See attached image for the el-cheapo webcam and successful pic of Saturn.
Using SharCap, Registax, 2" Barlow on a 10" GOTO Dob. Saturn first object.
Mars appears as a white over-exposed disc. I've tried increasing the frame-rate to 10fps and boosting the gain, however during capture the feed info at the bottom of SharcCap shows the capture at 5fps. The frame-rate doesn't appear to change.
What am I doing wrong?
I think you need to turn down the gain or exposure rate as your explanation suggests that the image is being over exposed and that is exactly what it would look like.
I find it's a juggle between setting the gain and setting the exposure.
You want the frame rate to be as high as you can, set the exposure so you can see the object but don't let it over expose, it should look a little dull. Exposure settings often change in steps rather than linear. Then adjust your gain a little to get what you want. It's trial and error but with a little experimentation, you'll get there! Do a test, then look at your final result on the computer, if not quite right, make small adjustments on only one setting at a time.
Yes, that is a Datyson camera. I can resolve Saturn no problem at all, it is Mars that appears as a blown out white disc. I understand the part about a low frame rate, but if I change it, during the capture it does not show at the selected rate at the bottom of SharpCap. It sill shows the capture rate at 5fps.
I would think that 9fps would do it, but I still get the 5fps, regardless of the selection. I'll have to have a look and see if I can find the exposure setting as well.
EDIT: Update. I am unable to control the exposure, the control is greyed out. :-( I'll save my bikkies and get a ZWO.
Also sounds like you might be dropping frames or capturing at largest frame size and just cant get above 5fps. Try using ROI (region of interest) or a smaller capture size instead of wasting data bandwith on emptyness you're going to crop out anyway later. eg if you are capturing at 1280x1024, change that to 640x480 and you should see a dramatic increase in FPS possible and the planet is still the same size in pixels. Also be aware each planet reflects light differently too so exposure will vary between them. Under expose if you can to capture more quality frames, you can readjust exposure later after stacking hundreds of frames.
I also invested in one of these (on sale $29... hehehe). Quickly found it doesn't work . Spent many hours researching and communicating with the manufacturer. While it is advertised by many portals as a capable Astro-video camera, it is only good for the moon (with a filter) and some bright wide angle views in fast scopes. The manufacturer made the interface fool proof by locking down exposure and frame rates . Its a great terrestrial camera on a small refractor, and I did managed a capture of Orion, but only get the most dominant stars. It now sits in its box, waiting for me to work out my weather station and take its primary role as a sky camera .
You are quite right, there is no way to reduce the exposure, and changing frame rate or capture size just doesn't cooperate at all. I have bought a ZWO planetary and limited deep sky camera. I expect the clouds to roll in once it arrives.
I'm currently experimenting with a ZWO AS1034MC camera. My first real foray into the gravity well that is astrophotography. Trying to learn how to work the applications for aligning and stacking the frames. Not having much success so far...
Is that the usb 3.0 model? I've just bought the ASI120MC from the US.
There's youtube tutorials on using Registax and AutoStakkert. I haven't tried AS although I do have it. SharpCap and FireCapture I have as well. I also have HandyAvi5.0. It's 10 day free use limited without a paid key so I just uninstall it, clean the registry with CCleaner and re-install it to get a fresh 10 days use. :-) Photoshop 5.0 is pretty easy to get hold of and useful for final tweaks of the image. AstraImage does pretty much the same thing, time use limited without a paid key, and Adobe's Lightroom is really good for image adjustment.
Your sig, lol, I feel your pain. :-)
I have been watching quite a bit of YouTube, reading forums, and doing, but something is just not working. Most of the videos assume some sort of understanding of what you are doing.
I suspect my issue may be the object drift, the videos clips were quick and dirty, a few hundred frames of Jupiter and Saturn, just to get something to play with. Maybe I'm not setting the crop factor right for the amount of drift in the clip .
I also have AutoStakkert but haven't tried it yet. Will probably post process in Gimp for now, can't justify the expense of Adobe Photo "anything", until I get more proficient.
No tracking? Google suggests using centre of gravity alignment option. Maybe just fiddle with alignment options, once you jag the option, you could save the profile maybe.
You could also try this out: http://www.avistack.de/
No tracking? Google suggests using centre of gravity alignment option. Maybe just fiddle with alignment options, once you jag the option, you could save the profile maybe.
You could also try this out: http://www.avistack.de/
Thanks Malcolm,
At the time I didn't have my HEQ5 and was using the original wedge mount that came with my Celestar 8. I'm horrible at getting proper Polar alignment so always have drift. The centre of gravity option didn't help, but I'm starting to suspect that the image drifts too far for even that algorithm to get a reasonable number of frames to align. I've been explaining the issues I've been having in more detail in another thread... http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=139900
Thanks for the link, I don't think I've looked at that application. I've loaded up AutoStakker to give it a try.
Kevin, check out PIPP, It'll centre an object and output an avi or frames can even sort out quality frames too. Its an awesome tool to get your planet data aligned and ready to process in your preferred package.
. Spent many hours researching and communicating with the manufacturer. While it is advertised by many portals as a capable Astro-video camera, it is only good for the moon (with a filter) and some bright wide angle views in fast scopes. The manufacturer made the interface fool proof by locking down exposure and frame rates 
. Its a great terrestrial camera on a small refractor, and I did managed a capture of Orion, but only get the most dominant stars. It now sits in its box, waiting for me to work out my weather station and take its primary role as a sky camera 
.
Trying to learn how to work the applications for aligning and stacking the frames. Not having much success so far...
