APT v. what?

[speach (Simon)]

I've been using APT with my canon 1100d for awhile now, and am very happy with it for the 1100d, but now I've moved up (?) to a ZWO cmos camera and APT doesn't seem to cut the mustard now. I've been looking at other capture software have tried firecapture and sharpcap. Firecapture seem OK for solar system pictures but I'm mainly interested in DSO stuff. Now the options seem to be between MaximDL (very expensive) Sequence Generator pro and Nebulosity. I'm happy with Pixinsight for processing so I really need only a capture program, but it would be nice to have guiding integrated in the capture program, my guide camera is also a ZWO. Too say the least I'm very confused!!
Also I'm going out of my mind reading all about different programs

[billdan (Bill)]

Garymck found CCDCiel the other day,

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=170945

which you could try and its free, otherwise SGP is the most common capture program that most people use.

I intend to give it a whirl as my SGP 45 day free trial has expired.

[chuckywiz (Ben)]

I use sgp. Once setup it works really well and platesolves offline nicely. Only real quirk is i have to open phd2 myself then sgp will automatiy connect and guide.

Its no real deal breaker though as you should be re tuning your guiding at the start of your session anyway.
Ben

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

Speach,
Have a look at AstroArt...it controls all my cameras, has guiding built-in and also has plate solving.
http://www.msb-astroart.com/

[ChrisV (Chris)]

So what's the problem with APT with the zwo camera? That's what I'm using and am happy with it. But if someone knows better ... I know there are more sophisticated options but I find it works well with phd2 for guiding/dithering. Sounds similar to what was said about SGP below. It also does plate solving, sorts out flat sub length, focusing etc.

[Atmos (Colin)]

My vote is for SGP

[glend (Glen)]

I have used SGP for years with my ZWO cameras, with no issues at all. Best of all I can sleep through a run and SGP will wake me up on completion, and it can easily be controlled remotely via Teamviewer if required.

[Imme (Jon)]

Same question as Chris......what's the issue you're experiencing?

I run a ZWO asi1600 and asi120 guide cam with APT & PHD2 without an issue.

Works flawlessly always including platesolving and dithering

[speach (Simon)]

Originally Posted by Imme

Same question as Chris......what's the issue you're experiencing?

I run a ZWO asi1600 and asi120 guide cam with APT & PHD2 without an issue.

Works flawlessly always including platesolving and dithering

What ever I try I car't get live view to work properly

[Lognic04 (Logan)]

I vote for SGP! It is an awesome program!

[Imme (Jon)]

Originally Posted by speach

What ever I try I car't get live view to work properly

Have you tried slowing down USB transfer?

Why are you using live view if you don't mind me asking? Focusing?

[speach (Simon)]

Originally Posted by Imme

Have you tried slowing down USB transfer?

Why are you using live view if you don't mind me asking? Focusing?

Focusing and aligning, and yes slowed the usb transfer

[ChrisV (Chris)]

That's weird Simon. I've never had trouble and I use the asi071 which has a larger sensor. Fine in live viewing - even when I don't use binning it's okay with 1sec exposures. But I've got a newish laptop with usb3. And I'm running through an extra 5m usb3 extender cable.

I really like APT but would also like to try SGP some time. But maybe hold out for a while. There is supposed to be native ZWO support soon, rather than via ascom

[Imme (Jon)]

Originally Posted by speach

Focusing and aligning, and yes slowed the usb transfer

Strange.....mine doesn’t skip a beat with both zwo cameras running. Platesolving is a 3-4 second job, live view works ok.

How long is the USB cable and is it powered? Could you be having your issue there?

[Gavin1234]

I use SGP and love it. I’m still learning to use a different feature every few weeks but at the moment I can set it to handle all the camera settings, frame, shoot multiple length exposures, guide through PHD2, dither, meridian flip and switch to new targets halfway through the night.

When I want to I can sleep through the whole thing

So at the moment I start it off taking shots of sculpture. I use it to align my scope, set focus and then I tell it to slew to sculpture and frame, plate solve, then take shots, then at about 1am it slews to Orion and takes 20 shorter exposures followed by a bunch of longer ones until sunrise. I can just walk out in the morning and check the results.

Thing is it’s basically the first capture program I tried so I’ve nothing to compare it to. But I keep finding new things it can do for me.