Motion Detection

Got an idea for something that SharpCap should do? Share it here.
Forum rules
'+1' posts are welcome in this area of the forums to indicate your support for a particular feature suggestion. Suggestions that get the most +1's will be seriously considered for inclusion in future versions of SharpCap.
Post Reply
GammaCassiopeiae
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2019 10:07 pm

Motion Detection

#1

Post by GammaCassiopeiae »

Heresy, yes...

Let's face it, it is cloudy 94.57% of the time. We astronomers play with our gear, wistfully imagining that the skies might one day clear up enough to perhaps see the moon.

I have personally taken to shooting images of hummingbirds with a small refractor, a ZWO camera and SharpCap. Since the images have little integration time, I can't leave this running long or my computer would explode. There are other birds flying around that could be imaged in a similar fashion.

What I need is something to trigger the "sequence" when a bird lands on my target...
User avatar
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 13177
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:52 pm
Location: Vale of the White Horse, UK
Contact:

Re: Motion Detection

#2

Post by admin »

Hi,

if you have a relatively plain background then maybe the 'seeing triggered capture' mode of the seeing monitor might help? See https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/4.0/#!2!Seeing%20Monitor

That functionality monitors the image for increases in contrast that are caused by periods of good seeing, but it might be possible to set it up to spot a period of increased contrast caused by a bird appearing in view? On the other hand, if the background is rather busy, then the bird appearing might reduce the contrast, which would not work :(

cheers,

Robin
GammaCassiopeiae
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2019 10:07 pm

Re: Motion Detection

#3

Post by GammaCassiopeiae »

Thanks Robin

The lens has a wide-open aperture (a telescope) so the depth of field is small, meaning the background is blurred. I'm also trying to align things such that the background isn't too busy. If a living nebula (e.g. a Robin) appears and is in reasonably good focus this might work.

I was unaware of this feature. Thanks again.
Post Reply