Issues accessing camera image with SharpCap 4.0 & QHY268C

[BWDenver]

I just got a QHY268C and have spent a frustrating few days.

I attached the 286C to my Tele Vue NP101is. I tried to view what the camera was seeing but all I got was a black screen in SharpCap. The SW saw the 286C and it showed up in the menu bar under Cameras

I switched to FireCapture and finally got an image and found a focus point on some windmills a few miles away. Still no image, just a white screen. I figured out I needed to plug a 2” diagonal into the mix. So I know the camera is working.

But I still can’t get an image with SharpCap. I’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling but still no image. I just get a black screen where the image should be.

Suggestions would be appreciated, initial settings etc…

Thanks in advance

[admin]

Hi,

the first thing I would suggest is to make sure that you have the very latest SharpCap 4.0 (from https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/sharpcap/downloads) and the very latest QHY system drivers installed (from https://www.qhyccd.com/download/). It may be worth trying the QHY all-in-one beta version rather than the stable version.

The next thing to check is whether the frame count (bottom left) is going up in SharpCap. If it is stuck at zero then SharpCap is not getting frames from the camera. If it is increasing then SharpCap is getting black frames from the camera. In the first case, look at the USB Speed setting and check out the USB troubleshooting tips (viewtopic.php?f=18&t=349&p=1556#p1556). In the latter case of frames coming through but all black, try opening the camera with CTRL held down which will make sure all the camera settings go back to default rather than using any previously saved values.

Hope this helps,

Robin

[BWDenver]

Robin,

Greatly appreciate your reply.

All the SW had been installed from online sources within the last three days.

As you can see by the attached the camera is connected to SharpCap, in a fashion, as it's getting cooling information, although the frame count is 0. I've tried several USB settings but still no luck.

the color shot is from FireCapture, the BW with EZCAP

Screen cap with EZCap, Gain & exposure set to lowest

ScreenCap_Eazcap.jpg (239.06 KiB) Viewed 3679 times

Fire capture, exposure setting as noted

ScreenCap_FireCapture.jpg (147.69 KiB) Viewed 3679 times

So the camera is definitely sending data, SharpCap does not appear to be taking the video. Imagery sot without a UV/IR filter.

Bryan

[admin]

Hi Bryan,

please could you try going back to SharpCap 4.0.9431 and then 4.0.9357 from the downloads page (https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/sharpcap/downloads) - this will take the QHY SDK back through the past two updates that have been included. It is possible that recent updates have introduced new issues with this particular model of camera.

Other things to try are making sure that the camera USB cable is not using an extension and also trying the camera in 'still mode' by disabling 'live view' at the left of the toolbar then using the 'Framing Shot' button to capture a still frame to screen.

thanks,

Robin

[BWDenver]

The OTA and camera are sitting on my desktop, the cables are as supplied by QHY.

Attached are views from the Framing shot. I'm guessing this is not what I should be seeing...

[BWDenver]

Finally found the logs...

[admin]

Well, interesting...

So to check that I have this right, in live mode you get no image and in still mode you get the distorted images shown in the screenshots above

The distorted images are typical of a problem where SharpCap and the camera software are for some reason not agreeing on the width of the image. SharpCap is expecting 6260 pixels per row in still mode, but it looks like the image coming from the QHY SDK has about 10 or so less than that (hence the diagonal stripes moving down to the left). Actually the difference may be an odd number, which would explain why we get green then purple, as being an odd number of pixels out swaps the bayer pattern around.

Anyway, it might be worth trying the ROI function to select a smaller area to capture - I can see in your firecapture screenshot that you were using an area of 1024x768 - it's possible that selecting a smaller area in SharpCap may help as it could be that the problems are mostly related to the maximum resolution.

Otherwise, I am a bit stuck - the log looks fine and the settings that SharpCap is using for the camera seem to match the information provided by the camera SDK. Maybe this will need to go to QHY to get some help.

cheers,

Robin

[BWDenver]

I really hate making statements that I'm about to make...

I have no idea what I did, but it started working a few minutes ago. I was configuring NINA and they got a response from a Tech at QHY and found SharpCap was working....

Firstgoodimage.jpg (280.69 KiB) Viewed 3621 times

Its full dark here now and the lights on the horizon are about 16-17 miles off.

Clearly visible is a crane that is being used to work on a windmill.

I'm just befuddled as to why after 4 days it decided to start working...

Bryan

[admin]

Hi,

yes, bugs that go away on their own are the worst, as they are likely to come back on their own at some point in the future. One of the quotes from my favourite book on debugging software is : "if you didn't fix it, it ain't fixed"

Is it possible that something like opening the camera in another application then in SharpCap has helped? I don't think the camera fully resets unless unplugged and re-plugged, so if you had opened it in NINA or some other software then some setting sent to it may have made it behave in SharpCap. If that's the case then it may stop behaving again after a reboot.

cheers,

Robin