Hey everyone.
We've been receiving a few too many issue reports in the last few days about USB related problems.
There is a possibility that several USB-C cables from the last batch (shipping began on 2020-12-23) contained a number of bad cables that for some reason passed the electrical tests of our manufacturer.
We already know that the manufacturer had a very low yield rate during the last production, as they could only send us a fraction of the quantity that we ordered, and took considerably longer for this production, as they were trying to improve the yield rate. They only sent the cables that passed all their tests, but there is a chance that some of the passed tests were false positives, and hopefully just a handful of bad cables were now delivered to you, our customers.
To check this, please connect the cable to the Unleashed. On the Unleashed end, the wire needs to point towards the lens of the camera. The orientation on the USB C plug should not matter, but please try both ways round. Once inserted, go to the photo screen in the app, and tap the metering icon. If the icon is white, and you can select different metering modes, or the message in the bottom half of the screen says "Metering is read-only. Restricted by hardware dial or switch or another setting.", then everything is fine, and your cable works as expected. If however the message says "Metering is not available. USB is not active", then chances are, that your cable is defective.
There are of course other reasons that could in the same message, the simplest one being that you forgot to plug the USB-C plug into the camera, but if you think you're doing everything right, then let us know you're affected, by sending us an email to support@foolography.com with your order number.
We're very sorry for the issue, and of course we will replace those cables for you. We will also try to test all the cables left in stock before shipping out any more, so this should only affect the orders shipped between 2020-12-23 and 2020-12-29.
Nonetheless, you can still use most of the functions of the Unleashed without the cable until you get a replacement: only image review, the metering setting and the LRT Autoramping algorithms (as they are image-based) will not work, all other functions will work just fine - even Autoraming with our 24 h EV Meter smoothing will work.
Have a great start into the new year!
Bad USB-C cables shipped from 2020-12-23 to 2020-12-29
Could it be that the new cable now paralyzes the controls on the camera?
At least for me, the body switches itself off immediately when I press the buttons with the cable plugged in. Without a connection cable, it works without any problems, but then the control via app no longer works.
At least for me, the body switches itself off immediately when I press the buttons with the cable plugged in. Without a connection cable, it works without any problems, but then the control via app no longer works.
Did you plug in the cable the right way round? The plug that goes into the Unleashed needs to be plugged in so that the cable points toward the front of the camera. There's a slot in the plug and a key in the Unleashed casing which should hinder you from plugging it in the wrong way round, but with a little additional force it's possible to overcome the key, since the casing is made of ABS/PC which is not incredibly hard.
Founder & CEO of Foolography, Hardware & Firmware developer.
Could it be that the new cable now paralyzes the controls on the camera?
At least for me, the body switches itself off immediately when I press the buttons with the cable plugged in. Without a connection cable, it works without any problems, but then the control via app no longer works.
I always install the cable facing the front, i.e. next to the lens change button. I had never fixed that in any other way.
At least for me, the body switches itself off immediately when I press the buttons with the cable plugged in. Without a connection cable, it works without any problems, but then the control via app no longer works.
I always install the cable facing the front, i.e. next to the lens change button. I had never fixed that in any other way.
Did it ever work differently? Also, what camera do you have? There was an issue causing this on newer Nikon cameras because Nikon changed the USB application mode command recently, and we fixed this in the beta firmware already.
Andy
Firmware developer at Foolography
Firmware developer at Foolography
As I already told in this thread
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=907
it is not possible for me to update the firmware. It remains at 0%.
Would it be helpful if I made a video of the problem? I don't seem to be of any use in my explanations.
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=907
it is not possible for me to update the firmware. It remains at 0%.
Would it be helpful if I made a video of the problem? I don't seem to be of any use in my explanations.
Hi,
2 Things:
1) I just checked, and indeed, the D780 already had the same issue with buttons on the Camera being blocked! Interesting that you're the first customer to tell us this, or we could have fixed this a long time ago ;-)
2) About your firmware update issue: I will send you an email to get return instructions. You'll need to send us your Unleashed, we'll fix it and send it back to you.
2 Things:
1) I just checked, and indeed, the D780 already had the same issue with buttons on the Camera being blocked! Interesting that you're the first customer to tell us this, or we could have fixed this a long time ago ;-)
2) About your firmware update issue: I will send you an email to get return instructions. You'll need to send us your Unleashed, we'll fix it and send it back to you.
Founder & CEO of Foolography, Hardware & Firmware developer.