Sharpcap wuth DSLR?

[woldsweather]

Does Sharpcap work with a DSLR?

[admin]

Hi,

maybe...

perhaps not a perfect answer, but an accurate one

SharpCap does not have code to talk directly to any DSLR cameras, so on its own, it will not work with any. However there are ASCOM drivers that have been written by others that can control DSLR cameras and SharpCap will work with those. The only problem is that the reliability of those ASCOM drivers is not always perfect, and not something I can guarantee. Some people find it works fairly well, others struggle to get it to work reliably or at all.

The best resource if you want to try it is to read through this thread on Cloudy Nights : https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/7076 ... ntax-sony/

cheers,

Robin

[woldsweather]

OK thanks Robin

[turfpit]

worldsweather

By following the article & download in the CN link above, I managed to get a Canon 7D Mk2 running with the ASCOM DSLR driver under SharpCap 4.

Canon7D-Mk2-SharpCap.JPG (95.33 KiB) Viewed 10479 times

This was captured over a year ago (needs a re-process I think).

M42_30x60s_4x30s_4x10s_8x4s_8x2s_ISO1600-reduced.jpg (814.79 KiB) Viewed 10479 times

For daylight testing (very short exposures) I use the Mode Dial set to 'M' (=manual), for astro work (longer exposures) I set the Mode Dial to 'B' (=bulb).

Dave

[woldsweather]

Great thanks. I'll give that a go over the next 2 weeks when I'm inside cowering from the heat.

[caenis]

Hi,
I'm trying to use Sharpcap to polar align using my Sony a7iii mirrorless camera. This is my main imaging camera, I don't have a guidescope or guide camera. I've loaded the correct ASCOM drivers which are compatible with Sharpcap but all get is the message attached. I can refine my polar alignment using the Skywatcher handset with my Skwatcher AZEQ6 pro, but was hoping that Sharpcap would be an easier tool.

Any ideas on why I'm getting this problem guys?

[admin]

Hi,

the error is coming from the ASCOM driver, which is complaining that SharpCap is asking about the size of the image apparently before connecting the the camera. The thing is that SharpCap does connect to the camera before asking those details, so I suspect that the ASCOM driver is dropping the connection to the camera soon after making it (or is not making the connection properly in the first place).

Feel free to post your SharpCap log captured after seeing the issue here so that I can check for any other clues and confirm if the above is correct, but I suspect that you will be best seeing if the authors/creators of the ASCOM driver have any advice/hints.

cheers,

Robin

[caenis]

thanks Robin