Weird issue with ASI120MC-S

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putitat
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2017 1:59 am

Weird issue with ASI120MC-S

#1

Post by putitat »

This is driving me crazy. I can take an AVI in daylight of a distant object just fine.
When try to get a any photo or video of a bright star, I can't get any image at all not even a blob.
Yet it senses light or dark and reacts to exposure, gamma control, etc. I'm thinking the camera sensor might be shot.

I additionally updated to the latest ASCOM and downloaded and installed the latest driver from the
ZWO website. Still no videos or stills or even out of focus blobs. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

putitat :?:
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admin
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Re: Weird issue with ASI120MC-S

#2

Post by admin »

Hi,

sounds like you're just at the steep part of the learning curve - it's tricky to begin with to get the focus, exposure and pointing right at the same time. Here are some hints...

* Start with the moon - it's big and bright and easy to find, and once you've found it you can get your focus sorted out.

* Once you've found the moon and got focus, turn the gain up to maximum and set exposures of maybe 2-5 seconds and go looking for bright stars. Note that even using these settings if you are way out of focus you may not see any sign of stars at all!

* Check that the frame count is going up (bottom left) - if it isn't you may be having USB issues and there's a whole post here about those - viewtopic.php?f=18&t=349&p=1556#p1556

* Once you've found something intersting to image, turn the gain down (not necessarily all the way) and the exposure up further until you are satisfied with what you are seeing. This time of year M42 is a good starting target as it is nice and bright.

cheers,

Robin
putitat
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2017 1:59 am

Re: Weird issue with ASI120MC-S

#3

Post by putitat »

Thank you Robin for the advice. I once was able do just that and have many good pics. But since the Florida weather has been stinko for almost six months I haven't been out with it until just recently. I'll keep on trying though.

putitat :)
putitat
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2017 1:59 am

Re: Weird issue with ASI120MC-S Problem solved

#4

Post by putitat »

Hi Robin,
Problem solved. The solution was to put on a focal reducer to give me a more brighter and wider view.
once I tried that I could make out faint blobs of light. Using mid range gamma setting and and .5 second speed
I was able to adjust the focuser into stars. Now that I had images I continued to play with the exposures.
It works great with Sharpcap, FireCapture and N4.

Hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :mrgreen:

putitat
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Re: Weird issue with ASI120MC-S

#5

Post by admin »

Excellent - good to hear that you are back in business - have a Merry Christmas and hopefully some clear skies too!

cheers,

Robin
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