Alpha SDK Python Example

Minimal Python example repo for Jupyter notebooks and simple data-collection workflows.

This repo is not the Python SDK package itself. Install the published client from PyPI:

pip install alpha-sdk-client

Use this repo as copy-paste/reference code for:

• discovering and connecting to a camera
• collecting repeated property snapshots into row dictionaries
• triggering AF + shutter capture
• enabling live view and fetching a JPEG frame
• previewing SD card files in remote-transfer mode

Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• a running Alpha Camera server on http://localhost:8080
• a camera supported by the SDK

Start the camera server separately. For example:

npm install -g @alpha-sdk/api
camera-server start

Install

pip install -r requirements.txt

If you do not want Jupyter installed, the only required runtime dependency is:

pip install alpha-sdk-client

Files

• notebook_data_collection.py — notebook-friendly helper functions plus a small CLI smoke test

Quick smoke test

From the repo root:

python notebook_data_collection.py

That will:

• discover cameras
• connect to the first one
• collect a few property snapshots
• print the results

To trigger one real capture:

python notebook_data_collection.py --capture

Use in Jupyter

Start Jupyter from this repo root:

jupyter notebook

Then in a notebook cell:

from alpha_sdk_client import AlphaSDKClient
from notebook_data_collection import (
    collect_property_rows,
    connect_first_camera,
    enable_live_view,
    fetch_live_view_frame,
    save_live_view_frame,
)

client = AlphaSDKClient(base_url="http://localhost:8080")
camera = connect_first_camera(client, mode="remote")
rows = collect_property_rows(client, camera.id, count=5, interval_s=1.0)

If you want a DataFrame:

import pandas as pd

df = pd.DataFrame(rows)
df.head()

Live view example

enable_live_view(client, camera.id)
frame = fetch_live_view_frame(client, camera.id)
save_live_view_frame(frame, "frame.jpg")

Notes

• mode="remote" is the simplest default for control and capture.
• Use mode="remote-transfer" if you also want SD card listing/downloads.
• The helper waits for connection status after connect() rather than assuming the server flips to connected immediately.