SharpCap Forums

Hi all,

I am new here and just start using SharpCap Pro mostly for polar alignment. My main camera is QSI 6162. Once the Sharpcap is opened, upon clicking the camera, it gives a black view in the image window; on the bottom it does report some camera information, but mostly the whole thing is frozen and nothing can be clicked, only to kill the progress. Anyone notice the same, and know if there is a solution?

I don't know where to find the log but if it exists, please let me know and I'd be happy to include here.

Thanks in advance for any help you may offer!

Yizhou

Hi,

From the look of it the camera is not completing initialization properly (no controls appearing on the right). Difficult to be sure of the reason why, although there may be some useful information in the SharpCap log.

I have some things you can try :

1) try SharpCap 4.0 beta - that should have more chance of working with large frame CCD cameras, particularly if you turn off 'Live View' before opening the camera : https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/sharpcap/sha ... s/4-0-beta

2) If no luck with 1) then turn on additional logging of camera communication (see below), click apply and then open the camera - this should put a lot of info in the log. Send that log to me and I can dig further to see if I can work out what is going wrong.

cheers

Robin

Thanks Robin! The new version (4.0) seems working. I disabled "live view" before connecting the camera, and it connects fine. After that I can enable the live view and it exposes normally. Thanks for that!

I think I run into some issues with the Sensor Analysis function though. I am using a Flip-flat flat panel with the scope and camera for the measurement. First of all it takes FOREVER... I guess it' just my readout time for a bin1 frame is too long (~20s); no one to blame really...
secondly I have a question: in the beginning it asks me to select a retangle for suitable brightness. How to select a retangle? I try to drag something on the screen but it doesn't do anything...
Another main issue is: after dark frame measurement, it stuck at "uncover camera to measure gain", and the "proceed" button kept greyed out. I noticed that it started from minimum exposure (30ms in my case), and the initial change is quite minimum and SharpCap perhaps "think" it's still uncovered; I then select to high-gain, and turn the flat panel brightness all the way to the brightest; With some ~300ms exposure the histogram is peaked at ~70% to the maximum reading, and it says "target brightness achieved" or something, but still the "Proceed" button is greyed out, and it just keep looping exposure. Am I doing something wrong?

I enabled communication log but I don't know where to find the log... If you can let me know where to search, I can probably provide the log and hope it helps with the troubleshooting. Thanks a lot for your help!

Yizhou

Hi,

glad to hear that you are making progress

On the sensor analysis, if you can select a smaller resolution (say 800x600) then the readout time should be shorter and the whole procedure should go faster.

To select the area, there should be a red selection area box shown onscreen - you can drag the sides/corners of this (see https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/3.2/#Stop%20Motion%20Video - look at 'FX Selection Area'). If this is not showing or is too small to adjust, double click on the image.

Now the camera is running there is no need for the additional logging, so you can turn that off.

The uncover stage expects to be able to get the average brightness to ~33% on the histogram at an exposure of < 500ms to indicate that there is light on the sensor again - if this is a problem then let me know.

You can find the log files by going to the Help menu, then Show Log, then clicking the 'Locate on Disk' button.

cheers,

Robin

Thanks Robin! Good info. I have a few questions here:

admin wrote: Sat Mar 27, 2021 8:29 pm On the sensor analysis, if you can select a smaller resolution (say 800x600) then the readout time should be shorter and the whole procedure should go faster.

I tried to take a smaller subframe on the camera control panel on the right, changing it to something like 50% (2400*1800) of total (4800*3600), but I noticed at this configuration, when I select "Sensor analysis" from tools drop-down menu, there is no "Start" option in the bottom window. Is it normal?

admin wrote: Sat Mar 27, 2021 8:29 pm The uncover stage expects to be able to get the average brightness to ~33% on the histogram at an exposure of < 500ms to indicate that there is light on the sensor again - if this is a problem then let me know.

I surely achieved 33% with less than 500ms, but the "Proceed" button still not available. I can provide some screenshots tomorrow but is it possible that there is some bug on the 4.0 version?

Thanks,
Yizhou

Hi,

is it possible that the bottom panel is not quite tall enough in some cases, making the start button be 'hidden' off screen? I have seen this sometimes.

For the lack of the proceed button when uncovering, best to send me the log file - that records all the frame brightnesses and exposure changes, so I can understand what the code has been doing.

cheers,

Robin

Hi Robin,

Indeed the dialogue window hides the "start" button! Now it works. Also after doubleclick the image I can see and select the FX region. Thanks!

