I use this script, which uses gphoto2. Gphoto2 doesn't work with everything, so your mileage will vary. # interrupt in any any command fails set -e # verbose execution set -x # gphoto2 binary executable GPHOTO=gphoto2 $GPHOTO --auto-detect while [ 1 ] ; do $GPHOTO --capture-image -n -I=5 $GPHOTO --get-all-files done