Drivers and Software for Orion StarShoot Camera

[stargamed]

I recently got an Orion StarShoot Astrophotography Camera and have had difficulty getting it
to work right. The software that comes with it AstroCap seems horrible. The start/stop mechanisms
are vague, the images won't appear. The best I've been able to do is see scan lines and some
color light or dark variations on the screen after messing with the exposure and the gain.
Popping the camera into the reflector or the refractor telescope yields nothing. I'm told
there is other software that is better supported and more current including SharpCap
and NINA. However so far neither of those recognize my StarShoot with the ASCOM
drivers loaded. 

Can someone tell me precisely what drivers I need to get the Option Starshoot (the original)
to work with SharpCap NINA or some other software? A link would be much appreciated.
What I downloaded from Orion have been AllInOneDrivers.ZIP AllInOneASCOM.ZIP and
ASCOMPlatform 6.1 and later 6.5. The only software where I'm able to deliver even 
a poor image to the laptop has been AstroCap. Or if there's a new and improved 
AstroCap beyond 1.3.9 do tell!

Edited November 29, 2020 by stargamed

[PeterCPC]

https://diffractionlimited.com/help/maximdl/Orion_StarShoot_Deep-Space_2.ht any good?

Edit: that's weird it doesn't work. This is what it showed for me.

Edited November 29, 2020 by PeterCPC

[happy-kat]

Could try Firecapture and the other one IcCap

[Shimrod]

3 hours ago, stargamed said:

I recently got an Orion StarShoot Astrophotography Camera and have had difficulty getting it
to work right. The software that comes with it AstroCap seems horrible. The start/stop mechanisms
are vague, the images won't appear. The best I've been able to do is see scan lines and some
color light or dark variations on the screen after messing with the exposure and the gain.
 

This sounds like you are not able to get the telescope into focus with the camera - these are the same symptoms I experienced when I bought my first astro camera. The camera came with the appropriate spacers to give 55mm of backfocus when used with a reducer, but with no reducer I had to buy additional extension tubes (another 50mm) to insert between the camera and the focuser. If you have a barlow, try using that as well - you might get a bit closer to focus which would at least confirm it is not a software/driver issue.

 

[Stu Wilson]

ive got this camera as an autoguider and use PHD2  

[stargamed]

11 hours ago, happy-kat said:

Could try Firecapture and the other one IcCap

I tried Firecapture. But when I start it it says I need to load Java. I installed the latest
version of Java and rebooted. Firecapture still gives the error that Java isn't loaded.
ICap appears to need USB3. I don't think I have that on this system. But TY.

Edited November 29, 2020 by stargamed

[stargamed]

On 29/11/2020 at 02:55, Shimrod said:

This sounds like you are not able to get the telescope into focus with the camera - these are the same symptoms I experienced when I bought my first astro camera. The camera came with the appropriate spacers to give 55mm of backfocus when used with a reducer, but with no reducer I had to buy additional extension tubes (another 50mm) to insert between the camera and the focuser. If you have a barlow, try using that as well - you might get a bit closer to focus which would at least confirm it is not a software/driver issue.

 

Thanks. The telescope came with an extra tube. Maybe that's it. I have a barlow set on order. I wasn't sure which to get so I ordered a 2x 3x and 5x.

[Brazac]

On 29/11/2020 at 01:36, stargamed said:

I recently got an Orion StarShoot Astrophotography Camera and have had difficulty getting it
to work right. The software that comes with it AstroCap seems horrible. The start/stop mechanisms
are vague, the images won't appear. The best I've been able to do is see scan lines and some
color light or dark variations on the screen after messing with the exposure and the gain.
Popping the camera into the reflector or the refractor telescope yields nothing. I'm told
there is other software that is better supported and more current including SharpCap
and NINA. However so far neither of those recognize my StarShoot with the ASCOM
drivers loaded. 

Can someone tell me precisely what drivers I need to get the Option Starshoot (the original)
to work with SharpCap NINA or some other software? A link would be much appreciated.
What I downloaded from Orion have been AllInOneDrivers.ZIP AllInOneASCOM.ZIP and
ASCOMPlatform 6.1 and later 6.5. The only software where I'm able to deliver even 
a poor image to the laptop has been AstroCap. Or if there's a new and improved 
AstroCap beyond 1.3.9 do tell!

Same issue with NINA. I get image with Astrocap and it seems to work well. I believe the driver is not compatible with NINA. Have you gotten a work around yet?

I get an error that camera readout not included with driver or some junk like that. If I can't get it working in next day or 2, I will uninstall NINA and find another program to work with. I need one to be able to set up long exposure over many frames and to communicate with PHD2 for dithering and junk

[Cosmic Geoff]

On 29/11/2020 at 07:36, stargamed said:

Popping the camera into the reflector or the refractor telescope yields nothing.

Typically, the camera needs to be further in toward the objective lens than an eyepiece would be.  The position needs to be exact, otherwise the image is so out of focus that nothing can be seen.  This can mean that focus cannot be achieved, particularly in the case of a typical Newtonian reflector, or a refractor with limited focuser travel.

As for your trouble with the drivers, this is not impressive. Maybe you should just ask for your money back.  I had no trouble at all getting two ASI cameras and a Celestron camera to work with Sharpcap, or getting the Celestron camera to work with the software supplied. 

