qhyiii485c when bin2 in sequence mode (for dithering) saves as mono

[Craigar]

I thought or hoped that bin2 is now showing and saving properly in RAW16 color in live view mode, since using newer
SharpCap 4.1.13251.0-64bit
QHYCCD_Win_AllInOne.24.12.27.10

that it would also save in color when sequence mode/Still Camera Mode - but it's saving the data/photons as mono ( and light frames are offset 16 rows upward compared to darks and flats captured in live view mode) but the sensor's noise and hot pixels are in color

So can I dither in "Live view" mode, hopefully gracefully/easily? Importantly I want to use bin2 (it works well with my "slow" C6 and .63 reducer)

.. or worse case do you know how I can tell Phd2 to dither at set intervals and I'll just manually delete the smeared "dithered" frames as a "pre processing" routine? of course I would set my frame length to something simple like 15 seconds, and tell Phd2 to start dithering after I have 10 frames and hopefully it has a way to set a interval (like 150 seconds) then loop.. ?

Thank You
Craig

[admin]

Hi,

if you are capturing in RAW mode then SharpCap will save the raw image to file - that looks like a monochrome image if you open it with most image viewing patterns, but you will see a fine grid pattern if you zoom in to the pixel level. The colour information is encoded in the brightness of the individual pixels. You would need to open the images in an application that knows how to debayer the images to full colour (this might be automatic, but is more likely to be a manual operation).

I'm not aware of any way to set up PHD2 to dither intermittently on its own. To get SharpCap to do dithering for you without using live stacking, you have to work with the SharpCap sequences to set up your capture. The easiest way to get going with this would be to use the 'Deep Sky Sequence Planner' - that gives you 'check box' options to tick (or not tick) for the various requirements during imaging, and you can set up easily the number of frames to capture, exposure, gain, etc. If you want more than that, you can use the 'Advanced Edit' button, which exports the choices you have made in the sequence planner to the main sequence editor for further tinkering.

cheers,

Robin

[Craigar]

Robin Thank you for quick response. It would be best for our audience that I had a clearer title and first sentence, hopefully you could cut & paste this into my original topic/post

(Title) QHYiii485c when bin2 in sequence mode (for dithering) saves as without color

I thought or hoped that since bin2 is now showing and saving properly in RAW16 color in live view mode, by using these more recent versions
SharpCap 4.1.13251.0-64bit
QHYCCD_Win_AllInOne.24.12.27.10

..

I know the greyscale .fits must be debayered to show the colors, I use ASIVIEW to look at individual frames and DSS and both are debayering properly .


This is what I get from Live view (with 2x2 bin)

Whale2bin119frames29m45s_05-15-TightCrop.png (443.48 KiB) Viewed 6682 times

This is what I get from sequence/Still Camera Mode (with 2x2 bin)

Whale2bin89frames22m15s_05-16-tightCrop.png (455.71 KiB) Viewed 6682 times

when using sequence/Still Camera Mode the "photon data" is not showing color (but the sensor's noise and hot pixels are in color, easy to see in RAW frames stretched)

So without trying to figure it out I am hoping that a SharpCap sequence can be set up to use "Live View/video mode" rather than default "Still Camera Mode" ? (so I can dither)

Thank You
Craig

[Craigar]

I looked at the "default" options in sequence planner and since I want to be in "camera live mode (video mode)" and dithering, I replaced "put camera in still mode" with "put camera in live mode" and also hopefully correctly added the stop if below 20 degrees option as a block

Screenshot 2025-05-18 035129.png (32.76 KiB) Viewed 6659 times

will this work? (I can't test it cause cloudy skies tonight,again) I guess it may unfortunately still save the frames as the dithering is in progress and if so would be nice if could add a prefix to that frame(s) file name like "Dth" so I could sort by name and simply delete those smeared frames, before I do my regular culling of poor and bad frames.

If we have to stop the frame capture before it will dither, then it probably will create a new "timestamped" folder and the generic file name of chosen name and numerically incremented suffix, starting with 0000 . If instead of numerically incremented suffix, I can add a "timestamp" suffix to the chosen name then I could move them all to one folder and wouldn't have "same filename" conflicts

Thanks
Craig

[admin]

Hi Craig,

the 'still mode' is essential to the dithering if you are using the sequencer - in still mode, SharpCap controls exactly when the camera captures each frame, so it can arrange for the dither to happen between two frames then carry on with the capture after the dither has settled. By changing to live mode and capturing live frames, the dithering will not happen at all. To get the dithering to happen in the sequencer using the 'Dither every 10 frames' step, you *must* capturing images using the 'Capture <X> still frames' step.

The other option is to use the alternative 'Request a single dither from the guiding application' step in your sequence - that will cause a dither to happen straight away, but then you are responsible for arranging to stop the capture before the dither, restart it after, etc. In this case, the restart of capture will tend to create a new folder, etc.

cheers,

Robin

[Craigar]

So far, even with my better "seeing" conditions when I'm in Florida (B5 skies 75Fambient opposed to B9 60F ambient in my backyard in Los Angeles suburb) I still do best with this non cooled camera staying at 25 seconds or less (might even try bin3 which will probably have color (cause it even worked in live view mode with the older drivers,etc.) so I can go into still mode, but risk under sampling), with the darker skies this (older CMOS) camera's noise becomes more obvious - and I hope I will mitigate it somewhat by using a offset which I WISH I had done last night since it was the first time I actually had brief intervals of of no high thin clouds that act like LP - In live view I saw the background get virtually black a few times !! I spent extra money to get a true OLED display laptop - it has also been a "game changer" and when I look up my eyes aren't toasted and I can really see way more stars (ASUS creator Q OLED).

So how bout using a (python) script in live view mode to capture 10 frames, pause, dither, resume capturing and loop (a definable length of iterations) ?

Thanks
Craig

[Craigar]

Looks like you've explained similar simple solutions, although it's in live stacking mode (but gratefully saving the .RAW frames)


Dithering, Pausing, w Live Stacking & Sequence Control
viewtopic.php?t=5384


Live stacking and dithering
viewtopic.php?t=6310

I'm really grateful for you sharing your knowledge and experience and am looking forward to reading your posts having to do with best DSO practices, but I can't seem to locate it today ... it is a primer or tutorial as I vaguely remember

Thanks
Craig

[admin]

Hi Craig,

glad you found the previous answers that cover most of the ground. You can definitely do that sort of thing, probably easier/more reliable with the sequencer than with scripting, but both ways would work.

Is this the deep sky thread you were looking for ?: viewtopic.php?t=456

cheers,

Robin

[Craigar]

Sorry for such a late reply, yes I believe this was the "tutorial" and I read about 1/3rd through it and was too much for my brain at the time, so I jumped on your suggestion and used "the brain" and "analyzed the sensor" and noticed improvement - and learned more so that I'm really impressed with this non-cooled imx486 (Qhy, wish they would fix driver bugs for those previous cameras, although grateful they did fix at least the bin2 not producing color problem in their latest "all in one" pack I used in Florida in June 2025 - but ONLY in live mode) ,so for now I'm not binning with a C 9.25 SCT with a .33 reducer - would be more optimal if I could use bin2 and may try again to get a sequence running that stays in live mode and runs a dither at a specified time interval and I'll cull out the smeared frame(s) that are captured while the dither is in progress.

Thank You
Craig