SharpCap 4.0 Beta Now Available

[SteveInNZ]

I can only speak for myself, but it's more a case of being forewarned that something is required.

If I knew that it needed a newer version of the .NET framework I'd be able to manage the situation accordingly.
At least the QHY SDK/Driver hopscotch seems to have eased now.

Steve.

[RickBG]

Hi Robin,
In the prior versions of SC ,experimental collimation was for Newtonian telescopes only. I have been using a program called Meta Guide to aid me in collimating. I now wonder in the Beta version if the collimation tool can now be used for all telescopes?

[admin]

Hi,

really it depends on the off axis star shape of your telescope. Newtonians suffer from coma off axis, giving bigger stars off-axis. That means that getting the smallest stars in the center of the field with the even growth around indicates good collimation.

If your telescope produces sharp stars all the way to the edge of the field then there is no 'signal' for the collimation tool to measure.

Cheers, Robin

[RickBG]

Hi Robin,
Are you planning in the future to include a tool enabling collimation for SCT perhaps similar to "MetaGuide"application program? As you know focusing and collimation are the most important aspects in astrophotography, and it would be an upgrade to incorporate a collimation tool for all telescopes in one program...just a suggestion.

Rick

[admin]

Hi Rick,

Right at the moment I don't have any plans to add more improvements to collimation features. I ended up getting rid of the Newtonian telescope that I had, and I hardly ever put my SCT onto the mount these days - at the moment I'm very much a fan of refractors as they are 'low maintenance' and don't need any collimation

Cheers, Robin

[timh]

Hi Robin,

I haven't yet had a dark sky opportunity to test your modified live stacking dark frame subtraction properly.

I did however try using the folder camera and doing a live stack on some frames I had saved before. I don't know if this is a valid test but I don't think that it has worked in that context ..i.e. I could see quite a few bad pixels when I looked at the stack.fts file.

Would it be helpful to send you the dark, flat and light frames?

best regards
Tim H

[aquariusCZ]

Hi Robin,
only a while ago I honed the forum again and was pleased to find that version 3.3 had appeared.
Image tracing using ROI works.
The Dobsonists are back in the game.
Big thanks.
Tomas

[admin]

Hi Tomas,

Good to hear that it's working for you – I also have a plan for an alternative mode for planetary imaging that will centre the planet in each frame without needing to adjust the ROI - coming soon (soonish, anyway).

Cheers, Robin

[Malmy]

Hi
Had trouble with my new Altair 269c not working on the 3.2 so downloaded the 3.3 beta and everything worked fine as far as what i used.
Now when i downloaded the new 3.2 6442.0 i'm back to it not working again.

Any thoughts thank you.

Regards
Martin.

[admin]

Hi Martin,

3.3 currently has a slightly newer version of the Altair software than 3.2. I was under the impression that the only difference was fixing an obscure bug related to getting the serial number from the camera, but maybe there is more difference than that.

I'll try to put out an updated 3.2 within the next few days.

Cheers, Robin