ZWO + Firecapture produces checked cloth images!

[Rusted]

Hi

First solar captures with my brand new ZWOASI120MC-S via first attempt with SharpCap3.2 .

Supplied ZWO USB3 able into USB3 port on fast laptop into T5 SSD.

Both videos and stills look like they've been printed onto very coarse tweed cloth!

Tried RAW8, RAW6 and RGB24. All saved as AVIs.

DEFINITELY NOT NEWTON's RINGS.

This never happened with my Neximage5.

So, what am I doing wrong?

Thanks

 

[JamesF]

I'd expect raw colour images to look like that unless you're converting them back to RGB.  If they still look that way in RGB then perhaps you have the wrong colour mask.  Not sure why they'd look that way in RGB24 though.  Something to do with short exposure times, perhaps?  Can you post some examples with gain and exposure time settings?

James

[paul mc c]

Check the de bayer setting,i had the same problem and set mine to RGGB and that sorted it.

[Rusted]

4 minutes ago, JamesF said:

I'd expect raw colour images to look like that unless you're converting them back to RGB.  If they still look that way in RGB then perhaps you have the wrong colour mask.  Not sure why they'd look that way in RGB24 though.  Something to do with short exposure times, perhaps?  Can you post some examples with gain and exposure time settings?

James

HI James thanks for the quick reply.

This is solar white light. The ZWO is fantastic! I'm getting 60FPS! All auto settings.

Tried opening a captured still in PhotoFiltre7:

Coarse cloth texture until I resize down to 800 pixels for the forum. Then it vanished.

Registax is unusable on my videos.

[Rusted]

2 minutes ago, paul mc c said:

Check the de bayer setting,i had the same problem and set mine to RGGB and that sorted it.

Hi Paul & thanks.

Where do I  find the de bayer setting? In SharpCap?

[paul mc c]

I will check,i am not at my computer at the minute,but from memory there is a box at top left i think....sorry but cant be sure,but i know it was a simple thing.

[Rusted]

Okay thanks. SharpCap and  others don't do the debayering.

A suggestion I found online was to run them through PIPP.

[Anthonyexmouth]

are you using firecapture or sharpcap? seems to have jumped halfway thrugh the tread or did i miss something?

[Rusted]

Sorry. It was the excitement and deepening hypothermia!

For clarity: SharpCap3.2. First try with the ZWO120 as well.

I've been using a Neximage5 and IC Cap 2.4 until today.

[Anthonyexmouth]

4 minutes ago, Rusted said:

Sorry. It was the excitement and deepening hypothermia!

For clarity: SharpCap3.2. First try with the ZWO120 as well.

I've been using a Neximage5 and IC Cap 2.4 until today.

I always use firecapture for my video capture. worth trying as its free. i use it with my 290mc for the rare times i get to have a go at planetary imaging. 

[Rusted]

Thanks but both Fire Capture and Sharp Capture have their fans and detractors.

I'm trying to remember why I didn't like Fire Capture.  It was some time ago.

I think it was because it couldn't cope with a 4K screen but don't quote me.

 

 

[Anthonyexmouth]

1 minute ago, Rusted said:

Thanks but both Fire Capture and Sharp Capture have their fans and detractors.

I'm trying to remember why I didn't like Fire Capture.  It was some time ago.

I think it was because it couldn't cope with a 4K screen but don't quote me.

 

 

i use sharpcap too, if i didnt have sharpcap for polar alignment i would give up the hobby. i dont wanna crawl around on my knees and i also dont wanna pay stupid money for polemaster. lol.

firecapture has a dated interface but works well. 

[Rusted]

I like it too, now.

For some reason I was able to use Registax on a video without the patterns appearing.

Here's my resulting image converted to B&W from apple green Baader-SC.

[JamesF]

Ah, well, now the problem is obvious.  You haven't removed the "Eye of Sauron" filter.

James

[JamesF]

Briefly, in case you weren't aware, and glossing over a lot of the detail, your camera always creates a monochrome image, but each pixel has a filter in front of it (R, G or B).  The arrangement of filters is often called the "bayer pattern" or something along those lines -- there are multiple possible patterns.  This is the "raw colour" frame.  To get a colour image either your software or the camera have to blend the values for the different colour pixels together.  If you view the image without doing this or you use the wrong pattern you can get a "patchwork" pattern in the image such as you describe.

My preference when using a colour camera is actually to capture the data in raw colour and then create the full colour image in post-processing because it can be computationally expensive to do, which means that cameras and image capture software often use algorithms that are faster but produce lower qualify images.

Often processing software can determine the bayer pattern used, but not always, and in the latter instances you need to tell it which is the right one to use.

James

[paul mc c]

In the options tab at the top left of the screen select reset "colour order", this is what i done,when i changes from a zwo 120 to a 224,i had to change it to RGGB.

[Rusted]

Thanks James.

I think I understand all the words. Just not necessarily in that order.

Methinks I have an awful lot of homework to do. 

[Rusted]

3 minutes ago, paul mc c said:

In the options tab at the top left of the screen select reset "colour order", this is what i done,when i changes from a zwo 120 to a 224,i had to change it to RGGB.

Thanks Paul.

I'll check Options when I get back to the laptop.

It's turned solid grey overhead now.
So I'll have plenty of time to fiddle with the controls.

[Davey-T]

Looking on the bright side at least the frame rate is an improvement on the Neximage 

[Rusted]

Terrifyingly so, Dave.

60fps at "full frame" and 100fps at smaller formats.

My poor laptop was choking on the file sizes! I was lucky it clouded over!

What's best practice for thinning out video files over time? Loading the SSD onto cheap, "mechanical" HDDs?

Progress in processing might make earlier files worth keeping. Or  not. 

[Davey-T]

I save directly to a 1tb USB3 external drive then do all the processing on it and only transfer the single images to the laptop for sharpening etc.

Dave

[Rusted]

Thanks, Dave.

I'm using up 3.6GB per 1000 frame video lasting about 25 seconds..
It doesn't take long but they all add up! 
I thought a 500GB SSD would be enough. It wasn't.