Multicamera Camera Issues

[Subsoma]

Hi Duka, I've been doing some additional tests using 6 x Nikon D800's, all connected via USB 3.0 and running release candidate 2 in a Win7 64bit environment.I have found the following bugs / issues:Camera status upon launch of DigiCam control - With all 6 cameras connected to 1 computer, cameras 1, 4 & 5 display the word 'PC' on their LCD's once Digicam has connceted to them. However cameras 2, 3 & 6 don't show the same status, they simply display current exposure settings, this is true at anytime including after a system restart. Is 'PC' the correct status that all cameras should be in when tethered to DigiCam, if so how do I force the other cameras to connect correctly? (I've tried different USB sockets) With "Use Parallel File Transfer" enabled the 3 x D800's that display 'PC' on their LCD's tend to drop/loose frames when writing from the buffer to PC. The other 3 cameras appear to be stable and continue to download without loosing frames. Is there anyway to issue a global 'format' command to all cameras when I have them connected over more than 1 PC? ie. I two computers running DigiCam (PC1 & PC2). I have 3 cameras on PC1 and 3 cameras connected to PC2, can I issue a format command to all cameras at the same time? With the multicam window open and 'stay on top' enebaled with transfer option 3 selected - 'Save to PC and camera' - the transfer speed of the selected camera in the multicam window is much slower than the other connected cameras. I identified the cause of the problem which is the size of the main DigiCam window. The larger the window the slower the transfer of the selected camera in the multicam window. My work around has been to minimise the main window, then the tranfer works at normal speed. When right clicking on the image thumbnails at the bottom of the main screen, the menu that comes up is blank / white until you click into it then the text for that selected menu item becomes visisble.Log file attached, hope this is helpful. Keep up the great work.

[Subsoma]

A quick update re. Use Parallel File Transfer enabled. When a camera 'hangs' and stops writng it's buffer out to PC, it looks like the missing images are still in the frame buffer.You can tell this by the fact the 'r' value (the remaining available image space in the camera's buffer, which can be viewed on the LCD screen when the camera is in wake) continues to decrease with each exposure, irrespective of whether it has streamed the data to the PC or not. Is there a way to force the camera to start writing out the frames stuck in it's buffer, so its shot count catches-up, allowing you to rescue the missing images?

[Duka Istvan]

Please upload your log file, hope i figure out what is the issue

[Subsoma]

Thanks Duka, I'll upload the log files when I'm in the office on Monday. I have work arounds for some of the issues. Specifically I found unplugging the USB cable of a 'hung' camera and then ru-plugging it whilst leaving DigiCam running, enabled the camera to write out the missing frames from its buffer. Maybe there is a way of simulating a USB disconnect/reconnect cycle in software to achieve the same thing? My main question is whether it is possible to issue a command to format the CF cards of multiple cameras connected to multiple computers? E.g. If I have two computers running DigiCam (PC1 & PC2). I have 3 cameras on PC1 and 3 cameras connected to PC2, can I issue a format CF card command to all cameras at the same time? 

[Subsoma]

Hi Duka, the log file is attached to the first post in this thread. 

[Subsoma]

Hi Duka, Another related performance issue to formating the CF cards of my connected D800 cameras is that the first shot after formating when transfer to PC is selected causes the cameras to hang for a minute or two.  It looks like they are polling / re-connecting to DigiCam. Each camera gets a red square next to it's name - this cycle happens two or three times per camera then they respond and download the photos just taken. Subsequent shots download normaly, it is only the first shot after formating that behaves as described here. Log files attahced.

[Duka Istvan]

Thanks for log file i will analyze it but now i'm really busy maybe in this weekend, seems is something with thread timing 

[bookdrive]

I am using 2 Nikon D800's to capture both pages (RAW Format)in a book on a BookDrive Pro scanning system by Atiz Innovation, Inc.  The images will randomly appear out of order when they are captured.  It captures the left side first and then the right but sometimes will swap.  Has anyone seen this happen?  This is really slowing down production?  Any suggestions?  Product info I am usuing can be found here http://pro.atiz.com/

[billc333]

I am having the same problem as "bookdrive" with the Atiz.  The only solution I found is simply to trigger one cameras at a time.  It does not significantly slow production speed.The other problem, however, is in realtion to the post by "Subsoma" on USB transfer issues.  I am having the same problem with the transfer from the frame buffer to PC and having to reconnect USB to get the image to transfer.  I, however, find this to be PC related.  I was having to reconnect several times per hour, and it seemed to increase in frequency over time.  I switched PCs and am now seeing it 2 or 3 times per day.I'm thinking of putting a new USB card in the 1st PC, which is a  6 month old Dell XPS 8700, so no slacker.  Does anyone out there have experience with the relative quality of various USB cards?

[terraintell]

Hi

I am using two Nikon D810 connected with USB 3. Currently I am testing this set-up triggering both camera's at the same time every 3 seconds for 5 minutes (timelapse). After 5 minutes, only 50% of all images are actually transferred to my laptop and some images remain in the bufferof the Nikon. It looks like the transfer speed is too slow to keep up.

Is this a limitation of Digicamcontrol, the Nikon D810 or maybe my laptop?