Canon EOS Ra sequence camera control failing

Canon EOS Ra camera exposure control failing during sequence run

I’m using a trial version of SGP, switching from APT, to see if SGP can control my Canon EOS Ra more reliably than APT does. Last night was my first attempt at using SGP and I was unable to run a sequence. The camera connected and was controlled correctly when I was using the “take one” in frame and focus, but when I attempted to take the same exposure as a part of a sequence event - it started but at the time it should have ended the exposure I got the failure messages and the sequence was aborted. This happened at 22:52:35 - 22:57 in the attached log. Here’s a description of the problem and the log in a Dropbox link.

<SGP connects to Canon EOS Ra and controls exposure while using frame & focus “take one” but fails when running the same exposure time in sequence event. During the “run sequence” SGP starts the exposure, but command is never sent to end exposure. Error message (at end of exposure time) “Error in Camera Command Bulb Start” and “Error attempting to Capture Image (see logs for more information)”. The camera kept the shutter open, in spite of sequence ending, turning off camera (with the on/off switch on the camera), until USB-C cable was physically unplugged from camera. No file was captured on the computer.>

Link to Logs

Useful Info

OS: <Windows 10 Pro, v2004; OS Build: 19041.964>
Ver: <SGP 3.2.0.660>

Which Canon do you have ?? and how is everything conncted , i.e. is the camera connected via a hub, with other devices also using the same hub, or a dedicated USB port on the PC ?

I don’t use SGPro to drive my Canon (600d), but it is driving my mount\ZWO-1600, filter wheel, guide camera, focusers etc. so at the same time I use BackyardEOS to grab some widefield colour snaps.

But I do find, that for reliable operation, I need to arrange multiple USB connections, so that the USB busses don’t have any conflicts …

I have the Canon EOS Ra connected to my Windows 10 laptop directly from the USB-C port in the laptop to the USB-C port of the camera. The connections to my autoguider and mount are through a hub to the laptop’s USB-A port.
I’ve been through a lot with the laptop and the USB-C port - Worked with HP, who recommended new bios and new Windows 10 OS; Canon with the Ra - their solution (after many of their tech support folks said I shouldn’t be trying to control the camera through the USB-C connection (!) was to use their EOS Utility, which conflicts with both APT and SGP.

Putting my computer support engineer hat on (I’ve been working with M$ for a very long time, i.e. since Windows 3.0), it sounds very much to me like there are issues with the USB C port, which I have heard about before, on other sites e.g. Stargazers Lounge…

If you have access to another computer, that has ‘standard’ USB 2 & 3 ports, if give that a go, to at least try and eliminate some of the issues.

I’ve been through the USB-C fix with HP. It works with the Canon EOS Utility, marginally with APT (runs part of a plan and interrupts at randome times during plan execution), and worked great during the set-up shots in SGP but wouldn’t run the sequence. To me, it seems like a control disconnect in the EOS Ra SW vs. APT and SGP. Thoughts?

Looks like your trying frame and focus for 10 seconds and the sequence image for 300 seconds. Do you have your camera in “bulb” mode or “manual”? Make sure you have it in Bulb if it has the option and reconnect to SGP like that.

Also might be worth attempting some sequence shots down to 10 seconds just to see if it’s truly something with the sequence or if it’s the exposure length.

Jared

Jared - Thank you for your reply. I did have the camera in bulb mode. I was using 10 seconds for the initial focusing, then did a test shot at 300 seconds to check the exposure setting before I set off the sequence - which worked (although it didn’t write to the computer drive or to the camera card). Then once I turned on the sequence for the 300 second exposures - is when I got the errors and sequence termination.

We have a clear night forecast tomorrow - I will give it another try - and let you know!

Thank you!
Suzanne

I’ll do some additional testing with my RP and see if anything shakes out. I believe the two should be pretty similar.

Jared

Thank you! I rolled back to 3.2.0.660 last night and have a sequence ready to go with two targets (both 50x3min exposures) for tonight’s clear skies. Will let you know how it goes!

BTW - I finally got a call back from the Canon Tech Support supervisor that I contacted over 6 weeks ago…so he was very far behind in my troubleshooting process. He was back at blaming the problems on the USB-C cable…
When I asked him about the .cr3 file format - he told me it was Canon proprietary - that all camera manufacturers protect their intellectual property in that way. Yes, REALLY he said that!
Then he asked if I’ve tried to control the camera with their Canon EOS Utility. He seemed completely baffled when I said that that’s not enough…and asked (again) if they bothered talking to any astrophotographers as they were making their design decisions.
He’s going to call me back tomorrow to see how tonight’s test went. I asked for a way for me to return this camera - 3 months of frustration trying to get their dedicated astrophotography camera to work with AP SW packages is enough for me! I’ll go back to my astro-modified Canon 60D - I think it took better images too!
Thanks again for your help - I’ll let you know how tonight goes.
Suzanne

