Lumix TZ15 not recognised (but we can accept this)

pdc_2 · January 10, 2009, 1:30am

I bought a Panasonic Lumix TZ15 digital … for its picture taking abilities;

as I expected, it was not auto-recognised by F-Spot;

unlike the Samsung that I had bought for my wife a couple of months ago; and unlike our Canon Ixus that sadly died two months ago;

but I can live with loading the SD card into a card reader;which I have done today;

until I have a wet afternoon and need to pull my hair out trying some workaround and try to get the camera being read by OpenSUse;

it just seems a delightful quirk of Panasonic Lumix digital cameras that linux (or opensuse) struggles to identify them as digital cameras;

ken_yap · January 10, 2009, 1:59am

If the camera supports PTP transfers you can just choose USB PTP Camera, and change the entry to give the proper name afterwards. It worked for my idiot camera which wasn’t in the tables at the time I bought it.

pdc_2 · January 10, 2009, 2:28am

we use Gnome, and F-Spot;32 bit OpenSuse and still on 11.0

do you mean using digiKam?

F-Spot does not seem to me to offer the option to specify USB PTP transfers; but happy to be educated if it does …

and the command “lsusb” yields no recognition I see

ken_yap · January 10, 2009, 2:33am

It worked fine for me in digikam but it apparently uses the gphoto libraries. I don’t know if the photo tools you mention allow you to add an arbitrary model.

If the USB tables are not up to date, you would not see the model name, but if the camera is really connected, you can at least see the vendor and model IDs, which I think you will need to add a new model.

PS: Some google hits suggest that this model name is specific to Asia, which may be why it hasn’t appeared in the tables.

PPS: You might also want to check if the camera has any settings you need to enable for PTP mode. PTP is an industry standard and the majority of new cameras support it now.

pdc_2 · January 10, 2009, 3:23am

PPS: You might also want to check if the camera has any settings you need to enable for PTP mode. PTP is an industry standard and the majority of new cameras support it now.

Thanks very much for this; Yes indeed; it has an option to select PTP when the camera is connected; from the menu; I selected this;

but sadly that does not allow F-Spot to see the camera; nor does the card show up as an entry on the desktop; (whereas with the card reader it appears as a 1G media); perhaps as lsusb still shows no entry;

Panasonic must have a sort of Windows-type compliance with PTP!!

ken_yap · January 10, 2009, 6:15am

In PTP mode, the camera does not show up as storage media, but rather is a remote device that can be controlled by the computer. So you need a photo app that can handle PTP and you need to be able to tell it to talk to a USB device by ID, provided it’s seen by the USB system. I can’t comment on F-spot, I use digikam.

Because it’s not just a storage device, you can do much more with PTP including things like command the camera to take photos, etc.

pdc_2 · January 10, 2009, 8:57am

hmmmmmmmmmm …

well, installed digikam to our gnome system;

after setting PTP on the camera, tried to get digikam to detect;

(having gone into camera in digikam menu, and selected generic PTP as our particular camera is not in the list)

panasonic lumix does not want to play; it will have to be SD card inserted into card reader for the time being;

ken_yap · January 10, 2009, 2:17pm

Is the camera detected when you plug in the USB cable? Are there any messages in /var/log/messages on plugin? Can you rule out a faulty cable or USB port? Can you connect to the camera under another OS?

pdc_2 · January 10, 2009, 10:37pm

Is the camera detected when you plug in the USB cable?

I type lsusb and nothing appears about the panasonic

Are there any messages in /var/log/messages on plugin?

this is a directory I know nothing about: I see files for mail, xorg etc and when I try to read one with gedit, it says it cannot read the characters; which file should I be looking for

Can you connect to the camera under another OS?

A CD for windows came but I haven’t installed it; I am sure it would work;

we have had various others comments on the Suse forums that panasonic lumix does not get read: I bought the camera for its picture-taking; accepting I might need to use a card reader, but interesting it does not connect;

(I have just connected my wife’s Samsung again; through the same USB cable; in contrast, the Samsung activates F-Spot; which opens; it reads the photos on the camera, and offers to download immediately)

ken_yap · January 11, 2009, 12:17am

/var/log/messages is just the main log file. You can run (as root):

tail -f /var/log/messages

to follow it as lines are added, while you plug in the camera. If nothing gets added to this file when you plug in the camera, and also there is no change in lsusb output between before and after, then I would look into 1. whether the USB port of the camera is activated, or needs to be, 2. more serious, whether the camera has a faulty USB port.

Trying it with another OS might resolve the questions. Maybe the camera needs to be prepared using the software on the Windows CD first, who knows?

deano_ferrari · January 11, 2009, 12:37am

A LiveCD/DVD might be useful for diagnostic purposes here…

pdc_2 · January 11, 2009, 1:46am

A LiveCD/DVD might be useful for diagnostic purposes here…

could we get you to expand on this Deano please?

pdc_2 · January 11, 2009, 1:51am

to ken yap:

[/QUOTE]

thanks very much for this; I learn another thing!

when I plug the camera in, and turn the power on, I get

[QUOTE]Jan 11 13:47:30 linux-37a8 su: (to root) pdc on /dev/pts/0
Jan 11 13:49:03 linux-37a8 kernel: usb 4-1.1: USB disconnect, address 5

? some glimmer of life, but paradoxical?? USB disconnect?

