SharpCap Forums

I'm trying to complete a sensor analysis for my SV305 camera using Sharpcap 4.0. I have a question about using natural light to do the analysis. Do I point my telescope directly at the bright blue or uniformly cloudy sky or do I pick an object outdoors to focus on and then select an area of the image with uniform brightness? I've tried numerous times and only get a black image on Sharpcap. Please help.

Hi,

first, it's worth pointing out that recent versions of SharpCap install pre-measured sensor analysis data for both the SV305 and SV305-Pro cameras, so there is no real need to do your own measurement.

If you do want to run the analysis then it sounds like you need to step back a bit and make sure your camera is responding properly to light (this sort of test is usually the first check I would make with a new camera). Disconnect the camera from the telescope and point it at any bright light - you should get a bright image on screen, although you may need to turn up the exposure a bit. Then cover the camera by putting the end cap back on - now the image should go dark. Getting that far proves that the camera is working - you can then repeat the experiment with the camera in the telescope - check you can get a bright image and then make sure it goes dark when you put the lens cap on. By now you have some idea of the exposure needed to show a bright image when using the telescope, which should help.

cheers,

Robin

Thanks Robin! I appreciate your reply. This is helpful.