New Feature : Solar/Lunar framing assistant
Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2021 3:05 pm
Hi folks,
SharpCap 4.0.8464 has just been uploaded and it contains a new feature (currently marked as experimental pending feedback and testing) to allow you to more easily frame your solar/lunar images.
I'm sure you are familiar with the fact that when you move the mount to try to adjust the framing of your image there is usually no correspondence between the movement direction of the mount and how the image moves on screen. You want the terminator a little further towards the right hand side of the frame, you press right on the mount control pad and the image moves up and to the left... Then you press left and get a movement down and to the right, now you have to guess if it's up or down that you need to line things up the way you want
The framing assistant simplifies this - as long as SharpCap is talking to your GOTO mount, all you have to do is run through a short calibration procedure (which lets SharpCap learn which way and how fast the image moves as the mount moves along its two axes), then you drag the image around on the screen using the mouse... Want the terminator on the right? Drag the mouse starting on the terminator across to the right hand side where you want the terminator to end up. Once you release the mouse button, SharpCap will calculate how far the mount needs to move and send a GOTO command which should adjust the image exactly as you requested. Want that sunspot in the center of the frame? Just drag it there...
Calibration is simple - you just pick a recognizable feature on the image somewhere near the middle of the frame and click on it. SharpCap will start moving the mount and you need to keep clicking on the same feature every 2-3s as it moves across the screen. After a while, SharpCap will switch to moving the other mount axis (just keep clicking on the same feature). When the calibration is complete, the movement will stop and you are ready to go. The whole calibration shouldn't take much more than 60 seconds.
Depending on the focal length of your setup, you may want to adjust the initial calibration speed from the 16x that SharpCap will try to pick by default. For longer focal lengths, 16x may be too fast. Don't worry if the feature doesn't move for a few seconds at the beginning of calibration - that will probably just be backlash in the mount movement being taken up. If the calibration seems to be taking a long time because the movement rate is slow, SharpCap will automatically increase the movement rate after about 30s.
As usual, feedback on how well this works and on where it might be improved is welcome. I will try to post some screenshots or a video of this in action later.
cheers,
Robin
SharpCap 4.0.8464 has just been uploaded and it contains a new feature (currently marked as experimental pending feedback and testing) to allow you to more easily frame your solar/lunar images.
I'm sure you are familiar with the fact that when you move the mount to try to adjust the framing of your image there is usually no correspondence between the movement direction of the mount and how the image moves on screen. You want the terminator a little further towards the right hand side of the frame, you press right on the mount control pad and the image moves up and to the left... Then you press left and get a movement down and to the right, now you have to guess if it's up or down that you need to line things up the way you want
The framing assistant simplifies this - as long as SharpCap is talking to your GOTO mount, all you have to do is run through a short calibration procedure (which lets SharpCap learn which way and how fast the image moves as the mount moves along its two axes), then you drag the image around on the screen using the mouse... Want the terminator on the right? Drag the mouse starting on the terminator across to the right hand side where you want the terminator to end up. Once you release the mouse button, SharpCap will calculate how far the mount needs to move and send a GOTO command which should adjust the image exactly as you requested. Want that sunspot in the center of the frame? Just drag it there...
Calibration is simple - you just pick a recognizable feature on the image somewhere near the middle of the frame and click on it. SharpCap will start moving the mount and you need to keep clicking on the same feature every 2-3s as it moves across the screen. After a while, SharpCap will switch to moving the other mount axis (just keep clicking on the same feature). When the calibration is complete, the movement will stop and you are ready to go. The whole calibration shouldn't take much more than 60 seconds.
Depending on the focal length of your setup, you may want to adjust the initial calibration speed from the 16x that SharpCap will try to pick by default. For longer focal lengths, 16x may be too fast. Don't worry if the feature doesn't move for a few seconds at the beginning of calibration - that will probably just be backlash in the mount movement being taken up. If the calibration seems to be taking a long time because the movement rate is slow, SharpCap will automatically increase the movement rate after about 30s.
As usual, feedback on how well this works and on where it might be improved is welcome. I will try to post some screenshots or a video of this in action later.
cheers,
Robin