[stargamed]

@Brazac My only progress is that I have been able to put the camera into my refractor scope and get a close up image of a leaf from about 100 yards away with color too. So in the day time it can pick up lighter/darker, colors and image details if through a telescope. But in the dark I am just getting a funky bunch of dots that look like they're burned into the receptor or something. The more gain or the longer the exposure the more those "burned in" dots are visible. 
What exposure and gain are you using when you can get an image of a planet or DSO?

@Cosmic Geoff That's interesting about the camera needing to be nearest the objective lens. I could try dropping in the camera as far as possible and cranking in the focus such that it's as close to the secondary mirror as possible. Worth a shot. Perhaps it is a focus issue. Although it seems like I've tried every permutation of focus, exposure, gain available. 

[stargamed]

@ShimrodI now have a spacer tube and two barlows - a 3x and a 5x. I'll see if either of those help. It seems like going that direction is the opposite of what @Cosmic Geoff is suggesting - to bring the camera as close as possible to the objective. Or does somehow adding the spacer give the camera the appearance of being closer to the objective via the barlow magnification? I'll try the barlow and the make it as close to the secondary as possible too. Open to all options!

[stargamed]

As for Firecapture - it's still complaining about Java not being installed although I just installed Java v8 and rebooted the Win 10 laptop. 

[Cosmic Geoff]

6 minutes ago, stargamed said:

I have been able to put the camera into my refractor scope and get a close up image of a leaf from about 100 yards away with color too.

That is significant, as to focus on objects that close you would need to move the camera further out than for infinity focus.  A Barlow lens may enable you to get a proper focus at infinity, but your field of view will already be on the small side.

[stargamed]

A step forward and back on firecapture. I found that I'd loaded an old version of it from a mirror site. The new code works except that it seems to want to use the ASCOM drivers. An ASCOM dialog pops up and asks me to choose a camera and I select CMOS All-In-One. But then that fails when it notes that the driver is 32 bit. So I may still be stuck on that. 

[Ghostflyer]

On 29/11/2020 at 01:36, stargamed said:

I recently got an Orion StarShoot Astrophotography Camera and have had difficulty getting it
to work right. The software that comes with it AstroCap seems horrible. The start/stop mechanisms
are vague, the images won't appear. The best I've been able to do is see scan lines and some
color light or dark variations on the screen after messing with the exposure and the gain.
Popping the camera into the reflector or the refractor telescope yields nothing. I'm told
there is other software that is better supported and more current including SharpCap
and NINA. However so far neither of those recognize my StarShoot with the ASCOM
drivers loaded. 

Can someone tell me precisely what drivers I need to get the Option Starshoot (the original)
to work with SharpCap NINA or some other software? A link would be much appreciated.
What I downloaded from Orion have been AllInOneDrivers.ZIP AllInOneASCOM.ZIP and
ASCOMPlatform 6.1 and later 6.5. The only software where I'm able to deliver even 
a poor image to the laptop has been AstroCap. Or if there's a new and improved 
AstroCap beyond 1.3.9 do tell!

Are you using windows 10?

I recently pulled mine out after 10 years and it does not like windows 10.  Works fine on windows 7 though.

[Ctullu]

I hate to revive an old thread, but I have several older Orion cameras (StarShoot DSI Pro v2, DSI III, and a DSI II) and can't seem to find 64-bit ASCOM drivers anywhere. Outside of MaximDL Essentials I can't get them to work. I can get ASCOM to connect when using the ASCOM Diagnostics in 32-bit mode, but nothing outside of that. I tried 32-bit version of NINA as well, and it initially connects but then spits out an error and I cannot get any exposures. I am really getting back into astrophotography, but can't seem to find the correct/modern drivers for this camera.

For some extra info, here is my current setup:

Meade LXD75 Mount x2 - seems to work fine with NINA and other software (once I dug out the official Meade Serial to RJ11 adapter and a good USB adapter)

Orion EON 80ED Quadruplet Refractor - 500mm focal length, f/6.25

AstroTech AT111EDT refractor - 777mm focal length f/7

AstroTech AT65Q Refractor - 422mm focal length f/6.5

50mm guide scope with Orion StarShoot Autoguider

The aforementioned Orion StarShoot Deep Space Imagers (Pro V2, II, III)

Orion 5 position FIlter Wheel

Using an older Windows 7 laptop with NINA, PHD2, and ASTAP for plate solving.

 

 

So far, everything I have works fine with the 64-bit Windows 7 I am running other than the Orion cameras. If I can get it working on my current Windows 10 machine I will probably upgrade the control laptop.

I also have a couple of older Meade DSI cameras with the accompanying 12V cooling fans (these were a separate/add-on product), but I haven't tested this yet.

 

Drivers for these older cameras seem to be very hard to find, at least any that work with modern software. Anyone have any advice? (outside of getting a newer/more modern camera. I don't currently have the budget for that)

[CCD-Freak]

I just downloaded the 64 bit ASCOM driver for the SS-Pro from the Orion website.

 

StarShootASCOM100209.exe

[stardust52806]

Thank you very much.  I noticed it was ASCOM, but I'll guve it a go.