First image with ASI120mm

[Atlas]

Not good at all due to very windy conditions and a broiling atmosphere along with clouds. But I was very impressed that I was actually able to get anything.

I can't wait until I get a good clear night. they are saying it should be decent tonight. I was mpressed with the camera, Only 2:50 min worth of video netted me over 12,500 frames @ 640 res.

[JamesF]

I think that's a good first effort with a new camera. It always takes a while to get the hang of these things...

James

[Grotemobile]

http://www.zwoptical...SI120/index.asp

First time i have seen one of these.

Looks very good for the price.

I like all the different size images,

the camera takes.Great picture

by the way.

Steve.

[Atlas]

I think that's a good first effort with a new camera. It always takes a while to get the hang of these things...

James

One problem I ran into last night was that sharpcap kept locking up when I would slide my exposure bar. Next session I'll give Fire Capture a try. It seemed less buggy and didn't freeze at all when I was checking it out today.

[JamesF]

I moved straight to FireCapture once I started using my ASI120. You may be better off with the latest beta version rather than going for the production release.

James

[Atlas]

I moved straight to FireCapture once I started using my ASI120. You may be better off with the latest beta version rather than going for the production release.

James

I think that is the version I downloaded, if not... I'll certainly give it a try.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice one. You might try a bit more wavelet sharpening with registax, there may be more detail lurking in the data

[jambouk]

Nice image.

What will be the rate limiting step for me not being anle to achieve 70fps with this camera?

I have tried no active usb extension, firecapture or sharpcap, small frame size, large frame size, usb 2/ usb3. My max fps seems to ne about 30. The laptop is about a year old, i7 processor i think, lots of ram. Any ideas?

James

[Atlas]

Nice image.

What will be the rate limiting step for me not being anle to achieve 70fps with this camera?

I have tried no active usb extension, firecapture or sharpcap, small frame size, large frame size, usb 2/ usb3. My max fps seems to ne about 30. The laptop is about a year old, i7 processor i think, lots of ram. Any ideas?

James

I believe the framerate is limited by your USB port. 2.0 is a lower a framerate than 3.0

[Ewan]

Thats a good frame rate Atlas :-), im not trying to teach you to suck eggs but was Saturn truly in focus ? i now always use a mask before slewing to any planet & or the moon, i have really noticed the difference in doing so.

Some slow frame rates may be down to the image just not being bright enough, this is one reason i cannot goto 3x barlow, mainly on the Blue channel but i am still working on it.

Keep going though mate you are on the right track & that's a good setup you have.

[jambouk]

I believe the framerate is limited by your USB port. 2.0 is a lower a framerate than 3.0

I've just done a test, doing a re-boot between each change. Keeping all firecapture settings the same (default as it opens up) and using an image size of 640x480, I can only get a maximum frame rate of 57 fps, whether I use the USB2 or USB3 ports (no idea which are which, but I've tested all three), and interestingly even if I plug the camera into a £1 non-powered 4-port USB hub I got from the PoundShop I get 57 fps; these tests are done without the active USB lead extension, so I don't think my limiting factor is the lead or the port(s).

James

[Ewan]

With the DMK if the image is not very bright or i try using a 3x barlow my fps will drop massivley, as you lower the exposure the brighter the image will get but even less fps, so maybe Saturn is just not bright enough ? did you use a barlow ? focal length ?

[jambouk]

No Barlow. Focal length 2700, f/15. No diagonal either.

Maybe I should be allow a bit more gain, and shorten the exposure time. What kind of exposure times are you guys using, and where on the slider is your gain? I've always tried to keep the gain well under 50%.

James

[jambouk]

I wonder also if the IR cut filter is unnecessarily reducing the light and making the image darker and causing me to have longer exposure times.

James

[Ewan]

I use IC Capture with my DMK but your settings will vary each time you go out, each channel will need a slight adjustment to either gain or exp or both (even focus depending on which filters you are using), Blue will need the most gain then Green finally Red BUT it all depends on how many fps you are trying to capture, really it will be trial & error for you like it is for most.

Unless you can find someone with approx the same kit as you it would be hard to advise on your settings tbh.

[Atlas]

Thats a good frame rate Atlas :-), im not trying to teach you to suck eggs but was Saturn truly in focus ?

Nope, couldn't focus at all. Saturn was waving like a flag and I had to guess. It's why I was so surprised I got anything resembling an image at all.