Table of Contents

NAME

photopc - utility to control digital cameras based on Sierra Imaging firmware

SYNOPSIS

photopc [-h] [-V] [-v[v]] [-q] [-z] [-t] [-f timeformat] [-s <speed>] [-S <pseudo-speed>] [-l <device>] [command [params] ] ...

DESCRIPTION

This is a command line tool to manipulate digital still cameras that use a particular control protocol, namely Agfa ePhoto line, Epson PhotoPC line, Olympus D-xxxL line, Sanyo and Nikon (at least CoolPix 900) cameras. It can set camera parameters, download and erase pictures, etc. It was originally developed for Epson PhotoPC 500; now the author uses it with Olympus D-600L. Results with other models may vary. (It is also known -- by this packager -- to have an excellent rapport with the Olympus D620L/C1400XL SLR)

OPTIONS

-h
This option produces a help screen of all options and commands.

-V
This option prints software revision information.

-v
This option enables verbose output. Using two -v options increases the level of verbosity. This is primarily meant for debugging.

-q
This option sets quiet mode. If it is not specified, the program will show running download progress indicator.

-z
This option sets no time-zone processing mode. Use this option if the camera's clock is (should be) set up shifted by the local timezone offset.

-s speed
This option allows setting the data rate to use when communicating with the camera. Valid rates are 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600 and 115200 (the default).

-S speed
On some UNIX systems with some serial hardware/driver combinations you need to "lie" to the driver about the communication speed that you want to use at startup and during the session. Physical startup speed is always 19200. E.g., if on your system speeds up to 19200 are translated one to one, but in order to use 57600 baud you have to specify 50 baud, and you want to run at 57600, you'll need to specify

photopc -s57600 -S19200,50 <commands ...>

Another example: if your driver will use physical speed four times as high as you told it to set, and you want to run at default 115200 physical speed, specify

photopc -S4800,28800 <commands ...>

-t
Set timestamp of generated files to the time of snapshot.

-f timeformat
This option allows to specify the format for automatically generated image file names; the value is used as the format string for strftime(3) function. By default, names of the format "MMDD_NNN.jpg" are generated, where MM is a month, DD is a day, and NNN is a count starting from 001. A good starting point for the timeformat value could be "%Y_%m_%d-%H_%M_%S.jpg". If the format string contains context "%%XXXd" where XXX are digits, it is taken for the count, i.e. if the file with such name is present, next count is tried. If the format string does not contain "%%XXXd" part, the count field, if necessary, is appended at the end of the name.

A few single-character formats are used as shortcuts. "x" makes the name of seconds since the epoch in hexadecimal format (8 characters + ".jpg"), "d" - the same in decimal format (10 characters), "1" stands for default format "%m%d_%%03d.jpg", "2" stands for "%y%m%d%%02d.jpg", "3" stands for "%Y_%m_%d-%H_%M_%S.jpg" and 4 stands for "%Y/%m/%d/%H_%M_%S.jpg". The program attempts to create intermediate directories is necessary (and possible).

-l device
This allows specifying the serial device to use for communicating with the camera. The default on Unix systems is /dev/photopc (which is typically created as a (symbolic) link to the real device, e.g. /dev/ttyS0). On BeOS, the default is directly set to /dev/ports/serial2, because the /dev directory is dynamically created, so links are inconvenient. Tn DOS and Windows, the default is COM1:.

COMMANDS

After the options, one or more commands can be given on the command line.

Some commands accept frame-list as a parameter. Frame list is a comma-separated list of tokens (no whitespace allowed), each of the tokens being a word all , or a single number, or two numbers separated by a dash (-), or a number followed by a dash and a word last (without whitespace).

query
Display all current camera settings.

count
Output the number of pictures stored in the camera. This is intended for use in shell scripts.

list
List information about frames stored in the camera. Fields displayed are: frame number, size of image file, protection state, resolution mode and timestamp. Faster than llist but may not work with some (older) models.

llist
List more information about frames stored in the camera. Fields displayed are: frame number, protection state, size of image file, resolution mode, flash, shutter and timestamp. Slower than list and does not work with models that use Exif file format.

protect <frame-list> On | Off
Change "protected" status of frames. Frame numbering starts at 1. The command will fail if the frame number is omitted, not numeric, or does not correspond to a stored frame. "Protected" frames cannot be erased with "erase" and "eraseall" commands or with the "erase" button on the camera.

erase <frame-list>
Erase frames. Frame numbering starts at 1. The command will fail if the frame number is omitted, not numeric, or does not correspond to a stored frame.

WARNING! To avoid unexpected results, list of frames specified for this command is sorted and processed in reverse order.

eraseall
Erase all stored frames.

snapshot
Take a picture.

off
Switch off the camera. This command only has this effect on some models (notably Olympus D-600L). On other models, it just terminate the session immediately (otherwise the camera would be active several seconds after the last command). On models with big timeout, such as Photopc 600, it may be wise to always issue "off" at the end of command row, to decrease power consumption.

