Lessons learned/problems solved installing TimeLapse app on Sony a7Rii

install_apps_on_sony_alpha_camera_from_mac.md

Installing Jonas Juffinger's TimeLapse app on Sony a7Rii from an M1 MacBook (August 2022)

Introduction

I had previously installed jonasjuffinger's TimeLapse app on a Sony a7Rii via ma1co's Sony-PMCA-RE GUI some years ago. When I went to install it on a second a7Rii in August 2022, I found that the GUI no longer worked. This document outlines the steps needed to be able to install the app on the second camera.

Tips/TL;DR

• use the console version of Sony-PMCA-RE on MacBook;
• make Sony-PMCA-RE executable writeable;
• run Sony-PMCA-RE via sudo;
• ensure the camera's USB Connection setting is set to MTP;
• use a dedicated phone/camera micro USB cable instead of a charging cable (especially avoid multiple-headed charging cables!).

Steps/problems and solutions

1. I downloaded the latest (v0.18) Mac GUI version of Sony-PMCA-RE from here. To open it, I had to command-click it and choose open to be able to confirm that I wanted to open an untrusted app. However, the app ran with a black window.
2. Searching the Sony-PMCA-RE issue list turned up someone else reporting the same "black window" issue. A workaround suggested there was to use the console version of the app.
3. I downloaded the latest (v0.18) Mac console version of Sony-PMCA-RE from here and tried running it from the terminal (zsh shell). I ended up with a permission error.
4. I realised that I probably needed to make the console app executable, so I ran chmod 755 pmca-console-v0.18-osx and tried running it again. macOS gave me a security warning and wouldn't let me run the app.
5. I opened System Preferences and went to Security & Privacy. On the General tab under the Allow apps downloaded from: section, it had pmca-console-v0.18-osx listed with a button to Allow the app. I clicked the button, went back to the terminal, and ran the app via ./pmca-console-v0.18-osx again.
6. The app ran and after a few seconds, showed me a usage message. I re-ran it with the info command (./pmca-console-v0.18-osx info), and after a few seconds it showed me a No devices found. Ensure your camera is connected. message.
7. I connected the camera to the MacBook with a 3-headed charging cable (firewire/USB-C/micro USB), switched the camera on, and re-ran the info command, getting the same result. Various combinations of USB settings on the camera failed to make any difference.
8. I realised that the charging cable probably didn't have data transmission pins/cables, meaning that it wouldn't allow the camera to communicate with the MacBook.
9. I swapped the 3-headed charging cable for a single micro USB phone cable, reconnected the camera to the MacBook, and switched it on again. The camera showed a Connecting... USB message for the first tiem 🙌 I ran the ./pmca-console-v0.18-osx info command again and received a Querying MTP device. No devices found. Ensure your camera is connected. message.
10. The Querying MTP device message suggested to me that the camera USB Connection setting needed to be changed to MTP, so I made the change and reconnected the camera. It showed the PlayMemories screen this time, and re-running the ./pmca-console-v0.18-osx info command gave an error message and call stack about "libusb.py", line 85, in write.
11. Searching the Sony-PMCA-RE repo for the libusb.py error turned up an issue with a recent comment suggesting that running the command under sudo resolves the issue.
12. I re-ran the command under sudo (sudo ./pmca-console-v0.18-osx info) and finally received successful output showing the camera model number, product code, serial number, firmware version, and lens 🎉
13. It looked like I was finally in a position to be able to use Sony-PMCA-RE to install the TimeLapse app, so I downloaded the v1.4.0 APK from here and ran the Sony-PMCA-RE install command in interactive mode (to be able to choose the app I wanted to install): sudo ./pmca-console-v0.18-osx install -i.
14. Sony-PMCA-RE showed me a list of apps available to install. I found the TimeLapse app in the list (com.jonasjuffinger.timelapse), entered its number from the list, and pressed Enter.
15. The app installed successfully! 🚀

Just tried this again and realised the above doesn't make finding the actual steps needed very easy 🤦 So:

1. Download Sony-PCMA-RE (Mac OS/OSX version) from here and make it executable (chmod 755 pmca-console-<version>-osx);
2. Set camera's USB Connection to MTP;
3. Connect camera to computer using the camera's own USB cable and switch on;
4. Run the app installer using sudo ./pmca-console-v0.18-osx install -i and select com.jonasjuffinger.timelapse from the list of available apps.