I can't install the ASCOM DSLR driver

[perdrix]

I downloaded DSLR.Camera Setup.exe from www.github.com/FearL0rd/ASCOM.DSLR

I have ASCOM 7.1.3 installed.

When I tried to run it, I got a message saying:

The ASCOM DriverHelper object has failed to load. This indicates a serious problem with the ASCOM installation.

I see no way to contact the developer . I tried the discord link (even though I hate discord), but that refused to let me in.

Is this a known issue? Is there a resolution?

Thanks, David

[archer1960]

That project hasn't had a lot of maintenance in the last couple of years, so may not work well with ASCOM 7. I have used it successfully with ASCOM 6, though. If you are using a Canon or Nikon camera, you might try BackYardEOS/BackYardNik instead. They can act as an ASCOM driver for those makes of cameras. The web site is https://www.otelescope.com/. Note that he is closing out the hardware side of his business (that's why you see the closeout notices on the home page), but the software is still being maintained and updated. I have been using it with my Canon cameras for many years, and it works great.

[admin]

Hi,

yes, the ASCOM DSLR driver is a bit of a lottery - works for some, lots of problems for others. It's a difficult thing to get right - I looked at SDK support for DSLR cameras some time back and came to the conclusion that there were just too many different models that all had their own little special requirements. I decided that I would be constantly trying to fix weird bugs that only happened with models that I didn't own and that therefore I wasn't going to go anywhere near direct DSLR support...

That being said, the next major version of SharpCap (4.2? 5.0? not decided yet) will have support to read digital camera raw files (DNG, CR2, etc) via the folder monitor camera. If any existing users are interested in trying that out, I have an alpha test version that I can get to you.

cheers,

Robin