Trying to perform sensor analisys on a ToupTek ART432M

[deathtical]

I have been trying to perform a sensor analysis on a ToupTek ART432M. I have updated everything, Windows, SharpCap, ToupTek drivers, and ASCOM Platform. Every time I run the analysis, it gets stuck during the "Determining Gain Range" portion and will not proceed. I've tried it uncooled, cooled, different lights sources and brightness. I have a video of the session but didn't see an option to attach a video. I have not had this issue with cameras from other vendors. Not sure if it's a ToupTek thing, this particular camera, it's sensor, SharpCap's integration with ToupTek, etc. Any ideas? What logs could I provide that might help? Where are they located?

Thanks

Not sure if this will work, but here's a link to the session video.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5AnGBnNKdVf3T5WL8

[admin]

Hi,

thanks for sharing the video - very helpful. It looks like the analysis is getting stuck as SharpCap is trying to set a shorter exposure to complete the initial measurement of gain vs exposure balance. I can see the 8.79ms exposure time come up and stay, even though SharpCap is trying to set a shorter exposure during the analysis (and it looks like you are trying to manually near the end of the video).

Are you seeing the minimum exposure getting stuck at about that level even though the slider looks like it should go lower? That would seem to indicate that the camera is claiming a shorter minimum exposure but not implementing it fully. The is quite possibly an issue in the ToupTek SDK (since it's only happening with this model of camera as far as I can tell - if it was something in the SharpCap code then it would happen to all cameras.
Can you please confirm whether you can get to shorter exposures or not by adjusting the epxosure manually? Do you see the same issue in ToupSky?

Since you were testing with the lates SharpCap 4.1.12802, that version contains the latest ToupTek SDK (updated mid October), so there aren't any pending updates that might help. I guess we will have to raise this with ToupTek to see if they can reproduce and fix the problem with minimum exposure.

cheers,

Robin

[deathtical]

Thanks for the update. I will test that and get back to you. Just to be clear, I only did the manual change at the end to stop it from trying over and over. If I don't do that, it will keep trying to set it even after I have cancelled the test. That's the only way to get it back to "normal".

[deathtical]

Hi,

thanks for sharing the video - very helpful. It looks like the analysis is getting stuck as SharpCap is trying to set a shorter exposure to complete the initial measurement of gain vs exposure balance. I can see the 8.79ms exposure time come up and stay, even though SharpCap is trying to set a shorter exposure during the analysis (and it looks like you are trying to manually near the end of the video).

Are you seeing the minimum exposure getting stuck at about that level even though the slider looks like it should go lower? That would seem to indicate that the camera is claiming a shorter minimum exposure but not implementing it fully. The is quite possibly an issue in the ToupTek SDK (since it's only happening with this model of camera as far as I can tell - if it was something in the SharpCap code then it would happen to all cameras.
Can you please confirm whether you can get to shorter exposures or not by adjusting the epxosure manually? Do you see the same issue in ToupSky?

Since you were testing with the lates SharpCap 4.1.12802, that version contains the latest ToupTek SDK (updated mid October), so there aren't any pending updates that might help. I guess we will have to raise this with ToupTek to see if they can reproduce and fix the problem with minimum exposure.

cheers,

Robin

OK. So I ran the test. I have set my light source to the same as when I ran the first video. I also set SC to the same settings it was at during the screen capture.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HJRFnwJ5VTAndJGHA

Then I try making some other adjustments. I'm not really sure how to interpret what I am seeing.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/28f3wYpp6Fk86mJA8

Do you think this is a hardware or software issue?

Thanks

[admin]

Hi,

my guess is that it's a software issue - probably the wrong commands being sent to the camera at short exposures causing it to not respond properly to the exposure changes. I think the first video shows it most clearly - there is a strong flicker which could indicate that the exposures are not of equal length. It also seems that the brightness of the image is not changing much (at all?) apart from the flicker when the exposure goes below about 5ms.

I'm going to send a link to the video to ToupTek and ask them if they can test - I don't have that model of camera myself to test with.

thanks,

Robin

[deathtical]

Hi,

my guess is that it's a software issue - probably the wrong commands being sent to the camera at short exposures causing it to not respond properly to the exposure changes. I think the first video shows it most clearly - there is a strong flicker which could indicate that the exposures are not of equal length. It also seems that the brightness of the image is not changing much (at all?) apart from the flicker when the exposure goes below about 5ms.

I'm going to send a link to the video to ToupTek and ask them if they can test - I don't have that model of camera myself to test with.

thanks,

Robin

I appreciate you doing that. Thanks

[admin]

Hi,

just to confirm that I passed this info on to ToupTek who are going to investigate - I will post back here when I hear something from them.

thanks,

Robin

[admin]

Hi,

ToupTek were unable to reproduce the problem, but they requested that you test the camera with the very latest version of ToupSky to see if you see any issus with the image at short exposure in that software. To be working correctly, the image brightness should be stable at a particular exposure, and should continue to decrease as you reduce the exposure all the way down to minimum (you may have to increase gain or illumination levels to prevent the brightness from getting to zero before the exposure reaches minimum).

thanks,

Robin

[deathtical]

Hi,

ToupTek were unable to reproduce the problem, but they requested that you test the camera with the very latest version of ToupSky to see if you see any issus with the image at short exposure in that software. To be working correctly, the image brightness should be stable at a particular exposure, and should continue to decrease as you reduce the exposure all the way down to minimum (you may have to increase gain or illumination levels to prevent the brightness from getting to zero before the exposure reaches minimum).

thanks,

Robin

OK. I just back in town. I will try later tonight or sometime tomorrow.

Thanks

[deathtical]

OK. Ran the test. Hope this helps. Thanks

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hao7CJnVtTp71VnXA