I will log off; activate windows; and see how we do there

pdc_2 · January 11, 2009, 1:54am

gosh; I turn off the camera power, to disconnect; and I get (after removing the camera):

Jan 11 13:52:32 linux-37a8 kernel: usb 4-1.1: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 6
Jan 11 13:52:32 linux-37a8 kernel: usb 4-1.1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Jan 11 13:52:32 linux-37a8 kernel: usb 4-1.1: ZC0301[P] Image Processor and Control Chip detected (vid/pid 0x0AC8:0x301B)
Jan 11 13:52:32 linux-37a8 kernel: usb 4-1.1: No supported image sensor detected
Jan 11 13:52:32 linux-37a8 kernel: /usr/src/packages/BUILD/gspcav1-20071224/obj/default/gspca_core.c: USB GSPCA camera found.(ZC3XX)
Jan 11 13:52:32 linux-37a8 kernel: /usr/src/packages/BUILD/gspcav1-20071224/obj/default/gspca_core.c: [spca5xx_probe:4275] Camera type JPEG
Jan 11 13:52:33 linux-37a8 kernel: /usr/src/packages/BUILD/gspcav1-20071224/obj/default/Vimicro/zc3xx.h: [zc3xx_config:603] Find Sensor HV7131B
Jan 11 13:52:33 linux-37a8 kernel: /usr/src/packages/BUILD/gspcav1-20071224/obj/default/gspca_core.c: [spca5xx_getcapability:1249] maxw 640 maxh 480 minw 160 minh 120
Jan 11 13:52:33 linux-37a8 kernel: usb 4-1.1: New USB device found, idVendor=0ac8, idProduct=301b
Jan 11 13:52:33 linux-37a8 kernel: usb 4-1.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
Jan 11 13:52:33 linux-37a8 kernel: usb 4-1.1: Product: PC Camera
Jan 11 13:52:33 linux-37a8 kernel: usb 4-1.1: Manufacturer: Z-Star Corp.
Jan 11 13:52:33 linux-37a8 kernel: /usr/src/packages/BUILD/gspcav1-20071224/obj/default/gspca_core.c: [spca5xx_set_light_freq:1932] Sensor currently not support light frequency banding filters.
Jan 11 13:52:33 linux-37a8 kernel: /usr/src/packages/BUILD/gspcav1-20071224/obj/default/gspca_core.c: [gspca_set_isoc_ep:945] ISO EndPoint found 0x81 AlternateSet 7

ken_yap · January 11, 2009, 2:13am

Yeah, weird. You should see a new device. Try it without a hub in between, if there is one. Some devices play badly with hubs.

Also the camera is probably USB 2.0, so I wouldn’t use it on USB 1.1 hubs or ports, you would lose a lot of upload speed.

pdc_2 · January 11, 2009, 3:03am

booted into Windows; installed drivers; turned camera on as PTP; Windows didn’t like that; disconnected; reconnected as USB; fine; pictures read and downloaded;

2/ turned on Suse again; read your suggestions Ken: so: put cable into USB 2.0 port directly; (took it out of hub);

plugged in camera; it opened F-Spot and offered 3 options

Mass Storage Camera disk:/media/disk
Panasonic DMC-LC1 usb:
Panasonic DMC-LC1 usb: 006,004

and tail log said

Jan 11 14:48:29 linux-37a8 kernel: usb 6-5: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4
Jan 11 14:48:29 linux-37a8 kernel: usb 6-5: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Jan 11 14:48:29 linux-37a8 kernel: scsi3 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Jan 11 14:48:30 linux-37a8 kernel: usb 6-5: New USB device found, idVendor=04da, idProduct=2372
Jan 11 14:48:30 linux-37a8 kernel: usb 6-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Jan 11 14:48:30 linux-37a8 kernel: usb 6-5: Product: DMC-TZ15
Jan 11 14:48:30 linux-37a8 kernel: usb 6-5: Manufacturer: Panasonic
Jan 11 14:48:30 linux-37a8 kernel: usb 6-5: SerialNumber: 0000000000000000005F0918100785

amidst much else … but now reading camera …

but selecting last (usb: 006,004) didn’t work: error so disconnected camera;
reset to PTP; reconnected; this did not active F-Spot but by opening F-Spot and then selecting “Import” in F-Spot it now recognises the camera, and effortlessly downloads the pictures; !!!

so … lessons … must be all your ones Ken:many, many thanks

use PTP for a Panasonic Lumix Camera connecting to OpenSuse; separate USB port, and not a hub; 2.0 port and a terrible confession: Panasonic cable said to use their cable when I re-read all instructions; there was a panasonic cable in the pack; I confess to using that finally; the previous cable fitted well too, and worked for the Samsung;and connected well to the Panasonic;but maybe this was the final successful feature …???

anyway, OpenSuse 11.0 seems to work VERY WELL now with Lumix TZ15 in PTP mode!

ken_yap · January 11, 2009, 9:13am

Excellent. My money is on the hub as the problem. Glad you got it working.