Tips - PowerShot and EOS Camera Errors
Newer Canon camera models seem to be error free and are very reliable for long term time-lapse. However, most
older Canon PowerShot cameras controlled remotely have capture errors sooner or
later. In our testing of Canon's Remote Capture software, we encountered camera
errors with all camera models except ones released after the Fall of 2006. EOS models released after
the 20D have also been error free in our testing.
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Camera Series
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Reliable Models
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Marginally Reliable Models
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PowerShot
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G9, S5 IS, SX 100 IS, S3 IS, A620, A640, S80, G7,
and newer
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G2
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EOS1
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350D Rebel XT, 400D Rebel XTi, 20D1, 20Da, 30D, 5D, 1D Mark II, 1D Mark II N, 1Ds Mark II
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300D2
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1Dirty lens contacts on interchangeable lenses can lead to the dreaded "ERR 99" and loss of the camera connection. For some
reason the 20D is particulary prone to this error.
2The 300D will lose about one out of every 300 images, but will stay connected.
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EOS models can be subject to errors from poor electrical contact between the camera body and the lens. This
is usually reported by GBTimelapse as a "Battery Level Empty" message and disconnection of the camera. When
this happens a quick look will usually show "ERR 99" flashing in the camera's display . It can only
be cleared by turning the camera power off and back on again.
For a thorough discussion of ERR 99 please refer to this blog entry in
Richard's Notes.
The PowerShot G2 is a surprisingly reliable old camera. The only thing we don't like about it is the lack
of a AF Lock function and it's slow image transfer. But it's a cheap and viable alternative for long term time-lapse.
Avoiding Errors
If you are doing a long term time-lapse, there are a few things you can do to
minimize the chance of an error.
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Turn off energy saving options -
When GBTimelapse is running, it registers with the Windows operating system as
a "critical" application that should not be suspended. Nevertheless, we always
set our computer to never turn off the hard disks, to never go to system
standby, and to never hibernate. It's ok to run a screensaver or to turn off the
monitor because that won't interfere with image capture.
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Disable virus scanning software -
Leave your virus detection on, but turn off the feature that scans your hard
drive periodically. This is just a precaution to avoid any competition for
system resources that may interfere with the timely capturing of images from
your camera. Besides, while doing time-lapse your computer is dedicated to that
task and isn't likely to become infected by a virus.
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Disable Windows Automatic Update -
We learned this the hard way. On several occasions a time-lapse session had
stopped overnight. GBTimelapse was not running and we couldn't figure out what
had happened. The we realized that Windows Automatic Update, would sometimes
end all running applications and restart the computer. You should open
"Automatic Updates" in your "Control Panel" and change the setting from
"Automatic" to "Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install
them" or to "Notify me but don't automatically download or install them."
For even more assurance that a reboot will not happen, see the article
Prevent Reboots
in PC Magazine.
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Use an Uninterruptible Power Supply -
Connect you computer and camera power to a UPS so that a short term power
failure or glitch won't stop your time-lapse session. It's not necessary to
connect your monitor to the UPS.
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Pay Attention - It's a good idea to check on your computer and
camera frequently to make sure everything is ok. The more often you check, the
less likely you are to lose any important images.
System Errors
A GBTimelapse session can also fail due to a system error. We have encountered
this sometimes when pushing the camera to it limits on a computer with limited
resources. For example, setting the time-lapse interval to three seconds
between images when connected to a laptop computer with a slow processor. After
capturing several thousand images, the simple act of opening a file folder can
cause the time-lapse session to fail.
The Windows Explorer system
task runs at a very high priority and uses all of the system resources. This
leaves no time for the Canon camera drivers to run and maintain control of the
camera. When this happens the camera driver hangs and GBTimelapse becomes
unresponsive. The only solution is to turn off the camera, close GBTimelapse
and restart.
Capture Errors
Capture errors are common in Canon models released prior to Fall of 2006. They occur randomly after several hundred (or several thousand) images had
been captured. Since these same errors occured with capture software from Canon
and other companies, we believe the causes are within either the Canon camera
drivers, or the Microsoft Operating system software.
There are two types of serious errors: "Capture Failure" and "Camera Lock-up".
Capture Failure occurs when the camera simply fails to capture an image. Camera
Lock-up occurs when the camera captures an image, but fails to send it to the
computer.
The error rates vary with the model. Our G5 seems to have a capture failure
every 3,000 or so images and a camera lock-up after about 15,000 images. But
our G2 has been running for over 50,000 images without an error.
GBTimelapse is designed to recover from both types of errors. It ignores Capture
Failure errors and asks the camera to capture another image. It attempts to
clear Camera Lock-up errors by disconnecting and then reconnecting the camera.
If the camera successfully reconnects, GBTimelapse continues with the
time-lapse session. In both case, GBTimelapse reports the error in the session
log.
Sometimes a camera will have several lock-up errors and GBTimelapse will be
unable to continue with its time-lapse session. The only way to clear such an
error is to manually turn the camera off and back on again. If you are running
a long-term time-lapse, you should keep track of the session progress in case
this happens.
