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I recently got an Orion StarShoot Astrophotography Camera and have had difficulty getting it to work right. The software that comes with it AstroCap seems horrible. The start/stop mechanisms are vague, the images won't appear. The best I've been able to do is see scan lines and some color light or dark variations on the screen after messing with the exposure and the gain. Popping the camera into the reflector or the refractor telescope yields nothing. I'm told there is other software that is better supported and more current including SharpCap and NINA. However so far neither of those recognize my StarShoot with the ASCOM drivers loaded. Can someone tell me precisely what drivers I need to get the Option Starshoot (the original) to work with SharpCap NINA or some other software? A link would be much appreciated. What I downloaded from Orion have been AllInOneDrivers.ZIP AllInOneASCOM.ZIP and ASCOMPlatform 6.1 and later 6.5. The only software where I'm able to deliver even a poor image to the laptop has been AstroCap. Or if there's a new and improved AstroCap beyond 1.3.9 do tell!

Hi All, I've just started looking at imaging and have bought a Bresser HD Deep Sky Camera. Looking around, many people advise using SharpCap rather than the included Toupsky software. Unfortunately, sharpCap can't see the camera. Things I've done so far after looking through various forums: Checked I have the latest camera drivers - check Checked I have the latest toupsky software - check (camera appears to be working in toupsky) Checked the camera is there in device manager - check Copied what I think are the driver files into the SharpCap folder (toupcam.sys, .cat, .dll & .inf) - check does anyone have any other ideas? Operating system is Windows 11 Cheers Watcher

Three months ago I remounted the EQ8 in the observatory after my friend Chris made me a pier extension to raise the mount 15 cm. Unfortunately, a combination of cloudy nights, holidays, it not getting dark until early in the morning, and my lovely wife being ill has meant that it took until tonight to get the EQ8 re-polar aligned. SharpCap's polar alignment tool makes this pretty easy. I used my Lodestar x2 mounted on a 60 mm finder/guider. I'll aim to try to see if I can get this even closer with full drift alignment on another night, but my guess that'll be close enough for now.

Outside there is something coming out of the sky that strongly resembles the Atlantic Ocean being poured through a seive, so I thought I would give the 'sensor analysis' option in sharpcap a go on one of my cameras. This resulted in the table attached. I'm sure all the figures are great, but as to helping me decide which gain setting I should use for this camera, I am not a lot wiser. There definitely seems to be something strange (impressive?) happening to the read noise between 60 & 61, but it continues to decline after that so I'm not sure that gets me very far. So, it's time to get educated ... (1) which is my best option, and (2) why? Thanks. 224 sensor analysis.txt

No questions but thought my experience with PA using Sharpcap and a Canon 800D might be of help to some. Although I thought I was nailing Polar Alignment with a polar scope on my Fornax Lightrack, I could not get longer subs than 150secs. I considered buying a Polemaster but I thought was a bit pricey, so looked at a small guide scope and a webcam solution with Sharpcap which was a good bit cheaper. Researching Sharpcap and DSLRs, I read that PA might be possible with my WO ZS73 (430mm) main scope. I needed to install the ASCOM platform and then the DSLR Camera Setup for Ascom and, of course, Sharpcap. Sharpcap recognised my 800D camera and I completed an "Excellent" PA within minutes. On the first night I managed 180sec subs and experimented with 240sec - all nice round stars. How far can I go? I had done a manual PA first which was a fair bit off from the Sharpcap PA, so not as nailed on as I thought! I'd rather not be using a laptop but I can't argue against the results. I hope that might be useful for some.

Hi to everyone Im looking for anyone who has the QHY5LIIc for basic tips on settings to use on sharpcap or any other software to get the best results on Jupiter. I've recently upgraded from the good old faithful SPC900 which I used with sharpcap with some really good results, but really struggling to get good results with new camera. I know the seeing hasn't been great & the stinking jetstream gets in the way to but I just can't seem to get the setup right thanks

Hello helpful forum people, I'm trying to sort through everyone's posts here on this topic, and I don't see if there has ever been a solution found. But first, thanks to Robin (I hope I have that name right) for writing SharpCap, it's got a great interface and I really appreciate his attention to detail and his contribution to astrophotography. So the problem, like most people report, is this: I'm using a Sony Vaio 64-bit AMD processor laptop running a totally fresh W7 with all the latest updates, and a Neximage 5 plugged into a USB2.0 port (I don't have the option to upgrade to 3.0). I'm using the drivers that came on the disk with the camera. Initially SharpCap finds the camera, it opens to maximum pixel count and begins capturing images fine. However, switching to any other pixel count causes the program to hang, in fact the whole laptop hangs and requires a reboot. If I succeed in killing SharpCap and restart the program I get the message "Camera could not be started A get operation on a VCDProperty object failed" Perhaps the driver is buggy, but I've also read that the AMD architecture itself is problematic. Also, with iCap I found the connection to the camera was similarly unstable. If I stay in one resolution it would work, but changing to any other pixel count was a crap shoot. Both SharpCap and iCap exhibit the horizontal lines in the capture that are random and frequent. I've run the NexImage 5 on my Intel PC using good old USB2.0 and iCap works just fine but I can't lug my PC outside! I still need to try SharpCap, but I suspect it will work just fine. Thanks in advance for anyone's help in this. I'd really prefer not to have to buy an Intel laptop just to get a $150 dollar camera to work! Best regards, Blake

