Sharpcap + Sparkocam + Nikon D5300?

Using SharpCap's Polar Alignment feature
devonshire
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Dec 14, 2017 12:37 am

Re: Sharpcap + Sparkocam + Nikon D5300?

#11

Post by devonshire »

Yes, I still have some, at 10, 20, 30 seconds. They're too large to attach as-is, though.
I can shrink them if you're ok with the loss of detail, but not sure what size to target to pass your attachment limit.
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Re: Sharpcap + Sparkocam + Nikon D5300?

#12

Post by admin »

The attachment limit is fairly small because I don't want to end up hosting (and backing up) an enormous archive of images. Could you email them to me? I will send an email address via PM (although it's pretty easy to guess - I just try not to post it to keep the spam levels down).

cheers,

Robin
LuckyMan
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Joined: Wed Sep 04, 2019 4:08 am

Re: Sharpcap + Sparkocam + Nikon D5300?

#13

Post by LuckyMan »

Friend did you make Sparkocam recognize and work with your Nikon D5300? I have the same model but I can't make it work with Sparkocam even though the program says it works with that camera model.
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devonshire wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2017 3:45 am Hi Robin,

I was able to give this a brief try a couple of days ago. Had to break off due to an unrelated mount issue, but I think I learned enough to give this a 'no-go'.

There wasn't a problem passing images from the D5300 to Sharpcap via Sparkocam. Yes, a little clumsy, but doable for this purpose. And Sharpcap gave a good try on solving image #1.

The limitation turned out to be not the camera, but the scope's FOV. My f6.1's field of view wasn't turning up enough stars to drive the solution, even with 30 second images. It was at that point that I had to stop. Perhaps I could have jigged around and come up with enough stars to solve #1, but what to do if stars dropped out when I rotated, or when tuning the alignment?

It's really too soon in my AP journey to start guiding, but I've picked up a 50mm/F4 guidescope with an Altair GP224C camera anyway. Guiding will wait, Polar Alignment won't. Hoping it will help with my PA for now, while I work on other AP skills.

Thanks for your help with this! I'll be back later, as a licensee.

- Bob
devonshire
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Dec 14, 2017 12:37 am

Re: Sharpcap + Sparkocam + Nikon D5300?

#14

Post by devonshire »

LuckyMan,

Sorry, I posted all I had on that, and then moved on - I just had SparkoCam on a trial.

I did try something related, though, just for fun. Robin brought out a "File Monitor camera" feature a while back. Sharpcap can poll a folder for new pictures. I created a dedicated folder for BackYard Nikon to use w/sharpcap, set up an imaging sequence in BYN, and had Sharpcap monitor the folder.

It did work for polar alignment, but was a bit clumsy and slower than a guidescope (F6.x vs F4.x). BYN also has to have its folder switched back and forth from the PA one to the imaging one. So... it can be made to work, but a guidescope and guide camera are a much better idea.

- Bob
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