MallinCam DS16C via ASCOM?

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mike-va
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MallinCam DS16C via ASCOM?

#1

Post by mike-va »

Hello to the group.

I'm an experienced astro imager using traditional cooled CCD cameras, and recently decided to try one of the new generation of CMOS cameras. I bought a MallinCam DS16C. The MallinCam software is giving me fits. I would like to try SharpCap with this camera.

I see SharpCap has no native driver for the DS16C. Does anyone know if SharpCap can connect to the DS16C via ASCOM? Theoretically, the MallinCam software comes with an ASCOM driver.

Thanks for any information.

--- Mike
http://astronomy.mdodd.com
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Re: MallinCam DS16C via ASCOM?

#2

Post by admin »

Hi Mike,

in theory SharpCap should work with any camera that has an ASCOM driver. In practice it's not quite as simple as that as ASCOM drivers are of variable quality and often interpret the driver specification in new and unusual ways (to be fair to driver developers, the specification is poorly defined in places).

The only real answer is to try it and see - do report back with any success or problems.

cheers,

Robin
mike-va
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Re: MallinCam DS16C via ASCOM?

#3

Post by mike-va »

Success!

I installed SharpCap and the MallinCam ASCOM driver on my Windows 7 Pro observatory computer, and SharpCap found the DS16C when it launched for the first time. I connected to it, and captured frames from the camera (remotely, during daylight, with the lens cap on, so totally black).

Now I'm reading the user manual to learn how to use SharpCap.

--- Mike
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Re: MallinCam DS16C via ASCOM?

#4

Post by admin »

Excellent - hope that you manage to get some real astro images soon :)

Robin
mike-va
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Re: MallinCam DS16C via ASCOM?

#5

Post by mike-va »

It turns out that SmartCap doesn't offer binning for the DS16C via ASCOM.

Imaging unguided, I need 2x2 binning on DSOs to take short-exposure frames for EAA. So I used the MallinCam software last night. Through live stacking, I managed to get a decent M27 and a semi-decent M51. But the software leaves much to be desired, so I am seriously considering replacing the DS16C with an ASI1600C Pro, which apparently uses the same Panasonic sensor.

QUESTION: Does SharpCap's native ASI1600C Pro driver provide hardware binning? If so, I'll pull the trigger on the ASI1600C today.

Thank you.

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Re: MallinCam DS16C via ASCOM?

#6

Post by admin »

Hi Mike,

yes, SharpCap gives binning with the ZWO ASI cameras. If the Mallincam ASCOM driver had binning support then SharpCap would offer you that option, so I can only presume that Mallincam don't offer that feature in the ASCOM driver.

Some things you ought to note though...

1) All CMOS binning is software binning (ie single pixel values are read off the sensor and added or averaged by software code). Some CMOS cameras claim 'hardware' binning, but that means that the adding happens in the camera rather than in software on the PC. There is no option on any current CMOS camera to perform the sort of hardware binning that CCD cameras do where the charge is collected across multiple pixels and then measured.

2) Some (most?) CMOS cameras do not get brighter when binning because they average the 2x2 block of pixel values rather than adding it. This is misunderstood sometimes to mean that binning is ineffective on CMOS cameras, but actually the averaging reduces the pixel noise, so the S/N ratio of the image increases by exactly the same amount as it would if you binned by adding rather than averaging. If you want a brighter image on one of these cameras then you turn on binning *and* turn up the gain .

cheers,

Robin
mike-va
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Re: MallinCam DS16C via ASCOM?

#7

Post by mike-va »

Thanks for the information, Robin.

in terms of hardware/software binning, I'll take your word for it. I just don't want binning to lose anything (except resolution) in the image.

Regarding binned brightness, last night my DS16C images definitely got much brighter with 2x2 binning using the MallinCam software. Without binning, M27 appeared as a nearly invisible smudge in a 120-second exposure, but a binned a 20-second exposure gave me a dim but recognizable M27. A stack of seven of these 20-second exposures gave me this: http://house.mdodd.com/proj_obs_scope.html#M27

I consider that OK for EAA, but I'd want something much better for a "pretty picture" to hang on the living room wall.

For those, I'd probably go with two- or three-minute unbinned exposures (guided to prevent smearing). This is one reason i'm considering the ASI1600C Pro -- it's cooled, and ought to reduce noise even more than the uncooled DS16C.

Thanks again.

--- Mike
GregL
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Re: MallinCam DS16C via ASCOM?

#8

Post by GregL »

I also have a DS16c and have been able to do sensor analysis with the Mallincam ascom driver and polar alignment (a very nice function). But for EAA, I have been using the Mallincam software because I find the noisiness distracting, since the vendor software has an integral dark function not present in SHarpcap.

greg latiak
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