Auto ramp : what I have done wrong ?

We tested as good as we can. But there will always be things we didn't find. If you found things that apparently don't work as they should, you can report them here so we can take care of them as soon as possible.
Jamy82
Posts: 9
Joined: August 5th, 2020, 3:56 pm

August 7th, 2020, 12:02 pm

Hello

Early morning (say around 5:30...) I was decided to test autoramp with the sun rise
What I did :
- load the app
- switch on the DSLR
- go in photo menu and select : Mode M, 1,6 sec, F8, ISO 2500
- then I went in Autoramp : interval 14 sec, duration 2hours, algorithm EV24, day 1/8000 F11 ISO 100, Night 8 sec F6.3 ISO 1600
- press white button and back to bed

All the photos were taken without any adjustments (say with the parameters set up in the photo menu)

What is the mistake ?

Thanks for your assistance

JM
Andy
Posts: 225
Joined: October 4th, 2018, 4:18 pm

August 7th, 2020, 1:07 pm

Hi JM,

are you a Nikon or a Canon user? If you are a Nikon user, did you have the USB cable plugged in?
Andy
Firmware developer at Foolography
Jamy82
Posts: 9
Joined: August 5th, 2020, 3:56 pm

August 7th, 2020, 1:18 pm

Nikon D810 with the cable plugged in the USB port
Andy
Posts: 225
Joined: October 4th, 2018, 4:18 pm

August 7th, 2020, 5:20 pm

From what you posted, it should have worked, unless you had set some very restrictive limits, but I guess you used the defaults.

I do have an auto ramping-related issue in my backlog, but it was reported that they weren't using USB. Unfortunately I still haven't been able to reproduce this issue. Does this happen often or was this an isolated case? It would be helpful to know if this is a reproducible issue, and if it is, it would be great to know how to reproduce it.

I am actually currently reworking the intervalometer and I did notice a couple of edge cases where it wouldn't work properly. I did fix those cases already, so hopefully it will be more robust by next release - I'm still testing the changes and there's no release date yet.
Andy
Firmware developer at Foolography
Jamy82
Posts: 9
Joined: August 5th, 2020, 3:56 pm

August 7th, 2020, 7:46 pm

OK than I understand that there remains some area of lack of robustness
I 'll go on with my usage/test and feedback with results

Having said this, it is a bit a pity to face these 'bugs'

Best regards,

JM
Unfoolishly
Posts: 293
Joined: June 24th, 2020, 2:43 am

August 7th, 2020, 9:41 pm

Hi Jamy82,
Jamy82 wrote:
August 7th, 2020, 7:46 pm
...there remains some area of lack of robustness...
...a pity to face these 'bugs'...
As a retired senior software developer I can tell you that software is never bug free. It can't be bug free, because it was made by humans. Humans make mistakes.
I can safely assume that you have more appliances in your house, car, at work, in your hand, etc, that contain more bugs than the Unleashed, but will never come to the surface.
Why? Because the rare condition / state in which it can occur will not happen for most users.

That something contains a 'bug' doesn't mean it's bad software or bad hardware. If you would count all the bugs still not fixed in Android OS or iOS, or in the firmware of the System-on-a-Chip (SoC) which is used in any smartphone these days, you will be surprised how much 'bugs' are within the smartphone you are holding right now to operate the Unleashed.

It can happen that your situation in using the Unleashed in combination with a certain camera type and a certain smartphone type brings the bug to the surface nobody else ever experienced before. So in that sense, it is not harmful in any way. It is not a lack of robustness, but a rare condition of several devices combined that causes this 'bug'. Same as with car accidents: these happen too, even when the manufacturer created a perfect car...

It is unachievable to live in a 'bug free' society, even as we haven't ruled out car accidents either...
It is always good to report a 'bug' so that you and others can benefit from it when the bug is solved by the development team. If they manage to reproduce the 'bug' on their systems, their camera's and smartphones. It's harder than you think to actually catch that 'bug' in real time and locate it in the software where it is caused. That could be in a place within the software where you would not expect it to happen at all.

In my whole career in software development, I have never seen software without bugs. So, the next generations won't be bug free as well.

Greetings,
Unfoolishly
Retired customer of the Unleashed. I have given up on this project, it's a never-ending story of bugs. Goodbye everyone!
Jamy82
Posts: 9
Joined: August 5th, 2020, 3:56 pm

August 7th, 2020, 10:44 pm

If I release a wrong message ... I am sorry
My point was just to highlight a potentiant bug
I have been ruuning Eupopeanwise SSII so I think I can understand that bug free is difficult
My point points remain
- did i make a mistake
- if not when is the next bug fixed
Unfoolishly
Posts: 293
Joined: June 24th, 2020, 2:43 am

August 7th, 2020, 10:51 pm

Jamy82 wrote:
August 7th, 2020, 10:44 pm
If I release a wrong message ... I am sorry
No you did not :)
I just pointed out that some customers expect a perfect product, and then find a 'bug'. That can happen. Software can't be made perfect. So, no worries!

Greetings,
Unfoolishly
Retired customer of the Unleashed. I have given up on this project, it's a never-ending story of bugs. Goodbye everyone!
Oliver
Posts: 1127
Joined: October 9th, 2018, 4:17 pm

August 8th, 2020, 2:07 pm

Hi, sorry it didn't work - especially when getting up so early in the morning.
To be honest, I've personally tested many, many more sunsets than sunrises, for this exact reason ;-)

Nonetheless, the settings you posted should not have caused any issues under normal circumstances (there are no known bugs with these kind of settings, and we've tested extensively on a D800, which is very very close to the D810 in all respects that matter for this case)
Did you use some special setting? Long Exposure Noise reduction? Mirror UP? Was autofocus on? All these can significantly delay the trigger, which mess up timing, and mean we're unable to "take readings" from the camera meter because the camera is busy when we expect it not to be. Without those readings, we can't make any adjustments either...

You're very welcome to do some tests in a more controlled environment:
To test sunrises: close the lens with a lens hood, or hold your hand in front of the lens. change all your settings to expose (almost) correctly - ie the meter should read 0. start the autoramp, then remove the hand/lens hood. either slowly, or if you want, remove it completely.
To test sunsets: point the camera into a bright light for the first photo, expose for that correctly, then start the autoramp and after the first photo, point the camera into a darker scene.
You should see the settings ramp down or up respectively. If you set the limits quite close to your initial values, you should be able to see each setting ramp until it reaches the limit, then the unleashed should switch to the next setting.

I hope this helps!
Founder & CEO of Foolography, Hardware & Firmware developer.
Jamy82
Posts: 9
Joined: August 5th, 2020, 3:56 pm

August 10th, 2020, 12:50 pm

Thanks Olivier for your reply with tips
I am going to experiment all these in various conditions and get back to you and your team
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