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Many of the users of my Sony ASCOM driver are N.I.N.A fans, and have more than their share of… let’s call it fun… trying to dial in things like ISO/Gain via the interface that both N.I.N.A and ASCOM expose. Another feature I miss in N.I.N.A that I’m always using in APT is live-view. These things aren’t really N.I.N.A’s fault, it’s the fact that ASCOM was designed around dedicated cameras, and Astrophotography software was designed around ASCOM, so getting a DSLR/Mirrorless camera to perform these tricks is not what either of them was really designed to do.

It seems that the new support for focusing is quite popular! The Beta version of the driver now supports four more lenses. This brings the total number to ten. Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS Sony FE 2.8/70-200 GM OSS II Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS Sony FE 2.8/90 MACRO G OSS I’d like to thank Kimmo Manninen from Finland for providing the data for these lenses, and for helping test out and improve the focus support.

This is a follow-up to the prior post where I introduced the ability to control a camera-attached lens through the ASCOM Focuser interface. It turns out that while it did indeed work, there isn’t a lot of support out there for the mode of operation (Relative) that the focuser supports. APT has partial support, but I had no joy in getting it to actually focus properly. As such, the focuser code has done-away with the Relative mode of operation and now emulates an Absolute focuser.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve made some pretty dramatic changes to the Sony ASCOM driver. One Thread To Rule Them All# Up until this point, the driver has communicated with the camera in multiple threads, with locks in place to ensure A doesn’t talk to the camera while B is. The updated version isolates all camera communication into a single thread, with a simple work-queue so that A will just wait until B is complete before running.

A couple of quick updates on the driver. Some of this is in my prior post, but it seems that not everyone gets to the end of that :) It supports a whole bunch of Sony cameras, at the time of writing the list has 24 models on it, and I’ve just had someone confirm that the α1 works. Adding new cameras is super easy, just run the provided utility and email me what it prints out - as soon as you have done that I can add the camera definition to the next version (and the list).

Sony take a very programmer-unfriendly approach to taking photos (any many other aspects of camera control). Most actions involve taking the same steps as the user of the camera would take. TAKING A PHOTO# The process of taking a photo via the USB connection involves a number of steps: Push the shutter button half-way down - this will engage auto-focus if enabled. Push the shutter button all the way down - this will actually start the image acquisition using the camera’s current settings.

At this time, I’ve been able to map around half of the reported properties to their actual camera setting. I’ve deciphered the meaning of the different values for most of these. However, some values will be missing as my camera doesn’t allow me to use some of the possible values (i.e. Some of the flash settings appear permanently disabled on my camera - either that or they only become options when other settings are set “just so”)

As mentioned in my ASCOM driver post, Sony doesn’t seem particularly interested in allowing third-party access when it comes to remote control of their cameras. This was very disappointing to me after I forked out US$1,000 for a new a6400, only to find that the only way to control the camera remotely was the Sony “Imaging Edge” suite. It seems they (Sony) definitely thought about letting people control their own cameras for a while, as they released a camera SDK (it can still be downloaded) that allows control of a number of cameras over their built-in WiFi.

Recently I moved to an area of the country where the night skies are much clearer. I can now actually see celestial objects bigger than the Sun and the Moon! After purchasing a relatively cheap tracking telescope bundle I discovered that although my friends outwardly appeared to be interested, that didn’t translate to a desire to spend their evening stargazing - especially as temperatures dropped towards, and then below, freezing. So I thought I could at least show them the awesomeness from the comfort of their living room (or, more likely, their cellphone).