Canon 1D Mark IV not working with Helicon Focus 5.2

[MikeG]

Hi All,

just wondering if someone has found this problem and has a solution to it.
Just baught Helicon Focus 5.2 few days ago and i love it for the automation stuff - did try the version 5.1.19 before and everything works fine, except HDR picture functionality was limited to 5 pictures, which is not sufficient for large HDR's.
Then after a while, an automated update notice popped up and i was urged to do the update to 5.2 (usually a good thing..)

But in this case i have strange problems when i start my camera connection - the camera shutter is released for a few seconds, then suddenly an comunnication error is reported. Checked everything so far - cable - connections - power supply - and could not get it to work again.. then i decided to downgrade the software to 5.1.19 again - and it works now, but in an unsufficient way as i need at least 13 shots to cover the dymic range of the scenes i'm shooting.

So, any clue, idea, help whatever ?

Every information is highly apreciated,

kind regards, Mike

[Stas Yatsenko]

Hello Mike,

You are talking about Helicon Remote, right?

Please try to do something meaningful with the latest version and when an error occurs, please send us bug report from menu/Help. That will help us to identify the problem.

[emgab]

Hi Stas,

as just mentioned, i already did try to work with 5.2 and got the behavior as reported above - the bug was reported by internal bug report from HR on April 29th. After some days i thought it would be better to ask the community, if someone else has similar problems.
all in all, i tested the purchased version Helicon Focus --> 5.2 pro = No proper function with 1D Mark IV -
the Version --> 5.1.19 = Function seems to be correct with 1D Mark IV !

Then i tested a beta Version, which was offered by the support team --> 5.3.xx = No proper function with 1D Mark IV, camera started once, Live view picture was shown, then after pressing the Autofocus button, the CAM and USB stack was frozen.

Then i re-installed 5.1.19 - and it worked again - but HDR only with five shots

So what can we do, to get it to work ? Maybe there is an error, which was re-introduced along the various builds, as 5.1.19 seems to work properly with the 1D Mark IV

kind regards, Mike


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For your reference, here is the email i received from the Helicon Support:

Hello Mike,

There were problems with 1D, they should be fixed in the new version:

(link removed)

But the real problem is that Remote doesn't work on some Windows Vista computers. It looks like Windows's component responsible for communication with camera is malfunctioning, so we are not able to fix it. If you have a computer with Windows XP/7 or Mac - try Remote there.

Best regards,
Helicon Soft team

On Sun, Apr 29, 2012 at 11:13 AM, <mg-pressefoto@email.de> wrote:

Hi,

I love HR and am really keen to work with it, baught the pro version recentla - now the fun part starts.. as i'm just being a newbie to HR - trying to connect my EOS 1D MKIV (Fw 1.1.1) to HR remote.

So far i have no success, the camera is recognized by Vista Ultimate and i can use it without probs in Canoons DPP SW as well as in Capture One 6.1 - couldnt get it to work in HR remote though..

Not sure whats happening here, but once i have connected the DSLR and starte the HR remote, i hear the shutter being pressed, one image is shot, and then this present error mesage appears.

Is there any known prob with this DSLR and if yes what is the solution/workaround/wonder to solve it



kind regards,

Mike

[Stas Yatsenko]

Hello Mike,

We will try to find some workaround for you. Vista is definitely buggy and upgrade to Win7 would most probably solve your problems. At least it helped many our Vista users. Still, it is not clear why our versions work differently and why other software is able to avoid such issues. I will ask developers to prepare test version for you to get more information in your specific case.

[emgab]

Hi Stas,

thanks for your efforts, once you have an test version available, i will re-install 5.1.19 and record the usb session with an sniffer, to see what the camera does and then we can conpare it to the test version.

Another thing i have in mind is to use Helicon Focus to control an Pano Robot which i'm currently developing. Glad to hear, you are already using Trinamic motors on other projects. i'm using a Trinamic stand alone 1-axis controller called stepRocker - almost same electronic and firmware as on the intelligent motors, but with the ability to sync up two other stepRocker controller boards AND run stepper motors up to 2,8 A, with 256 Microsteps - so my question to you is, is there some chance to do some code embedding into Helicon Focus, maybe an list of TMCL commands, which can be called from a list, which is provided to Helicon remote, or via some inline code via an API - or something else..

My idea is to control the rotatation and elevation and focus of the PanoBot with Trinamic stepRockers and i need some flexibilty to test and run the program and then input the TMCL lines into Helicon Remote somewhere to use the focus and DRI functionality.

kind regards, Mike

[Stas Yatsenko]

Please contact us via support@heliconsoft.com. Your application seems to be very specific. We need to analyze how this can be implemented.

[emgab]

Sure will do, but in the meanwhile as prio 1, i need HR to control my DSLR properly..
are there any new informations about a test version as you mentioned ?
I'm keen on using HR for extended bracketing.

kind regards, Mike

[emgab]

Just downloaded and tested V5.3.3 HR 2.4.4 - but still no clear function on 1D MK IV - loads of comm errors, allmost instantly after every command attempt.Sent you the error reports already.

kind regards, Mike

[Stas Yatsenko]

Sorry, this is Vista bug. We communicate with camera though a Vista component and it is evidently buggy on Vista. Old version uses Canon SDK which communicates with camera in some other way. We stopped using SDK and will not use it in future, so my only suggestion is to ugrade to Window 7.

[emgab]

Hi Stas,

finally, i got it sorted out based on your proposal to use Windows 7 - there it works like a charm - had to setup an old laptop which luckily still works with Win7. So now i can move on to the next pros which is the automation of my Pano-Head by using Trinamic motor controls.

I will first test and see what HF 5.3 already does and then write you an email as you requested.

Thank you very much for your help and sticking with me
kind regards, Mike