Mallincamsky DS26c cannot make flats

[admin]

Hi Dan,

yes, that update has some changes that might make things run more smoothly with your camera's ASCOM driver. It's certainly worth a try. Please capture and post a log file if you still experience problems.

thanks,

Robin

[DanK]

Hi Robin:

I will get on it right away. Probably tonight with both the DS10c and DS26c.

Flats/ averaging flats, same with darks, sensor analysis and faithful colour rendition is what I want from the Mallincamsky cameras

I have been informed that Jack Huerkamp is working on a beta ASCOM version of Mallincamsky software which seems to be working better with Sharpcap. Many Mallincamsky owners use Sharpcap with excellent results although the ASCOM software doesn't work very well in traditional imaging.

So a lot in the development pipeline!

Dan Kahraman

[admin]

Hi Dan,

good to hear that there are some updates coming from Mallincam - good luck and clear skies!

Robin

[DanK]

Log and Bug Files for Mallincamsky DS26c and DS10c:

1) Good news! I was able to make flats in both DS10c and DS26c. In the case of DS26c I caught my error...I had to uncheck all except make monochrome flats
2) I used the latest build of SC 4.0 64 bit. Afraid of trying 32 bit
3) I was able to do sensor analysis on the DS10c and saved the file to the clipboard. Don't ask me where that is
4) I was not able to do a sensor analysis on the Mallincamsky DS26c. A longer start exposure would have shortened the time required to do a sensor analysis

The attached log files should provide you with much more insight but whatever you have already fixed has made a big difference

The "brain" symbol is now available when I click on the histogram on the DS10c camera---Sunday June 27th 2021

Dan Kahraman

[admin]

Hi Dan,

glad to hear you are making progress.

The DS10C log that you uploaded is from SharpCap 4.0.7888 (which is before my latest changes), so I wonder if you have the wrong log file there.

The DS26C log has several entries that indicate that the ASCOM driver has basically timed out - for instance

Code: Select all

Warning	21:55:34.000752	#9 	ASCOM exposure of duration 0.23s timed out after 60.43s. Attempting to stop/abort exposing			

This is going to be an ASCOM driver issue - as you can see SharpCap asked for a 0.23s exposure and gave up waiting after 60s when the driver had still not signalled that the image was ready. Hopefully updates the ASCOM driver will fix this sort of issue. SharpCap will have tried again after this to capture the frame, but if the ASCOM driver keeps timing out, there is not much that can be done from my side.

cheers,

Robin

[DanK]

Yes it was from the June 23 update....I will try again tonight with your latest version (June 25th ).

I am hoping that Jack Huerkamp will work at fixing the issues from his end. At any rate it is promising as there is movement from Mallincamsky's end to address the issues. I can use the specific line in the bug file that you have pointed out.

Thanks for all your work. Having the DS26c now having the ability to make flats in SC & then average them is a big step forward. I had to disable the two boxes above and below "make monochrome flat" for this to execute properly.

Dan Kahraman

[DanK]

More good and another warning message in sensor analysis on the Mallincamsky DS26c:

The very good news is that I had the best colour fidelity in a sequence acquired through SC 4.0.7924.0 64 bit. I have to use Pipp and convert GBRG to RGGB and then preprocess in APP. Excellent results. Darks and Flats are acquired and averaged without issue

The bad news is the continued hang-up and warning message in the log file but at a different location when attempting Sensor analysis. Unfortunately I couldn't find the log file.

I passed the message to Jack H. at Mallincamsky USA

No issues with the Mallincamsky DS10c camera except for the conversion of the Bayer pattern from GBRG to RGGB before preprocessing it in APP as RGGB.

It is looking good Robin.

Dan Kahraman

[admin]

Hi Dan,

that's good news - hopefully the progress will continue in the right direction!

Finding log files is much easier on SharpCap 4.0 as there is a 'Locate on Disk' button on the log window - this will find the folder with the current (and all previous) log files in - see https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/4.0/#Show%20Log

Robin

[DanK]

Yes the locate on disk is another very handy improvement...this bug file is riddled with warnings

Robin this isn't a failing on your part Mallincamsky's ASCOM is horrible and took a new dive with the DS26c. Many users with an extensive background in computers think very poorly about the software and they won't be buying the newer cameras such as the DS24c or DS24m models. You don't have the cameras and it will take you off course from your main mission to investigate the interactions between the circuit boards, compilers and ASCOM or whatever.

Here is the latest bug report. I won't be running any further analyses on the FS26c until there is a software update from Mallincansky and contrary to the optimism I expressed yesterday, more recent communications do not renew my sense of optimism.

You have an excellent product which keeps getting better. Buggy bug file is attached.


Dan Kahraman

[admin]

Hi,

that log is still full of warnings about the ASCOM driver timing out. One thing that I did notice is that SharpCap doesn't record anything in the log for successful frames, so it is hard to know if the timeouts are continuous once they start happening or intermittent. I will make a change in the next update to correct that - after a timeout, the next success will get logged (but not logging every frame as that would record too much noise).

thanks,

Robin