Strange issue with ASI185MC

[Vox45]

I just received my ZWO ASI185MC and I am running into a strange issue.

After installing the driver on a Win7x32 I launched Sharpcap. I could see that the camera was detected and connected but I only had a black screen, no video feed. I expected something like that on a x32 so I tried on a Win7x64, same thing... I tried on a win10_x64 ... same thing... I then went for lunch and when I came back, surprise ! It was working fine. A bit puzzled, I went back to my other laptops and they all worked fine. 

I noticed that everytime I need to wait at least for 5 minutes before the video feed become visible. Anyone else ran into this ? Is this expected or is there something wrong with the cam ?

[Gina]

Maybe your gain and exposure settings were too low at first and if they were on automatic the software would gradually increase them until the brightness reached the set level.  That happens with me.  I have 3 ZWO cameras and get very good results with SharpCap.

[Vox45]

2 minutes ago, Gina said:

Maybe your gain and exposure settings were too low at first and if they were on automatic the software would gradually increase them until the brightness reached the set level.  That happens with me.  I have 3 ZWO cameras and get very good results with SharpCap.

I will test this but your explanation makes a lot of sense ! Thanks Gina !

[Gina]

Forgot to say I have the ASI185MC too - great camera

[VilleM]

Try Firecapture? I used Sharpcap with my ASI120MM and MC (USB2.0 versions) and never got any kind of preview image from either of the cameras. I switched to Firecapture and sometimes I need to click on the auto scale preview button to get image to show up. Also 100% preview is slow on full resolution, but I use small ROI to achive focus and then go back to full resolution to start imaging.

-V

[Gina]

How strange!  My ZWO cameras work fine with SharpCap but I couldn't get FireCapture to work.  Running Windows 7.

[Zakalwe]

I use Firecapture with my ASI 174. I sometimes find that there's no signal but re-sizing the FC screen seems to "kick-start" it into life.

[Vox45]

1 hour ago, Gina said:

How strange!  My ZWO cameras work fine with SharpCap but I couldn't get FireCapture to work.  Running Windows 7.

Yes I did get some disconnect in Firecapture but after reducing the USB trafic (in the "plus" menu) I could get FireCapture to work ...

There are a lot of options in Firecapture, a bit overwhelming compared to Sharpcap. I've always liked the option in Firecapture to put a frame with relevant info around the captured result, Not sure if Sharpcap does the same now... Also, Sharpcap has this PA tool now...

I'll have to compare and see what works best for me. I will also try oacapture as I am moving to a linux platform. 

[Gina]

I shall be very interested in how you get on with oacapture and moving to Linux as I'm in the process of doing the same.

[SteveBz]

14 minutes ago, Vox45 said:

Yes I did get some disconnect in Firecapture but after reducing the USB trafic (in the "plus" menu) I could get FireCapture to work ...

There are a lot of options in Firecapture, a bit overwhelming compared to Sharpcap. I've always liked the option in Firecapture to put a frame with relevant info around the captured result, Not sure if Sharpcap does the same now... Also, Sharpcap has this PA tool now...

I'll have to compare and see what works best for me. I will also try oacapture as I am moving to a linux platform. 

Hello Guys,

I've been on Linux since 2009. My last Windows installation died in 2013. I mainly started using it for medical video applications and I started Astronomy only this year - on a very tight budget.

I've not seen oacapture I'll have a look. I use gstreamer for everything. It's a command line utility that streams your video device to anything you want.  Then if you want more you can write programs in Pearl or Python.  I've compiled but not used phd2 on my machine.

Linux works very nicely with planetary cameras, although I haven't yet run an dslr on it.

I'd be interested in hearing about your experiences.

Regards

Steve

[GuLinux]

Hi,

speaking of Linux, don't forget there's this alternative too for ZWO, that needs lots of testing: http://blog.gulinux.net/en/planetary-imager

[Vox45]

5 minutes ago, GuLinux said:

Hi,

speaking of Linux, don't forget there's this alternative too for ZWO, that needs lots of testing: http://blog.gulinux.net/en/planetary-imager

Looks good !

[Vox45]

Still not sure what I should do about the IR filter. I understand that there is a glass over the sensor with IR cut, but I have a hard time accepting that it would be as good as the Baader UV/IR cut filter that I already have.

Would it be overkill to add the Baader filter ?

[GuLinux]

11 minutes ago, Vox45 said:

Looks good !

Thanks

I'm also gonna release a new version in a couple of days... lots of improvements, I'll announce it on the dedicated thread.

10 minutes ago, Vox45 said:

Still not sure what I should do about the IR filter. I understand that there is a glass over the sensor with IR cut, but I have a hard time accepting that it would be as good as the Baader UV/IR cut filter that I already have.

Would it be overkill to add the Baader filter ?

On mine (a mono version) there is no IR filter, but a clear window. You could unscrew the factory IR filter, and add a different one.

I think two IR filters in cascade are not only overkill, but bad for images, they lower available light, and might introduce a few imperfections.

But if I were you, I'd leave the factory filter... otherwise you'll open the way to dust, and that will be incredibly hard to remove...

[Vox45]

39 minutes ago, GuLinux said:

Thanks

I'm also gonna release a new version in a couple of days... lots of improvements, I'll announce it on the dedicated thread.

On mine (a mono version) there is no IR filter, but a clear window. You could unscrew the factory IR filter, and add a different one.

I think two IR filters in cascade are not only overkill, but bad for images, they lower available light, and might introduce a few imperfections.

But if I were you, I'd leave the factory filter... otherwise you'll open the way to dust, and that will be incredibly hard to remove...

makes sens plus, it would add 2 more surface to keep clean.... 5 in total : sensor + inside/outside protective glass + inside/outside Baader filter

[Vox45]

A little update on this issue. After a lot of tests I isolated the problem (kind of)

The camera temp had to go over 43° to start showing an image! I could reproduce the issue by putting the cam in the fridge and letting it run for hours, once I got it out of the fridge and let it go up to 43 celsius, the image started showing up !

I returned the camera and I should get a new one soon. Hopefully I won't run into another issue as I had to wait a long time to get my replacement cam (postage issue, not supplier)