Seeing-triggered capture

[rjhamers]

Is there a way to trigger Sharpcap to save images based on triggering by an external solar scintillation monitor ?

[admin]

Hi,

SharpCap doesn't have a built in way to talk to this device, but if it is possible to connect the device to the PC, then it may be possible to design a solution around SharpCap's built in python based scripting language.

cheers,

Robin

[rjhamers]

Thanks- I was thinking about solar imaging as we are come out of the solar minimum. I've tried using the SharpCap's seeing-based triggering doing solar imaging with just a solar filter (white-light, not H-alpha) and a video camera trying to get some good sunspot images, but it wasn't clear to me how seeing was being evaluated. I have a home-built solar scintillometer based on an arduino that in principle I'd like to possibly see if I could get to work with sharp cap if there was a way to do so. There are commercial versions that work with a plug-in to FireCapture, but I really like SharpCap and so if there was a way to get his to work I think it would be useful. I haven't tried the python scripting but I do have programming experience-- so the question would be whether I can get the python interface to recognize any kind of external control signal. I'll have to look into this more. I have significant programming experience, but not sure if it's at the level required to do this.

[admin]

Hi,

can you get the Arduino to appear to the PC as a USB serial port? That would be (relatively) easy to talk to from the Python scripting.

cheers,

Robin

[rjhamers]

Hi-
I believe so. Right now the arduino is programmed through the USB port in the Arduino IDE but then can run independently. I think if I can get SharpCap to talk to a USB port things things should be straightforward. I've done a bit of python programming (and quite a bit C and other languages as well, including instrument control and data acquisition) but I'm a bit less familiar with the specifics of python in the Windows .NET environment. That's what i'm trying to learn now.. If you have any recommendations for good resources please pass them on. Thanks for your interest !

[admin]

Hi,

have a look at this thread, which links to a thread at some different forums about accessing serial ports in IronPython (which is the type of Python SharpCap uses)

viewtopic.php?t=2167

cheers,

Robin