ASCOM DSLR EOS Ra keeps getting Exception thrown polling camera: Camera not connected

[Paul Lu]

Hi,

I am getting the issue as described in title when I start a loop or taking darks.

I tried to test the setup via ASCOMDSLRTest and I was able to keep taking exposures without any issue.

However PHD2 kept giving me this exception, and the log is as follow, will be amazing if someone can provide some insight to this issue (full log attached):

22:33:43.328 00.000 7028 Worker thread wakes up
22:33:43.328 00.000 7028 worker thread servicing REQUEST_EXPOSE 1500
22:33:43.328 00.000 7028 Handling exposure in thread, d=1500 o=3 r=(0,0,0,0)
22:33:51.292 07.964 7028 Exposure complete
22:33:53.344 02.052 7028 worker thread done servicing request
22:33:53.344 00.000 15492 OnExposeComplete: enter
22:33:53.352 00.008 15492 UpdateGuideState(): m_state=1
22:33:53.359 00.007 15492 Star::Find(15, 3516, 839, 0, (0,0,0,0), 1.5, 65535) frame 1
22:33:53.359 00.000 15492 Star::Find returns 0 (2), X=3516.00, Y=839.00, Mass=14, SNR=2.0, Peak=2079 HFD=0.0
22:33:53.359 00.000 15492 Error thrown from C:\cygwin\home\agalasso\projects\phd2\guider_multistar.cpp:940->UpdateCurrentPosition():newStar not found
22:33:53.362 00.003 15492 Throw from C:\cygwin\home\agalasso\projects\phd2\guider.cpp:1352->unable to update current position
22:33:53.362 00.000 15492 Status Line: Star lost - low SNR
22:33:53.362 00.000 15492 UpdateImageDisplay: Size=(6720,4480) min=1955, max=2146, med=2062, FiltMin=2015, FiltMax=2100, Gamma=3.000
22:33:54.829 01.467 15492 UpdateGuideState exits: Star lost - low SNR
22:33:54.829 00.000 15492 OnExposeComplete: CaptureActive=1 m_continueCapturing=1
22:33:54.829 00.000 15492 ScheduleExposure(1500,3,0) exposurePending=0
22:33:54.829 00.000 15492 Enqueuing Expose request
22:33:54.834 00.005 7028 Worker thread wakes up
22:33:54.834 00.000 7028 worker thread servicing REQUEST_EXPOSE 1500
22:33:54.834 00.000 7028 Handling exposure in thread, d=1500 o=3 r=(0,0,0,0)
22:34:02.979 08.145 7028 Exposure complete
22:34:05.009 02.030 7028 worker thread done servicing request
22:34:05.009 00.000 15492 OnExposeComplete: enter
22:34:05.009 00.000 15492 UpdateGuideState(): m_state=1
22:34:05.014 00.005 15492 Star::Find(15, 3516, 839, 0, (0,0,0,0), 1.5, 65535) frame 2
22:34:05.019 00.005 15492 Star::Find false star n=2 nbg=280 bg=2063.2 sigma=4.9 thresh=2078 peak=2074
22:34:05.019 00.000 15492 Star::Find returns 0 (2), X=3516.00, Y=839.00, Mass=33, SNR=2.9, Peak=2082 HFD=0.0
22:34:05.019 00.000 15492 Error thrown from C:\cygwin\home\agalasso\projects\phd2\guider_multistar.cpp:940->UpdateCurrentPosition():newStar not found
22:34:05.019 00.000 15492 Throw from C:\cygwin\home\agalasso\projects\phd2\guider.cpp:1352->unable to update current position
22:34:05.024 00.005 15492 Status Line: Star lost - low SNR
22:34:05.026 00.002 15492 UpdateImageDisplay: Size=(6720,4480) min=1976, max=2146, med=2061, FiltMin=2024, FiltMax=2100, Gamma=3.000
22:34:06.469 01.443 15492 UpdateGuideState exits: Star lost - low SNR
22:34:06.470 00.001 15492 OnExposeComplete: CaptureActive=1 m_continueCapturing=1
22:34:06.472 00.002 15492 ScheduleExposure(1500,3,0) exposurePending=0
22:34:06.472 00.000 15492 Enqueuing Expose request
22:34:06.472 00.000 7028 Worker thread wakes up
22:34:06.472 00.000 7028 worker thread servicing REQUEST_EXPOSE 1500
22:34:06.472 00.000 7028 Handling exposure in thread, d=1500 o=3 r=(0,0,0,0)
22:34:11.449 04.977 7028 invoke imageready: [80020009] Exception occurred.
22:34:11.449 00.000 7028 invoke imageready:
(ASCOM.DSLR.Camera) Camera not connected
22:34:11.449 00.000 7028 ASCOM_ImageReady failed:
(ASCOM.DSLR.Camera) Camera not connected
22:34:11.449 00.000 7028 Error thrown from C:\cygwin\home\agalasso\projects\phd2\worker_thread.cpp:190->Capture failed
22:34:11.449 00.000 15492 Alert: Exception thrown polling camera:
(ASCOM.DSLR.Camera) Camera not connected