Still having issue in "uncover" step though. Please find below the attached log. Noted that from 19:34 to 19:43 the camera/scope is covered, and it's keep trying. At 19:43 I increasing the Flip_Flat brightness to maximum, and it and it measures 59% of total brightness which is fine (target seems to be 66% +/- 10%), but it stucked there afterwards. I attached a screenshot below to show that the "Proceed" is still greyed out... Info 19:34:30.499430 #27 Setting current measurement engine to SharpCap.CameraAnalysis.UncoverSensor in void SharpCap.CameraAnalysis.SensorAnalyzer.Advance(Size mathGridShape)
Info 19:35:51.367696 #27 Setting Negative closest exposure to 30ms with current value of 0.00888859946280718 in bool SharpCap.CameraAnalysis.MeasurementEngineBase.AutoExposureAimFor(MathGrid frame, double fractionalADU, double fractionalADUTolerance, double pedestalADU, bool keepLooking)
Info 19:35:51.367696 #27 Adjusting exposure, current is 0.0089, target is 0.66+/-0.1 (pedestal = 0), changing from 30.00ms to 90.00ms in bool SharpCap.CameraAnalysis.MeasurementEngineBase.AutoExposureAimFor(MathGrid frame, double fractionalADU, double fractionalADUTolerance, double pedestalADU, bool keepLooking)
Info 19:37:15.223590 #27 Setting Negative closest exposure to 90ms with current value of 0.00889235641807318 in bool SharpCap.CameraAnalysis.MeasurementEngineBase.AutoExposureAimFor(MathGrid frame, double fractionalADU, double fractionalADUTolerance, double pedestalADU, bool keepLooking)
Info 19:37:15.223590 #27 Adjusting exposure, current is 0.0089, target is 0.66+/-0.1 (pedestal = 0), changing from 90.00ms to 270.00ms in bool SharpCap.CameraAnalysis.MeasurementEngineBase.AutoExposureAimFor(MathGrid frame, double fractionalADU, double fractionalADUTolerance, double pedestalADU, bool keepLooking)
Info 19:38:41.822810 #27 Adjusting exposure, current is 0.0089, target is 0.66+/-0.1 (pedestal = 0), changing from 270.00ms to 500.00ms in bool SharpCap.CameraAnalysis.MeasurementEngineBase.AutoExposureAimFor(MathGrid frame, double fractionalADU, double fractionalADUTolerance, double pedestalADU, bool keepLooking)
Info 19:39:38.636117 #27 Adjusting exposure, current is 0.0089, target is 0.66+/-0.1 (pedestal = 0), changing from 500.00ms to 500.00ms in bool SharpCap.CameraAnalysis.MeasurementEngineBase.AutoExposureAimFor(MathGrid frame, double fractionalADU, double fractionalADUTolerance, double pedestalADU, bool keepLooking)
...
Info 19:43:09.335136 #27 Aiming for 0.66 +/- 0.1, currently 0.5971 which is fine. in bool SharpCap.CameraAnalysis.MeasurementEngineBase.AutoExposureAimFor(MathGrid frame, double fractionalADU, double fractionalADUTolerance, double pedestalADU, bool keepLooking)
Info 19:45:44.833546 #1 Toolbar/Menu input : SharpCap.ViewModels.Actions.ShowLogAction executing in async Task SharpCap.ViewModels.UIAction.Execute()
Info 19:45:45.022065 #1 Toolbar/Menu input : SharpCap.ViewModels.Actions.ShowLogAction complete in async Task SharpCap.ViewModels.UIAction.Execute()

Hi,

the code is set to require the exposure to be less than 500ms (note : being equal does not count) at this stage - I am going to make the limit more relaxed in the next update (later today) as the current threshold doesn't seem to be correct for cameras with little or no gain adjustment.

cheers,

Robin

Hi Robin,

I am on SharpCap Pro v4.0.7644 64bit today and re-run Sensor Analysis on my QSI6162. During sensor linearity check I ran into issue "Your camera is not responding", and detailed message as below. I noticed it's commanding a 1ms exposure but I believe my camera has minimum exposure at 30ms, not sure if there is a conflict?

Thanks,
Yizhou

---------------------
ASCOM.DriverAccessCOMException (0x80040408): Invalid Exposure Duration ---> System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. ---> System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException: Invalid Exposure Duration
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at object RuntimeType.InvokeDispMethod(string name, BindingFlags invokeAttr, object target, object[] args, bool[] byrefModifiers, int culture, string[] namedParameters)
at object RuntimeType.InvokeMember(string name, BindingFlags bindingFlags, Binder binder, object target, object[] providedArgs, ParameterModifier[] modifiers, CultureInfo culture, string[] namedParams)
at object ASCOM.DriverAccess.MemberFactory.CallMember(int memberCode, string memberName, Type[] parameterTypes, params object[] parms) in C:/ASCOM Build/Export/ASCOM.DriverAccess/MemberFactory.cs:line 442
at ASCOM.DriverAccess.MemberFactory.CallMember(Int32 memberCode, String memberName, Type[] parameterTypes, Object[] parms) in C:\ASCOM Build\Export\ASCOM.DriverAccess\MemberFactory.cs:line 486
at ASCOM.DriverAccess.Camera.StartExposure(Double Duration, Boolean Light) in C:\ASCOM Build\Export\ASCOM.DriverAccess\Camera.cs:line 577
at SharpCap.Cameras.ASCOM.NewCameraProxy.StartExposure(Double duration) in C:\Documents\Source Code\SharpCap\src\SharpCap.Cameras.ASCOM\NewCameraProxy.cs:line 834
at SharpCap.Cameras.ASCOM.NewCameraProxy.GrabFrame(CancellationToken token) in C:\Documents\Source Code\SharpCap\src\SharpCap.Cameras.ASCOM\NewCameraProxy.cs:line 800
at SharpCap.Base.CameraProxyBase.GrabFrameWithRateLimit(DateTime startTime, CancellationToken cancellationToken) in C:\Documents\Source Code\SharpCap\src\SharpCap.Base\CameraProxyBase.cs:line 670
at SharpCap.Base.CameraProxyBase.GrabThreadProc() in C:\Documents\Source Code\SharpCap\src\SharpCap.Base\CameraProxyBase.cs:line 601
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx)
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx)
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()

Hi,

SharpCap does ask the ASCOM driver what the minimum exposure length of the camera is, but I can see that I've had to add error handling code for drivers that fail to answer this question properly - if that error handling code gets activated then a 1ms exposure minimum is assumed, which might be happening here.

I will put in more logging around this so that if there is a problem here we can track down what is going on (this will be in the next update).

It may be worth trying with much dimmer illumination - that will cause the whole procedure to run using longer exposures, which might just get you past the problem (if it really is the minimum exposure issue).

cheers,

Robin