SharpCap settings for ZWO ASI2600MC cam? Also adjusting Plate Solve?

[BipTunia]

Hi,
Just renewed SharpCap pro today. I've been using SharpCap (and doing astrophotography) for about a year.
So I understand the basics of astrophotography. My M31: https://www.astrobin.com/jntw5b/B/
.

I've been using a DSLR with Redcat 51, capturing subs on the camera. I just upgraded to a ZWO ASI2600MC Pro USB3.

I use SharpCap for polar align and Plate Solve. But I'd like to try using it for sub acquisition. What settings should I use (or is there a good tutorial you know of?)

Also wondering if there's a setting in Plate Solve when I'm already polar aligned and setting up my shot, if I didn't do 2- or 3-star align and the reported Dec and RA in my handset is a little different from the real ones reported in SharpCap. Is there a button in SharpCap to just tell it "It's ok, you're on it already" or something like that? So I don't have to keep doing maths in my head to get on target?

My mount is Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro.

Thank you,
Michael

[admin]

Hi Michael,

nice M31 image - good work keeping the core from blowing out completely which can be tricky

For the camera settings, SharpCap has a feature called 'Smart Histogram' which will help you choose the right camera settings based on the known properties of your camera and a measurement of the sky brightness in the region you want to image. You launch it from the normal histogram - read a bit more about it here : https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/4.0/#The%20 ... n%20Window . That will give you a fine tuned set of settings for gain/exposure and brightness for your conditions... All you need to do beyond that is set for RAW16 mode and probably set the R/B colour balance options to default (50,50) to avoid the colour balance affecting the raw data.

The other feature you probably want to look at is the 'Plate solve and Resync' option - that will send a frame from the camera to your plate solving application (ie Astap, Astrotortilla, etc), then re-center the target in the middle of the camera based on the results. See the info on GOTO mount control here : https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/4.0/#GOTO%20Mount%20Control - it's also available in the tools menu.

Hope this helps,

Robin

[BipTunia]

Thank you!

[yomamma]

From what I have seen you should set your gain to either 0 or 100 and exposure will be based on the brightness of your object. Try not to overexpose your stars or any bright core areas