Dither issues

[fourfives]

I'm trying to resolve an issue with dithering and sharpcap pro. For some reason I get 1-2 blurry frames during or after a dither. My versions for PHD2 are 2.6.9 and use Sharpcap pro 3.2.6383.0. I'm unsure if this is a sharpcap pro issue or a PHD2 issue.

I've used this combination for almost a year now ....and for the first 6 months or so I never saw this issue so I'm at a loss to what I may have changed accidently.

I use a RASA 8, EQ6R Pro mount and ZWO cameras and guide with a guide scope/camera that has not changed. I almost always shoot 60 second subs, and even when shooting longer subs the issue still happens. I thought it had something to do with the minimum settle time but i've toyed around with that, I can't seem to come to any conclusion. Any help would be appreciated even if its not a sharpcap issue.



My dither settings are as follows:
Dither interval 500 seconds
Max dither step 10 pixels
Settle threshold 2 pixels
Minimum settle time 6 seconds
Maximum settle time 12 seconds
Reduce exposure time while dithering
Automatically dither is enabled
Monitor PHD2 guiding is enabled

[admin]

Hi,

please try updating to the very latest SharpCap 3.2 (3.2.6448, which is on the downloads page). There have been fixes to the PHD2/Dithering code since 6383, and also the communication between SharpCap and PHD2 now ends up in the log, which will be handy if we need to dig into this further.

thanks,

Robin

[fourfives]

Didn't work by simply upgrading to the new version however - I had purchased a mini computer already and after setting everything up on it (replacing my laptop) it isn't doing the same thing there. I'm not quite sure what it could be however it really isn't an issue for me anymore as I plan to always use the mini computer anyway from now on rather than the laptop I've been using for almost a year. I would assume there is a setting somewhere on the laptop that got changed that is resulting in this or perhaps even PHD2 settings or even PHD2 calibration and it was trying to bump the mount too much after a dither - but that's just a guess.

[admin]

Hi,

good to hear that you have things working – even if we haven't quite worked out what is going on.

Clear skies, Robin