Jtdylktuy

How do I get gphoto2 to fetch a photo from a Sony alpha 6000?

I'm currently running gphoto2 on a Beaglebone black, but I suspect it should work on any Linux system with a USB port.

I use

gphoto2 --capture-image-and-download --force-overwrite --filename test.jpg

with another camera to pull in a snapshot.
But when I unplug that camera and plug in the Sony alpha 6000 to the same USB port and run the same command, gphoto2 tells me

ERROR: Could not capture image.

ERROR: Could not capture.

While trying to debug, I try

gphoto2 --abilities

and then gphoto2 responds with

Abilities for camera             : Sony Alpha-A6000

Serial port support              : no

USB support                      : yes

Capture choices                  :

                                 : Image

Configuration support            : yes

Delete selected files on camera  : yes

Delete all files on camera       : no

File preview (thumbnail) support : yes

File upload support              : yes

When I type

gphoto2 --set-config f-number=8

and then repeat the command a few times,
I see the f-number on the LCD screen of the camera change every time I run the command, one step closer to 8, until it reaches "F8.0".

When I type

gphoto2 --get-config f-number

then gphoto2 tells me

Label: F-Number

Type: RANGE

Current: 8

Bottom: 0

Top: 655.35

Step: 0.01

So apparently gphoto2 is recognizing that this is a "Sony Alpha-A6000" and I'm getting two-way communication over the USB cable.

Please tell me if there's a better way than this:

edit libgphoto2-2.5.4camlibsptp2library.c
and add the lines marked by "+":

    {"Sony:Alpha-A3000",          0x054c, 0x074e, 0},

+        

+   /* Sony alpha 6000: JB and DC added 2014-05-19 */

+   {"Sony:Alpha-A6000",          0x054c, 0x094e, PTP_CAP},



    /* Nikon Coolpix 2500: M. Meissner, 05 Oct 2003 */

Then run

cd libgphoto2-2.5.4

make

sudo make install

to install that library where gphoto2 can find it.

IMPORTANT:
Turn the mode dial on the top of the camera to "Superior Auto".
It definitely won't take snapshots with the mode dial in the "Movie" position.

Then

gphoto2 --capture-image-and-download --force-overwrite --filename test.jpg