Connection Issues

Run through this checklist in order — each step takes under a minute. (1) Power-cycle the camera. (2) Use a known-good USB data cable plugged directly into the computer (no hub, no dock). (3) Quit any other camera software (Image Capture, Photos, Lightroom Tether, Capture One, EOS Utility, Imaging Edge, NX Studio). (4) On the camera, set the USB Connection Mode to the vendor’s remote-control mode (PC Remote / PC Connection / PTP — the exact name depends on the vendor). (5) Restart eclipseClick. The vendor-specific sections below cover the menu paths.

A second app probably grabbed the camera in the background. macOS Image Capture and Photos auto-launch when a supported camera is plugged in; Windows can do the same with the Photos app. Quit those apps, unplug the cable for ten seconds, plug it back in, and restart eclipseClick. If it keeps happening, disable the auto-launch behaviour: macOS → open Image Capture, select the camera in the sidebar, set the “Connecting this camera opens” dropdown to No application.

Three things to check. (1) It must be a USB data cable, not a charge-only cable — many cables that ship with phones and accessories carry power but not data. (2) It must be USB 3.x or better for tethered shooting; USB 2.0 cables can connect but stall on large transfers. (3) Avoid hubs, USB switches, and KVMs for the camera connection — plug directly into the computer. If the camera shows up in Image Capture (macOS) or Device Manager (Windows) but not in eclipseClick, the cable is fine and the issue is somewhere else.

Yes — outdated firmware is one of the most common reasons a recent body fails to connect, especially for cameras released in the last twelve months. Check the manufacturer’s support page for your exact body, install the latest firmware, then try again. Firmware updates are free and reversible only by the manufacturer, so do this before contacting support.

Open Image Capture (in /Applications), plug in the camera, select it in the sidebar on the left, and set the “Connecting this camera opens” dropdown (bottom-left) to No application. Repeat for each camera body. This setting is per-device and persists across reboots.

Grant every permission eclipseClick requests. The app needs file-system access to save photos to your chosen download folder, and it needs access to USB devices to control the camera. If you accidentally denied a prompt, open System Settings → Privacy & Security and re-enable the relevant permission, then restart eclipseClick.

Another macOS user account is logged in on the same machine and is holding the camera. This happens with Fast User Switching. Apple menu → Log Out the other user (not just switch back to your account), then retry in eclipseClick.

macOS point releases sometimes change USB or camera-access permissions. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security and confirm eclipseClick is still allowed. If the permission entry is missing entirely, reinstall eclipseClick from the latest installer on the Download page — the install flow re-registers the necessary entitlements.

Windows is probably loading the generic MTP driver instead of the vendor driver. Install the vendor’s official tethering software once (Canon EOS Utility, Nikon Camera Control / NX Tether, Sony Imaging Edge Desktop) — installing it puts the correct USB driver in place. You do not need to keep the vendor app open; eclipseClick uses the driver, not the app.

Settings → Bluetooth & devices → AutoPlay → find your camera in the device list and set the action to Take no action. Repeat for any other body you connect.

This is almost always missing Visual C++ runtimes. Reinstall eclipseClick from the latest installer — it bundles the runtimes it needs. If it still crashes, file a bug report with the version number and Windows build (winver in the Run dialog).

Set the camera’s USB Connection Mode to PC Remote. The exact menu path varies by body, but it is typically: Menu → Network → USB → USB Connection Mode → PC Remote. On older bodies it may be: Menu → Setup → USB Connection → PC Remote. If the mode is set to Mass Storage or Auto, the camera will enumerate as a card reader instead of a remote-control device, and eclipseClick will not see it. After changing the mode, power-cycle the camera and reconnect.

Check three things. (1) Body firmware — Sony ships new bodies with very early firmware that predates current SDK support. Update via Sony’s firmware updater to the latest version. (2) Tethering destination — Menu → Network → USB → PC Remote Function → Still Img. Save Dest. should be set to PC Only or PC+Camera (not Camera Only). (3) Pairing residue — if you ever paired the camera with Imaging Edge Mobile, Menu → Network → Connect / PC Remote → Pairing → Reset Network Settings can clear stale state.

Sony bodies enter USB sleep aggressively to save battery. On the camera, disable Auto Power OFF Temp (or set Power Save Start Time to the longest available value). Use a fully-charged battery or a dummy-battery AC adapter for the eclipse itself — a low battery is the most common cause of mid-event disconnects.

macOS bundles a system PTP service that auto-attaches to any Sony body within milliseconds of plug-in. eclipseClick handles this automatically when it starts, but it cannot reclaim the camera if another userspace app (Image Capture, Photos, Capture One) has already opened a session. Quit those apps before launching eclipseClick. If the issue persists, unplug the camera, fully quit eclipseClick, plug the camera back in, then relaunch eclipseClick.

