Sony A7III photo mode and timelapse mode are not working [fixed with FW3.0.1]

[ifastget1a]

I have problems with the unleashed'22 that I just received.
My camera is a A7III (firmware 4.01), firmware of the unleashed (3.0.0) and the Android app software (3.0.3) are both up to date.
Android 13, up to date.

Camera crashes, restart, and reset (lost all settings changes from previous turn on) after taking a photo and then wait for 5 seconds. For long exposure/ bulb mode, camera will stop capture after 5 seconds and then restart right after the start of another capture. Then, the connection status of Unleashed 22 will become yellow color.
For time-lapse mode, similar behavior shows. Unleashed 22 will continue trigger periodic capture after restart.
No pictures can be saved successfully. Even setting the camera to save Raw + JPEG does not help.

I think it is the top priority to make the device works for basic functions. Currently, it cannot even replace a shutter release cable with intervalometer.

[Oliver]

Hi,

Sorry for all the trouble!

Please have a look at our Known Bugs viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1904 post. There's lots of Sony stuff we have already fixed, and will come in an update in the next few days.

[ifastget1a]

May you please help fix the photo mode first to work for triggering shutter and bulb mode? No previews, no reading buffer is needed. I do not understand why the fundamental functions still break down.

[Oliver]

Firmware update has been released. 🎉
And yes, of course we tried to take care of the basic issues.
Unfortunately there is one issue where we found a bug in Sony's firmware. So we could not find a proper solution, but did implement a workaround instead. Lets see if you'll even notice ;-)

Whenever there's a Firmware update available, you'll see a red notification badge on the menu icon in the bottom left corner of the app. Follow this notification badge through the app to get to the firmware update screen.
App menu (bottom left) → Unleashed with gear icon (bottom left) → tap on your Unleashed (near top ) → tap "Firmware"
Scroll down and tap "Install Update". With the Unleashed M, you need to keep the camera awake, so that the Unleashed stays powered during the entire update. To keep the camera from entering standby, half-press the cameras's shutterbutton continuously or regularly until the update is done. This only takes a little over a minute.

[Oliver]

OK, so today we worked some more on the issue, and have found a much more feasible solution to get around this problem. We will try to make it so the Unleashed will automatically select these settings, or at least warn you and give you instructions how to do this. But until then you can already set them manually! 🥳

The problem: When shooting with Sony via USB, the camera stores the photos in its buffer and on the SD card. The problem is, that the camera expects the USB host (normally a PC, in this case, the Unleashed) to download the Photos stored in its buffer. When there are photos left in the buffer, the camera will not allow you to turn it off, and you'll see an icon in the top left corner of your camera screen with an SD card, some moving bars next to it and a number (the number of shots in the buffer).
The Unleashed downloads a thumbnail of each image - A) for Image review in the app and B) for the LRT calculations in Holy Grail Timelapses. Then it deletes the image from the Buffer. The problem is that Sony does not have a proper delete function, but we found a solution for that. The remaining problem is there is a Bug in Sony's firmware, which causes a crash when we try to delete a Raw image in the buffer. But without deleting it, the buffer will get fuller and fuller, and we can't access the jpgs following that first raw either. In other words, when shooting Raw or Raw+JPEG, older Sony users were screwed. The workaround we implemented was to reset the USB connection if no shot was taken within the last 3 seconds, but this workaround could take up to 9 seconds! Not very useful for Timelapses!

Now the new solution: We found a setting that allows you to choose to only transmit a JPG to the "PC" via Usb when shooting Raw+JPG, which means the Raw will not stay in the buffer, and we won't have to delete it and the camera won't crash when we try.

Use these settings (from a Sony A7R3)
Set your Image File Format to:
- Raw+JPG
Then go to Setup4 -> PC Remote Settings, and set:
- Still Img. Save Dest. = PC+Camera
- RAW+J PC Save Img = JPEG Only

Now you won't have the USB reset workaround that will severely limit your interval choices. You'll have to live with the extra jpgs, but I think that's a small price to pay. You can also set your jpg quality and size really small to save space - the Unleashed won't mind.

Have a great weekend!

[ifastget1a]

Use these settings (from a Sony A7R3)
Set your Image File Format to:
- Raw+JPG
Then go to Setup4 -> PC Remote Settings, and set:
- Still Img. Save Dest. = PC+Camera
- RAW+J PC Save Img = JPEG Only

Thanks for your prompt reply. This settings works well. I can trigger shutter with Unleashed 22 now. Thanks for your help.
One suggestion for the APP UI of photo mode. When the shutter speed is bulb, change the button to a switch to trigger shutter open and close. Currently, I need to hold the button. Also, please add UI for current exposure time. Thanks.
One reminder: Update https://www.foolography.com/start/ as well.

[Oliver]

I'm glad to hear that it works now!

As for the Bulb "switch" - we already have what you need: set your shutter speed to Bulb, then tap on the Long exposure setting (right below shutter speed) and either select a very long time, or select "TIME" at the very top of the list - this is exactly the "start-stop bulb mode" you're looking for. If you're wondering: the name "TIME" comes from Nikon - they have this mode natively, and call it "TIME", we just continued using their naming...

Getting started was updated.

[bjornhel]

I tried the same workaround for my Sony a7iii.
However, for me the issue was not resolved.

I have updated app and camera firmware 4.0.1.
The unleashed 22 version a.3.0.1, b.3.0.1, c.3.0.0.

I have enabled:
Use these settings (from a Sony A7R3)
Set your Image File Format to:
- Raw+JPG
Then go to Setup4 -> PC Remote Settings, and set:
- Still Img. Save Dest. = PC+Camera
- RAW+J PC Save Img = JPEG Only

But, after clicking the shutter in the app, the red light indicating storage stays on.
Then the camera restarts after a few seconds
Then it tells me: Writing to the memory card was not completed correctly. Recover Data? Slot 1.
After doing this all my sd card images were gone...
Luckily nothing important.
To sum up, this device does not work for me yet. Not even as remote shutter.

Bjorn

[bjornhel]

I did some further research and discovered that this happens aftet shooting anything involving jpeg.
It only works if I only shoot RAW.
But it seems quite dangerous as any accidental activation of jpeg will delete destroy the image database and delete the images.