Actions

Shooting commands, video recording, zoom, focus control, AF targeting, and remote button presses

Shooting, focus, zoom, and movie-record commands. All actions require the camera to be connected and priority-key set to pc-remote.

See the auto-generated API reference for full request/response schemas.

Shutter

POST /api/cameras/{cameraId}/actions/shutter — take a single photo, or control continuous shooting with {"action": "down"} / {"action": "up"}.

curl (Single Shot)

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/cameras/D10F60149B0C/actions/shutter

For continuous shooting, set drive mode to a continuous mode first (e.g. Continuous Hi).

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Half-Press (Focus Lock)

POST /api/cameras/{cameraId}/actions/half-press — half-press the shutter button to lock autofocus (S1 press). No body required.

curl

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/cameras/D10F60149B0C/actions/half-press

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AF + Shutter

POST /api/cameras/{cameraId}/actions/af-shutter — autofocus then immediately capture in one operation. No body required.

curl

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/cameras/D10F60149B0C/actions/af-shutter

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Zoom

POST /api/cameras/{cameraId}/actions/zoom — control power zoom lenses. Requires a power zoom lens to be attached.

Body: direction (in or out), speed (normal or fast).

curl

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/cameras/D10F60149B0C/actions/zoom \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"direction": "in", "speed": "normal"}'

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Focus Near/Far

POST /api/cameras/{cameraId}/actions/focus-near-far — move focus in discrete steps. Range: -7 (near, max speed) to +7 (far, max speed). Magnitude controls speed. 0 is not valid.

curl (Focus Near)

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/cameras/D10F60149B0C/actions/focus-near-far \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"step": -1}'

For absolute focus positioning, use PUT /api/cameras/{id}/properties/focus-position with a value from 0 (infinity) to 65535 (closest). To move the AF frame rather than the focus distance, see AF Frame Position.

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AF Frame Position

GET /api/cameras/{cameraId}/af-area-position — read the camera’s current autofocus frame(s), for drawing a focus box over live view.

Each frame reports its centre three ways: normalized (0–1, use this for overlays at any render size), position (the coordinate space PUT accepts, so a read feeds straight back), and raw (the camera’s own numerator/denominator pair). size.normalized_width / normalized_height give the box dimensions as a fraction of the frame. Drive box colour from state — focused, not-focused, moving, selection, and others.

curl

curl http://localhost:8080/api/cameras/D10F60149B0C/af-area-position

More than one frame can be returned. Expanding and tracking areas report a main box plus an assist box — an ILCE-7M4 set to Tracking Expand Flexible Spot returns a 38×38 contrast-flexible-main alongside a 76×76 contrast-flexible-assist. Render every entry in frames.

The camera only reports a frame for focus areas that actually draw one — Flexible Spot, Expand Flexible Spot, and the Tracking variants. In Wide or a face/eye-priority mode there is no movable frame and the request returns 400. Live view must be streaming, since this reads a live-view property.

Move the AF Frame

PUT /api/cameras/{cameraId}/af-area-position — move the centre of the autofocus frame.

Field	Default	Description
x	—	Frame centre X, 0–639
y	—	Frame centre Y, 0–479
normalized	—	{ "x": 0–1, "y": 0–1 } as fractions of the live view — wins if both forms are sent

Send normalized when translating a tap or click on a live view; it saves converting into the SDK’s coordinate space.

curl (Absolute)

curl -X PUT http://localhost:8080/api/cameras/D10F60149B0C/af-area-position \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"x": 320, "y": 240}'

The camera clamps silently and still returns 200. The usable area is inset from the edges of the coordinate space and varies by model, aspect ratio, and AF setting. Always follow a write with a GET rather than assuming the requested value took.

Measured on an ILCE-7M4 in Tracking Expand Flexible Spot — every corner was requested, and every one was pulled inward. Treat these numbers as illustrative, not a contract: a different body, aspect ratio, or AF area will inset differently.

Requested	Landed
0, 0	65, 61
639, 0	574, 61
639, 479	574, 418
0, 479	65, 418
320, 240	320, 240

That is a usable area of x 65–574, y 61–418 — the middle 80% × 74% of the coordinate space. A write is also ignored outright when the focus area has no movable box.

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Remote Touch and Tracking

Tap a point in the live-view frame to seed the camera’s own subject tracking, then read the tracked box back.

Method	Path	Description
POST	/api/cameras/{id}/actions/touch	Tap a point — seeds subject tracking
GET	/api/cameras/{id}/tracking-frame	The box the camera is tracking a subject in
POST	/api/cameras/{id}/actions/touch-cancel	Release a tracked subject

Moving the box vs. tracking a subject

These are not interchangeable.

PUT /af-area-position drags the focus box and leaves it there. The frame stays where you put it until you move it again.

POST /actions/touch seeds the camera’s subject tracking. The camera locks onto whatever is at that point and follows it on its own as it moves — you cannot reproduce that by rewriting positions from a client, because the tracking runs on the camera. A touch also works in focus areas that have no movable box, such as Wide or face priority, where there is nothing for PUT /af-area-position to move.

Both endpoints return the same frame shape, so a single overlay renderer draws either.

Touch a Point

POST /api/cameras/{cameraId}/actions/touch — tap a point, as if someone touched the camera’s own screen there. Same body shape as Move the AF Frame: x / y, or normalized.

curl

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/cameras/D10F60149B0C/actions/touch \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"normalized": {"x": 0.5, "y": 0.5}}'

The camera decides what a touch does, and this API cannot change it. The SDK property that would select the behaviour is unsupported on Alpha bodies including the ILCE-7M4 — only broadcast bodies can choose. A touch does whatever the body’s own Touch Func. in Shooting setting is, and that setting is not exposed over this API.

