Multiple cameras of the same make and model

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meies
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu May 23, 2024 9:04 pm

Multiple cameras of the same make and model

#1

Post by meies »

I have been running two telescopes simultaneously with two different cameras using two instances of SC, and that works fine. So far, one has been a cooled camera, and the other has not, but I am now looking to get a second cooled camera. If I were to get the same camera as my current one, the darks would be stored in folders that name the model, gain, exposure, and bin. Is there a way to distinguish darks acquired on one camera vs the other by, for example, serial number or an arbitrary assigned name?

When I select the camera from the Camera menu, will both cameras have the same name, or will there be a way to distinguish one from the other?

On a similar topic, is there any way to use Capture Profiles to distinguish one EAF from another? When I go into Hardware/Focuser/Properties I can see the names I have given each one, but on startup it's a crapshoot which one is going to be assigned to ZWO Focuser(1) and ZWO Focuser(2). It would be nice to have the Capture Profile choose the correct focuser without having to go into Hardware.

Thanks,
Kevin

BTW, I just renewed my Pro license, and the way you handle that (by cut and paste) is so easy compared to copying files. Thanks for that.
meies
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu May 23, 2024 9:04 pm

Re: Multiple cameras of the same make and model

#2

Post by meies »

I think I found the answer to my first question. After I capture the dark frames, I could browse for the master dark under preprocessing, right-click on the master dark, and then rename it to something that would distinguish one camera from the other.
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admin
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Re: Multiple cameras of the same make and model

#3

Post by admin »

Hi Kevin,

I think you are right that you would have to manually take care of things like the master dark, since SharpCap will not store the serial number (or anything similar) in the file name.

Depending on the brand of camera, SharpCap will try to distinguish between the two in the menu for you. The most common way for that to work is that both the device name and the serial number will show in the menu if you have two cameras with the same name. The serial number doesn't show when there is just one camera of that model to keep things simple and tidy. Of course, this relies on SharpCap being able to get a serial number from the camera in the first place. Most of the popular brands do have serial numbers available (at least for recent models - some early ZWO cameras for instance did not have serial numbers that could be read by software).

cheers,

Robin
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