Can't select Dark Flats Option

[mgCatskills]

I'm running SharpCap Pro 4.09511 64-bit with an ASI 294 MC-Pro camera on a 9.25" Celestron with Evo mount. I'm using a Mele Quieter 3 micro-PC headless, with connections via Windows Remote desktop.

A week ago I tried running Dark Flats for the first time, and SharpCap allowed me to capture them. I wasn't pleased with the result, but the workflow operated the way it was supposed to.

Last night I got to the flats capture part of my evening and I was not able to check the dark flats capture option. It was weird because all of the other UI options were live. I believe I exited SharpCap and re-entered, reconnected to the camera, etc. Still the Dark Flats option could not be checked, even though it didn't appear grayed out, either. In the end I captured conventional flats only and went on with my evening. To do that, I had to click within the same dialog box that wouldn't allow me to check the Dark Flats option.

I was capturing monochrome flats in all cases. I was capturing 30 exposures and was saving the individual flat frames because I often post-process using ASTAP. No problem setting all of those options which are in the same dialog box.

Any ideas?

[admin]

Hi,

almost certainly you already had a dark frame selected in the controls on the right. If you already have a dark frame selected then the 'Capture Flat' window thinks that you have already taken care of dark frames, so it doesn't offer you any choices (it will just work with the dark frame already selected).

If your dark frame was create for the exposure that you intend to use for flat frames then all is well. If it was created for the longer exposure times used for lights then you should turn off 'Subract Dark' in the controls on the right, then choose 'Capture Flat' and you will see all the options.

Maybe I should show a notification in the Capture Flat window to explain what is going on

cheers,

Robin

[mgCatskills]

Hi, Robin.

Thanks, I do think it would be helpful to make that change to show a notification. I think of darks and dark flats as completely different objects, so it never occurred to me that one influenced the other.

In my ideal workflow, I capture darks first (if needed), then pull the cap off, capture lights, then dark-lights. The darks are at my EAA deep sky exposure (typically 10 seconds/350 gain); I assume dark-flats should be at the same exposure as the flats (I was capturing at about 3 seconds and 180 gain with a dim panel).

I realize now that -- the first time through -- I reused an existing set of darks, so Subtract Darks wasn't yet set. This time, I captured a new set of darks because I'd moved the camera to install a UV/IR cut filter. I had checked use the Capture Dark option, so it was def set, but not to my "flats" exposure.

[admin]

Hi,

yes, I agree that the use of the existing dark doesn't always make sense - I have added a notification to SharpCap 4.1 to explain why the dark/bias options are disabled.

cheers,

Robin

[mgCatskills]

Thank you!