LEM not operating Nikon DSLRs [Case Solved]

Support for the Lunar Eclipse Maestro photography software.

LEM not operating Nikon DSLRs [Case Solved]

Postby zlevay » Tue Jan 15, 2019 8:52 pm

I was hoping to use Lunar Eclipse Maestro to capture the upcoming eclipse (I know, should have started earlier -- wasn't aware of LEM), but can't seem to get it to work with Nikon DSLRs (D800 or D850) on MacOS Sierra (10.12) or Mojave (10.14). The camera is recognized but doesn't seem to accept instructions from LEM, doesn't fire test exposures. I followed the suggestions to disable any other applications that might access the camera. Tethering does work with Adobe Lightroom. I had used Solar Eclipse Maestro for the 2017 eclipse (Thanks!) with D800 and the same MacBook Air (but an older OS version I guess).
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Re: LEM not operating Nikon DSLRs

Postby dawsonian2000 » Wed Jan 16, 2019 3:09 pm

Hi zlevay,

I am experience the same exact issue using my Canon Rebel T4i (650D) DSLR. The Hardware Configuration setup recognizes the camera, but appears to not fully complete the installation of the camera in LEM. It seems to be hanging, because there are spinning activity icons next to the "Camera 1" box and "Refresh" button. I hope a fix can be provided before the eclipse.

BTW - I am also running iOS Mojave 10.14.

Mel
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Re: LEM not operating Nikon DSLRs

Postby xjubier » Wed Jan 16, 2019 4:01 pm

zlevay wrote:I was hoping to use Lunar Eclipse Maestro to capture the upcoming eclipse (I know, should have started earlier -- wasn't aware of LEM), but can't seem to get it to work with Nikon DSLRs (D800 or D850) on MacOS Sierra (10.12) or Mojave (10.14). The camera is recognized but doesn't seem to accept instructions from LEM, doesn't fire test exposures. I followed the suggestions to disable any other applications that might access the camera. Tethering does work with Adobe Lightroom. I had used Solar Eclipse Maestro for the 2017 eclipse (Thanks!) with D800 and the same MacBook Air (but an older OS version I guess).

Zoltan, the latest beta seems to have fixed you issue.
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Re: LEM not operating Nikon DSLRs

Postby xjubier » Wed Jan 16, 2019 4:05 pm

dawsonian2000 wrote:I am experience the same exact issue using my Canon Rebel T4i (650D) DSLR. The Hardware Configuration setup recognizes the camera, but appears to not fully complete the installation of the camera in LEM. It seems to be hanging, because there are spinning activity icons next to the "Camera 1" box and "Refresh" button. I hope a fix can be provided before the eclipse.

BTW - I am also running iOS Mojave 10.14.

Mel, your issue is likely different. The previous beta was causing an issue only with some Canon cameras.
Please use this download link to update to the latest beta. The version stays the same as the older one but the checksum is different, so just download again and then install one more time.

Note: all those who downloaded the previous beta should replace it. So if you downloaded before Wednesday January 16th at 05:00 GMT then download and install again.
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Re: LEM not operating Nikon DSLRs [Case Solved]

Postby mmckeag » Thu Jan 17, 2019 8:37 pm

I have two cameras (Nikon D800 & D750) connected via USB to MacBook Pro running HighSierra 10.13.6 and LEM 1.3.3v1b1. The moment I turn on one or the other camera LEM shuts down. LEM also immediately shuts down upon launch if one or the other or both cameras are already turned on. I checked the Photos app and notice it recognizes when one or the other or both cameras are connected. I have automatic downloads from the cameras disabled in Photos, but can find no way to disable Photos camera detection. Is Photos the problem? BTW I used the same two cameras and laptop, but running a earlier version of Mac-OS, successfully for lunar eclipse last year.
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Re: LEM not operating Nikon DSLRs [Case Solved]

Postby xjubier » Fri Jan 18, 2019 2:26 am

mmckeag wrote:I have two cameras (Nikon D800 & D750) connected via USB to MacBook Pro running HighSierra 10.13.6 and LEM 1.3.3v1b1. The moment I turn on one or the other camera LEM shuts down. LEM also immediately shuts down upon launch if one or the other or both cameras are already turned on. I checked the Photos app and notice it recognizes when one or the other or both cameras are connected. I have automatic downloads from the cameras disabled in Photos, but can find no way to disable Photos camera detection. Is Photos the problem? BTW I used the same two cameras and laptop, but running a earlier version of Mac-OS, successfully for lunar eclipse last year.

The culprit there is High Sierra. After the first release of High Sierra I notified Apple of a crashing regression, my detailed bug report was acknowledge and with the small app I had build Apple could reproduce it every time, yet Apple didn't fix it during the whole life of High Sierra. This regression is fixed in Mojave and doesn't exist in previous main releases before High Sierra.
The issue there is at the OS level when the memory card inside the camera already contains pictures when you connect it. If the memory card is empty or freshly formatted then no crash will occur.

So in your case two options/workarounds:
1) Use an empty or freshly formatted memory card.
2) Upgrade to Mojave.
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Re: LEM not operating Nikon DSLRs [Case Solved]

Postby mmckeag » Fri Jan 18, 2019 7:29 pm

Thanks! Updated macOS to Mojave and LEM 1.3.3.3v1b1 is now controlling the cameras. Now if only it could control the weather. ;)
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