Proposed improvement to Invalid mode dialog for Canon Cameras

[paulskirk53]

Summary
The 'Invalid Mode' dialog has been enhanced to guide users to check the Movie/Still switch on cameras like the EOS 6D, preventing potential confusion when the camera is in Movie mode, which prevents 'Bulb' connection.

🚀 Purpose

Problem
Canon 6D users (and potentially other models with a Movie/Still switch) will encounter the "Invalid Mode" error when the camera's physical 'Movie/Still' switch is set to 'Movie', even if the Mode Dial is set to 'B'.

In Movie mode, the Canon EDSDK fails to report valid Bulb data, (investigated in NINA's EDCamera.cs code), causing NINA to reject the connection. The existing error message ("Camera is not in Manual or Bulb mode") does not mention the need for the Movie/ Still switch to be set to ‘still’ for Bulb connection to be successful.

Solution
Updated the error message LblEDCameraNotInManualMode in Locale.resx (the English language messages only) to explicitly instruct users to check the Movie/Still switch.

Proposed new message below:

Camera is not set to manual or bulb mode! Please set it to manual or bulb mode
and If your camera has a Movie/Still switch, ensure it is set to 'Still' before connecting.

🧪 How Was It Tested?

Testing

• Verified on Canon 6D.
• With mode dial set to ‘B’ and movie/ still switch set to 'Movie', the new error message appears.
• With mode dial set to ‘B’ and movie/ still’’ switch set to 'Still', the camera connects successfully in Bulb mode using standard NINA logic.
• With mode dial set to ‘M’ and movie/ still switch set to 'Movie', the camera connects. For exposures >30 seconds in this configuration, the new error message appears. Setting the movie/ still switch to ‘Still’ allows the exposure to continue successfully.

Multiple manual tests were made using the above test scenario. These involved cycling camera power, disconnecting/ reconnecting the camera in NINA and plugging/ unplugging the USB cable. Only one Canon 6D camera was used.

• No C# code changes were required; this is a user-experience improvement only.

🤖 AI / Tooling Disclosure

None

✅ PR Checklist

• [ ✅] All unit tests pass
• [ ✅] UI changes tested across Light, Dark, and Night themes (if applicable)
• Plugin API compatibility reviewed
  • [ ✅] No breaking changes to interfaces
  • [ ✅] No changes to method/class signatures (especially optional parameters)
• [ ✅] RELEASE_NOTES.md updated (if applicable)
• Documentation updated (if applicable)

🔗 Related Issues

📸 Screenshots

before

after

📝 Additional Notes

If the proposed change is accepted, the non English sections of the Locale.resx file will need to be updated

Thank you for considering this.