Capture Area Problem on NexImage 10 Camera

[johnscary]

I have found that when I try to change the Capture Area on NexImage 10 camera I get an error on some of the area dimensions listed in the pull-down list. On those "bad" ones, the program will show an error box and tell me it is a bad area and stop the camera.

These are the ones that give me an error.
2904x2764
2904x2072
2764x2764
2072x2072
1380x1380
968x688

Other ones in the list seem to work ok.
Any idea on what is going on?

I understand that the Celestron NexImage 10 may not be worth a lot of future support but perhaps this is an easy thing to fix?

Thanks.

[admin]

Hi,

in theory the camera should allow custom resolutions (it has the ability to capture using just part of the sensor, called ROI mode). For cameras with this ability, SharpCap adds a selection of potentially useful custom resolutions to the list, like 0.75*width by full height and half width by 0.75*height and so on. From some quick calculations it seems that some of those resolutions are the ones that are failing.

This makes me suspect that there are actually some rules concerning the resolution that I'm not aware of (perhaps all resolutions need to have a width that is a multiple of 16, or a height that is a multiple of 4 or something). I'm not aware of any documentation regarding this, or whether the restrictions would be specific to the Neximage10, or would they apply to other models of camera? I'm not sure if I can see a way to work it out other than trial and error...

Please send me a SharpCap log captured after running the camera at full resolution and then trying to change into at least one of the 'bad' resolutions - I will check through that just in case it reveals something.

cheers,

Robin

[johnscary]

Thanks again for quick reply.
Attached is a log file and a screenshot of the error box.

I did notice while looking at the log file that the software gets the valid area formats from the camera and lists them out in the log file.
However, it would seem that the software does not use these in the pull-down area selection list.
Also, the Custom Area option does not seem to work either.

Thanks for looking at this.

[admin]

Hi,

it was a bit of a long shot, but I was just hoping that the error might give me some useful information ('height must be a multiple of 16' or something like that). Unfortunately it's just 'Value not available', which isn't very helpful.

Probably the best option I can come up with is to limit the resolutions in the list in the case of the Neximage cameras so that we can stop the broken ones from showing.

cheers,

Robin

[admin]

Actually, even that doesn't help much, since there are 10 resolutions created in that way and clearly 4 of them work which 6 don't. There's no obvious way to pick the 4 that are going to work out from the list (will it be the same 4 for the Neximage5?).

I think I will have to leave as is.

cheers,

Robin

[johnscary]

Hi again.

Just upgraded from version 4.0 to 4.1.
Thanks for adding all the new features!

One new feature unfortunately makes things worse for the NexImage 10 camera.
While it is generally a good feature, the "Select ROI" option is a bit like playing Roulette now.
Sometimes it works and sometimes we get the Area selection Invalid Error.

Anyway, not being one to give up easily, I played with the Celestron ICap 2.5 software and the NexImage 10 camera to see if I could figure out what the Valid Area Dimensions are.
Looks to me that the rule is Width must be an integer multiple of 16 and Height must be an integer multiple of 4.
If you put in something that does not obey the rule, iCap will round it for you based on this rule.
Also, Minimum is 96x96.
For example, these work both in ICap and in SharpCap (as custom settings):
WxH
96x96
112x104
128x108
144x112
160x116

What do you think?

[admin]

Hi,

that's just the sort of info that I needed to know - I can code that restriction in very easily, which should hopefully fix the issue

Thanks for taking the time to work it out!

Robin

[johnscary]

Thanks so much for the help on this.
Please let me know when you have a new version to test.
I will gladly try it out.

Regards

[admin]

Hi,

the next update with the change will be available on Monday at some point.

cheers,

Robin

[johnscary]

Hi,

I just downloaded the new version 4.1.11529 Dec 18, 2023.
Thanks very much for fixing this issue.
I tried setting the ROI on NexImage 10 camera using preset values, the ROI graphical method, and also putting in custom areas.
All are working great with no errors now.

Thanks again for quick work on this!