--- name: "gphoto2" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "gphoto2" version: "2.5.32-1" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/gphoto2" --- # gphoto2(1) command-line gphoto2 client ## NAME gphoto2 - command-line gphoto2 client ## SYNOPSIS **gphoto2** \[--debug\] \[--debug-logfile *FILENAME*\] \[--debug-loglevel *LEVEL*\] \[\[-q\] \| \[--quiet\]\] \[\[-v\] \| \[--verbose\]\] \[\[-h\] \| \[--help\]\] \[--usage\]\ \[--hook-script *FILENAME*\]\ \[--list-cameras\] \[--list-ports\] \[--stdout\] \[--stdout-size\] \[--parsable\]\ \[--auto-detect\] \[--port *PATH*\] \[--speed *SPEED*\] \[--camera *MODEL*\]\ \[--filename *FILENAME*\] \[--filenumber *FILENUMBER*\]\ \[--usbid *USBIDS*\]\ \[\[-a\] \| \[--abilities\]\]\ \[\[--folder *FOLDER*\] \| \[-f *FOLDER*\]\] \[\[\[-R\] \| \[--recurse\]\] \| \[--no-recurse\]\]\ \[\[-l\] \| \[--list-folders\]\]\ \[\[-L\] \| \[--list-files\]\] \[\[-m *NAME*\] \| \[--mkdir *NAME*\]\]\ \[\[-r *NAME*\] \| \[--rmdir *NAME*\]\] \[\[-n\] \| \[--num-files\]\]\ \[\[-p *RANGE or NAME*\] \| \[--get-file *RANGE or NAME*\]\] \[\[-P\] \| \[--get-all-files\]\]\ \[\[-t *RANGE or NAME*\] \| \[--get-thumbnail *RANGE or NAME*\]\]\ \[\[-T\] \| \[--get-all-thumbnails\]\]\ \[--get-raw-data *RANGE or NAME*\] \[--get-all-raw-data\]\ \[--get-audio-data *RANGE or NAME*\] \[--get-all-audio-data\]\ \[--get-exif *RANGE or NAME*\] \[--get-all-exif\]\ \[--get-metadata *RANGE or NAME*\] \[--get-all-metadata\] \[--upload-metadata *FILENAME*\]\ \[--force-overwrite\]\ \[--new\]\ \[\[-d *RANGE or NAME*\] \| \[--delete-file *RANGE or NAME*\]\] \[\[-D\] \| \[--delete-all-files\]\]\ \[\[-u *FILENAME*\] \| \[--upload-file *FILENAME*\]\] \[--config\]\ \[--list-config\] \[--list-all-config\]\ \[--get-config *CONFIGENTRY*\] \[--set-config *CONFIGENTRY=CONFIGVALUE*\] \[--set-config-index *CONFIGENTRY=CONFIGINDEX*\] \[--set-config-value *CONFIGENTRY=CONFIGVALUE*\] \[--reset\]\ \[--capture-preview\] \[--show-preview\]\ \[\[-F *COUNT*\] \| \[--frames *COUNT*\]\] \[\[-I *SECONDS*\] \| \[--interval *SECONDS*\]\]\ \[--reset-interval\]\ \[--capture-image\] \[--trigger-capture\] \[--capture-movie *SECONDS or COUNT*\] \[--capture-sound\]\ \[--capture-tethered *SECONDS, COUNT or STRING*\]\ \[--wait-event *SECONDS, COUNT or STRING*\] \[--wait-event-and-download *SECONDS, COUNT or STRING*\]\ \[--keep\] \[--no-keep\]\ \[--reverse\]\ \[--show-info *RANGE or NAME*\]\ \[--show-exif *RANGE or NAME*\]\ \[--storage-info\]\ \[--summary\]\ \[--manual\]\ \[--about\]\ \[--shell\] ## DESCRIPTION [libgphoto2(3)](/libgphoto2/3.md) is a cross-platform digital camera library, and [gphoto2(1)](/gphoto2/1.md) is a command-line client for it. Where an option takes a *RANGE* of files, thumbnails, or other data, they are numbered beginning at 1. A range is a comma-separated list of numbers or spans (“*first*-*last*”). Ranges are XOR (exclusive or), so that “1-5,3,7” is equivalent to “1,2,4,5,7”. - **--debug** Turn on debugging output. Debugging output is written to stderr by default, or to the filename given to the **--debug-logfile** option. **--debug-logfile** *FILENAME* (since 2.3.0) The logfile to write the debugging info to, if **--debug** is given. **--debug-loglevel** *LEVEL* (since 2.5.5) The verbosity of debug logging. Possible values with incrementing verbosity are: **error**, **debug**, **data**, **all**. Default is **all**. **--hook-script** *FILENAME* (new after 2.3.0) Execute the hook script *FILENAME* every time a certain event happens within **gphoto2**. The hook script reads the environment variable **ACTION**. It must ignore **ACTION** values unknown to it. **ACTION**=init **gphoto2** has just been initialized. If the hook script returns with a non-zero exit code now, **gphoto2** will abort. **ACTION**=start **gphoto2** has just finished parsing the command line and is about to start executing the commands given on the command line. **ACTION**=download **gphoto2** has just downloaded a file to the computer, storing it in the file indicated by the environment variable **ARGUMENT**. **ACTION**=stop **gphoto2** is about to finish. Do your final cleanups here. All other environment variables are passed to the hook script unchanged. You can make use of that to pass data to the hook script. Hook