DslrDashboard stops working at some point, no errors

qDslrDashbord error reports
aaronpriest
Posts: 21
Joined: 20 May 2015, 12:20

DslrDashboard stops working at some point, no errors

Post by aaronpriest »

A friend of mine and I have tried DslrDashboard (the last 5 or 6 versions) over several months with several iOS and Android tablets with TPLink routers. We've had mostly nothing but failures and frustration. I was able to get one successful sunset ramp on my D700 with an iPad 3 with 0.2.8, but it was a short timelapse (about 40 minutes), longer ones all crashed on my iPad. Last week I bought a Nexus 7 2013 because it was unstable on my iPad. For some reason, the Android won't work with my D700, but it will with my D810. It's running Android 5.1.1 and even 0.2.9 crashes immediately upon taking a photo with my D700. I suspect it has something to do with the host mode it wants to use on Android? I tried a sunrise timelapse this morning, it ran for a couple hours taking 172 frames, but when I went to check on it later, DslrDashboard was open but had no connection to the TPLink router. The WiFi was still connected however, and they were within 20 feet of each other for signal strength, so I doubt it was a WiFi dropout. Is there a deep sleep state on an Android after an hour or two that would stop the app? My friend (Nexus 7 2012, tried both Android 4.2 & 5.1) can't get more than 5 or 10 frames without it crashing or stopping with his 5D Mark II's. It's like it gets stuck reading or writing to a card after 5-10 frames, regardless of interval or memory card speed. He has tried both USB and WiFi. I don't have the right USB cable to try wired with my D810, and with the iPad I can only do WiFi anyway.

We are teaching a night timelapse workshop next month in Acadia and I'd really like to be able to include DslrDashboard in the course, if I can get stable 4+hr ramped timelapses with it. Am I doing something wrong here? I suspect we have multiple issues going on, and they maybe could be solved individually.
hubaiz
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Re: DslrDashboard stops working at some point, no errors

Post by hubaiz »

Does your iOS device maybe going into deep sleep? Did you used the 'Keep screen on' option?
aaronpriest
Posts: 21
Joined: 20 May 2015, 12:20

Re: DslrDashboard stops working at some point, no errors

Post by aaronpriest »

hubaiz wrote:Does your iOS device maybe going into deep sleep? Did you used the 'Keep screen on' option?
Yes, I discovered that months ago with iOS. I need to disable all power management and screen locks and leave the screen powered on, so that's a huge limitation with iOS and long night shoots. Another reason I bought the Nexus 7. But it's the Nexus 7 that stopped working last night after about 172 frames with no errors with the D810. It won't work at all with my D700. Crashes immediately after taking a photo, whether at the main screen or in LRTimelapse. I suspect that has something to do with the host mode recently changing? The D700 just says "PC........." when it never used to. I'll have to try again on my iPad, because the D700 worked well for a short timelapse a couple weeks ago with it. These are two different issues I suspect here.
hubaiz
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Posts: 2001
Joined: 27 Jan 2015, 18:58

Re: DslrDashboard stops working at some point, no errors

Post by hubaiz »

I didn't change anything regarding the host mode for Nikon DSLR, it is the same in last versions.
Can you maybe give some example for your setup settings (shutter, iso, slowest shuter, max iso, interval, etc)
aaronpriest
Posts: 21
Joined: 20 May 2015, 12:20

Re: DslrDashboard stops working at some point, no errors

Post by aaronpriest »

I'm going out of my mind over here, LOL! I just ran the D810 for 2 hrs without any issues, no crashes or stops. They were shorter shutter speeds during the day though. Maybe last night, before sunrise, I had a WiFi dropout? I have no idea. It didn't get to quite 2 hours and stopped with no errors.

The D700 is an enigma. I stopped the D810, hooked the D700 back up, reconnected with DslrDashboard to the TPLink, clicked capture and right at the end of transferring when it should have shown the image, it crashed/closed. I opened it again and did this several times, with it crashing every time, including capturing a JPEG in LRTimelapse module. I opened it one last time before trying with my iPad, switching host mode to camera mode, then it worked! Now I can't get it to crash at all, its working fine. Even though it switches back to host mode every time I take a photo. Manually switching to host mode doesn't crash it either now. What the heck?! I do notice that aperture ramping is no longer checked in LRTimelapse when it was checked and grayed out before so I couldn't uncheck it (with the D700). But that shouldn't affect the main screen and simple image capture?

I guess I'm just not sure what to try in the field when things aren't working. I've got intermittent issues that aren't making sense to me. Very hard to duplicate.
hubaiz
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Posts: 2001
Joined: 27 Jan 2015, 18:58

Re: DslrDashboard stops working at some point, no errors

Post by hubaiz »

Aperture ramping will only make sense on D800, D810, D750, D4 while the camera is in live view.
Do you maybe used a lens that has no aperture info and you enabled aperture ramping?
aaronpriest
Posts: 21
Joined: 20 May 2015, 12:20

Re: DslrDashboard stops working at some point, no errors

Post by aaronpriest »

No, I had a Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 and 24-70mm f/2.8, both G type lenses. But the D700 has issues with Live View, it was the first gen to have it from Nikon. Promote Control and Helicon Focus won't work with it for example. I suspect that is part of the issue I have with DslrDashboard crashing sometimes? Maybe it gets in some weird live view mode and when I manually switched host to camera mode it changed something regarding Live View? I'm just throwing out wild guesses at this point. The D810 I haven't tested as much as the D700, but it seems to work very well except that weird drop out after 2hrs or so. I've yet to get 3+Hrs with it, but I don't always have time to test that long either.
hubaiz
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Posts: 2001
Joined: 27 Jan 2015, 18:58

Re: DslrDashboard stops working at some point, no errors

Post by hubaiz »

If you run into a problem again here is a debug build: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxMZ8X ... sp=sharing

It will save a qdd_<date_time>.log file into your Android device Documents folder.
aaronpriest
Posts: 21
Joined: 20 May 2015, 12:20

Re: DslrDashboard stops working at some point, no errors

Post by aaronpriest »

Great, thanks!!!
aaronpriest
Posts: 21
Joined: 20 May 2015, 12:20

Re: DslrDashboard stops working at some point, no errors

Post by aaronpriest »

Zoltan, I'm still working through things with the D700.

1) I can't get bulb to work with that camera. I set a desired bulb shutter time like 1 minute, press the capture button, and nothing happens. Any ideas?

2) I took a timelapse with 30 second shutter and 35 second interval. I figured that would be more than enough time for JPEGs to get transferred and analyzed with a D700 and JPEG Basic/Small (~370KB files), but the actual interval was all over the place between 35 and 71. A 10 second interval works fine with the D700, but that leaves too big a gap for star trails. I suspect a D810 might take even longer, but I haven't tested that enough yet. I know the Ramper Pro works fine with a 1 or 2 second interval with the D700 and fast CF card analyzing JPEGs and it is likely slower hardware (Raspberry Pi) than a Nexus 7 2013, so the TPLink wireless connection must be adding a significant delay, even when I'm within 10 feet of it and perfect signal strength. Do you have any suggestions for a cable that would work with the D700 and D810? Wired wasn't an option with iOS, but now that I have an Android as well maybe I should try wired.

Thanks!
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