guide cam not acquiring image

Using SharpCap's Polar Alignment feature
Chuck
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Joined: Mon May 14, 2018 12:07 pm

guide cam not acquiring image

#1

Post by Chuck »

I'm having trouble getting image from the guide cam when trying to polar align.....if I switch to PHD2, the guide cam is providing an image, so I feel it's not the cam. The thing is, I used it last night just fine....so something has gone wrong. Any help?

Thank you
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admin
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Re: guide cam not acquiring image

#2

Post by admin »

Hi,

what make and model camera are you using? Can you provide a screenshot of the application with the guide cam open but no image showing (so we can see your settings etc)? Also the contents of the SharpCap log often helps diagnose issues.

thanks,

Robin
Chuck
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Joined: Mon May 14, 2018 12:07 pm

Re: guide cam not acquiring image

#3

Post by Chuck »

Its a Altair GPCam2 130M

Pretty new here so not sure where to find the logs....I never had a session last night with SharpCap because the cam was not providing any images, so would there even be one? Sorry no screen shot, I'll try again tonight. The cam has just always started taking the loops when I click the Polar Align in Tools.
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turfpit
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Re: guide cam not acquiring image

#4

Post by turfpit »

Chuck

Log info here https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/2.9/#Show%20Log

The logs can be found via Help > Show Log

Dave
Chuck
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Re: guide cam not acquiring image

#5

Post by Chuck »

High thin clouds, not going to mess with it tonight...
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Re: guide cam not acquiring image

#6

Post by admin »

Hi,

the best way to test this sort of problem is to not wait for a clear night, but to test during daylight. If you have an eyepiece end cap of the clear or transulcent type then pop that over the end of the camera (to keep the dust off) and try using the software to get images. If the camera is working fine then you will see grey/white/orange images that will vary in brightness if you cover the camera with your hand or with exposure changes.

If you get no images then I suggest you work throught USB troubleshooting steps given here - viewtopic.php?f=18&t=349&p=1556#p1556 as often these will help identify the cause of a problem.

cheers,

Robin
Chuck
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Joined: Mon May 14, 2018 12:07 pm

Re: guide cam not acquiring image

#7

Post by Chuck »

I use the camera successfully in PHD2 when guiding.....so in my view, the camera is working fine. For some reason it is no longer acquiring images in SC.
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turfpit
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Re: guide cam not acquiring image

#8

Post by turfpit »

Robin

Is this issue related to viewtopic.php?f=21&t=927&p=4411&hilit=altair+sdk#p4411?


Dave
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Re: guide cam not acquiring image

#9

Post by admin »

Hi Dave, it could be that problem - good spot. It would certainly be worth trying the suggestions in that link to confirm the suspicion or refute it.

Cheers

Robin
Chuck
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Re: guide cam not acquiring image

#10

Post by Chuck »

I'm too new to interpret that link very well. The version I am currently using (the free one is 3.1.5143) was detecting the GPCam just fine the night before I discovered it was failing to detect it. I'm currently downloading 3.1.5193 and will give it a try.
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