script may be specified in the ~/.gphoto/settings file as **gphoto2=hook-script=***filename*. - **-q**, **--quiet** Quiet output (default=verbose). - **-v**, **--version** Display version and exit. - **-h**, **--help** Display options and short description. - **--usage** Display a short usage message. - **--list-cameras** List supported camera models. - **--list-ports** List supported port devices. - **--stdout** Send file to stdout. - **--stdout-size** Print filesize before data. - **--parsable** Outputs the filelist in a line based format that could be passed into a shellscript or other filter. - **--auto-detect** List auto-detected cameras and the ports to which they are connected. - **--port** *PATH* Specify port device. The **--list-ports** prints a list of valid, usable ports. In case of multiple USB cameras, the **--auto-detect** shows you the specific port each camera is connected to. - **--speed** *SPEED* Specify serial transfer speed. - **--camera** *MODEL* Specify camera model. The **--list-cameras** option prints a list of all explicitly supported cameras. Most model names contain spaces: remember to enclose the name in quotes so that the shell knows it is one parameter. For example: **--camera "Kodak DC240"**. Note that if you specify **--camera**, you must also specify **--port**. Otherwise the **--camera** option will be silently ignored. - **--filename** *FILENAME* When downloading files from the camera, specify the file name or file name pattern to use when storing the downloaded file on the local disk. When uploading a file to the camera, specify the filename to store the uploaded file as on the camera. The **--filename** option accepts %a, %A, %b, %B, %d, %H, %k, %I, %l, %j, %m, %M, %S, %y, %%, (see [date(1)](/date/1.md)) and, in addition, %n for the number, %C for the filename suffix, %f for the filename without suffix, %F for the foldername, %: for the complete filename in lowercase. Note that %: is still in alpha stage, and the actual character or syntax may still be changed. E.g. it might be possible to use %#f and %#C for lower case versions, and %^f and %^C for upper case versions. %n is the only conversion specifier to accept a padding character and width: %03n will pad with zeros to width 3 (e.g. print the number 7 as “007”). Leaving out the padding character (e.g. %3n) will use an implementation specific default padding character which may or may not be suitable for use in file names. Default value for this option can be specified in the ~/.gphoto/settings file as **gphoto2=filename=value**. - **--filenumber** *FILENUMBER* If you specify the filename using the **--filename** option and use the %n pattern, this pattern usually starts at 1. For incremental usage, you can use **--filenumber** to have it start at another number FILENUMBER. - **--usbid** *USBIDS* (Expert only) Override USB IDs. *USBIDS*must be of the form *DetectedVendorID:DetectedProductID=TreatAsVendorID:TreatAsProductID* to treat any USB device detected as *DetectedVendorID:DetectedProductID* as *TreatAsVendorID:TreatAsProductID* instead. All the VendorIDs and ProductIDs should be hexadecimal numbers beginning in C notation, i.e. beginning with '0x'. Example: **--usbid** *0x4a9:0x306b=0x4a9:0x306c* - **-a**, **--abilities** Display the camera and driver abilities specified in the libgphoto2 driver. This all does not query the camera, it uses data provided by the library. Use **--summary** to query an overview of the camera. - **-f**, **--folder** *FOLDER* Specify camera folder (default="/"). - **-R**, **--recurse** Recursion (default for download). - **--no-recurse** No recursion (default for deletion). - **-l**, **--list-folders** List folders in folder. - **-L**, **--list-files** List files in folder. - **-m**, **--mkdir** *NAME* Create a directory. - **-r**, **--rmdir** *NAME* Remove a directory. - **-n**, **--num-files** Display number of files. - **-p**, **--get-file** *RANGE* Get files given in range. - **-P**, **--get-all-files** Get all files from folder. - **-t**, **--get-thumbnail** *RANGE* Get thumbnails given in range. - **-T**, **--get-all-thumbnails** Get all thumbnails from folder. - **--get-raw-data** *RANGE* Get raw data given in range. - **--get-all-raw-data** Get all