ASCOM and Offset -- a call for expertise
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2020 12:23 am
Recently, there's been a discussion on the ASCOM standards forums (in Groups.io) concerning the offset values for cameras.
Some users want the ASCOM designers to add an Offset property to the Camera interface. The offset value seems to be commonly available and controllable from many camera vendors' API. So the pro-offset team suggests that that if the vendors offer access/control to a property, then ASCOM should expose a new property on the Camera interface to support it. That's how things work with the Gain property of the Camera interface.
The anti-offset team says that offset is an obscure, arcane property with little tangible benefit to common users. The anti's contend that adding a property to the interface will trigger unwelcome ripples of development effort by ASCOM driver writers and the apps that use ASCOM. So unless the offset value has significant value, it isn't worth the collective development effort.
That's a synopsis of a "vigorous" series of technical wrestling matches. The whole kerfuffle could be quelled by appropriate expert testimony on the intrinsic value of offset for astrophoto imaging. A quick/easy contribution would be to clarify how offset influences image capture and processing.
Volunteers are welcome at the ASCOM group site: https://ascomtalk.groups.io/g/Help/topics .
The ASCOM group has separate sections for developers and users. This discussion is in the user section ("Help") because a user initiated the request. The topic is "CMOS Camera ASCOM Driver Offset".
Oh, and how does this tie to SharpCap? The SC Sensor Analysis feature needs to march through a variety of camera offset values to refine the data we use in the Brain. With current ASCOM drivers, the offset cannot be adjusted (or read). AFAIK, SC is currently only able to do SA on non-ASCOM driver cameras. If ASCOM implements an Offset property in the Camera interface then SC can do SA for "any" camera with an ASCOM driver.
Regards,
Joe
Some users want the ASCOM designers to add an Offset property to the Camera interface. The offset value seems to be commonly available and controllable from many camera vendors' API. So the pro-offset team suggests that that if the vendors offer access/control to a property, then ASCOM should expose a new property on the Camera interface to support it. That's how things work with the Gain property of the Camera interface.
The anti-offset team says that offset is an obscure, arcane property with little tangible benefit to common users. The anti's contend that adding a property to the interface will trigger unwelcome ripples of development effort by ASCOM driver writers and the apps that use ASCOM. So unless the offset value has significant value, it isn't worth the collective development effort.
That's a synopsis of a "vigorous" series of technical wrestling matches. The whole kerfuffle could be quelled by appropriate expert testimony on the intrinsic value of offset for astrophoto imaging. A quick/easy contribution would be to clarify how offset influences image capture and processing.
Volunteers are welcome at the ASCOM group site: https://ascomtalk.groups.io/g/Help/topics .
The ASCOM group has separate sections for developers and users. This discussion is in the user section ("Help") because a user initiated the request. The topic is "CMOS Camera ASCOM Driver Offset".
Oh, and how does this tie to SharpCap? The SC Sensor Analysis feature needs to march through a variety of camera offset values to refine the data we use in the Brain. With current ASCOM drivers, the offset cannot be adjusted (or read). AFAIK, SC is currently only able to do SA on non-ASCOM driver cameras. If ASCOM implements an Offset property in the Camera interface then SC can do SA for "any" camera with an ASCOM driver.
Regards,
Joe