Set it on the body under MENU > Setup > Touch Operation > Touch Panel Settings > Shooting Screen. Both rows below were measured on an ILCE-7M4.

Touch Func. in Shooting	What a touch does	tracking-frame
Touch Focus (ILCE-7M4 default)	Moves the AF frame, like PUT /af-area-position	Stays empty
Touch Tracking	Starts subject tracking at that point	Reports the box

A touch is accepted even when the body’s Touch Operation is Off — that setting governs the physical screen, not the remote property.

A 200 does not mean tracking started. The camera accepts the write and then decides. With Touch Tracking set, a touch on a point with nothing trackable — measured on a flat wall and on blown-out window areas — returns 200 and produces no tracking frame at all. Always read GET /tracking-frame to find out what actually happened.

Touches also land close to where they are asked for, but not exactly — the camera snaps to the nearest feature it can hold. Measured on an ILCE-7M4, 320,240 landed at 320,239 and 200,300 at 209,297, while points near the edges pulled further in: 0,479 landed at 35,445.

Leave a beat between touches. Firing several within a second or so, or one immediately after a cancel, made the camera drop tracking entirely until it was left alone.

A 400 means the camera reports remote touch as unavailable right now. On the ILCE-7SM3 and ILCE-7C it is movie-mode only; other bodies gate it on focus mode or on live view running.

Get the Tracking Frame

GET /api/cameras/{cameraId}/tracking-frame — read the box the camera is tracking a subject in. Poll it to follow a moving subject; the camera updates the frame on its own once tracking has been seeded.

type is target-af for the subject being tracked, or non-target-af for a candidate the camera is showing but not acting on.

curl

curl http://localhost:8080/api/cameras/D10F60149B0C/tracking-frame

An empty result is normal. 200 with "frames": [] and "available": true means the property was readable and there was simply no subject. A 400 means the property could not be read at all, usually because live view is not running.

Two ways to get a frame here, both measured on an ILCE-7M4:

• A touch, with the body’s Touch Func. in Shooting set to Touch Tracking. Tracking then holds on its own with no button held.
• The camera tracking for its own reasons — a tracking focus area with AF engaged. Holding af-on in Tracking: Expand Flexible Spot reports a target-af frame that disappears on release.

With the ILCE-7M4 default of Touch Focus, a touch moves the AF frame instead and nothing appears here — read AF Frame Position in that case.

Cancel a Touch

POST /api/cameras/{cameraId}/actions/touch-cancel — release the subject a touch locked onto. No body required.

curl

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/cameras/D10F60149B0C/actions/touch-cancel

A 400 here is a safe no-op, not a failure to retry — it means nothing is being tracked. The gate is specifically about a remote touch being in progress: tracking the camera started itself, such as a tracking focus area with af-on held, reports nothing to cancel because there is no remote touch operation to release.

The camera’s ready flag lags a successful cancel by a beat, so an immediate second call can still report success. Treat GET /tracking-frame as the truth.

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Button Press

POST /api/cameras/{cameraId}/actions/button — press a physical button on the camera body, as if someone pressed it by hand.

Combined with live view and the OSD overlay, this is enough to drive the camera’s own menu system remotely and read the result back off the screen — reaching settings that have no property of their own.

Field	Default	Description
button	—	Required. Which button to press
action	press	press for a full down-then-up, or down / up to hold and release

Buttons cover the D-pad and multi-selector, enter, menu, fn, playback, c1–c7, movie, ael, af-on, mode, delete, display, home, clips, slot-select, cancel-back, and thumbnail. See the API reference for the authoritative list.

Holding a button uses the same down / up contract as Shutter.

curl (Full Press)

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/cameras/D10F60149B0C/actions/button \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"button": "menu"}'

Not every body exposes every button. An ILCE-7M4 reports 24 of them — the D-pad and multi-selector, enter, menu, fn, playback, c1–c4, movie, ael, and af-on — but not delete, mode, c5–c7, display, home, clips, slot-select, cancel-back, or thumbnail.

A rejected press returns 400 with the camera’s own operable list in data.supported_buttons, so the real set is discoverable at runtime — send a probe press and read the list back rather than hardcoding one.

Response

{
  "success": false,
  "message": "Button not supported on this camera",
  "data": {
    "supported_buttons": ["up", "down", "left", "right", "enter", "menu", "fn", "playback", "c1", "c2", "c3", "c4", "movie", "ael", "af-on"]
  }
}

Held keys block new presses. The SDK only starts a press while the camera reports itself idle, so a button already held — by an earlier down, or by a hand on the body — makes the next press fail. A release is never blocked: an up always goes through, so a held key can always be let go.

When driving menus, pace the loop: one press, one OSD frame read to see where you landed, then the next press.

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Movie Recording

POST /api/cameras/{cameraId}/actions/movie-rec — start or stop video recording. This is a toggle action — call once to start recording, call again to stop. Uses the SDK’s hold-style command (Down to start, Up to stop).

Monitor recording state via the recording-state property or propertyChanged SSE events.

curl

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/cameras/D10F60149B0C/actions/movie-rec

Ensure the camera is in a video-capable exposure mode (e.g. Movie mode 0x8050–0x8055) before triggering. Check recording-state to confirm the current state.

For typed action helpers, use the SDK pages: TypeScript, Python, or Swift.