HELP!
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If you have a problem or question, please check the FAQ to see if it already has an answer : https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/sharpcap-faqs
If you have a problem or question, please check the FAQ to see if it already has an answer : https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/sharpcap-faqs
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Cailean1999
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2022 4:42 pm
HELP!
Hoping someone can help me please. I have purchased the SkyWatcher 150pds scope on an EQ5 pro mount. I’ve also bought the Svbony 305 pro camera and trying to get this all working. I use a laptop which is windows10, 16gb ddr4 ram, 556gb ssd as well as 1tb ssd. I’ve had people say to set up in daylight and look at distant objects, then to alter settings. Nothing seems to be working. Now on my sharpcap (in daylight) I am seeing colours changing but they are pixelated and not focussed, very blurry and can’t even make out what it’s looking at. It was completely black, then white and just nothing else. I have tried adjusting gain, contrast, gamma, everything! Can anyone offer any advice or knowledge about where I may be going wrong or what might not be right. At my whits end now and just want to get this working.
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admin
- Site Admin
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- Location: Vale of the White Horse, UK
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Re: HELP!
Hi,
if you are getting a change from light to dark when you cover the telescope then you have already got the camera working with the software, so that is one problem out of the way.
It sounds from the blurriness that everything is very out of focus. If you are trying to test things out in daylight then you need to point at something pretty far away - a roof at least 20 metres at a minimum, ideally much further.
Usually the sky is much brighter than the ground, so move the telescope slowly downwards and you should at some point see the image go darker as you move from looking at the sky to the ground (or roof, or tree, or whatever). Now go back up a bit to the point where the brightness changed, you should now be looking roughly at the line between sky and roof/ground/tree. With the telescope at this position, adjust focus, looking hoping to actually see an image. Test the whole range of focus available to you and be aware that you might even need an extension tube to move the camera further from the telescope. Hopefully you will find the focus point (you may need to adjust exposure and or move the telescope a bit as you get closer to focus to keep looking at that dividing point between sky and ground).
One trick if you are completely confused about focus position is to take the camera out and put a white piece of paper behind the eyepiece holder - move it back and forward. At some point you will see a projected image in focus on the paper. That position is where you need to place the camera sensor (that distance from the telescope).
Once you have focus on something, you can start experimenting with camera controls. The next step will be to try at night to image the moon.
Hope this gets you started,
Robin
if you are getting a change from light to dark when you cover the telescope then you have already got the camera working with the software, so that is one problem out of the way.
It sounds from the blurriness that everything is very out of focus. If you are trying to test things out in daylight then you need to point at something pretty far away - a roof at least 20 metres at a minimum, ideally much further.
Usually the sky is much brighter than the ground, so move the telescope slowly downwards and you should at some point see the image go darker as you move from looking at the sky to the ground (or roof, or tree, or whatever). Now go back up a bit to the point where the brightness changed, you should now be looking roughly at the line between sky and roof/ground/tree. With the telescope at this position, adjust focus, looking hoping to actually see an image. Test the whole range of focus available to you and be aware that you might even need an extension tube to move the camera further from the telescope. Hopefully you will find the focus point (you may need to adjust exposure and or move the telescope a bit as you get closer to focus to keep looking at that dividing point between sky and ground).
One trick if you are completely confused about focus position is to take the camera out and put a white piece of paper behind the eyepiece holder - move it back and forward. At some point you will see a projected image in focus on the paper. That position is where you need to place the camera sensor (that distance from the telescope).
Once you have focus on something, you can start experimenting with camera controls. The next step will be to try at night to image the moon.
Hope this gets you started,
Robin