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quick questions about new SDK - bit depth & force still mode
Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 7:45 pm
by mAnKiNd
Hi Robin, hope you're well,
With the latest update and the latest QHY SDK, can we now enable the option in Sharpcap settings to "save 10/12/14 bit images..."?
Could you please shed some light on the practical differences offered by enabling "force still mode"? I don't remember seeing this option before the SDK update, but maybe I'm wrong
Many thanks
Minos
Re: quick questions about new SDK - bit depth & force still mode
Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 8:26 pm
by admin
Hi Minos,
1) Save 10/12/14 bit images in FITS is only really useful for astrometry purposes (apparently some of the analysis programs used don't take nicely to the FITS file data being stretched up to the full 16 bit range). By default SharpCap does stretch images out to 16 bit to avoid a flood of 'why does my saved image look darker' questions...
2) Force still mode was a workaround for a user who had issues with longer exposures on the QHY183 (or was it the 163?). Anyway, the issue was resolved for them by working in 16 bit mode and forcing the camera into still mode rather than video mode. There is no real advantage to using this if your camera works properly without it.
cheers,
Robin
Re: quick questions about new SDK - bit depth & force still mode
Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 1:26 am
by mAnKiNd
Gotcha, thank you for your reply
All the best
Minos
Re: quick questions about new SDK - bit depth & force still mode
Posted: Wed May 09, 2018 8:48 pm
by eseavey
Interesting! I didn't notice this feature yet, but I like to be able to save images in the 12-bit format that comes from the camera. Will look for that feature when I get home tonight.