Canon M50 as guide camera.

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Astropete1959
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Canon M50 as guide camera.

#1

Post by Astropete1959 »

Hi,
Is it possible to use a canon M50 (mirrorless DSLR) as a guide camera with SharpCap Pro 4 and a Celestron AVX mount. I already have a QHY5III 174C as main imaging camera on my 8" OTA. Being new to this, any help is appreciated :)
Peter
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Re: Canon M50 as guide camera.

#2

Post by admin »

Hi Peter,

maybe...

Apparently there is a piece of software called 'EOS Webcam Utility' that may make the camera appear as a Webcam in Windows, which would then allow SharpCap to talk to it (https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/port ... am-utility). I haven't tried this, so have no idea if/how well it works and whether you would get any control over the camera settings or not.

Another approach would be to try the ASCOM.DSLR driver which can make some Canon cameras work via the ASCOM system. Again I have no idea if that works with the M50, but I have used it with cameras like the 700D.

cheers,

Robin
Astropete1959
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Re: Canon M50 as guide camera.

#3

Post by Astropete1959 »

Thx for that Robin.
SharpCap does see the M50 via the Webcam utility. I also noticed in SharpCap under the Hardware tab, a reference to CPWI (which I have installed for my Celestron AVX mount). Could this be the physical interface between SharpCap's Feature Tracking and my mount?
Peter
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Re: Canon M50 as guide camera.

#4

Post by admin »

Hi Peter,

yes, SharpCap should be able to take control of your mount via the CPWI software - as well as feature tracking, this enables moving the mount position from within SharpCap, plate solving, double click to recenter for deep sky images, etc. (The last two with a compatible plate solving application installed)

cheers,

Robin
Astropete1959
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Re: Canon M50 as guide camera.

#5

Post by Astropete1959 »

Thx again Robin!
A pretty cool program (SharpCap)! So in the Feature Tracking, SharpCap will automatically use the view from the webcam utility; not from my qhyIII174C? Also, what plate solving programs are compatible with Sharpcap?
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Peter
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Re: Canon M50 as guide camera.

#6

Post by admin »

Hi,

SharpCap will use whichever camera you open from the cameras menu - just pick your QHY camera from the list or the Canon EOS utility. Note that feature tracking in SharpCap will attempt to follow surface features on the moon/sun rather than tracking stars for guiding - see https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/4.0/#Feature%20Tracking

Details about which plate solving applications you can use can be found here : https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/4.0/#Plate%20Solving%20Tab

cheers,

Robin
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