sharpcap troubles

[kenny k]

Hi guys,currently set up in garden and trying out a xbox live cam Ive just modded.

Jus been watchin astronomysheds tutorial to get me going which helped as I've downloaded sharpcap already.

My main question is do you need any drivers in addition to run sharpcap?I've plugged cam into laptop while watching tutorial on my phone and goin through settings all well and good then when get half way through sharpcap stops responding.

Any help most welcome.

Thanks

Kenny

[kenny k]

Ps.its sharpcap 2 I've downloaded.

Thanks

Kenny

[starnut]

Is your computer recognising your webcam??

[kenny k]

Hi starnut,when I plug cam in 'video camera 'option appears, then when selected the control panel appears too and I'm getting a grey lined screen which I'm led to believe is normal till I play with exposure & gain etc...

Thanks.

Kenny

[jambouk]

Sharpcap can sometimes be a pain, even if other times it's been ok. Make sure you've got the very latest version and all the updates. On my laptop it uses a fair amount of "juice" so i try and close as much other rubbish running in the background as possible.

Is the camera has drivers, then you might need to install these i to the laptop first for it to run smoothly.

Ideally have a play around with it in daylight when there is no coldness and no time pressure. You doesn't need to use it in the scope, just alter the exposure and gain to find the transition from all white to all black; you'll never achieve focus with it out of the scope though, but for general testing this is unimportant in the first instance.

Sorry i can't specifically help. Good luck.

Jd

[jambouk]

Put the scope on the moon, then you'll probably need to alter the focus drastically to achieve focus. Once you've mastered focus on the moon, then slew to Jupiter or whatever you fancy. Getting anything other than the moon on the sensor is tricky, as is focus. Again this is something you can play about with in the day tine with the scope this time, on a distant horizon object (or neighbours ariel).

Jd

[kenny k]

Hey were in!

My problems stopped when I went into start capture!

I've managed some half decent views of jupiter & moon with meddling with settings.

Took some 90secs capture's of Jupiter and share when I get to run em in registax.

Pack up time now is I'm up at 5.30 for work.

Thanks for your replies.

Kenny

[jambouk]

Glad it worked.

Jd

[Langy]

Be nice to see some images.

[Russe]

Sharpcap crashes the computer sometimes, when you plug in or unplug a camera, while it is running...

Otherwise it's a great piece of software!!

[kenny k]

Capture 11_03_2014 22_34_06.bmpEvening all, ive finally managed to get an image out off my capture files in registax.Its the first time ive used this software and its an older version 3 Ive had on older laptop so was a bit off a mare to be honest.

Jupiter 90sec @ 10fps with modded xbox live cam on 250PDS on Neq6.

thanks 

Kenny

[AstroAdam]

It's a start!

[Russe]

Good attempt!

[Langy]

That's better than I got tonight.

Well done.

[kenny k]

Thanks guy's,it seemed to come out brighter than I expected so I'll turn exposure down next try.

I have a few more avi's to try so may get it better but for 2 pound cam an first go I'm happy enough.

Thanks again.

Kenny