how to get live view with a 294MC pro colour cooled

[gerardsheldon]

Currently, I can only get live view using Sharpcap for my 294MC pro colour cooled camera. That does allow me to get the image focused.  I have tried to get live view with APT and NINA and no luck.  In APT, the software crashes and does not really work.  I have also tried firecapture which also does not work.   I have got USB2 ports on my laptop which may be a problem.

Sharpcap is not really designed for deep sky imaging and so I have to move to between Sharpcap, and APT or NINA.  

Is there any way I can get live view on APT or NINA  or some other way? 

 

 

[Synchronicity]

If APT is crashing it's probably a driver issue - always the first place to start for those sorts of issues.  I'd connect the camera, cap on, with a known good lead, directly to the laptop on my table and work at getting a stable connection and live view like that and then do the full setup in case there's issues with cabling, power or whatever.

Michael

[ONIKKINEN]

Why not loop 2 second exposures with NINA?

You will want to have longer than liveview exposures anyway since seeing is mostly random below 2s making fine focusing very difficult when you fight against the randomness of seeing. Depending on your scope and filter you may need to take longer exposures though. But generally focusing manually is easiest with looped few-second exposures and looking at the reported HFR values. Try to get the lowest possible HFR value and when you do, its the best focus.

[gerardsheldon]

Thanks for your replies.  I have had a go with looping 1 second exposures during the day, but will have to see how it works when I get a clear night.

Synchronicity, you mentioned a driver issue.  How to check for that ?  

Thanks

 

 

 

[Anthonyexmouth]

What are the specs of your laptop if it only has usb2 ports? Thinking that might be your problem. 

Check out the asi imaging suite that's been released recently. 

[gerardsheldon]

My laptop is a lenovo T410. So old and USB2.  See specs in image below.

I have tried a recent ASI Studio. I tried the preview option within the the deep sky imaging component, and couldn't see any image on the screen.

i think I will need to update my laptop. 

Any advice appreciated.