You should have no problem with plate solving - when SharpCap needs an image to plate solve, it saves a temporary copy of the next image to come from the camera (in this case the next image read by the virtual camera) and send that to the plate solving program.
Eric Clayton wrote: ↑Fri Feb 11, 2022 11:38 am
Hi Robin,
I have returned to the fray attempting to get my Fujifilm X-H1 working with SharpCap. I think with some success. Fujifilm released an application called Fujifilm X acquire. This allows me to capture frames from the camera and place them in a specified folder on a laptop. It is a USB connection to the laptop and gives control over the cameras shutter speed, aperture, iso, white balance and exposure compensation. I have this working successfully.
I found Virtual Cameras on page 116 of the SharpCap users manual. (No, I had not read pages 1 to 115 before I found this). This I think will give me the control I need to use my Fuji. Just need to specify an output directory for the Fuji and monitor that with SharpCap. (I think). I have only tested this with some old SharpCap data, but the program found this and displayed it correctly. Wish me luck!!
One question. Is it possible to use plate solving using this directory structure? I noticed that the plate solving algorithmn had a specified directory that was used. One reason I was looking at SharpCap was to use the plate solving technique to work out where I am looking.
Looking positive, wish me luck
Cheers Eric
Hi Eric,
thanks for your engagement in creating a workaround for fujifilm. Would you please share a few more details with us/me? Did your plan work out? At the moment I think about modifying my Fujifilm camera but are not decided yet, due to the problems in regard to programs like SharpCap etc. Would really appreciate your help. Thanks!
Hi Johannes,
Hi Eric,
thanks for your engagement in creating a workaround for fujifilm. Would you please share a few more details with us/me? Did your plan work out? At the moment I think about modifying my Fujifilm camera but are not decided yet, due to the problems in regard to programs like SharpCap etc. Would really appreciate your help. Thanks!
Best wishes
Johannes
Havent had a good run at it yet. It would appear that the whole world is covered in cloud. The only time I have had in the field has been concerned with using a dslr and tripod only. No SharpCap. Have just started looking at it this afternoon, so hopefully I will have some idea next week and will let you know,
Cheers Eric
Fujifilm released an application called Fujifilm X acquire. This allows me to capture frames from the camera and place them in a specified folder on a laptop. It is a USB connection to the laptop and gives control over the cameras shutter speed, aperture, iso, white balance and exposure compensation. I have this working successfully.
I found Virtual Cameras on page 116 of the SharpCap users manual.
Finally, I had a chance to test everything tonight. It worked beautifully. Started Fujifilm X-Acquire and pointed its output to a specified directory. Tested this by taking photos of the Moon with my Fujifilm X-H1. These appeared in the specified directory. After that I started SharpCap and in the Camera Controls panel I pointed to the directory specified by X-Acquire. Everytime I took a photo it appeared in SharpCap in that directory. Stacking seemed to work also. The final test was to try plate solving. I started the plate solver then sent an image to the system. It tried plate solving this but could only find a few stars, and finished with no result. This is probably due to me not knowing how to run the plate solving routines properly. When I finished, I sent an image to astrometry and produced a clear map of where I had been looking. This is encouraging, after I work out how to use the plate solver in SharpCap.
that sounds like a big step forward - good luck with the next session (and clear skies!)
For the plate solving, if you are using AstroTortilla/Ansvr/ASPS, try reducing the 'sigma' setting in SharpCap's plate solve settings a bit - this will make it more sensitive for detecting stars.
Hi Robin,
I think I must be as thick as a brick. Havent been able to get plate solving working. I have had some success using all sky plate solver as a stand alone program. When I tried it in SharpCap, no luck. When I tried the test selected plate solver it did not solve. I feel I am within a short step to getting everything working, but no luck. Possibly I do not have enough indexes installed.
Any help would be good
Cheers Eric
all the output from the plate solver goes into the SharpCap log, so if you look there you might find something of interest. If it makes no sense then feel free to post it here.
From experience, the most likely things are
* not enough stars detected - use higher gain or exposure or drop the plate solving 'sigma' value a bit
* too many stars detected - increase sigma, or reduce gain/exposure
* not enough index files installed for the scale
* too far away (more than 15 degrees) from the mount co-ordinates
Eric Clayton wrote: ↑Sun Apr 10, 2022 12:16 pm
Fujifilm released an application called Fujifilm X acquire. This allows me to capture frames from the camera and place them in a specified folder on a laptop. It is a USB connection to the laptop and gives control over the cameras shutter speed, aperture, iso, white balance and exposure compensation. I have this working successfully.
I found Virtual Cameras on page 116 of the SharpCap users manual.
Finally, I had a chance to test everything tonight. It worked beautifully. Started Fujifilm X-Acquire and pointed its output to a specified directory. Tested this by taking photos of the Moon with my Fujifilm X-H1. These appeared in the specified directory. After that I started SharpCap and in the Camera Controls panel I pointed to the directory specified by X-Acquire. Everytime I took a photo it appeared in SharpCap in that directory. Stacking seemed to work also. The final test was to try plate solving. I started the plate solver then sent an image to the system. It tried plate solving this but could only find a few stars, and finished with no result. This is probably due to me not knowing how to run the plate solving routines properly. When I finished, I sent an image to astrometry and produced a clear map of where I had been looking. This is encouraging, after I work out how to use the plate solver in SharpCap.
Looking positive, wish me luck
Cheers Eric
Hi,
I use a Fuji X-T4 and have tried Fujifilm X Acquire. When I use it, I see the window that shows my camera name, shutter speed, fstop, iso, etc... but it's only informative and no way to control it or remotely take photos / video.
Am I missing something or did I misunderstand where you said it "gives control over the camera...". Because for me, it gives no control, it only shows info.