I'm having trouble with the current version of Sharpcap "seeing" my 8 position Xagyl filter wheel. An earlier version worked ok but not the latest. Am I missing something?

The other night, I got a rather weird thing happen using Sharpcap. In live-stacking, the first image arrived and it was full of stars. So, without changing any settings, I did a "platesolve" (which also realigns the scope) to centralise my target. It did its single frame capture and I got a practically blank screen and a message saying it could only detect 3 stars. I tried reducing the "sigma" setting, as advised by the on-screen message, with little effect. What gets me is that the same settings produced a whole mass of stars in each of the subs that were being live-stacked. Never had this happen to me before, and no, of course I didn't do anything intelligent like saving the log file! I can always try to replicate this next time (although I always find trying to replicate something that isn't working to be a weird activity in itself!), but on the off-chance that anyone can see what was happening without the log file, I thought I would ask. Thanks.

What am I doing wrong to get planetary images like these attached? Or maybe I should be asking what am I actually doing right? I've tried a few times to images planets with my QHY5L-ii mono camera through the C9.25 both with and without IR/UV block filter and get the same blurred results every time. I've checked collimation, and focus using a star mask. It's pretty good really, and I know the camera works fine because I've used it to get some good lunar shots. I'm imaging thought sharpcap software and have processed the images with registax or autostakkert and get very similar results. Is there anything obvious that I'm missing?? All suggestions welcome, thanks!

Using Sharpcap to record the sun ready for the eclipse as a first timer. I did a 3 minute avi clip, and a snapshot, both show that the image is 'pixelly' when you zoom in, like checkerboard patterns. I have included a picture and the Sharpcap settings file. I couldn't get Nina to get the right settings so i used this program instead. If anyone could help solve this problem before the eclipse that would be great Thanks, if not then i will know for next time whenever that may be. Sun_00001.CameraSettings.txt

I am starting to get to grips with some of the features on Sharpcap and last time out I tried to use the focussing assistant using a bahtinov mask. The first thing I noticed is how sensitive it is. The attached screenprint involved the tiniest movements of the fine focusser knob on my Star71, which caused it to sweep from +1 to -1 without stopping in the middle. I decided I wasn't going to do any better than that (but could probably waste an awful lot of clear-sky-time trying!), so decided to accept that. After all, from what I have read, an FWHM of about 1 is reasonable. But now comes my confusion. I was assuming that the scale was FWHM units. But, as can be seen from the screenprint of the log, the FWHM of each individual sub was just under 4. I realise it would not necessarily be the exact same figure as when I was focussing, but 4x that figure? This would seem to suggest that either the scale on the focussing assistant is not FWHM units (so what is it?), or my focussing went way out during my imaging session. The resultant image can be seen here. So, are these the sort of results I should be expecting? Or where am I going wrong? Thanks.

Hi - Am new to all this stuff so help on this DSS staking blocker would be much appreciated - done a load of googling but need to know if my hours of FITS are scrap Setup : ASI183MC - Sharpcap 3.2.6480 (Live Stack for lights, Capture for Darks - no bias or flats yet)- DSS 4.2.5 - Win7 64bit-USB2 - CEM25P - no guiding yet Problem: I managed to get Sharpcap into a mode where it was saving individual RAW Fits files for Darks and only the Stacked FITS for Lights. DSS spits these out with the message "The checked pictures are not compatible (width, height, number of colors, number of channels, only one master dark, offset and flat)." Investigation: If I check the Sharpcap CameraSettings txt file for the two (the set of dark FITS files and the single stacked FITS file) they are identical except the file for the stacked FITS has a different date/time, the number of stacked frames and the total exposure time - so no difefrence in the core FITS spec apparently - RAW, 16bit, pixels, binning Questions: Am I breaking process and so totally irrecoverable ? (i.e. Lights must be individual FITS or pay for Pro and do darks first and include on the fly when capturing Lights) or are there some options to set in DSS or other stackers to use ? I have several nights and long hours of careful capture. My lights show weird hot pixel trails so I need the darks or I'm stuffed and have wasted my time - true ? Any takers ? Thanks

