Hi Craig,
well, the monochrome output files are the easy bit - that is expected when saving a RAW image, since the colour information is encoded in the different values of neighbouring pixels (some are detecting red, some blue, some green). If you look closely then you will see a grid pattern on the saved image at the pixel scale. You need to process the saved images through a piece of software that can recover the colour information via debayering. See this thread for a more thorough description :
viewtopic.php?t=254
As for the image going practically monochrome in bin2x2, I suspect that is sadly a bug in the QHY code that is handling binning for your camera. I don't see the same effect when testing here with my QHY585C, which QHY see as an update to the older 485C. All the code on the SharpCap side will be the same for the two cameras, so the difference in behaviour is very likely to be down to the QHY code
- Screenshot 2023-11-11 152647.jpg (228.27 KiB) Viewed 4906 times
You don't mention which version of SharpCap you are using, so I would suggest trying the very latest SharpCap 4.1 if you are not already using it, as that may have newer versions of the QHY software than SharpCap 4.0.
It's also worth knowing that binning for CMOS cameras is entirely software binning, rather than the hardware 'collect electrons from multiple pixels and read them all out in one go' binning that CCD cameras used. Even what some manufacturers call 'hardware binning' is software binning done on the camera rather than on the PC. So, what you gain from using binning that cannot equivalently be achieved in post-processing is limited to :
* Smaller saved file sizes
* Higher frame rates for cameras with 'hardware binning' options (does not apply to QHY).
cheers,
Robin
