C/2022 E3 ZTF - ASI678MC - Not getting color

[Nittany]

Hello -
Any recommendations tricks/tips on how to get color in the picture?

Camera Settings:
[ZWO ASI678MC]
FrameType=Light
Debayer Preview=On
Pan=0
Tilt=0
Output Format=FITS files (*.fits)
Binning=1
Capture Area=3840x2160
Colour Space=RAW16
Exposure/Gain Shift=0
Temperature=16.8
Hardware Binning=Off
High Speed Mode=On
Turbo USB=100
Flip=None
Frame Rate Limit=Maximum
Gain=275
Exposure=5.000s
Timestamp Frames=Off
White Bal (B)=76
White Bal (R)=71
Brightness=5
Auto Exp Max Gain=300
Auto Exp Max Exp M S=30000
Auto Exp Target Brightness=100
Mono Bin=Off
Trail Width=3
Minimum Trail Length=100
Trail Detection Sensitivity=9
Mask over exposed pixels=Off
Flip (after dark/flat)=None
Remove Satellite Trails=Off
Background Subtraction=Off
Planet/Disk Stabilization=Off
Banding Threshold=10
Banding Suppression=0
Apply Flat=None
Hot Pixel Sensitivity=5
Subtract Dark=None
NegativeDisplay=0
Display Black Point=0
Display MidTone Point=0.5
Display White Point=1
Notes=
Celestron USB Focuser=11540
TimeStamp=2023-02-07T03:46:41.4072735Z
SharpCapVersion=4.1.10119.0

[RonAM]

Hello,

Looking at the top image there is color but too strong in red and blue.

You can see the purplish red colors on the preview and the green histogram is well below the red and blue histograms. If you select “zoom” you will get a more spread out histogram at the bottom and these items will be even more apparent.

To fix this:
Lower the red and blue sliders from the 70+ values currently showing down to mid-50s, 60 at most. You will then see the green histogram matching the blue and red better.

In the bottom image it appears you have the brightness slider all the way up at max, so the colors will wash out. Bring that back down to mid range.

That’s my 2 cents worth. I’ve moved the sliders around myself & seen these effects as well as too much green if you bring the red and blue sliders below 50.

I hope that is helpful.

[Nittany]

Thanks. Will try these changes tonight.

[Nittany]

See attached.....stacking with these settings.

[Nittany]

Interesting....Not sure what happened here. Why is the comet stretching but not the stars?!

This is with the new beta release 4.1 - version of 02/06/2023.

[RonAM]

There is something going on that my experience can’t address. Hopefully someone can help.

[Nittany]

Ok. Rebooted the laptop and ran the session again. Still no color.

[RonAM]

At this point In troubleshooting I would re-install the camera driver.

[admin]

Hi,

with regards to the comet streaking out, I wonder if somehow you swtiched back to normal alignment mode instead of comet alignment? Alternatively, something else is being picked up as the comet (brightest star maybe?) - if that is the case, the way to fix is to turn on highlight detected stars in the alignment tab. That will show a box around the thing that SharpCap thinks is the comet. If it is the wrong thing then you will need to adjust the comet settings (probably turn up the star ignore radius) to fix the issue.

On the colour, there is clearly colour of some sort in your images, but it is very muted. I would suggest doing a daylight test with the camera (pointing at a distant roof, tree, etc) to check that you get correct colour in an easier to manage situation. It may have a cast (often green due to camera sensitivity), but you should be able to pick out the basic underlying colours of the object you are looking at.

cheers,

Robin

[Nittany]

I am pretty sure i did not switch back to normal alignment mode. The only way you can get the Sensitivity number up/down is by de-checking the alignment on comet box and then moving the number to whatever you want and then checking the Alignment on Comet box again (Not sure if the sensitivity number matters or not since it is greyed out when alignment on comet is checked). That is what i did. I moved it to 90 and checked the Alignment on Comet box again (I am pretty sure i had it checked) to start the session. These might be few bugs here and there in this beta version. (Possibly). However, i think what might have resolved it is your next sentence - It might have picked something else as the comet - Since i downloaded the new beta version yesterday, some settings did not carry over and i realized that Highlight Detected Stars was not checked. So that is what i did - i turned on highlight detected stars in the alignment tab and i think that solved for the comet streaking. And i thought, i rebooting laptop solved it...

On the camera issue, this is a relatively new ZWO camera - ASI678MC camera. Not sure if Sharpcap is able to handle/compatible with it? Can you confirm it is able to?

I have been using this camera for last 2 months doing a lot of planetary photography. I have pointed to trees, roof etc. and i do get color. See below attached.