Hi, I have a HEQ5 Pro with a QHY5L-IIc astrocamera, which I run with SharpCap (never got EZ-Planetary to work). When I start SharpCap, it in turn starts EQMOD. So far so good! I then start Stellarium via Stellarium Scope (or I start Stellarium Scope first and then SharpCap). If I choose an object to monitor in Stellarium, and let Stellarium slew to it, I constantly get Timeout error in EQMOD, either directly or after a short while. If I dont start SharpCap, i.e. if I dont stream video, I don't get timeout error in EQMOD. I have installed the Ascom QHYCCD capture driver, but if I select that in SharpCap, then SharpCap crashes, so I must use the system driver for the camera. What is causing this Timeout error? Anyone? Regard Mats

Hey all. I am a complete nooby. And I’m trying to get going (on a budget) with what I have available. I am trying to use my dslr canon 2000d with Nina and sharpcap. Unfortunately after downloading the drivers etc it’s still not connecting to either. Please help! many thanks, Mike.

hi guys All my lunar imaging has usually been done with DSLR camera and telephoto lenses, usually the Canon 100-400mm and a x2 teleconverter Last nite I finally fired up the new scope and did some imaging Skywatcher 120mm x 1000mm fl EVOSTAR Black Diamond The mount is a HEQ5 PRO so for the first lunar image through that scope with a ASI1600MM camera and Sharpcap capture software Dave

Hello everyone, I'm wondering if I could get some help, sort of ripping my hair out a little. I have the EXOS2 PMC-8 and last night I used Sharpcap to Polar align, I set the mount up as usual and adjusted until Sharpcap said excellent Polar alignment. So my next step was to do a 3 star alignment I was using a program called Explorer Stars to achieve this, so when I asked the mount to slew to the first star it was way off even in the finder scope, is that normal? So I used the controls to get the star in my FOV and centred it, it was the same for the next two stars way off. so I did the same. I finished the 3 star alignment and when I asked the mount to find an object the object was not centred it was bottom right of the quick photo I took. I've made sure all the information is correct by setting my Longitude and Latitude and also made sure my time is correct, the mount is balanced and level and pointing North. I think I'm doing something wrong somewhere. Also may I ask should my counterweight bar be parallel with the mounts front leg? I have two little arrows on the mount that should be pointing at each other when in the home position but when they are the counterweight bar is pointing to the right quite a fair bit. I'm new to all this only been doing it for a few months so a lot of things are quite confusing. Thanks in advance Bill.

hi, apologies if this is not correct location for this question Trying to setup for guiding for first time with these cameras ASI385 MC and ASI290 mm mini , when both connected on usb3 and USB 2 respectively only the ASI290 appears and is duplicated. Both on USB2 appear correctly Have looked at various forums and have checked the details below but nothing has helped with this. Guide camera ZWO ASI290 mm mini connected by usb 2 port and ZWO ASI385 MC for imaging to USB 3 port both with new 2 meter usb cables Sharpcap v3.2.6477 10 year old Toshiba laptop No obvious issues connecting singly. Both appear in device manager with correct name. In Sharpcap when both are connected ASI385 to usb3 and ASI to USB 2, the ASI290 appears duplicated and no 385. Both connected to USB 2 ports they appear correctly under the ZWO cameras. Have looked in some forums and have most recent version of sharpcap installed, updated ZWO drivers, disabled USB Selective suspend in the power management and disabled the sleep option in windows. Checked the USB drivers and they appear to be upto date When both cameras were connected the ASI 290 was losing connection every 20 – 30 seconds, disabling USB Selective suspend being disabled appears to have stopped this happening Is it that the laptop needs to be retired at least from astroimaging I saw a mention that there could be an issue with chipset, or is there anything else that I can do ? log.txt

Setting up all the software on my win10 laptop and getting things to talk to one another is a nightmare. I'm starting a new thread, so I can post all the problems I am having, one at a time, so issues don't get confused. This will also hopefully help anyone coming to similar situations later, as the problems and answers will not be interlaced. First issue: APT does not detect ZWO camera. I have got the camera (ZWO) drivers installed and sharpcap can see it and will connect to it properly. However, when I try to connect the camera in APT, the only CCD options it gives me are SBIG (which it isn't), QSI (which it isn't) and ASCOM. Now it shouldn't need to use an ascom driver, because the proper driver is installed, but I give it a go anyway, and this just offers me 2 simulators and 3 QHY cameras (I have one qhy driver installed for the guidecam .... I'll get to that later!). I have disconnected both the filterwheel and guide camera from the camera hub, so they cannot be interefering with the process. I am at a total loss ... any suggestions? Thanks.