raw data from folder. - **--get-audio-data** *RANGE* Get audio data given in range. - **--get-all-audio-data** Get all audio data from folder. - **--get-exif** *RANGE* Get Exif given in range. - **--get-all-exif** Get all Exif from folder. - **--upload-metadata** *FILENAME* Upload meta data for the specific file, taken from a file prefix with meta\_ . - **--get-metadata** *RANGE* Get meta data given in range. - **--get-all-metadata** Get all meta data from folder. - **--force-overwrite** Overwrite files without asking. - **--skip-existing** Skip files if they exist already on the local directory. - **--new** Only get not already downloaded files. This option depends on camera support of flagging already downloaded images and is not available for all drivers. - **-d**, **--delete-file** *RANGE* Delete files given in range. - **-D**, **--delete-all-files** Delete all files in folder (defaults to **--no-recurse**). - **-u**, **--upload-file** *FILENAME* Upload a file to camera. - **--capture-preview** Capture a quick preview. - **-B--bulb** *SECONDS* Do a bulb capture for the specified amount of seconds. - **--show-preview** Capture a quick preview and displays it in the terminal using Ascii Art (if aalib was used during build). - **-F** *COUNT*, **--frames** *COUNT* Number of frames to capture in one run. Default is infinite number of frames. - **-I** *SECONDS*, **--interval** *SECONDS* Time between capture of multiple frames. (Since 2.4) If SIGUSR1 signal is received, a picture is taken immediately without waiting for the end of the current interval period (see the section called “SIGNALS”). A value of -1 will let gphoto2 wait forever, i.e. until a signal arrives. See also **--reset-interval**. - **--reset-interval** Setting this option will reset the time interval to the value given by the **-I\|--interval** option when a SIGUSR1 signal is received in time-lapse mode. - **--capture-image** Capture an image and keep it on the camera. - **--capture-image-and-download** Capture an image and download it immediately to the computer. - **--trigger-capture** Triggers the capture an image and return. If you want to get the image downloaded, see --wait-event-and-download. This feature is only available for some camera brands and drivers. - **--reverse** When doing file operations like --get-all-files, -P or -T it reverts the order of files to download. - **--keep** When doing --capture-image-and-download or interval capture, this option will keep the images on the memory card of the camera. - **--no-keep** When doing --capture-image-and-download or interval capture, this option will not keep the images on the memory card of the camera after downloading them during capture. (default) - **--keep-raw** When doing --capture-image-and-download or interval capture, this option will keep the RAW images on the memory card of the camera, but still download the JPEG images. This is useful when doing dual mode capture and you want to review the JPEGs already during capture. - **--capture-movie** *SECONDS* Capture a movie. If the camera supports previews, this will capture a stream of previews (motion-jpeg) as fast as the camera can. If not argument is specified, it will capture preview frames until you press Ctrl-C. Arguments that can be specified are either seconds of capture or number of preview frames. - **--capture-sound** Capture an audio clip. No driver supports this at this time. **--capture-tethered** *SECONDS, MILLISECONDS, COUNT or MATCHSTRING* Lets gphoto2 wait for notifications from the camera that an object was added. This is useful for tethered capture, where pressing the shutter on the camera immediately transfer the image to the machine for processing. Together with the **--hook-script** to immediately postprocess or display the images this can help a studio workflow. This option requires support in the driver and by the camera, currently newer Canon EOS and Nikon DLSR work. **--wait-event** *SECONDS, MILLISECONDS, COUNT or MATCHSTRING*, **--wait-event-and-download** *SECONDS, MILLISECONDS, COUNT or MATCHSTRING* Lets gphoto2 wait for notifications from the camera for various events. This is useful for seeing what the camera does and waiting for objects to be added. The objects are kept