Preferences

You can set certain application settings in the Preferences screen. These settings rarely need to be changed and will be used regardless of which profile is active. These settings are not stored in profiles.  You can open the Preferences screen from the Tools menu.

Connection

• Auto-Connect on startup – Will try to connect to the camera when you start up ControlMyNikon.
• Enable live view after connect – tries to start live view after connection is completed.
• Connection attempt timeout (seconds) – this is how long it will wait for a connection to complete, however the connection attempt may end earlier.
• Wait this long before processing the next camera command (ms) – ControlMyNikon sends body commands to queue, then from the queue to the body. This setting controls how long before the next command is sent from the queue to the – body. If you are experiencing failed connections, or lockups while connected to the body, try increasing this value.
• Body event polling frequency (Hz) – ControlMyNikon queries the body for any new events (ex. a new image has been captured, or the shutter speed has changed). This setting controls how often the body is queried per second. Some bodies don’t like being queried too fast, so if you are experiencing failed connections, or lockups while connected to the body, try decreasing this value.

Browser

• Create high quality thumbnail on capture – enable this for better quality thumbnails, but it takes several seconds longer per thumbnail creation. Mainly noticeable on histograms.
• Create high quality thumbnails when scanning folders – used when you select a folder in the image browser.
• Thumbnail creation threads – Default 1. Set max one thread per CPU core for faster thumbnail creation.
• Thumbnail Cache – Validate – Removes any thumbnail data from the database for images that no longer are at their original folder location.
• Thumbnail Cache – Location – Sets the path to the database file ‘ttcRepository.fdb’.
• Thumbnail Cache – Reset – Replaces the thumbnail cache file with a fresh, empty file.  Use this if your cache has grown too large and is slowing down your system.  Resetting the cache only removes thumbnails and metadata from the cache.  It does not remove the orignal file or remove the metadata from the original files.
• High-Quality Image Loading Delay (ms) – When you select an image, it will first show the thumbnail, then wait this delay value, then load the high quality image. On fast computers, you can use as low as 50ms. On slow computers, set it to 2000 or 3000 ms.
• Moving the database files
• Copy the four .fdb files to the new location.
• Set the Location using the Location button. The program will automatically shut down.
• Start ControlMyNikon.
• Remove the four .fdb from the previous location.
• Auto Live View – Image Browser Toggle – Enable – Use this to show the captured image in the image browser.  It basically presses the live view/image browser toggle for you (space bar is the default shortcut for this).
• – Return to live view after – Use this to automatically return to live view after showing the image in the image browser.

Live View

• Base live view enable/disable delay(ms) – used to slow down the transition between live view on and live view off. This is needed on some older bodies that need more time to make the transition, and this is noticeable during focus stacking where the buttons may become disabled during a shot, and then do not re-enable. Increase the toggle delay to mitigate this problem. The default 2000ms should be enough for most body/lens combinations.
• Additional Live View toggle delay padding – This is an extra padding used when focus stacking.
• Restart live view after countdown timer shutdown – automatically restarts live view after a shutdown due to a thermal shutdown.
• Restart delay – the number of seconds to wait before restarting live view after a thermal countdown shutdown.
• Key Pan Rate – Controls the speed of live view panning with shortcut.
• Use GPU – Check this box to use the graphics processing unit (video card) in your computer for processing the live view image stream instead of using the CPU.  See the live view article for more information on using this.

Metadata

Enter the default Copyright and Credit IPTC fields here. They will be copied to the metadata tab when you click on the ‘Clear’ button.

Stacking

• Zerene Stacker Path – The path to the zerenstk.exe. This is required for automatically exporting a stack to Zerene Stacker.
• Focus Motor Hysteresis– Adjusts the amount of ‘play’ in the focus motor. Used when a stacking preview or capture resets the focus back to the beginning. Default is 10. Units are step.

Misc

• Enable file mirroring – places a copy of any captured images in the location specified.
• Batch File – This is the path of the batch file that can be autmatically launched after capturing a file.  Avalable in Pro editions only.
• Always reverse exposure meter – some camera bodies can do this via lcd menu setting, while other bodies can achieve this with this setting.
• DSUSB – A triggering hardware device from www.shoestringastronomy.com. Useful for older bodies that cannot do tethered bulb. Set it to the model of DSUSB in use. You still need to turn on the DSUB device in the Tools menu.
• Batch Counter: Minimum @BIDCTR length – The minimum counter length used in the @BIDCTR filename token. Padded with leading zeros if necessary. Select a value from one to five.
• Auto-launch batch file after image capture – This is the path to the batch file. See the help on Post-Capture Batch File for more information.
• Main Counter: minimum @MCT length by default, the @MCT token gives a 000001.jpg or .nef filename. Use this to – set the number of leading zero’s. For example, setting it to 3 gives a 001.jpg filename.

Scanner

Enables a serial barcode scanner. If everything is configured correctly, you should be able to scan any barcode and it will appear in the log to the right. If using a keyboard wedge scanner, test it by scanning into Notepad.

• Enable – Put a checkmark here to connect to the scanner.
• Com – use the setting indicated by the scanner configuration utility.
• Baud – use the setting indicated by the scanner configuration utility.
• Data bits – use the setting indicated by the scanner configuration utility.
• Parity – use the setting indicated by the scanner configuration utility.
• Stop bits – use the setting indicated by the scanner configuration utility.
• Flow – use the setting indicated by the scanner configuration utility.
• Clear – clears the scanner log.

Batch

• Batch Counter: minimum @BIDCTR length – use this to reduce the number of leading zero’s on the BIDCTR number.
• Move focus to activat button after BID entry or serial scan – This will automatically move the keyboard focus to the activate button so that you can scan, then press the enter key on the keyboard to activate the BID.  This only works on serial barcode scanners, and doesn’t work with keyboard wedge scanners.
• Disable database query – use this to be able to enter a BID and activate it without corresponding data being stored in the batch database or external database. You can use this to embed the BID into a foldername/filename/metadata location without have to enter the information in advance.