Just installed a new ZWO ASI1600MM cooled, and a Xagyl EFW8, running Sharpcap on a PC running Windows 10. Version 2.9 of sharpcap does not give the option of 16 bit, nor is the cooling interface showing up in sharpcap. In fact, there is virtually no option for single frame capture, multiple images (to do Photometry). There only seems to be video capture available. Version 2.7 of sharpcap has the correct interfaces; ie: I can select 16bit mono, choose to save as .fits file, set camera temp etc etc---none of which is available in Sharpcap v 2.9. Am I missing something? I've searched through all the menu items to see if there's something I've ticked/not ticked.

Really frustrated with AS2. Ive taken a 2000 frame vid of jupiter using Sharpcap with QHY5L-IIc. The image has Jupiter & two of its moons. I normally run it through PIPP to centre it & Take out low quality frames & then run it through AS2 but when I do that it centres the planet & I lose the two moons, so I thought just run it through AS2 to stack it but I get "access vialation at address 00501DAA in module "Autostakket" write of address 00000000" I then click ok & get "failed to open file framecount: 0" Anybody got any ideas what I'm doing wrong? Thanks

Hi folks, thought I'd post here as more people here seem to be using the Live Stacking feature of SharpCap now. SharpCap - if you haven't encountered it before - is a free Astro-focused capture application for Windows. SharpCap includes support for a wide range of cameras - including QHY, ZWO, Basler, QHY, Webcams, Frame Grabbers, ASCOM and others. Any camera that SharpCap supports can be used in live stacking mode, although to get decent results you will need to be able to set exposure lengths of about 1s or more. Live Stacking includes an alignment option (on by default) that will correct for drift and field rotation in each new frame as it is stacked. Alignment depends on being able to detect at least 3 stars in each frame. Additionally you can filter incoming frames based on a FWHM measurement of the stars detected, allowing frames with better seeing conditions to be stacked and worse frames discarded. There are simple functions allowing the histogram of the stacked image to be stretched for display and the stack can be saved either 'as seen' with the stretch applied in PNG format or in FITS format with no stretch applied for later post-processing. SharpCap also has an embedded scripting language which allows simple programs to be written that will automate a capture session - some users over on Cloudy Nights have been using this facility to automatically stack a target for say 30 minutes then move the mount to point at a new target and start stacking that. SharpCap 2.9 is currently in beta and will contain improvements to the live stacking features including an easier-to-use histogram stretch function, more star detection options for alignment and automatically remembering most stack related options. However, if you prefer to avoid beta software, feel free to use SharpCap 2.8 instead. Just as a taster, here is an M81 I produced in 30 minutes of 4s exposures with the ASI1600MM-Cool. This was really just a test stack - taken on first-light with the camera, testing a new version of SharpCap and with a whole bunch of other things in my setup changed - I'm sure it's possible to do better when hurrying a little less! I'd love to hear any feedback people have on how to improve the live stacking feature - and see any images you capture with it! cheers, Robin PS. For about the first 10 minutes of stacking I had left the mount accidentally on Lunar tracking rate having used the moon earlier to sort out focus and align the finder scope. The alignment feature took care of this quite happily and I didn't even notice until I spotted a little line of hot pixels building up due to the drift.

Hello to the Linux users. I know that some of you use Linux and the software "Cheese" to record videos that will be stacked into planetary images. I haven't been playing with Linux for a while now, but I know that "Cheese' can be pretty buggy sometimes. I have found a software called "GTK+ UVC Viewer" that, from the reports, seems to be much more stable then cheese and has these main features: - Supports "Universal Video Class" powered webcams - Has a variety of photobooth-like filters, like in Cheese - Like Sharpcap, it supports Dynamic Controls / Vendor Specific Controls (Only Logitech Cams at the moment) - Saving the output in a variety of formats and codecs. I haven't tried the software myself yet, but the reviews seem encouraging and put this software ahead of Cheese. I hope to give it a try as soon as I can. See the official website of GTK+ UVC Viewerfor more infos or try to look it up in your Linux distribution software repository. I hope this will be of use for the Linux users. Clear Skies

I have had a play with Sharpcaps sequence generator but hit a problem in that when I add the filter wheel to the sequence and then ask it to change the filter I cannot find a way to highlight the filter selection between the < > to type in the filter name I require. If I test run the sequence if fails with a "no filter selected". I have tried every key press combo and mouse clicks to gain access to the filter selection but no joy. In settings the correct filter wheel setup and it lists the filters which I guess was copied across from the 3.2 version. I have posted this on the Sharpcap forum but wondered if SGL members can tell me how to add or change the filter