Struggling with Sensor Analysis using ASCOM driver

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markcasazza
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Struggling with Sensor Analysis using ASCOM driver

#1

Post by markcasazza »

I am trying to perform a sensor analysis with a ZWO ASI2600MC Pro camera with both the native driver and the ASCOM driver. I have completed the analysis with the native driver, but every time I start the analysis with the ASCOM driver it hangs at some point. My latest attempt skipped the bin testing. The process always gets through the first pass and I either lock up on the darks or the gain analysis after the darks.
  • Any suggestions on what I can do to complete this analysis?
    Will changing the "Capture Area" affect the results in a meaningful way? I have not tried that yet.
    Where can I look for logs that might indicate the problem?
For background I am doing this for two reasons. I want to understand if my camera is operating within the expected ranges, but more importantly I am trying to understand the impact of the 0 to 100 gain range of the ASCOM driver. My primary tool to do long exposure imaging is Sequence Generator Pro which only uses the ASCOM driver. If, as I fear, the ASCOM driver is really lacking I need to move to an image acquisition tool that can use the native driver.

I am running SharpCap version 3.2.6482.0

Thanks for any and all help,

Mark
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Re: Struggling with Sensor Analysis using ASCOM driver

#2

Post by admin »

Hi Mark,

it may well be worth trying SharpCap 4.0 rather than 3.2 - I've done a good deal of work in 4.0 to try to make the analysis more stable and also to make the ASCOM support better behaved. In 4.0 you can also switch the camera into 'still mode' which means images are only taken on request. This can actually reduce the number of frames that need to be captured for the analysis, since there is no need to wait for a few frames after each camera settings change to make sure the settings have actually had an effect.

https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/sharpcap-4-0-downloads

cheers,

Robin
markcasazza
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Joined: Tue Jun 22, 2021 1:06 am

Re: Struggling with Sensor Analysis using ASCOM driver

#3

Post by markcasazza »

Robin,

Whatever you did it worked perfect. I have the data I need. I was correct the ASCOM driver is quit limiting from a gain perspective. I need to run some offset calculations yet, but I think the days are numbered for SGP. I will check out the planning, plate solving, focusing and long exposure features in SharpCap over the next two months. My next dark sky site visit isn't until September's new moon.

Mark
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Re: Struggling with Sensor Analysis using ASCOM driver

#4

Post by admin »

Hi Mark,

glad to hear that worked for you :)

cheers,

Robin
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