Atik Horizon

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Re: Atik Horizon

#11

Post by admin »

Hi folks,

It would be helpful if you could post a screenshot showing the problem that you are having very dark image using these 2 cameras. I can think of a number of possibilities that might lead to this problem

1) gain set too low
2) exposure set too low (or a combination of this and the gain set low)
3) the camera reports that it can produce a maximum output level of (say) 65535 to SharpCap but actually has a lower maximum output level meaning that the frame is dark
4) the other software automatically applies a level stretch to brighten dark images (you can do the same with the stretch option in the mini histogram on the right-hand side in SharpCap)

Cheers, Robin
Noah4x4
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Re: Atik Horizon

#12

Post by Noah4x4 »

That could be it Robin. In Atik Infinity whilst you can apply wholly bespoke settings, you also have a series of presets. That takes the pain out of getting an initial image on screen as one of 'low', 'medium' or 'high' will always deliver something close. It never even crossed my mind that I needed to adjust Gain in Sharpcap as with Hyperstar I can generally go straight to the Infinity histogram in a matter of a few seconds having tried each of the three presets. This could be just the steeper learning curve of a fuller featured software suite . Let me try again. Thanks for responding.
Noah4x4
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Re: Atik Horizon

#13

Post by Noah4x4 »

Hi Robin, I think I might have found a 'bug' relating to using Atik Horizon camera with Sharpcap. As described earlier, my Histogram is set to the extreme left and an on screen image captured live by the camera is very dark, with just the odd pinpoints of light for the brightest few stars. As you suggest, I probably need to adjust Gain. However....

If I try the 'Test Camera 1 Deep Sky' I can load up one of my own images captured in Atik Infinity and adjust Gamma and Gain. Exposure doesn't work, but I did manage to improve one of my own images!

However, if I connect my Atik Horizon and start live captures the Gamma and Gain control box is now absent fron the Camera Control Panel (which is why I didn't previously notice it in order to do an adjustment). I believe Gain should appear between <Exposure/Quick Picks> and <Frame Rate> - but it offers me nothing like any of the illustrations in the 2.9 manual. No Gain will mean I can't lighten it except by using Histogram which is too narrow. Forgive me if there is a control to reenable the Gamma and Gain box, but I can't see how to add any additional controls, only change their order.
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Re: Atik Horizon

#14

Post by admin »

Hi,

Since you are using the Ascom driver to run the camera, the appearance of the gain control depends on whether the developers the Ascom driver have bothered to make the gain available to applications like SharpCap. If you're not seeing a gain control to adjust then that problem means that they have just neglected to implement that particular functionality. You may find that the gain is available if you press the 'show' button to show the camera options.

Hope this helps, Robin
Noah4x4
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Re: Atik Horizon

#15

Post by Noah4x4 »

This is a screenshot after <show>
Sharpcap.png
Sharpcap.png (158.44 KiB) Viewed 3141 times
This might indeed suggest that there is an issue as described. Yet other people do seem to have Atik Cameras working with SharpCap. Maybe it is just the recent ASCOM driver update.
Astrogate
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Re: Atik Horizon

#16

Post by Astrogate »

Noah and Robin, I have never been able to use my both Atik Infinity cameras in all Sharpcap versions with various drivers over the last 3 years. No matter what exposure I do the screen is black with perhaps only the very brightest areas showing up as bright spots. I will double check this tonight if weather permits here.

Chris A
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Re: Atik Horizon

#17

Post by admin »

Well, there are 3 possible ways and Ascom driver can make gain available to an application

1) as a list of gains that you can choose from
2) as a range between a minimum and a maximum
3) inside the settings dialogue for the driver

It doesn't look like the Atik driver is doing any of those (or at least not doing them correctly) – SharpCap supports all three options. I will put some extra logging in the next build just in case there is something silly going on that I can work around, but most likely this needs to go back to Atik who will need to add support for gain to their Ascom driver.

Cheers, Robin
Noah4x4
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Re: Atik Horizon

#18

Post by Noah4x4 »

Thanks Robin,

I have been in touch with Vince at Atik Support and he will talk to Chris (their developer).

Thanks

Phil
(Noah4x4)
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Re: Atik Horizon

#19

Post by Astrogate »

Hi Robin and Noah

I tried SharpCap with my mono Atik Infinity CCD camera last night while on NSN and even though it has been quite sometime that I tried this, it seems to now be working great. When I now capture for e.g. an 8 second image and use the display histogram the image appear exactly as it does using the Infinity software. We even tried this on the moon with no issues except at the lowest setting .001 sec it was too bright and forgot that I need my moon or Ha filter to cut down on the light. I am happy because I can not use the dark and flat option in SC that Infinity software does not offer.

Chris A
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Re: Atik Horizon

#20

Post by Astrogate »

I forgot to mention that I used SharpCap 3.2 Pro. Also there was no gain or gamma controls and it maybe because the camera I was using is a CCD. Perhaps the ASCOM is written more for CCD and not for CMOS?

Chris A
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