Synchronize camera files by using PTP-IP from libgphoto

There was no automatic tool to synchronize my Sony I7RII camera using WiFi. This tool runs in background and continuously pings the cameras ip. As soon as the camera is available the camera starts the gphoto_if (simplifies the interface with libgphoto2). The following happens then:

1. Connects to requested camera ip and model
2. Retrieves all files and folder from the camera
3. Loads all files which are not allready registered in the DATAFILE
4. Writes the files to the INCOMMING_FOLDER and register them in the DATAFILE
5. Sends the notification (Pushjet if selected)

Details

Setup camera

First prepare your camera. This meens that you need to create a GUID with your camera. Here [https://github.com/falk0069/sony-pm-alt] is a repostiory explaining all that. After that you need to verify that gphoto2 --port ptpip:<cameras ip address> --summary is working. Now you are ready to use the SyncCamera.py!

Required tools and libraries

The synchronization tool works on Linux (tested on Ubuntu 16.04 and 17.04). The following need to be installed:

# to compile the library
sudo apt-get install -y libgphoto2-dev libboost-python-dev cmake

# required Python packages and tools
sudo apt-get install -y gphoto2 python-requests

Compile interface

# compile the pyhton - libgphoto interface library
cd build
cmake ..
make

SyncCamera.py --help

usage: SyncCamera.py [-h] [-i INCOMMING_FOLDER] [--datafile DATAFILE] [-c]
                     [--ip IP] [--model MODEL]

Waits till defined camera is available and copy all new images to defined
foler.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -i INCOMMING_FOLDER, --incomming_folder INCOMMING_FOLDER
                        directory where received images are placed (default:
			incomming_folder)
  --datafile DATAFILE   file containing all allready copied images (default:
			copied_images.txt)
  -c, --create_datafile
			Creates a new empty datafile (default: False)

CameraConfiguration:
  Arguments affecting camera.

  --ip IP               Cameras IP address (default: 192.168.1.120)
  --model MODEL         Camera model (default: Sony PTP)

Register as a service

This allows the SyncCamera.py to run on system startup and automatically syncing when the camera is connected.

1. Copy the systemd service configuration (helper_scrips/syncPTPCamera.service) to /etc/systemd/system/.
2. Reload systemd to read the new configuration file sudo systemctl daemon-reload.
3. Configure the ip, model and output path in the runSyncCamera.sh script.
4. Configure the path to runSyncCamera.sh script in the /etc/systemd/system/syncPTPCamera.service.
5. Enable service sudo systemctl enable syncPTPCamera.service

Debuging

There are two different parts which can be debugged. The SyncCamera (python) and the gphoto_if (c++) together with libgphoto2 (c). Both can be activated in SyncCamera.py

GPhotoIf_debug = True
SyncCamera_debug = logging.DEBUG

Notification on Smartphone

You can get notification on Smartphone by using Pushjet App.

1. Go to http://pushjet.io and register a new Service.
2. Add the Service Secret to the modules/pushjet_notification.py file.
3. Replace self._notification = NotificationInterface() with self._notification = PushjetNotification()
4. Install python-requests: sudo apt-get install -y python-requests
5. Use the Public id to subscribe to the service on smartphone.

Tips

• Ensure the camera timeout is high enogh >5min
• Configure camera to create new folder every day. This ensures files are synchronized even if the counter in the camera has ben reseted to factory defaults.