[Paul Po Yu Lu]

I tried the following and no issue were found:

1. On the same computer, multiple exposures (60s & 2s, >50x) were taken using NINA via ASCOM driver for DSLR and built in Canon EOS Ra driver successfully

2. On another computer running MacOS, PHD2 + INDI was also able to run fairly stable without disconnecting

So the only issue is with PHD2 + ASCOM for DSLR on windows, quite puzzling.

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[bw_m...@earthlink.net]

As you know, the ASCOM driver is reporting a lost connection with the camera.  This has nothing to do with PHD2, PHD2 handles all ASCOM cameras the same way.  Since your log shows a couple of successful exposures before the failure, I would guess you have a hardware issue of some kind.  Why don’t you try running your NINA test with 1-second exposures.  The Trouble-shooting section of the PHD2 manual has a topic on camera-related problems that enumerates many of the system and hardware things that need to be checked.

 

Good luck,

Bruce

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[Paul Po Yu Lu]

Yes checked with NINA, no disconnection with 1s x 100 exposures, with either EOS Ra driver or ASCOM driver.

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[bw_m...@earthlink.net]

“Checked with NINA” sounds like you didn’t actually test it on your system.  Is that correct?  As I keep telling you, the error is being returned by the ASCOM driver.  Why don’t you ask the author of the ASCOM driver to help you out.

 

I have to tell you, this whole thing is probably a non-starter in any case.  Having an SLR clacking and banging away every second or so is not likely to work well for guiding.  If you get a real guide camera, even a used one, you’re going to be back in the mainstream of how people do guiding. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/CACRPKzjh1Ju%3DwuS4C3qeU2kskYKHU3uR6AtJj-Xb%2B13SgtuumQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Paul Po Yu Lu]

I am not sure what you mean by my "system".

On the same computer that had issue with PHD2, I used NINA to connect to Canon DSLR, either with EOS Ra driver, or the ASCOM driver, setup sequence of 100x 1s exposures, all the images were taken successfully.

However on the "same system", PHD2 cannot even complete the dark frame library building. Would fail intermittently, something like 3rd exposure of the 3s shots.

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[Paul Po Yu Lu]

Here's a log of PHD2 failing the dark library at 2500ms 3rd exposure.

And immediately upon failure, on the same system, I disconnected the camera in PHD2, closed PHD2 program, started NINA, connected to the camera using ASCOM, no physical connection was changed.

I then setup 1/1.5/2/2.5/3/3.5/4/4.5/5/5.5/6s exposures, 5x each in NINA sequence, just like PHD2's dark library routine, and executed the sequence. NINA log also attached.

[Paul Po Yu Lu]

From reading NINA vs PHD2 log I noticed that NINA didn't care when the images were ready to be saved onto the PC before moving onto the next take exposure command, it just kept issuing the take exposure command, and continues on failure, and as long as it issues 5 take exposure commands successfully for 1s, it will move onto the next, which is 1.5s and so on.

However, with PHD2, it seems between each exposure, PHD2 would wait for the camera to respond with imageready status (meaning image is ready to be downloaded from camera according to this), and if the camera does not have the image ready to be stored, PHD2 will not issue the next "take exposure" command and just errors out.

[bw_m...@earthlink.net]

This is good, you’ve done some nice work, you’ve demonstrated that the ASCOM driver isn’t handling the ‘imageready’ property correctly.  PHD2 uses that for all ASCOM guide cameras, no exceptions.  Hence, I would again suggest that you contact the author of the ASCOM driver for help – we’re not going to change how PHD2 works in this regard.  PHD2 doesn’t “just error out”, it stops trying to take exposures because the ASCOM driver reported that the connection was lost.  One other difference in your testing is that you have PHD2 shooting dark frames while NINA is doing light frames.  That can affect the logic path in the ASCOM driver.

 

There’s really nothing we can do for you at this point.

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