T3 Live View on laptop turns white

[graphicdetails]

I am using a T3 for my photo booth hooked to a touchscreen laptop via the USB cable provided.  I have live view enabled so people can see themselves on the laptop screen before taking the pic.

I had my first event that was pretty long with intermittent guests all day.  I had 2 or 3 occasions where the live screen would go completely white and would not turn back on without rebooting the photo booth software.  The camera would still take the picture but the live view would be all white.  I've been discussing with the software company and they checked and found there was no log of any internal error from the software.

I'm wondering if this might be a setting in the camera?  The live view auto power is set to "Off", and I turn off the LCD on the camera when I turn on the booth.  The photo booth software turns off live view on the laptop after 10 minutes of non-use, but I'm wondering if there is a signal coming from the camera that is causing this "whiteout" on the laptop live view?  When the software times out, the live view window goes black, but comes back on as soon as you touch the screen.  But on the 2 or 3 occasions when the window was all white, nothing would turn the live screen back on other than closing the software and re-opening it.

I hope I've explained it so it is understandable.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Randy

[Richard]

Hi Randy,

When the display goes white, are you routing the video signal through the software or directly from the camera?

If you're routing the signal though the software, does this issue occur (after a similar amount of time) if you route the signal directly from the camera? 

[graphicdetails]

Thanks for the reply Richard.

The video is a live view through the software.  I have never tested it directly through the camera.  I had a very long event for my first time (about 10 hours at a fundraiser), and it happened about 3 times overall.  When it went white on the laptop, I opened the back of the photo booth and clicked the live view button on the camera and the LCD came on ok.  But in looking back at the laptop, the screen was still white.

The funny thing is if the screen was touched, the countdown would still occur (even though the live view window was white) and the picture would still be taken.  It would show the picture on the laptop after it was taken, and then the live view would go back to white.  The only way to get the live view back on was to close the photo booth program and restart it.  The software would then redetect the camera and come back on.

I am not sure about the specifics of each time it happened (specific amount of time, etc.)  I was thinking maybe there was some sort of time frame where the live view signal would time out completely and the software would lose the connection thereby needing to restart in order for it to recognize it again.

I guess one question I have is this:  will the signal timeout for the live view regardless of what the setting is in the camera?  I have live view enabled, but I turn the LCD off on the camera because it's only seen on the laptop through the software.  Do the timeout settings still apply for live view on a laptop?  Or only if using the camera LCD?

Thanks again.  I may have to hook it up and let it run this weekend if need be.

Randy

[Mykolas]

Randy,

There is no timeout signal that comes from the camera that causes a white screen to be displayed.  The camera is meant to be connected to a computer for tethered shooting and this does not happen using our own software, EOS Utility. 

Since the camera still takes a picture with the white screen and it turns out normal, then the camera is working properly and this has something to do with the software you are using and how it is working with the camera. 

I recommend that you contact the software vendor again and let them know the details of your further testing to see if they have any ideas about what may be causing this.

[graphicdetails]

Thanks for your help. I actually never installed the EOS Utility on the new laptop. I simply plugged the camera into the USB and the software detected the camera and turned on live view.

Do you think the EOS Utility should be installed?