[pentaxmz]

Hello all,

I am looking for software and/or hardware that will allow me to create a script of shorts with varying exposures, based on specific times.

For instance:
12:00:00 - 1/100th
12:00:01 - 1/500th
12:00:02 - 1/1000th
12:05:00 - 1/10th
... etc.

There are applications that can do this but none work with Pentax (a more common theme these days ).

I've looked at:
- Easy to use, free solution for complex camera control | digiCamControl No Pentax support
- Moonglow Technologies - Eclipse Orchestrator Supports Pentax [sort of] but isn't reliable - waiting for a response from the manufacturer but other Pentax owners are also experiencing issues.

That is all that I have found that are designed for multiple cameras.

Any suggestions?

Thank you.

[MarkJerling]

I'm not sure if it would be useful to you, but PK Tether may provide some of the features of digiCamControl. But only for one camera, not multiple.

The digiCamControl software seems very nice - pity they don't support Pentax!

[08amczb]

PK Tether with some ui automation can do this I think. You can progmatically click the the buttons with visual basic script or NirCmd or AutoIt or some other tools. It's very uncomfortable, bad not really reusable solution, but solves the problem.

[leekil]

gphoto2 has Pentax support, but i haven't used it with a Pentax, so I'm not sure what level of functionality. If it can set the exposure manually, then you can script it to do what you want.

[08amczb]

gphoto2 has Pentax support, but i haven't used it with a Pentax, so I'm not sure what level of functionality. If it can set the exposure manually, then you can script it to do what you want.

Thanks, it looks nice and has library version. I didn't know tis project.

[pentaxmz]

Thanks all, I appreciate your suggestions.

I wasn't aware of either program. PKTether looks interesting and the gPhoto project looks intriguing in the sense that I can hack away at the source. Unfortunately, I won't have time to work on porting it to Windows and working out all the inevitable kinks.

FYI, here are some gPhoto related links regarding a Windows port:

Windows information:
foobaring: HowTo: Install gphoto2 in windows 7
Windows port - few questions · Issue #97 · gphoto/libgphoto2 · GitHub
gphoto2 for windows (v2.4.13) - DIY Book Scanner
Cliffs and Ruins: How-to: A gphoto primer

[MarkJerling]

I can confirm that PK Tether works well in Windows 7, 8 and 10.

[pentaxmz]

Hello all,

I found another Pentax tethering tool. At this time, I don't know how well it works but it looks interesting and the source code is available.

PK Trigger Cord

pkTriggerCord

[MarkJerling]

Hello all,

I found another Pentax tethering tool. At this time, I don't know how well it works but it looks interesting and the source code is available.

PK Trigger Cord

pkTriggerCord

I've tried that one but found PK Tether significantly less buggy.

[pentaxmz]

Update: I was speaking to a fellow photographer about my troubles in making Moonglow Technologies - Eclipse Orchestrator work with the Pentax cameras and he suggested that the problem is that I need to forget about using the USB tethering cable. He suggested that I build a serial connector that interfaces directly with the shutter release connector of the camera.

Like this: Computerized Shutter Control of Canon DSLRs

The example is for a Canon camera but it would be simple to adapt this circuit to the Pentax camera.

Thoughts?

[MarkJerling]

Have you tried PK Tether?