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[SOLVED] Unable to import Images from a Digital Camera

Posted: 2018/06/01 17:17:50
by DaveHighland
I have a Canon PowerShot ELPH 330HS digital camera. On my previous computer, a desktop PC running Centos 6.9, I had only to connect the camera to a USB port and gthumb image view would pop up and allow me to import the images and save them to the hard drive.

Alas, my old desktop PC died a valiant death, and I have a new mini PC with an SSD sitting on the corner of my desk. I installed Centos 7, and it has worked well, with just two problems.

When I connect my Canon camera to the mini PC with a USB cable, a notification pops up in the corner saying that a camera has been recognized, and then a Files window opens (see Camera_Folder.png) saying "Contains digital photos". When I click on the button saying "Import with gThumb", gthumb reports (see gthumb_error_01.png) that it "Could not load the folder, Failed to get folder list -1: Unspecified error."

A similar error happens if I try to use Shotwell to import the images (see Shotwell_error.png): "Unalble to fetch previews from the camera; Unsupported operation (-6)".

Version Info: Centos Linux 7, Processor: Intel® Celeron(R) CPU J1900 @ 1.99GHz × 4, Graphics: Intel® Bay Trail, Gnome Version 3.22.2.

Helpful advice would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Unalbe to import Images from a Digital Camera

Posted: 2018/06/02 22:52:49
by toracat
Is your gthumb up to date? The current version is 3.3.4-2 (from EPEL) and is required to run in CentOS 7.5.

Re: Unable to import Images from a Digital Camera

Posted: 2018/06/03 02:52:14
by DaveHighland
I believe gthumb is up-to-date. This is what yum reports:

[Dave@localhost ~]$ yum info gthumb
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, langpacks
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
* base: linux.mirrors.es.net
* epel: mirrors.develooper.com
* extras: linux.mirrors.es.net
* nux-dextop: mirror.li.nux.ro
* updates: centos-distro.cavecreek.net
Installed Packages
Name : gthumb
Arch : x86_64
Version : 3.3.4
Release : 2.el7
Size : 9.7 M
Repo : installed
From repo : epel
Summary : Image viewer, editor, organizer
URL : https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/gthumb
License : GPLv2+
Description : gthumb is an application for viewing, editing, and organizing
: collections of images.

Re: Unalbe to import Images from a Digital Camera

Posted: 2018/06/03 04:01:54
by TrevorH
That one comes from nux. I would replace that with the copy from EPEL and see if it helps. If you have both EPEL and nux installed then the EPEL copy ought to be seen as an update to nux's as the version number is higher. If you've tweaked yum priorities to make nux more important that EPEL then I would reverse that and yum update.

Re: Unalbe to import Images from a Digital Camera

Posted: 2018/06/03 04:46:46
by toracat
I confirm that this is not a problem with gthumb.

I tested with a couple of Canon cameras and both had the same issue. The camera is recognized fine and I was able to navigate to the DCIM directory but not beyond.

Re: Unable to import Images from a Digital Camera

Posted: 2018/06/03 15:33:51
by DaveHighland
TrevorH -- You may have misread my post about the version of gthumb. See the line that says "From repo: epel". I think that means I have the version that's closest to "official".

toracat -- Thanks for the new information. I agree that it is probably not gthumb that is to blame. Shotwell has the same problem, as does Files. I'm beginning to suspect that it's a problem with gphoto2 or some other underlying library that all three are commonly dependent on.

I've been digging around in yum a little and here's what it says about libgphoto2 on my computer:

Name : libgphoto2
Arch : x86_64
Version : 2.5.15
Release : 1.el7
Size : 6.4 M
Repo : installed
From repo : anaconda
Summary : Library for accessing digital cameras
URL : http://www.gphoto.org/
License : GPLv2+ and GPLv2
Description : libgphoto2 is a library that can be used by applications to access
: various digital cameras. libgphoto2 itself is not a GUI
: application, opposed to gphoto. There are GUI frontends for the
: gphoto2 library, however, such as gtkam for example.


Now, I'm no expert, but to me this implies that libgphoto2 was installed from the install DVD--no surprise, there--rather than from the base repository. Would this interfere with getting updates for this library, since my computer doesn't have access to the install DVD, and even if it did, the install DVD isn't updated?

Anyway, I browsed over to the "http://www.gphoto.org/" URL given in yum's description, and the most current version of libgphoto2 is 2.5.18, and here's what the release note says: "ptp2 Canon EOS: Fixed file download on several EOS brands, broken by 2.5.17 release."

The release notes for the 2.5.16 and 2.5.17 versions also list fixes for Canon download problems.

That all seems like a plausible explanation for what is happening. So.... How do I obtain and install the 2.5.18 version of this library? When I follow the download link on that website it takes me to this file, "libgphoto2-2.5.18.tar.gz", not an rpm. This appears to be the source files for the library, and I don't feel confident I could compile, build, and install a library correctly.

When will Centos be updating this library in its repositories?

Re: Unable to import Images from a Digital Camera

Posted: 2018/06/03 22:44:19
by toracat
This is a known bug.

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1551747
"Can't read gvfs/gphoto2 filesystem: Error: Failed to get folder list: -1: Unspecified error"

No solution/fix yet.

Re: Unable to import Images from a Digital Camera

Posted: 2018/06/04 17:36:26
by toracat
I have built an updated version of libgphoto2 (libgphoto2-2.5.17-1.ay.el7.x86_64.rpm). This fixes the problem. If you wish to test, it is available here:

http://toracat.org/files/rpms/libgphoto2/

[EDIT] You need to log out and log back in after the update.

Re: Unable to import Images from a Digital Camera

Posted: 2018/06/06 01:26:03
by DaveHighland
Thanks, I'll give this a try, but I have a couple of questions first:

1. Do I first need to remove the existing libgphoto2 package using "yum remove" before I install this new one with "yum install libgphoto2-2.5.17-1.ay.el7.x86_64.rpm" ?

2. If I install this package as a local rpm, will it get updated from the base repository when the upstream vendor fixes the bug, or will I have to monitor the bugzilla entry to know when the updated library becomes available, and then "yum remove" the local followed by "yum install" from the base repo?

Re: Unable to import Images from a Digital Camera

Posted: 2018/06/06 04:07:12
by toracat
My answers:

1. No need to remove anything. Just yum install the new one. It will update the existing one.

2. If the next distro package has a newer release/version (for example 2.5.17-1.el7), yum update will find and install it. But if it is not newer (for example, 2.5.15-2.el7), then you'd run 'yum downgrade' to install that version.