Screenshot in Windows 10 after installing the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 graphics card driver using live stacking in SharpCa

[turfpit]

Looks OK, no dropped frames. Robin will be able to tell better than me.

Did you use the old or new driver?

Dave

[pastorgalactico]

Hi;
I used the new version, 472.12, and the one I had before was the most up-to-date.
Last night I did a lot of live stacking and didn't see anything unusual, nor did SharpCap do anything strange.
What I do need to learn is how to properly use the lightning bolt and the wheel in the histogram.
Could you tell me the most common steps for that and where the peak of the histogram should appear? Because they recommended it should be between 40% and 50%, right?
Let me know.
Regards

[admin]

Hi,

I find that the best option now is to use the 'Colour Calibration' tab in live stacking and to run the calibration procedure from there after the first frame (or first few frames if the images are noisy). This not only performs an automatic stretch like the lightning bolt, but it auto-sets the background subtraction and the colour balance of the live stack based on the colours of the stars detected in the image.

This new colour calibration is so effective that in SharpCap 4.2 I have put the button on the main histogram tab to make it easier to get to

cheers,

Robin

[pastorgalactico]

Hi;
I tried using it yesterday, but I wasn't sure if after clicking "calculate" I needed to click anywhere else.
I should also mention that I was using Astap's board resolution tool, and I'm not sure if it will work with that.
I'm using Astap because it seems to work better, or at least it doesn't fail as often.
I'll try it again when I can, and now I know how to do it.
It would be great if that function were on a button like the lightning bolt and the wheel.
Regards.

[turfpit]

Could you tell me the most common steps for that and where the peak of the histogram should appear

See: https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/4.1/#Gettin ... d%20Images for more information about the histogram.

Make sure there is a gap (offset) at the left hand side of the histogram (otherwise faint data will be lost) and that the curve barely touches the right hand side (not overexposed). This will avoid loss of data which can never be recovered by processing.

There are no definitive answers due to the wide variety of equipment and varying sky conditions at different locations. The figures for your equipment/conditions will really come from experimentation.

Dave

[pastorgalactico]

Hello;
I've been using the regular SharpCap for several years and I'm learning by doing astrometry. I use it to record FITS (fits) to use later with the Tycho Tracker program.

I learn a lot by watching YouTube videos of amateurs who use it and upload them to their channels.

My setup consists of a 16" f/4.5 Newtonian telescope, and using a focal reducer, I'm getting an f/3.19 aperture, which provides a decent field of view for deep-sky astrophotography with my Player One Uranus C camera. The mount is a Dobsonian altazimuth with an ESP32GO V5 GoTo system. I'll gradually learn to understand SharpCap Pro, and if I need any advice, I'll ask you on the forum. For now, I've learned that the peak position in the histogram depends on the offset I configure in the camera's control, and from what I've seen, I need to set it to 50 so that it's positioned to the left and there's enough margin to its left for adjustment. Now I need to learn how to adjust the gain and exposure so that it works well and adapts to the altazimuth tracking, which isn't the most suitable, certainly, but it's not bad at all. Regards, and thank you very much for your help.

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