failing with the wifi, I tried with my cables for a wired connection, but it didn't work. So I did a lot of research here and determined which OTG cables were required and purchased some. On the first test in my office, it failed once (before a shot was taken), but then went off and took around 2,000 shots without error (I finally closed the app normally), so I was hopeful.

However, I went out yesterday for an actual timelapse, wired, and it failed numerous times.

It's just not reliable enough to use, so I'm out the $8 I paid for the app. But I'm also out over $200 for the Tablet and supplies, which I springed for after waiting over a year for the iOS version of the app to once again be available. I'm getting pretty discouraged.

I am glad to help with testing if you have something you would like me to try.

Thanks, Chris

Re: Lost connection with Nikon D810 and D850

Posted: 28 Jan 2019, 14:58
by NotASpeckOfCereal
I would like to add another point of data: each time the app drops out to the desktop and I see the message that the app has stopped with a Send Feedback link, I always press the Send Feedback link and hit Send.

However, I look in my gmail Sent Mail folder and don't see any evidence of them being sent. I would like to be sure they are indeed sent in case they help troubleshoot this issue. Does that Send Feedback link not use my gmail account (my main google mail app, with google signed in on this tablet)?

Chris

PS: Admin: this is the 2nd of my posts to this thread, but the 1st (my very first post to this forum) has yet to show up. Please let me know if you didn't receive it.

Re: Lost connection with Nikon D810 and D850

Posted: 28 Jan 2019, 15:16
by hubaiz
It could help if you would describe what was you doing when the crash happened, what camera settings where active? Did you use an external or internal interval timer? What was the interval and what the slowest shutter speed?

Re: Lost connection with Nikon D810 and D850

Posted: 29 Jan 2019, 20:07
by NotASpeckOfCereal
hubaiz wrote: 28 Jan 2019, 15:16 It could help if you would describe what was you doing when the crash happened, what camera settings where active? Did you use an external or internal interval timer? What was the interval and what the slowest shutter speed?
Sure, here's the scoop:
  • What I was doing when the crash happened?: in all cases, the camera was firing away and the tablet was sitting on a stool. There was no moving around of either item when the crash occurred.
  • Did you use an external or internal interval timer?: This was all with the qDSLRdashboard interval meter. I have yet to try this setup with the camera internal or external (10-pin plug) intervalometer. I was using aperture ramping and I believe I have to use the app interval meter for that.
  • What camera settings where active: What was the interval and what the slowest shutter speed: Here are some settings: let me know if there are any missing that would be of interest
    • Live View on (from the app after connecting, not from the camera)
    • Camera Exposure Mode: Manual
    • LR Timelapse mode (from the LR button on the right side): On
    • LR Timelapse Setting: Pool: 5avg, Transfer: 5 frames
    • LR Timelapse Setting: EV step: 0.33 EV
    • LR Timelapse Setting: Auto direction: Off
    • LR Timelapse Setting: Use Aperture ramping: On
    • Auto Holy Grail: On
    • Longest Exp: 2"
    • Widest Aperture: 5.6
    • Max ISO: 64 (D850 native, fine for cityscape HG sequences, but I would use a higher cap for astro work)
    • Actual shutter, aperture, ISO: starting with something less than the above caps. Here are settings from the last attempt:

      Starting Exposure: f22, 1/1.3", ISO 64,
      Last Exposure Before Crash: f14, 2", ISO 64
      It worked its way in SS from 1/1.3" to 2" first, then was working down the aperture from f22 towards f5.6, but only made it to f14.
      Note that after the crash, I started it back up and it continued on with those last settings for another 70 frames before it crashed again.
    • Interval Time Settings: Frame Count: typically 3000 to 4500
    • Interval Time Settings: Interval: 4 second
    • Interval Time Settings: Add Shutter Speed to Interval: off
On the "Interval Time Settings: Interval: 4 second": I assume that if the interval was so short that shutter-speed + write + lag were to meet or exceed the interval (as the light went down), that the app would skip a shot rather than stop completely / crash.

Again, let me know if there's any more info you need.

Chris

Re: Lost connection with Nikon D810 and D850

Posted: 29 Jan 2019, 20:33
by hubaiz
I think your interval is to short.
I would first try an interval that is at least 5sec longer then your slowest shutter speed.
So I would start with 7sec interval and try to work down to see what will work with your camera.
An external interval timer would work better especial if you are using the camera built in wireless connection.

Re: Lost connection with Nikon D810 and D850

Posted: 29 Jan 2019, 23:35
by NotASpeckOfCereal
Addendum to my last post of settings: I also have the Keep screen on' option turned on.

Re: Lost connection with Nikon D810 and D850

Posted: 29 Jan 2019, 23:53
by NotASpeckOfCereal
hubaiz wrote: 29 Jan 2019, 20:33 I think your interval is to short.
I would first try an interval that is at least 5sec longer then your slowest shutter speed.
So I would start with 7sec interval and try to work down to see what will work with your camera.
Well, that's a bummer because I can do 4 second intervals with up to 2 second shutter speeds just fine with external interval meters (both the expensive Nikon MC36 and the cheapo Chinese knock-offs). A 2 second gap should be enough.

But I will try a 7 second interval and will let you know if it crashes or not.
An external interval timer would work better especial if you are using the camera built in wireless connection.
I can use the wireless or wired. If it's recommend to just use wired for smaller intervals, I have no problem with that.

But I would really miss the aperture ramping with Auto Holy Grail. There is a comment near the check-box that states that to use it, you must use the apps interval meter.

Just FYI: the main reason I bought qDSLRDashboard in the first place was to use smaller intervals. You can set 4 second intervals with the camera or external interval meters (as I said above) and it works without crashing, but you don't get a chance to review the histogram on a shot by shot basis to know when to adjust exposure settings. If I have to have 6-7 second intervals, as well as give up Auto HG, this is something I can already achieve right on camera (including histogram view) without an external device / tablet and the qDSLRDashboard app.

Chris