Came FAQ v0.2

Japanese document...

Came FAQ

I want to write a digital camera control program. Are there any documents of protocol? I need source code of protocol handling.: During the development of CAME software, I referred to Description of the protocol written by Eugene Crosser. There are many of links to source code, and my CAME for DOS includes complete C source code. But every veteran programmer knows that write from good documents is the fastest way to programming, read source code of other people and understand is the most difficult way.
Digicam connected correctly and the other software works fine, but CAME can't find digicam and shows No camera found message.: If the other application such as palm-link, Nikonview, Win/CE-monitor, etc. is working, it holds serial port and Came can't use it. Close these applications and try again.
It seems CAME supports 230400bps transfer, how to do it?: Basically, you need high-speed serial I/O card. But most of newest machine uses Super-I/O chip that supports 230400bps transfer. If your machine has these I/O chip, you can enable 230400bps transfer with small freeware patch. For more details, see Mr.Gigo's webpage.
SHSMOD works correctly, but when I set baud rate to 230400bps. transfer error occurs sometimes.: 230400bps is very severe condition (like Ultra-SCSI), data transfer stability depends on 1:serial cable length 2:cable quality and 3:serial driver LSI on your computer's motherboard. I recommend using a shorter cable.
I can't take B/W picture.: Some of camera (e.g. Nikon E900) has Manual mode that overrides CAME's setup. Try with Auto mode.
Can the software control the zoom lens? Is it possible to turn on LCD while CAME is working?: Sorry, I don't know how to do it from serial port.
Is CAME work with D-500/600,C-1000/1400?: CAME v0.8 or later will work with them.
I have a D500/D600/C1000/C1400 and I can't change timeout value.: Timeout value of D500/D600/C1000/C1400 is fixed to 60 seconds, it can't change from serial port.
Is there any way to get uncompressed image?: If your digicam has its function, CAME can do it. But most of digicam doesn't have uncompressed mode. I don't recommend to use uncompressed mode, there are quite a few differences between uncompressed and highest quality JPEG.
Is CAME a TWAIN compliant program?: No it isn't. I don't recommend using TWAIN with digicams because they store images by JPEG format. If you once open a digicam's image from photo retouch software via TWAIN, it extracts original JPEG image to raw-bitmap data. When you save image, retouch soft re-compresses it to JPEG again. This process may lose some of image quality or enlarges file size, and all the additional picture information (timestamp, shutter speed, f-stop, quality mode etc.) will be lost. Therefore I recommend doing that save the digicam's image to disk without TWAIN first, then re-touch it.
Does CAME have an automatic image download feature at time lapse? Can I use CAME as a webcam (live camera)?: Came v0.9 or later can do it.
How do I change Camera Timeout value without mouse?: Connect the serial-cable between your digicam and computer, then turn on digicam. Press Ctrl-Esc to invoke the start-menu, then press R key. Input the location of CAME.EXE and press Enter key. Press Alt-G to establish the connection. Then press Tab key sometimes until your cursor is located to Camera (Field) box. Now you can change the value to press up/down cursor key. After change it, press Alt-S to save timeout value.
Current version of CAME is 0.9. Is it a still BETA version?: I used to set version number from 0.0. 0.9 means simply 9th version of CAME, not means BETA. Maybe it will go up to v1.0 within the 20th century. BTW, what does it mean in Freeware? It's always no-warranty, isn't it?
Is there any plan of CAME for Mac, PalmPilot or Win/CE?: No, I don't have them and I don't know how to program it.
Is CAME Year2k compliant?: Maybe...
Why CAME doesn't work with Nikon's digicams?: Sorry, I'm tired...

TsuruZoh Tachibanaya
tsuruzoh@butaman.ne.jp
http://www.butaman.ne.jp:8000/~tsuruzoh/