This is a known limitation of the macOS fallback path used when Sony’s remote SDK cannot bind to the body. The fix is to make the SDK path work — see “My Sony camera is not detected” above. Once eclipseClick is using the Sony SDK, burst rate matches the camera’s native capability.

On the camera body, the USB Connection setting (sometimes called Communication Mode) must be set to PC Connect / Tethering, not to PTP-only or Mass Storage. On modern EOS R bodies this is usually automatic, but on older DSLRs check the menu. Make sure EOS Utility (Canon’s desktop app) is fully quit — it grabs the camera exclusively and blocks all other apps including eclipseClick.

On the camera, switch the lens to AF mode (not MF) for the initial connection — some Canon bodies refuse to start live view in MF. Once live view is running you can switch back to MF for focusing. If live view still fails, set the camera’s shooting mode to M (Manual) rather than Auto or Scene modes; Canon disables several SDK functions outside M.

Try removing the battery grip and using a single CF/SD card. Some grips draw enough power that the USB bus voltage sags during bursts; some dual-slot configurations confuse the SDK during downloads. Both are rare but real, and easy to rule out.

Install Nikon’s NX Tether (or older Camera Control Pro 2) once — this installs the Nikon USB driver that eclipseClick uses. You do not need to keep NX Tether open. On the camera, set USB to MTP/PTP (not Mass Storage) — exact menu path varies by body, look under Setup Menu → USB or Connect to PC.

On macOS, eclipseClick uses a different code path for Nikon than on Windows. Make sure Image Capture, Photos, and any other camera software are quit. On the camera, set USB to MTP/PTP. If detection still fails, try a different USB-C port on your Mac — older USB-A-to-USB-mini cables sometimes underperform compared to direct USB-C connections.

On the camera, switch out of Live View mode on the body before triggering capture from eclipseClick — Nikon bodies sometimes refuse SDK capture commands while their own live view is active. eclipseClick will start live view through the SDK as needed.

The DSUSB enumerates as a generic serial / FTDI device. On Windows, install the FTDI VCP driver if it is not already installed (most systems have it from other USB-serial gear). On macOS, no driver install is needed but the device must show up in /dev/ — open Terminal and run: ls /dev/tty.usb* — you should see at least one entry when the DSUSB is plugged in. If not, try a different USB cable between the DSUSB and the computer.

eclipseClick lets you assign each script step to a specific output (camera SDK or DSUSB). Open the script, check each step’s output assignment, and make sure the steps you want to fire from each device are assigned correctly. By default, capture steps go to the camera SDK; bulb steps over a long duration usually go to the DSUSB for precise timing.

The 2.5 mm or 3.5 mm sub-mini jack between the DSUSB and the camera must be the correct cable for your camera body — vendor remote pinouts differ (Canon N3 vs Canon E3 vs Nikon MC-DC2 vs Sony multi-terminal, etc.). Confirm you have the right cable for your body. On the camera, the focus mode and shutter mode must allow remote release (not Self-Timer, not Mirror Lockup unless you intend it).

Connect cameras one at a time and confirm each one individually first — that isolates whether one specific body is the problem versus the multi-camera setup as a whole. Once each body works alone, plug them all in (direct to the computer if possible). Avoid bus-powered USB hubs — most cannot supply enough current for multiple cameras simultaneously. If you need a hub, use a powered hub with at least 2 A per port.

This is almost always a power or bandwidth issue. (1) Use a powered USB hub. (2) Use USB 3.x throughout — one slow USB 2.0 link in the chain throttles the whole bus. (3) Confirm each camera has a fresh battery or AC adapter — multi-camera captures stress batteries. (4) Reduce simultaneous burst rates if you are pushing the camera’s buffer to the limit.

Yes — eclipseClick supports mixed-vendor multi-camera setups in Pro. Each camera connects through its own vendor SDK independently. Make sure each body individually meets the connection requirements in its vendor section above.

New eclipseClick releases occasionally update the bundled vendor SDKs, which can require an updated camera firmware in turn. Update the camera’s firmware to the latest vendor release. If that does not help, capture the symptom in detail and email it to us — we keep a regression log per release.

Reinstall eclipseClick from the Download page. OS updates can revoke USB or camera-access permissions and a fresh install re-establishes them cleanly.

Rare but possible — vendor firmware updates occasionally change USB descriptors in ways that need a matching SDK update from the vendor (which then needs a matching eclipseClick update). Check the Download page for a newer eclipseClick release. If you are already on the latest, email us with your camera model and firmware version.