SPC900/SharpCap brightness setting

[JamesF]

I've read a couple of different posts this week claiming that the brightness setting in SharpCap doesn't affect what gets recorded in the output but only affects the appearance on screen and it was raised in another thread today. This didn't make sense to me because I know the Linux driver passes the brightness setting on to the camera rather than use it to modify the frames that might be shown on-screen in any way.

To clear the issue up I've just taken three sample frames from captures from my SPC900 with brightness settings of 0 (minimum), 63 and 127 (maximum). Here they are, in that order:

(The image is largely blank because the camera isn't in a scope, just resting on my desk.)

I think that makes it clear that the brightness setting does affect the captured data.

So perhaps this raises another question of what the optimal brightness setting should be. I always leave mine in the centre. I wonder if for maximum dynamic range it shouldn't be at the lowest setting? Is it better to push gain up higher and reduce the brightness or vice versa?

James

[bus_ter]

Good work, we can put this to bed.

Typically I have the brightness around 50 because it 'looks best'. However I'm aware that the planets 'brightness' is always a juggling act of the exposure, gain and brightness controls and that different combinations of these can bring similar on screen results, but come out the processing end quite differently!

[leelee970]

must admit I leave my brightness setting in the middle, I'm going to have a little play if the skies are clear tonight.