photopc - Online in the Cloud

PROGRAM:

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 certain control
protocol, namely Agfa ePhoto line, Epson PhotoPC line, Olympus D-xxxL line, Sanyo and
Nikon (at least CoolPix 9xx) cameras. It can set camera parameters, download and erase
pictures, e.t.c. It was originally developed for Epson PhotoPC 500, now the author uses
it with Olympus D-600L, results with other models may vary.

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 permits 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 permits specifying 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" loading="lazy" 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" loading="lazy" and 4 stands for
"%Y/%m/%d/%H_%M_%S.jpg". The program attempts to create intermediate directories if
necessary (and possible).

-l device
This allows specifying the serial device to use for communicating with the camera.
The default is /dev/photopc (which is typically created as a (symbolic) link to the
real device, e.g. /dev/ttyS0) in UNIX, and COM1: in DOS and Windows. Note that the
program does not use UUCP style locks so you need to be certain that no other
program, such as uugetty, uucico or mouse manager, is trying to access the same
device. Another note: on some systems (notably Linux) terminal settings are kept
across usage of the serial port by different programs. photopc may have troubles if,
say, hardware flow control was kept turned on. Try "stty -F /dev/ttyXX sane" if you
suspect that you are bitten by this.

COMMANDS

After the options, one or more commands can be given in 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, timestamp and filename
if available. Faster than llist but may not work with some (older) models.

WARNING: this command changes current directory on models that support directory tree
on the flash media.

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.

WARNING: this command changes current directory on models that support directory tree
on the flash media.

cd <path>
On the models that support multiple directories on the flash media, change current
directory as specified.

The program chdir's to the first non-empty folder at the beginning. So, your first
cd command must specify full path starting with a slash. If it where unix you could
also cd ../something but here we do not have a way to move up one level.

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.

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

eraseall
Erase all stored frames.

eraselast
Erase most recently taken frame.

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 terminates 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 according to -f option setting.

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 according to -f option setting.

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" extension but the format is not RIFF WAV format. It is compressed
in some way, probably with 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 according to -f option setting.

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.

mode Record | Play | Thumbnail
Set specified operation mode on certain models.

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.

aperture Auto | Lo | Med | Hi
Set the lense aperture on models that support it.

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).

focus Macro | Normal | Infinity
Set the lens focusing 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.

adjust Normal | Contrast+ | Contrast- | Brightness+ | Brightness-
Set adjustment of picture brightness/contrast.

metering Center-weighted | Spot | Matrix
Set auto exposure metering mode.

whitebalance Normal | Sunny | Incandescent | Fluorescent | Flash | Preset | Cloudy
Set white balance.

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

dzoom On | Off | <number>
Set digital zoom on or off. Note that it may only work if low resolution was set
prior to turning on digital zoom, and only have effect in the same invocation with
"snapshot" command. Numeric values have model-dependant meaning.

zoom <mm>
Set optical zoom value on models that support it.

EXAMPLES

% photopc query

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

OTHER NOTES

The latest version of this tool can be found at http://photopc.sourceforge.net/

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 <[email protected]> and freely
distributable. See README file for detailes. DOS and Windows support copyright Bruce D.
Lightner <[email protected]>

CREDITS

The man page was originally written by Jeff Tranter <[email protected]>, who also
contributed a few bugfixes. Some information about the serial protocol obtained from Jun-
ichiro "itojun" Itoh <[email protected]>, Thierry Bousch <bousch%[email protected]-
psud.fr> and other contributors.

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