SharpCap Forums

Greetings, Can the raw individual files be saved in the fits format while livestacking or are they automatically saved as png files. If they can be saved as fits files, would this affect the time it takes for livestacking to align and stack the files? I would like to save individual files as 16 bit raw in fits format but do livestacking at the same time. Thanks.

If you have the save individual frames selected it will be in Fits. If it does affect the stacking time I can't tell....it maybe takes a second or less. I feel like I remember it saying someplace how long it took to stack. Perhaps under the alignment tab but I could be wrong. I live stack and save the raw fits for later processing.

As far as I know the only way it saves in PNG is if you select the save as seen option.

thanks for the reply but I believe if you select png output format on the right side column under capture format and area, all of the raw files will be saved as png while livestacking. I think this may be the default setting. But from what you have just said sounds like I can set it for fits format and the raw frames will be saved in fits while livestacking is running. Thanks.

hello,

I'm having trouble saving my individual images. It seems like no matter what i select as my preferred sill format, the individual files are saved as monochrome png.

I do not have save stack automatically enabled, i have the setting to save stacked only files, and when I actually do save the stacked file i save it as a 16 bit unprocessed.

I like the live stacking option because it is visually gratifying, and gives me an idea of what the output will be like, but I'm so far I am unable to process my images.


Regards,
Xee

Hi Xee,

if you are using the latest version of SharpCap and have set the preferred format in the settings as FITS then you should be getting FITS files saved for the RAW live stacking frames.

For astronomy cameras, these files will be monochrome, even for a colour camera, since the the file will contain the raw, undebayered image from the camera sensor.

Just to check that there is nothing unusual about your set up that might stop this from working, it would be helpful to see a copy of the 'CameraSettings.txt' file that is saved next to the image when you press the 'Save' button in live stacking - this records all the camera settings and live stacking settings.

cheers,

Robin

Hey Robin,

Thanks for the quick response.

I’m using sharp cap 4 but I’ll recheck the exact version maybe I need to update.

On the other hand, I understand the monochrome, but with the png aren’t great with reprocessing.

I’ll check when I get home the details of camera setting but I to recall I have it set to fits or tiff, but I’ll recheck and tell you.

Regards,
Xee

Hello Robin,

I'm using Sharp cap pro 4.0 64-bit version 4.0.8949.0

The camera settings file only is available when you save the stacked image right? Luckily i have a couple of those, I've attached 3 of those.

All 3 sessions the raw file folder was populated with .png files.

the 1590s and the 868s files were monochrome png files, the 13301s file i had changed the color space to RGB24 and that had colored PNG files.

I'm sure there is something I'm missing somewhere, cause i really enjoy the live stacking feature, but i would like to restack and reprocess the images to produce better output, and i cant do that with PNG.

Awaiting your feedback,

Xee

Hi,

I think a first thing to do here would be for you to update SharpCap - 4.0.8949 is nearly 6 months old, and there have been a lot of bug fixes since then.

Once you have the new version installed, make a short test (no need to wait for dark skies, simply turn off 'Align Frames' in the live stacking, which will let you test with a dark image from the camera or a daytime image). Before testing do check that 'Preferred Still Format' is still FITS in the settings and after testing remember to turn 'Align Frames' back on.

Hopefully this will resolve the issue,

thanks,

Robin

hey Robin,

I updated and formatted the whole PC and that works great now.

I have another issue that ill post in the appropriate forum.


Thanks