I'm an admitted newbie but I have watched a few YouTube post and read the documentation on focus in SharpCap. I can't find how to run automatic focus. I'm running V 4.1.13724 Pro. When I open the "tool" menu I see Focus Assistant, but when I open that I don't see any option for auto focus. Also Focus on Sun, Moon... is grayed out, while I read there is bug I thought it was fixed. Furthermore when I open Contrast Edge detection I don't see any pull down hamburger menu on the top right to use.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Walter
https://sites.google.com/view/spectroheliograph/home
Newbie Automaic focus question
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wglogowski
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Newbie Automaic focus question
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admin
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Re: Newbie Automaic focus question
Hi,
there are lots of different things that need to be adjusted for the autofocus to work correctly - how big the focuser move needs to be between measurement points, how many measurement points are sufficient to scan from out of focus on one side through best focus and on to out-of-focus on the other, how many measurements to make at each point, etc, etc, etc.
Because of this, if there was just an 'autofocus' button, it would almost certainly fail if you pressed it (I've seen applications like that and it is very frustrating). So, in SharpCap the idea is that you use either the 'Positive' or 'Negative' scan buttons to try out semi-automatic focus scans first - watch the graph, see if you get a good curve, retry with different settings if needed. Once you get a scan that does do the right job of detecting best focus, you will see the GoTo 'Best Focus' button become enabled and you click that to move to the right position. More than that, SharpCap has now remembered all the settings you used to get that focus scan to work, and you can use the 'Refocus' button for one click focusing from then on (with a good chance of it working properly every time).
cheers,
Robin
there are lots of different things that need to be adjusted for the autofocus to work correctly - how big the focuser move needs to be between measurement points, how many measurement points are sufficient to scan from out of focus on one side through best focus and on to out-of-focus on the other, how many measurements to make at each point, etc, etc, etc.
Because of this, if there was just an 'autofocus' button, it would almost certainly fail if you pressed it (I've seen applications like that and it is very frustrating). So, in SharpCap the idea is that you use either the 'Positive' or 'Negative' scan buttons to try out semi-automatic focus scans first - watch the graph, see if you get a good curve, retry with different settings if needed. Once you get a scan that does do the right job of detecting best focus, you will see the GoTo 'Best Focus' button become enabled and you click that to move to the right position. More than that, SharpCap has now remembered all the settings you used to get that focus scan to work, and you can use the 'Refocus' button for one click focusing from then on (with a good chance of it working properly every time).
cheers,
Robin