SharpCap Forums

Hello.
I am new to Astrophotography and I have tried to get footage in last week's full Moon and various Planets using my Skywatcher 127 Goto mount / Sharpcap 210 and my Laptop.
I can get clear Planets on my Telescope through my lens but when I try to get them on the Sharpcap App I have a blank screen.
I have been told that I need to adjust the Sharpcap settings gs for each Planet which I have tried with no success.
Where am I going wrong ?

Hello and welcome

If I understand correctly, you have SharpCap 2.10? If so, that is a version from 2017.
At this moment SharpCap is at version 4.0. You can find the most recent download here: https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/sharpcap/downloads

If you have the latest version: when using the camera on your scope, do you adjust the focusing on your scope in comparison to when you use your eyepiece?

Menno

Hi,

one problem is that the camera will have a much smaller field of view than the eyepiece, so you might see the planet in the eyepiece, but the camera may miss seing it by a bit (and it can be hard to find). Also, it's likely that the focus will need to be adjusted when changing from camera to eyepiece and back.

The best suggestion for getting started is to start by pointing the camera and telescope at a target on the ground - a distant tree, roof, hill, etc. Get that working during daytime so that you understand the focus and camera control adjustments.

The next target should be the moon - it's big enough to be hard to miss and bright enough to show up even if you are badly out of focus.

Finally, when you are seeing in-focus views of the moon, you will have the focus position correct and much more confidence with the camera and software - then go for the planets!

Oh, and as Menno says, probably worth updating to the latest version

cheers,

Robin

also check you lowered the exposure almost to the minimum. A few milliseconds only. Even that you are on focus, if the exposure is too high, it will turn the screen white over an overexposed partial moon