on camera in the “--wait-event” version, with “--wait-event-and-download” they are downloaded. \--wait-event-and-download is equivalent to --capture-tethered. The time to wait can be either specified as full seconds with a "s" suffix, a number of milliseconds with a "ms" suffix, as a number of events (just a number), or a sub-string to match. If nothing happens, a timeout is generated after 1 second, so a “wait-event=5” will take at most 5 seconds. A “--wait-event=5s” will take exactly 5 second. It is also possible to wait for MATCHSTRING, for things like CAPTURECOMPLETE, FILEADDED, TIMEOUT or other events printed out. If no argument is given, the wait time is 1 million events (basically forever). In the download variant this can be used together with the **--hook-script** to immediately postprocess or display the images this can help a studio workflow. This option requires support in the driver and by the camera. If gphoto2 receives a SIGUSR1 during the wait, it will immediately take a picture (similar to “--capture-image”), and depending on mode either leave it on camera or download it. (Since 2.5.28) If gphoto2 receives a SIGUSR2 during the wait, it will safely end the tethering. (Since 2.5.25) - **--show-info** *RANGE* Show information for a single or multiple images, like width, height, size and/or the capture time - **--config** Starts a ncurses based text configuration menu. gphoto2 needs to built against CDK for this feature. - **--list-config** List all configuration entries. - **--list-all-config** List all configuration entries and their values and choices. This command is a combination of **--list-config** and calling **--get-config** on all the entries. - **--get-config** *CONFIGENTRY* Get the specified configuration entry. This command will list the type, the current value and also the available options of this configuration value. - **--set-config** *CONFIGENTRY=CONFIGVALUE* Set the specified configuration entry. For lists of choices of values this setting first looks up CONFIGVALUE as value and then as index into the choice list. Since this is not fully clear, you can use **--set-config-index** or **--set-config-value** to be more clear what is searched for. Look at the output of **--get-config** to see what values are possible to set here. - **--set-config-index** *CONFIGENTRY=CONFIGINDEX* Set the specified configuration entry by specifying the index into the list of choices for the configuration value. This of course only works for configuration settings that offer list of choices. Look at the output of **--get-config** to see what indices are possible to set here. - **--set-config-value** *CONFIGENTRY=CONFIGVALUE* Set the specified configuration entry by specifying its new value. For lists of choices the value is looked up and set. Look at the output of **--get-config** to see what values are possible to set here. - **--reset** Resets the specified (or autodetected) USB port. This command resets the USB port of either the first auto-detected camera, or the port specified with **--port usb:XXX,YYY**. This option is useful if somehow the protocol talking to the camera locked up and simulates plugging out and in the camera. - **--storage-info** Display information about the camera's storage media. - **--summary** Summary of camera status. - **--manual** Camera driver manual. - **--about** About the camera driver. - **--shell** Start the gphoto2 shell, an interactive environment. See SHELL MODEfor a detailed description. ## SHELL MODE The following commands are available: cd *DIRECTORY* Change to the specified directory on the camera. ls List the contents of the current directory on the camera. lcd *DIRECTORY* Change to the specified directory on the local machine. get *FILENAME* Download the specified file to the current directory. put *FILENAME* Upload the specified file from the current system directory to the cameras current directory. get-thumbnail *FILENAME* Download the specified thumbnail to the current directory. get-raw *FILENAME* Download the specified raw data to the current directory. get-exif *FILENAME* Download the specified Exif data to the current directory. show-info *FILENAME* Show information of the specified file. delete *FILENAME* Delete the