Jared - Good morning.
I ran the SGP test with my Canon EOS Ra last night. Epic fail.
Although, once I started the sequence, SGP showed that it was taking 180 second exposures - they were in fact only 2 second exposures!
I could hear the shutter closing shortly after the exposure started, there was no indication on the camera that it was taking an exposure, so I suspected something was wrong and terminated that event within the sequence after 6 exposures. I tried to move to my other target (M101) and couldn’t get the plate solve to center on the target and SGP kept giving me errors and terminating the sequence.
I have included the log file from last night.
There were six (6) images captured time stamped (on my hard drive, nothing was captured on the camera’s memory chip): 2245 through 2303. You can see in the log, as an example of the first image at 22:45:41 - SGP gives the command to expose for 180 seconds. That image file (.cr3) is time stamped at 2245 and when I look at it in Bridge it is an ISO 1600, 2 second exposure.
I am expecting a call from the Canon Tech Rep that I’ve been working with for the last couple of months on the issues with this camera - I plan to request a return authorization. I have spent a great deal of frustration-filled time trying to get their dedicated astro camera to operate correctly with AP control SW (first APT, now SGP) all to no avail. Their solution is to use Canon EOS Utility…
I just posted the question on your forum to see if there’s anyone out there who has successfully controlled an Ra with SGP…do you have any evidence that I’m just a problem child and it works for others, or is this really a matter of Canon’s marketing getting way out in front of their engineering?

Thanks so much for your help.
Suzanne

(Attachment sg_logfile_20210520220031.log is missing)

This sounds like you might have Mirror Lock Up enabled in SGP but not in the camera. We do not toggle it automatically. So if you have a Mirror Settle Time enabled in SGP you’ll need to make sure to turn on this functionality in the camera as well.

You should be able to test all this functionality during the day by setting up a very simple sequence with only the camera and and taking a series of images. No need to waste time at night troubeshooting this.

I’m not sure specifically about the Ra but I’m fairly certain we have users that are using the Canon R. My understanding is this is basically the same internally as the Ra except the Ra has a different IR filter installed (or basically removed).

Jared

Here’s the log file - I got a message back that it got stripped off. On page 176 is where the imaging started @ 22:45:41

You are correct about the “R” cameras being the same - Canon’s mirrorless line. So, I don’t understand your comment about mirror lock up - the R’s are mirrorless, so there is no mirror lock up command in the menus…

(Attachment sg_logfile_20210520220031.pdf is missing)

I just checked the settings for the Ra profile - you’re correct that I do have the mirror settle time set for 2 seconds. There is no mirror-lock up command on the camera. Do you think that the camera is interpreting the mirror settle time as a “end exposure” command? If so, should I set it to match the exposure desired?

The log file keeps getting stripped off, so here it is in a Dropbox link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/o88zmsktq8yopf2/sg_logfile_20210520233021.log?dl=0

The first image started at 22:45:41 (around page 176 of the log, when it’s a Word or .pdf document)

Haha right…these don’t have a traditional shutter…you should set that to 0 in SGP to avoid the Mirror Lock completely.

I literally just spent 15 minutes looking for this in my RP before it dawned on me that this is a MIRRORLESS camera and thus no mirror to lock up :man_facepalming:

Jared

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Okay, I’ll give that a try… thank you. Have a great weekend.

Jared - I was so hopeful…only to have my hopes dashed.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/39a370gw2y4p8kx/sg_logfile_20210521153835.log?dl=0

You can see from this log at 16:18:21.140 the camera went into an error state - 5 images into the event/sequence - and the sequence aborted.

I set up the same target sequence with the Ra (with mirror settle time set to “0”) and telescope, autoguider simulator and launched it. It started taking and recording 180 second exposures! Until it aborted after 5 images. At that point the camera shutter does not close, it continues to collect data in spite of turning it off, until I unplug the USB-C cable, at which point the shutter closes and the exposure stops.

This is exactly the same behavior I’ve been getting when I use APT. It starts capturing exposures and at some random point in the exposure plan the camera “disconnects” and exhibits the exact same behavior.

I don’t know if this is a Canon EOS Ra wide problem - that they can’t be reliably controlled with AP SW, only the Canon EOS Utility - or if it’s just this individual camera. But, I have zero confidence in Canon’s technical support to help me solve the problem.

Do you have any other thoughts/suggestions before I pursue returning this camera and rolling back to my Canon 60D? Have you used SGP with your RP?

Thanks again for all your help. I am going to buy an SGP license!

Suzanne

After over two months of struggling with the Canon EOS Ra, I gave up on it and went back to my Canon EOS 60D.
I had a clear night last night to test it out. I set up a sequence with my 60D profile, but I couldn’t get any of the plate solvers to work, so the sequence wouldn’t run. Can you remind me which settings I might have missed updating (updated camera sensor in new profile, telescope focal length is set correctly).
Thank you!!

I had a 60Da and used it with SGP. I remember that platesolving was tricky when I used it with a short focal length. If there are too many stars, the platesolvers get overhwhelmed. I would experiment with different exposure lengths. Really deep exposures bring out a lot of stars and I found ASTAP struggles. I reduced the maximum star count in ASTAP to 200 and that improved things.