Testing Helicon Remote

General discussions, bugs, support, suggestions
User avatar
panamon_creel
Posts: 6
Joined: 04.01.2010 05:55

Re: Testing Helicon Remote

Post by panamon_creel »

An additional Issue just came up.
On my Netbook running Vista any time I'm trying to release the remote camera I'll just get the hour glass with nothing happening as long as H Remote is the active window and the camera will only start shooting once I switch over to another program window (e.g. H. Focus).

Vista Home Premium V6.0 SP2
Nikon D700
Bluesman2008

Re: Testing Helicon Remote

Post by Bluesman2008 »

By "what's wrong with this picture" I meant why isn't this thing working??

What are the specific camera settings I should be using with HF on my D5000? Maybe I'm doing something wrong with the settings. I have the lens on manual. Also, I get the same results with the kit lens that came with the cam (18-55 mm) and the 90mm Tamron Macro lens.
User avatar
Stas Yatsenko
Posts: 3841
Joined: 06.05.2009 14:05
Contact:

Re: Testing Helicon Remote

Post by Stas Yatsenko »

Please check if other software (Camera Control Pro, ...) allows you to move focus. If you lens is in manual mode, the camera is not able to move focus, try to switch it to AF mode
russ heller
Posts: 8
Joined: 19.03.2010 07:20

Re: Testing Helicon Remote

Post by russ heller »

I was also receiving an Error 70 hangup when using a canon 5d mkII (with sigma 150 macro). this was after a round of somewhat successful shooting. i say "somewhat" sucessful because although it took the calculated number of shots, they only covered about half of the range of focus between my near and far focus points. after downloading the pictures from the camera manually (through adobe lightroom and the same tether cable) i noticed the focus problem and went back into HR to capture the remaining shots needed. each time the process failed without taking a single shot. HR became totally unresponsive and required a process kill. and the camera read ERR 70. i tried switching the power off and back on, changing the battery, reseating the cables and rebooting the computer. what eventually fixed the problem was to replace the memory card. i read on another forum that error 70 is usually solved by formatting the memory card. replacing it was just as effective

i also tend to encounter problems when i use the mirror lock up feature. at some point during the series, HR will hang up and the camera will read that it has images remaining to transfer. it is impossible to turn off the camera without removing the battery and HR needs to be force quit.

i wonder if the problem i had where the program finished without covering the necessary depth of field has anything to do with the fact that i am using a 150mm macro lens?
User avatar
Stas Yatsenko
Posts: 3841
Joined: 06.05.2009 14:05
Contact:

Re: Testing Helicon Remote

Post by Stas Yatsenko »

Error 70. We were able to repeat this error if we select sRAW2 as the image format. The same happened, if the camera was not connected to the computer.

half-way: I would suggest to increase the pause between steps in the Preferences. My suspicion is that camera ignores some of the steps. If possible, use big steps instead of small. We found that some lenses may ignore small steps because of mechanical reasons.

hangs up: please try to reproduce this situation, then run Helicon Remote again and send us Log of the previous session which you find in the Prefences.
BrianS
Posts: 39
Joined: 03.09.2008 15:00
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Testing Helicon Remote

Post by BrianS »

Hi Stas and Russ,

Firstly I can report the latest version (1.15 Beta) seems to be working fine with my Canon 50D.
I was using mirror lock-up previously, but now that I can shoot happily in Live View, I use that.

Note that as posted elsewhere, to enable non Canon flash triggering you need to set under Menu, Tools, Live View Settings as follows:

Live View Shoot = Enable
Exposure Sim = Disable
Silent Shoot = Disable

Here are my settings for shot durations:

Focus Steps Big (although small works as well) with my Canon 100. 2.8 Macro, I shoot at F8 - F10 and thus the DOF at closest is still plenty for 1 'big' step.

Allow 3 secs for flash recycle
" 300ms for pause between focus steps
Exposure preview time 1 sec (minimum)

Under Canon
Copy to Computer
Disable Live View = No
Mirror Lock up = No (grayed out due to Live View enabled)
Delay for MLU = 1 sec " "

This results in about 4 secs per shot.
Shooting in Live View keeps the mirror up all the time, thus avoiding any mirror slap vibration as the mirror goes up and done between shots - Whilst the option to disable Live view was a good addition, I prefer to shoot leaving the mirror up for the duration of the stack.
User avatar
Stas Yatsenko
Posts: 3841
Joined: 06.05.2009 14:05
Contact:

Re: Testing Helicon Remote

Post by Stas Yatsenko »

Brian,

Thanks a lot for the tips. I am sure many people would find these settings very useful.
Bluesman2008

Re: Testing Helicon Remote

Post by Bluesman2008 »

"what's wrong with this picture" is just a figure of speech..
Post Reply