specified file or directory. mkdir *DIRECTORY* Creates a directory named “DIRECTORY”. rmdir *DIRECTORY* Removes a directory named “DIRECTORY”. show-exif *FILENAME* Show EXIF information (only if compiled with EXIF support). capture-image Captures a single image and keeps it on the camera. capture-image-and-download Captures a single image and downloads it from the camera. capture-preview Captures a preview image and downloads it from the camera. list-config Lists all configuration values. get-config *NAME* Gets the configuration specified by “NAME”. set-config *NAME=VALUE* Sets the configuration specified by “NAME” to “VALUE”. set-config-value *NAME=VALUE* Sets the configuration specified by “NAME” to “VALUE”. set-config-index *NAME=VALUE* Sets the configuration specified by “NAME” to the “INDEX” into the list of choices. Works only for Menu or Radio button entries. wait-event *COUNT or SECONDS* Waits for events from the camera for the specified time in SECONDS (if suffixed with s) or the COUNT of events from the camera, where every seconds a timeout event happens. Newly added images are kept on the camera. Default is 1 event. wait-event-and-download *COUNT or SECONDS*, capture-tethered *COUNT or SECONDS* Waits for events from the camera for the specified time in SECONDS (if suffixed with s) or the COUNT of events from the camera, where every seconds a timeout event happens. Newly added images are downloaded from the camera. Default is 1 event. help, ? Displays command usage. exit, quit, q Exit the gphoto2 shell. ## ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES **CAMLIBS** If set, defines the directory where the libgphoto2 library looks for its camera drivers (camlibs). You only need to set this with non-standard installations. **IOLIBS** If set, defines the directory where the libgphoto2\_port library looks for its I/O drivers (iolibs). You only need to set this with non-standard installations. **LD\_DEBUG** Set this to *all* to receive lots of debug information regarding library loading on **ld** based systems. **USB\_DEBUG** If set, defines the numeric debug level with which the libusb library will print messages. In order to get some debug output, set it to *1*. ## SIGNALS SIGUSR1 (since 2.4) In time-lapse capture and in tethering or wait-event mode, receiving a SIGUSR1 signal makes gphoto2 take a picture immediately. If the **--reset-interval** option is given, the time counter is reset to the value given by the **-I\|--interval** option. Note that the camera will need some time (from 50ms to a few seconds) to actually capture the image. SIGUSR2 (since 2.5.26) In tethering or wait-event mode, receiving a SIGUSR2 signal ends the tethering or wait-event mode. This is useful if you do not know the end before hand, but still want to safely exit the waiting. ## SEE ALSO [libgphoto2(3)](/libgphoto2/3.md), **The gPhoto2 Manual**\[1\], **The gphoto.org website**\[2\], **Digital Camera Support for UNIX, Linux and BSD**\[3\] ## EXAMPLES **gphoto2 --list-ports** Shows what kinds of ports (USB and serial) you have. **gphoto2 --auto-detect** Shows what camera(s) you have connected. **gphoto2 --list-files** List files on camera. **gphoto2 --get-file** *7-13* Get files number 7 through 13 from the list output by **gphoto2 --list-files**. **gphoto2 --capture-image --interval** *60* **--hook-script** */usr/share/doc/gphoto2/test-hook.sh* Capture one image every 60 seconds from now to eternity. The example hook script will be called after each captured image has been stored on the computer. To track down errors, you can add the **--debug** parameter to the **gphoto2** command line and, if dealing with USB problems, setting the environment variable **USB\_DEBUG***=1*. ## AUTHORS **Tim Waugh** Author. **Hans Ulrich Niedermann, current maintainer** \ Author. **Michael J. Rensing** Author. **Marcus Meissner** \ Author. **Miscellanous Contributors.** **The gPhoto2 Team** Author. **Tim Waugh** \ Original man page author. **Hans Ulrich Niedermann** \ Current man page editor. ## NOTES - 1\. The gPhoto2 Manual http://www.gphoto.org/doc/manual/ - 2\. The gphoto.org website http://www.gphoto.org/ - 3\. Digital Camera Support for UNIX, Linux and BSD http://www.teaser.fr/~hfiguiere/linux/digicam.html