I've been using the SharpCap sequencer for a copuple of years and thought I had a nice fool-proof set of sequences. However, I've just discovered a potential bug with the Preserve Camera Settings command in the Sequencer.
Last week, I decided to experiment with bin 2 for some housekeeping tasks. Plate-solving and focussing were very slow (10s exposures at max gain) when using narrow-band filters,so I thought I'd try setting the camera to bin 2. My sequence looked like this :
- Specify the target
- MOUNT MOVE to the target
- Call a dedicated sequence for Plate-solve Synch and Goto
preserve camera settings
LOAD PROFILE "533mc plate-solve"
RETRY ERRORS UP TO 500 TIMES
MOUNT SOLVEANDSYNC camera set to 5s images, gain 600 and bin 2)
END RETRY ERRORS
restore the camera settings
- Call a dedicated sequence to establish guiding
- LOAD PROFILE "533mc imaging"
- STOP AFTER 63 MINUTES
take images (camera set to 600s images, gain 100 and bin 1)
- End STOP AFTER
- GUIDING STOP
- Call a dedicated sequence for auto-focus
preserve camera settings
LOAD PROFILE "533mc auto-focus" camera set to 5s images, gain 600 and bin 2)
do the auto-focus run
restore the camera settings
What happens is that when the auto-focus run completes, it restores the camera settings but that makes the camera immediately re-start a 600s image in bin 1 mode. On going back to the start of the sequence (outer loop, not shown), a fatal exception occurs when the sequencer reaches the plate solving sequence. It can't put the camera into bin 2 mode because that would entail re-starting the camera and that can't happen because an image is in progress. That exception kills the whole sequence - very annoying when it is half way through the night.
My tip to get around this is to simply eliminate the use of the PRESERVE and RESTORE camera settings commands. Just use the command LOAD PROFILE immediately before using the camera, rather than trying to restore a previous setting.
Dave
PS I haven't confirmed this workaround yet will do so tonight.