ZWO ASI224MC Camera Issues

[04Stefan07]

My camera isn't working through FireCapture at all but it seems to work in SharpCap but the FPS is quite slow!

I think these new drivers ZWO put out are stuffing it up.

Anyone have similar issues and would anyone have an older driver?

Thanks.

[glend]

Email Sam direct at ZWO, he can give you any backward driver you wish. Let him know about your problem. There are different camera drivers for various models so make sure you get the right one loaded.

[DarkKnight]

Hi Stefan

I'm no help with your problem but your thread has probably helped clarify some indecision for me.

I was about to buy the ASI120MC-S when your post caught my eye. I'm looking for a guide camera that could also take some reasonable photos and after checking the specs on the ASI224MC it seems to be several levels up in both respects.

My intent is to ease myself into astro imaging with the DSLR gear that I have (see my thread here... http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=149859 ) but I just know that a reasonable small 'scope is not too far down the track.

I will be following this thread with interest to see how you fare with the driver issue.

Cheers

[ChrisV]

Stefan

I just downloaded the latest driver on http://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/software/
Driver: ZWO ASI Cameras driver Setup V1.3.9.29
And my 224MC works fine with sharpcap and firecapture. I selected only the 224MC during the update.

Chris

[04Stefan07]

That's very strange. I installed an older version and it was doing the same thing. So I gave it another crack and it started working. This was the same with my QHY as well. They seem to be working but when it feels like it. I am not obtaining the maximum frames either. I got 24 out of 30 for my QHY.
I am running boot camp on my MacBook but my specs are pretty good therefore it makes me think it's a driver issue.

I am running the latest build of Windows 10 which might explain the issues but it did used to work fine.

[ChrisV]

Mine is on a PC. Windows 10 for my sins. Said I'd never get a PC ... but astro apps forced my hand.

[kittenshark]

What frame size are you working with?

You could try reducing it to allow it to obtain faster frame rates as a workaround. I had a customer came in with his macbook with the same issue, and reducing the frame size seemed to have solved the problem. Reducing the frame size made a huge difference. I'm not entirely sure if it's the limitation of the camera, or the computer.

[04Stefan07]

I might try that.

Funny thing is I am running Windows 10 on BootCamp and it had been working perfectly. It could be that latest build that stuffed it up. Might be best if I roll back to Windows 7.

How do you change the frame size?

[kittenshark]

We were using oaCapture, but it was with a ASI120MM-S, the S version of the camers being friendlier to Macs. The option is right there on the dashboard.

I'm not too familiar with the other software, but I could ask the SO when he's got a bit of time. (In the middle of moving the shop at the moment and getting ready to fly out of the country on Friday) But there must be a way to change the frame size, as ZWO cams are meant to be a planetary cam and you really don't need full frame size for that.

For the rest of you who plan on buying a ZWO camera to use on the Mac, get the later USB 3.0 version (S version), because I've not much luck (or hadn't tried hard enough) with the earlier 2.0 versions to work with a mac. We use an iMac with Parallels at work, but I haven't tried running the ZWO camera through Parallels yet. I'll have a go at it myself when I get back.

[04Stefan07]

OK so I posted on the ZWO forum about my issue, you can view it here.

http://zwoug.org/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=6617

As you can see this is now using Windows 7 via VMware, Windows 10 via bootcamp as well as Windows 10 running natively on a laptop.

Maybe I need to fire up a Windows 7 laptop and try.

[04Stefan07]

OK so an update.

Their forum is hopeless, not reply in one week.

I contacted them on FB which they seem to be better to get into contact. They advised me to use FireCapture 2.5 Beta. I usually don't use beta versions unless I am testing it.

Installed the beta and looks to be working beautifully now. I installed the drivers pack on their website along with it, installed ASCOM drivers and then FireCapture. I was getting 63.90 FPS on max resolution which is bloody great!

[moont]

Stefan,

I have a ZWO ASI174MM camera and it's been easy to use and reliable. I tried Firecapture and got fed up with it. As the website jokes it comes with bugs at no extra cost.

One of the annoying things for me is that Firecapture would record an image as being a 7-sec exposure when it was an 8-sec one.

Also tried the AMCAP software supplied but found it did not have much functionality so turned to SharpCap.

SharpCap is simpler to use and fairly bug-free. I not only capture images using it but can also change filters on my Xagyl or ZWO EFW directly from the SharpCap window.

I have loaded Sharp Cap on my windows tablet as well as it works with eyepiece webcams

Tex

[Nikolas]

Never had an issue with Sharpcap and in fact it is more intuitive and easier to use

[04Stefan07]

I'm thinking it's either a boot camp issue or it's the latest build version of Windows 10 (1607 I think it is).

I will be trying it on a Windows 7 laptop which I am waiting on its arrival.

Will let you know how it goes.

[04Stefan07]

OK, I am still getting issues.

I got a laptop with Windows 10 build 1607 and the camera still disconnects every 10 or 15 seconds for a fraction of a second. At the start it was stable and I was getting 64FPS now I get less than 10FPS.

It seems ZWO don't have a reliable enough driver for the latest W10.

[04Stefan07]

OK they got back to me and to fix the issue you need to disable USB selective suspend setting in power management.

Now I am getting 60+ FPS without dropouts. Now the issue I am having is if I record for 10 seconds I only get a 2 second video.

[Nikolas]

usb selective suspend setting????

[04Stefan07]

Yep that was the first reaction I had as well haha.

Check image attached.

[Nikolas]

ah, like a power saver thingy