All commands going after "off" are ignored.

image <frame-list> <file-or-dir-name>
Download an image or series of images from the camera to disk file(s) on the host computer. Frame numbering starts at 1. The command will fail if the frame number is omitted, not numeric, or does not correspond to a stored frame. Files are stored in JPEG (JFIF or Exif) format. Image file also contains a thumbnail portion, and set of parameters like the shutter speed, date and time, I.D. string and more. Directory must be specified if frame list is requested. If directory name is specified, downloaded file(s) will get unique names starting with month and date of snapshot, unless -f option is used, in which case unique names are created according to the format specified.

thumbnail <frame-list> <file-or-dir-name>
Download a thumbnail image or series of thumbnails from the camera to disk file(s) on the host computer. Frame numbering starts at 1. The command will fail if the frame number is omitted, not numeric, or does not correspond to a stored frame. Files are stored in JPEG (JFIF or Exif) format. If the camera does not keep files in EXIF format, then the thumbnail file also contains a set of parameters like the shutter speed, date and time, I.D. string and more. Directory must be specified if frame list is requested. If directory name is specified, downloaded file(s) will get unique names starting with month and date of snapshot, unless -f option is used.

audio <frame-list> <file-or-dir-name>
Download an audio notice file or series of files from the camera to disk file(s) on the host computer. Frame numbering starts at 1. The command will fail if the frame number is omitted, not numeric, or does not correspond to a stored frame. Files are stored with ".wav" extention but the format is not RIFF WAV format. It is compressed in some way, probably some variation of ADPCM. The program stores the raw data as provided by the camera, it is not playable as a normal .wav file. Directory must be specified if frame list is requested. If directory name is specified, downloaded file(s) will get unique names starting with month and date of snapshot, unless -f option is used.

preview <file-name>
take a `preview' snapshot and save image as a <file-name>. File is in JPEG (JFIF or Exif) format, and does not contain any additional data, just plain (very low resolution) image.

upload <file-name>
Upload image file into the camera. This command is not enabled in LOWMEMORY version (i.e. under MS/DOS).

WARNING! You cannot upload arbitrary JPEG file. Depending on the camera model, such attempt may result in the image not uploaded, not viewable, or even the camera "hung" needing to remove the batteries to make it work again. File previously downloaded from the same camera model is always uploadable. Otherwise, your milage may vary. photopc program does not perform any checks, so it's up to the user to provide the file in proper format.

resolution Hi | Lo | Ext | <number>
Set the camera to high, low or extended resolution mode. Exact meaning of the modes is model-dependant and may specify different image dimensions and/or JPEG compression rate.

clock
Set the camera's internal real-time clock using the current date and time from the host computer. Time of taking a snapshot is included inside the JPEG files produced. Note that the models which display the time on the LCD will then display GMT rather than local time. With -z option, time shifted by the timezone offset is set, and the LCD will display local time. Using unshifted (GMT) time in the camera seems a proper way to go.

shutter <speed>
Set the camera shutter speed. Units can be specified in microseconds or in traditional form like "1/250". Valid interval depends on the model. If a value outside the interval is specified, the camera will set the speed to the nearest margin of the valid interval. Special speed value auto will set automatic shutter. Note that this only works while the camera is connected to the host, and automatically turns the flash off. While disconnected, shutter speed is always set automatically. Also note that there is no known way to control the aperture value from the host.

flash Auto | Force | Off | AntiRedeye | SlowSync
Set the camera flash mode.

id <string>
Set the camera identifier string that is included inside the JPEG files produced. Only few models support this.

autoshut-host <seconds>
Automatically shut off the camera after that many seconds of inactivity while connected to the computer (on the host).

autoshut-field <seconds>
Automatically shut off the camera after that many seconds of inactivity while disconnected from the computer (in the field).

lcd-autoshut <seconds>
Automatically shut off the LCD monitor after that many seconds of inactivity.

lcd-brightness <value>
Set LCD brightness to the value (valid values are 1 to 7).

macro On | Off
Set the lens macro mode. As far as I can tell, on fixed focus models macro only means force minimum aperture, not change the focal length. Only has effect in the same invocation with "snapshot" command.

color On | Off
Set color or B/W mode.

dzoom On | Off
Set digital zoom on or off. Note that low resolution must be set prior to turning on digital zoom. Only has effect in the same invocation with "snapshot" command.

EXAMPLES

% photopc query

% photopc -f "image%H:%M:%S" eraseall snapshot image 1 .

OTHER NOTES

The latest version of this tool (original Unix/Microsoft version and source) can be found at
ftp://ftp.average.org/pub/photopc/; see also WWW page at http://www.average.org/digicam/.

Trademarks are properties of their respective owners.

KNOWN BUGS

On some models, powersaving timeouts are measured not in seconds but in 1/10 sec units. The program reports them as in seconds.

Llist command relies on the format of thumbnail image that does not contain necessary information on some models (e.g. Nikon CP 900), this command does not work for these models. List command, on the contrary, do not display useful data on models that do not return it in the register 47 (e.g. Agfa 780).

The program is known to have some timing problems talking to Nikon CP900 when the camera is "napping" in powersaving mode. Until the problem is solved, a workaround is to run the program this way:

$ photopc && photopc <command list>

Nikon seem to have some other problems too, especially when doing "actions" (e.g. snapshots, erase).

Another Nikon problem: if 32Mb (or bigger?) memry card is inserted, the program cannot get the number of frames taken, and if "all" or "NN-last" range is specified for downloading, the program fails. Specify explicit range of frames. Also, with any card, number of frames taken is not updated immediately after the "snapshot" command (the same has been reported for other models). If you find how to find the correct number of frames, please let me know.

COPYRIGHT

The program is copyrighted by Eugene G. Crosser <crosser@average.org> and freely distributable. See README file for detailes. DOS and Windows support copyright Bruce D. Lightner <lightner@lightner.net>
BeOS support copyright Peter J. Goodeve <pete.goodeve@computer.org>

CREDITS

The man page was originally written by Jeff Tranter <jeff_tranter@pobox.com>, who also contributed a few bugfixes. Some information about the serial protocol obtained from Jun-ichiro "itojun" Itoh <itojun@itojun.org>, Thierry Bousch <bousch%linotte.uucp@topo.math.u-psud.fr> and other contributors.

SEE ALSO

epinfo(1) , strftime(3) , protocol description (protocol.htm in the source distribution).


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