Unsupported feature?

The Canon EOS feature is tested with a 2014 EOS camera. Since Canon regularly updates its API, there is no guarantee that cameras from 2015 and newer will also work with the currently installed API. Although successfully tested with a few cameras (one of them being the Canon 1100D, aka Rebel T3), it's quite difficult to test all cameras.... In case it won't work, please let us know, we might be able to send you a different API from Canon, that could successfully work for your EOS camera.

Precursor - Warnings

Five important notices:

• The EOS connection will not work in the Booth mode. Only the webcam will work in booth mode (and in normal mode). In case you wish to apply booth node, you must assure that no EOS camera is attached.
• When you have connected an EOS camera, you cannot switch from EOS to webcam during a session. You need to exit the application, disconnect the EOS camera, and then restart Calligram Creator. This also works the other way around: when you have used a webcam, you cannot switch to an EOS camera in the same session. It's 'either - or', and you first need to exit, disconnect or disable autostart of the webcam, and then restart the application.
• The Canon EOS camera works without any additional installation. The installer of Calligram Creator installs two files (EDSDK.dll and EdsImage.dll, both proprietary of Canon Inc.). The current installation has two files from different builds: 2014 and 2018. In case your EOS camera is not in the list (at the end of this chapter), please notify us, we will send you a newer version of EDSDK.dll. But this is not a guarantee that the newer dll will work with your camera, because we are not in the position to test all EOS cameras for obvious reasons.
• The Canon EOS camera cannot show the live viewer. The camera should be positioned as a still camera, and the Calligram Creator application can only manage the shutter control. Shutter is opened and closed after a trigger from the application, and depending on the camera settings, the image is not stored in the camera, but only saved in the watched folder of the application.
• The application cannot wake the camera after a time-out period: the camera must remain active to be used by the application. It is recommended to either use spare batteries/accu for a live show, or a mains power connection, to avoid draining the battery too soon. In case the camera is in power-save mode, the techie needs to manually activate the camera again, before trying to take a snapshot from Calligram Creator.

1. Connecting to the Canon EOS camera

The Canon EOS camera is connected via an USB cable. When you have installed Canon's own proprietary application (Canon EOS Utility), to control the camera via the windows system, will be started. When you close this utility, (depending on your Windows version) a new window will be opened by Windows itself, showing the camera's memory card content. The latter is a normal WIA protocol, and cannot be skipped, or exited (the pop-up window will simply reappear). In Windows 7 this is typically popping up, in Windows 10 this is typically not the case, and the Windows Explorer is only showing the memory of the camera as an external disk. The following screens could be seen in Win 7 when the proprietary Canon EOS utility is installed:

Above: the starting screen for the EOS Utility.

Above: the EOS Utility GUI.

Above: the Windows pop-up when the utility is exited, or no utility was installed.

You can now keep the last Window active, or minimize it, you don't need it for the application. When these screens are shown, your camera is connected successfully. In some cases it's better not to install the EOS utility if you do not wish to use it in any way. In that case the Windows pop-up window will start immediately.

2. Activating the Canon EOS camera control

Start the application, and start a session. Now open the Canon EOS tab in the admin section. The following controls are now visible:

On the left you see the 'Canon EOS Connect' button, on the right the 'Shapshot' button. The Snapshot button is inactive because there is no camera connected yet. press the 'Connect' button, and wait for the response (can take a second). You will now see a message in the top of the interface, and the camera type at the bottom (the EOS 1100D, = Rebel T3 for USA market):

The Snapshot button has now also become active. Press the 'Snapshot' button, and wait for the camera to respond (can take a second, depending on the autofocus settings). The image is taken and you will now see the image:

The little slider below the image and the 'Fit' button can now be used to pan and zoom the image. The 'Fit' button will downsize the image to full view.

Since the 'Snapshot' button is the same as the 'Snapshot' button in the 'Calligram Station' interface, the image is also copied to the 'Snapshot queue' in the 'Calligram Station' part. To also activate the 'Snapshot' button in the 'Calligram Station', you now need to check the little box on the left: 'Use EOS Camera'.

Basically this is all there is to do. The camera now works like any other connected (web)cam. Better not activate the webcam at the same time (for laptops: deactivate automatic webcam activity), because the application will only trigger the first camera that it found in the Windows system. It's not predictable which camera this will be.

3. Supported EOS Cameras

EOS 1000D
EOS 100D
EOS 1100D
EOS 1200D
EOS 40D
EOS 450D
EOS 500D
EOS 50D
EOS 550D
EOS 5D Mark II
EOS 600D
EOS 60D
EOS 60Da
EOS 650D
EOS 6D
EOS 700D
EOS 70D
EOS 7D
EOS 7D Mark II
EOS M
EOS-1D C
EOS-1D Mark III
EOS-1D Mark IV
EOS-1D X
EOS-1Ds Mark III

More cameras may be supported, but only the 1100D camera was tested. The list above was provided by Canon, where the SDK of Canon was used that supported these cameras. It is expected that the Canon SDK files indeed include support for these EOS cameras. If A later camera than 2015 is required, please let us now (sybren@apphelmond.com), we might be able to provide the correct dll from the Canon SDK.