Question

I’m using pyEDSDK (a python wrapper for the canon sdk) to control a Rebel T1i. It mostly works – I can take pictures and save the images to the hard drive, but it screws up when I try to send the start_bulb command.

Actually, start_bulb works flawlessly. The shutter opens and the camera begins capturing an image. The problem is that I can’t get it to stop when I send the bulb_stop command.

For start_bulb to work, I had to manually change the camera to bulb mode. Maybe there’s some setting I’m missing? Or some kind of init code for bulb mode?

I updated the firmware from 0.9 to 1.1, but it had no effect.

Some other people have had similar experiences:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/thread/2858921#forum-post-36169599
http://tech.dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/CanonSDK/message/921

Answer 1

I found the answer here: http://tech.dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/CanonSDK/message/1711

For some reason the T1i camera works differently than the others. The code below successfully closes the shutter after two seconds.

print "started"
self.SendCommand(kEdsCameraCommand_PressShutterButton, kEdsCameraCommand_ShutterButton_Completely_NonAF)
sleep(2)
self.SendCommand(kEdsCameraCommand_PressShutterButton)
print "finished"

If anyone has a chance to test this on other models, I’m interested in hearing about it. I’m wondering if this method will work for them.