SharpCap Forums

I am considering purchasing a ZWO 585Air. I have no experience using the Air environment, so I am looking for any insights. Specifically with regard to using Sharpcap. The unit will be attached to a second rig 135 mm Newtonian mounted on a Skywatcher HEQ5 where it will be used for EAA (for which Sharpcap would be used), colour photometry, and possibly low resolution spectroscopy ( although a mono cam would be better, maybe a later purchase). The idea is that this rig would complement the main rig which has a C8 mounted on an EQ6R with a mono camera, filter wheel and OAG. When the main rig is doing the photometry runs for the night, the other unit can be used for other things.

I understand the most recent version of the 585Air can be used with Sharpcap via ASCOM, but that is all I know. Does it play well? How much functionality would this have? Will the second sensor in the unit, a 220M, still be able to do guiding? I have done some Internet searching, but there does not seem to a lot of info out there.
Thanks,
Rick

Hi Rick,

I think the problem is that most people who use the 'Air' cameras will do things the ZWO way via the app or the ZWO Air, so approaches like this don't get tested much. I must say that there is also the scope for connection gremlins in pretty much anything that is wirelessly connected - it might work 99% of the time, but then the WiFi connection will be bad and the camera will error out the remaining 1%...

Can you fall back to the old fashioned way with these cameras and plug them in to a PC if the wireless approach is unsatisfactory?

cheers,

Robin

Hi. Thanks for replying Robin. I think you are correct about the approach others would take, and with being a recent product release, I doubt that there are too many who have experimented with it. The apparent convenience of an all in one unit is appealing, but I shall need to do more investigating. I love Sharpcap, I really would like to use it with my second rig.
Rick

Hi,

actually, I will add that the latest update for the ZWO Seestar adds the ability to remotely connect to the camera, mount, focuser and filter wheel parts via ASCOM Aplaca over the WiFi network. I tested this the other day and it seemed to work pretty well apart from getting an error when trying to use the camera in ROI mode. The frame rate on the camera was low however (<1fps typically, even for short exposures). I guess this is an indication that it should be possible to get at least that level of functionality on the 585Air.

cheers,

Robin

Thanks. I am hoping that this works out. I will try talking to a retailer and ask if he could test this out for me. I shall report back.
Rick