Walkthrough: Install gphoto2 (read shutter count T2i, 7D, etc) on Linux LiveCD or USB

Just a heads up, I tested other methods for reading a 7d, and eoscount (charges money now) and camerashuttercount are not viable options. It appears that this lengthy method is the only one guaranteed to work.

MOkoFOko wrote in post #14922566
Just a heads up, I tested other methods for reading a 7d, and eoscount (charges money now) and camerashuttercount are not viable options. It appears that this lengthy method is the only one guaranteed to work.

I used eoscount.com before he started charging and it worked just fine for me.

Yogi Bear wrote in post #14922613
I used eoscount.com before he started charging and it worked just fine for me.

So did I. The point is that now you have to pay to play. I'd rather run my linux disc and waste 10-15 minutes than pay $1.50 for every body I check. I tend to run through a number of camera bodies, so that's a horrible option for me.

I've been meaning to update the first post to list the body models that gphoto2 is compatible with. Can people who have tested their bodies chime in and list what has and what hasn't worked?

I know for a fact that my 7D and 50D worked--I'm particularly interested in whether the 1D3 and 1ds3 worked. The 5Dc definitely does not work with gphoto2.

is there a way when running Fedora to print that screen to pdf or to a printer when running it from a USB or CD?

Frugaltravelguy wrote in post #15498729
is there a way when running Fedora to print that screen to pdf or to a printer when running it from a USB or CD?

Don't think so--be more trouble than it's worth--doubt there's universal printer detection--because Windows sure doesn't offer that feature. While Windows can detect and download/install drivers automatically, it's a sketchy feature at best--I was never able to get my Canon mx-series printer to work in that manner.

You'd have to install the printer driver first, and that's just not worth the effort. Maybe there's a method for doing a printscreen that can be saved to adobe or jpeg format without having to install new software? If anyone knows, I'll update the first posting.

I just take a picture of the screen using devices I seem to have in abundance--cameras

I thought of just snapping a picture as well but there shouldn't be a reason why you couldn't save a screenshot as an image.

http://www.linux-noob.com …ke-a-screenshot-in-linux/

MOkoFOko wrote in post #15498741
Don't think so--be more trouble than it's worth--doubt there's universal printer detection--because Windows sure doesn't offer that feature. While Windows can detect and download/install drivers automatically, it's a sketchy feature at best--I was never able to get my Canon mx-series printer to work in that manner.

You'd have to install the printer driver first, and that's just not worth the effort. Maybe there's a method for doing a printscreen that can be saved to adobe or jpeg format without having to install new software? If anyone knows, I'll update the first posting.

I just take a picture of the screen using devices I seem to have in abundance--cameras

I don't have first hand experience with Fedora, but the following is very likely to just work (at least it does on Ubuntu/Gnome)

#1. There actually is one. Simply plug your printer in and follow the on-screen prompt. Any required driver will be download off the net and installed for you automatically.

#2. Press on the "print screen" keyboard key and a screenshot of your desktop will automatically be created (either a popup window will appear to ask you where to save it or it will be saved automatically to the "Pictures" folder).

cedm wrote in post #15499121
I don't have first hand experience with Fedora, but the following is very likely to just work (at least it does on Ubuntu/Gnome)

#1. There actually is one. Simply plug your printer in and follow the on-screen prompt. Any required driver will be download off the net and installed for you automatically.

#2. Press on the "print screen" keyboard key and a screenshot of your desktop will automatically be created (either a popup window will appear to ask you where to save it or it will be saved automatically to the "Pictures" folder).

I'm going to be trying this within a few weeks and I'll revise the instructions.

I'm interested in hearing which camera bodies people have successfully used this application with? Also interested in hearing which devices failed!! I only have so many bodies to work with and test personally.

First time I tried Linux and wasn't successful in getting it right the first time.

Tried several times but no matter what I do, I always get the "Could not claim the USB device" error.

After doing some research, I found out that the cause of the error is that a process could be "accessing" your camera. I've read that on OSx machines, the PTPCamera(?) is the culprit. So I opened the System Monitor (just like the Task Manager in Windows) and turned on the camera and "gvfsd-gphoto2" process pops-up on the list. I turned off the camera and it's gone.... turned it back on and it's back. So, I bravely killed the process, crossing my fingers that it won't damage my camera.

Tried gphoto2 --get-config /main/status/shttercou​nter again and voila!!! my shutter count showed up.

Just want to share this just in case others encounter the same problem.

Caveat: As I have mentioned, I am not a linux guy so for the linux guys.... kindly post your comments if you feel that I should not have done what I did. It will help me and others on how to resolve the problem the right way. Cheers!

No, you did good. gvfs-gphoto2 is part of a "virtual filesystem", and is a module that supports connections to cameras and the like (things that gphoto2 can talk to). Now, on my Linux system, gvfs-gphoto2 does not grab the camera - in fact I don't think it works at all - but apparently with your Linux Live CD (?) it does, so you would have to make it go away to get gphoto2 to talk directly to the camera.

Most likely, if you had opened a file manager, you would see your camera connected and could browse the memory card. But that won't help with using gphoto2 to access the camera config.

It appears that we can use gphoto with cygwin, so how hard would it be to create a solution using cygwin and the gphoto port? It seems like some sort of driver is needed, and a couple of env. variables set too. Shouldn't be too hard to daisy chain this into an alternative solution into a bat file, then create a shortcut that calls cygwin on the bat.

http://www.netzherpes.​de …&entry=entry130​318-174251

MOkoFOko wrote in post #15081054
I've been meaning to update the first post to list the body models that gphoto2 is compatible with. Can people who have tested their bodies chime in and list what has and what hasn't worked?

I know for a fact that my 7D and 50D worked--I'm particularly interested in whether the 1D3 and 1ds3 worked. The 5Dc definitely does not work with gphoto2.

First off - thanks for the great instructions.

Just in case you haven't gotten an answer on this - gphoto2 does work on the 1D3 - but not for shutter count. I think it's been said, but it does provide shutter count for the 1D4.

tariktik wrote in post #15774367
First time I tried Linux and wasn't successful in getting it right the first time.

Tried several times but no matter what I do, I always get the "Could not claim the USB device" error.

After doing some research, I found out that the cause of the error is that a process could be "accessing" your camera. I've read that on OSx machines, the PTPCamera(?) is the culprit. So I opened the System Monitor (just like the Task Manager in Windows) and turned on the camera and "gvfsd-gphoto2" process pops-up on the list. I turned off the camera and it's gone.... turned it back on and it's back. So, I bravely killed the process, crossing my fingers that it won't damage my camera.

Tried gphoto2 --get-config /main/status/shttercou​nter again and voila!!! my shutter count showed up.

Just want to share this just in case others encounter the same problem.

Caveat: As I have mentioned, I am not a linux guy so for the linux guys.... kindly post your comments if you feel that I should not have done what I did. It will help me and others on how to resolve the problem the right way. Cheers!

Thanks for this post! I had the same issue and never would have figured this out on my own.

The Cog has a solution on this page:
http://ubuntuforums.or​g …967&p=7205851#p​ost7205851

sudo killall gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor

then connect the camera.

Long-term fix:
Prevent the process from starting. Use the command:
sudo chmod -x /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor