Helicon Soft Forum

GracieAllen wrote: 23.05.2023 01:15 OK, I"m back from wandering around since February... Is there a new beta version or has Helicon Remote been released? If in Beta, can you send me the link and I'll download and try it again.

I'm using the released version in the Google Play Store. Version 4.4.2.

Yes, it's the latest version on our website and in Google Play, only the iOS version hasn't been updated yet (it will be soon).

I'll get it and try it on the tablet. It has a USB-C connection so it may be faster, but it doesn't have a lot of memory, so being able to keep images on the camera will be important for long-term use.

DavidF, to shorten the time floundering, trying to find the settings on the Alpha 1, do you have the settings you put into the Alpha 1 that are needed for things to connect to Helicon Remote correctly? I had an email from support several months ago, but it's been lost...

GracieAllen wrote: 23.05.2023 16:07 DavidF, to shorten the time floundering, trying to find the settings on the Alpha 1, do you have the settings you put into the Alpha 1 that are needed for things to connect to Helicon Remote correctly? I had an email from support several months ago, but it's been lost...

I just purchased Helicon/Helicon Remote Sunday. I did little to configure the camera from the way I've had it to do firmware upgrades. I don't recall doing anything special.

This is how have my A1 camera configured:
Network > 2 Transfer Remote > PC Remote Function >
PC Remote: On
PC Remote Cnct Method: USB
Connect without Pairing: Disable
Still Img. Dest.: PC+Camera
PC Save Image Size: Original
PC Save JPEG Size: Large Size

All the other settings under PC Remote Function are greyed out.

I used both a Pixel7 Pro phone (USB 3) and an older Nvidia K1 tablet (USB Micro) Android Devices. The Pixel7 was faster to take images over USB 3, but writing them across the USB to the phone was still too lengthy to be used for live flowers outside. I don't shoot flowers in a studio setting, I do it in the wilds of New Mexico. Until there is a capability to just write to the camera's memory cards Helicon Remote will not be much use to me.

Additionally, the Pixel7 doesn't take an SD card, so transferring the images off the phone to a PC is a bit of a pain. The Nvidia K1 tablet does take an Micro SD card, and I was able to have Helicon Remote store the images to the Micro SD Card. Then all I have to do is pull the card and put it in an SD adapter and load them onto my laptop which makes for a easier workflow.

GracieAllen, hope this helps.

DaveF

Thanks...
Yes, I don't recall there being many settings, but there were a couple.

Like you, I do 99% of my stacking in the field, though I do have a wind box that makes it a bit more feasible to handle the long delay between shots.

I've been doing focus stacking successfully for a while using the Alpha 1 and the Bluetooth remote. It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing. HR has some definite advantages, though it has ALWAYS been extremely slow. I'll have to see how long it's taking now, but even with my Nikons (using it since about 2010), it was always around 5 - 6 seconds per SHOT. And that was WITH saving on the camera. And it was about the same speed saving on the tablet. I haven't used it since getting the D850 several years ago (with built-in stacking), so I don't know if Helicon Remote has gotten a LOT faster and the slow-up is writing to the tablet or not.

I"ll bring an A1 in from the truck this afternoon and play.

GracieAllen wrote: 23.05.2023 19:23 even with my Nikons (using it since about 2010), it was always around 5 - 6 seconds per SHOT. And that was WITH saving on the camera.

The Sony A1 creates RAW files that are ~100MB each, and I was finding the write time was over a minute per shot with the Nvidia K1 table over USB 2.

It was faster with the Pixel7, but over 45 seconds per shot.

Sounds like maybe I should make a wind box...

Those times are definitely not normal, but at the same time the transfer rate in Helicon Remote on Android in general is a lot slower than it should be. I took the Canon M50, connected to a very cheap phone (USB 2.0), and a 37 MB CR3 file took around 8 seconds to transfer. So 100 MB would be around 24 seconds - not 50. But The transfer rate should be at least 10 MB/second, probably more, and I only see half that.

We want to investigate this problem, and we will, but right now I don't know when we can get to it.

Tried the released version this afternoon. Couldn’t get it to work.

Connected the camera to tablet with USB-OTG cable (USB-A to USB-C into USB-A female to USB-C) Both ends are USB-C with USB-A connection in middle – other than one end being USB-C instead of micro-B, this is the OTG I’ve always used. Just to be sure it wasn’t the cable, I tried two different sets.

Does not connect.
Nothing in Helicon Remote. No information, no Live View, no indication of camera.

Switched to straight USB-C to USB-C cable. Tablet displays the popup:
“Allow Helicon Remote to access ILCE-1”
Button for “Always open Helicon Remote when ILCE-1 is connected.” I selected the button and hit OK.

I presume this means the tablet saw the camera and can communicate with it.

This worked ONE TIME – and ONLY one time: Subsequent efforts with USB-OTG or USB-C direct cables got no response.

On the one attempt where there WAS a connection Helicon Remote said “Live View is off”, but in left panel it showed “ILCE-1” and camera exposure settings are displayed. Everything is locked and no Live view.
Switched Helicon Remote from Exposure to Live View, and in the left panel it said Live View is on but the Live view screen said Live View is OFF and there was no Live View of the camera’s Live View

Helicon remote settings are at the defaults. Nothing changed since installation.

On the camera
Camera in aperture mode, continuous AF. Camera Live view is on.
In Network 1 – no changes, Smartphone Connection is OFF
Network 2 –
FTP Transfer is OFF.
PC Remote is ON.
PC Remote Cnct Method is USB.
Connect without Pairing is Disable.
Bluetooth Rmt Ctrl is OFF.
Still Img. Save Dest to PC+Camera
PC Save Image Size to Original

Not sure where the problem is at this point...

GracieAllen wrote: 24.05.2023 01:20 Still Img. Save Dest to PC+Camera

You may want to try setting Still Img. Save Dest to only PC and see if this helps.

Also, do you make sure Helicon Remote is completely closed on the tablet before running it again?

I'll try it with PC only.

Yes, I've been "Exiting" so it's all shut down. The only other option would be to reboot the tablet every time and that would be silly.

I'm also puzzled that using a USB-OTG cable DOESN'T work. But exactly ONE time I got Helicon Remote to see the camera - no Live View, everything frozen, but it at least saw the "ILCE-1"...

I suspect it's going to be something dumb and obvious as soon as I know what it is, but for the moment I'm getting the same result as I got for the last 2 or 3 versions.

I know what you mean by "something obvious", and I don't think this is the case here. Please send a bug report when "ILCE-1" is shown (menu - Feedback - Report a bug). And when it's not shown, check whether Android itself detects the camera at all.

I'll do that the next time I'm playing with the software... Though, considering I'm the absolute MASTER of the stupid human trick, we should never underestimate my ability to miss something obvious!

As a point of reference I can not get Helicon Remote on my Windows 11 PC to successfully complete a focus stack with the Sony A1. This is over USB3.

I have submitted two bug reports.

As another point of reference, I can successfully complete a focus stack using the Nvidia K1 tablet with each image takes 1' 6" to complete. The entire 19 image stack took over 20 minutes...

Thank you for the report, you've found a very interesting error in Helicon Remote. Will take us a bit of time to figure out what to do with it, we'll get back to you tomorrow (hopefully).