New Cameras, Performance Improvements, Timelapse Improvements

by Ryan Stout

Hey everyone. We've got a new app/firmware release today with some exciting things in it.

New Cameras

After what seems like a long gap, camera companies seem to be releasing a lot of new cameras this summer.

We just released version 2.0.94 to the iOS and Android app stores. This release adds support for the Sony A6700, Canon R5C (when the camera is on the Photo dial only), and the Nikon Z6iii. We've been working on adding the Fuji X-T5, but it's got some issues we still need to work through to get it supported. (So no guarantees yet we will be able to get it added)

We will also be getting the Canon R5 ii and R1 in as soon as they are available to see if it's possible to add support for them.

Performance Improvements

If you're on a newer Sony camera, you'll now see an option under Settings called "Only Send JPG's to Arsenal when in RAW+JPG". This setting mirrors the "Still Img. Save Dest" setting on those cameras and lets you control what is sent to Arsenal from the app.

While the transfer speed between Arsenal and Sony cameras is quite fast, RAW files are still very large. (Especially on the A7RiV and A7RV.) Unlike Canon and Nikon cameras, we can't pull in the RAW file later, so we have to either pull it in shortly after it's shot or we can't get it at all.

You'll need the RAW file's sent to Arsenal if you want to use DeepColor or save a copy of the RAW files to Arsenal's microSD card slot. Otherwise you can disable the option and everything will be quite a bit faster. Arsenal already disable this option for Timelapses and Panoramas where the RAW download time would significantly hurt the experience. Now you can control if you want it on the rest of the time.

Do note that this setting only applies if you're shooting RAW+JPG, if you do shoot with RAW+JPG, the "Only Send JPG's to Arsenal when in RAW+JPG" setting can really speed everything up on newer Sonys.

Faster Intervals in Timelapse

We frequently get requests for faster intervals during timelapse. I'm happy to say that on Sony, Nikon, and Canon (and hopefully Fuji soon), we can now pull photos at the same time the shots are being taken. This lowers the gap required between taking the photo's quite a bit and lets us achieve shorter intervals.

Quite a few cameras now can hit 2 second intervals. (And a few 1 second)

Holy Grail takes a bit of time to do the AI to predict the next settings, so 1 second intervals are probably best done in Basic mode. (But most newer cameras can hit 2 second intervals in holy grail)

We also fixed an issue where frames may be skipped when shooting really short intervals on some Sony cameras.

Better Messages

We spent some time during this release to add more messages when something unexpected happens. Here's a few places where we improved the messaging.

  • If you have a lens with an aperture dial, Arsenal can't change the aperture value if it's not set to 'A' or 'Auto'.
  • On Sony's if you're shooting in JPG only and DeepColor can't render due to the lack of RAW file.
  • On older Sony's we can't control the PC RAW+J Img Save option, so it's set to only send JPG's to Arsenal, the DeepColor slider area will show an error.

Improved Camera Reset Logic

There were a few cases where the cameras could get into a state where they were waiting for a follow up message from Arsenal (or vice versa) that would not come. Usually due to Arsenal or the camera being disconnected at certain moments. There are a few ways we can reset the camera to start the state machine over again.

Typically these errors would manifest as the camera not connecting after unplugging the cable or restarting the camera. Arsenal should handle these edge cases a lot better now. It may still take a few seconds to reset, but then you should be good to go.

Other fixes

  • On some Android phones, users were running into an issue using night assist. This should be fixed.
  • On Android, a few of the newer Nikons would format their shutter speeds as 0.001s instead of 1/1000, the formatting will now show in fractions.
  • Fixed a rare crash when the iOS app first connected.

We've got more updates in the works. Stay tuned.