Can Not Connect SBIG Aluma 8300 Camera to SGP

I have been using SGP for quite some time and love the program. However, I recently got a new camera and I am not able to connect the SBIG Aluma 8300 Camera to SGP.

When I try to connect via USB i get a simple error: ‘SBIG Error While Querying for USB Device: None Found’.

I also tried connecting via WiFi, but honestly do not know how to set all the different settings / addresses for LPT1, LPT2, etc… I tried each of them at their defaults, but could not get to work.

I am able to directly connect the camera to Maxim DL (Maxim LT in my case). I cna connect via USB or WifFI.

I have tried several times to ensure I have the latest drivers, but system keeps telling me I have the latest.

I could not find any ASCOM drivers for this camera… although it says it is compatible with ASCOM.

I am running Wndows 10 Pro.

Here is a link to the log file…

You’ll want to use USB or WiFi (likely USB), your camera doesn’t have LPT so don’t use either of those options or ethernet.

What SBIG driver version are you running?

Thanks,
Jared

Hi Jared. Thanks for replying. I am not 100% sure the correct method to accurately answer your question. I have sent the support folks at SBIG a message asking them how to provide the answer you have asked.

Pending a different procedure from them this is what I did to answer your question. I connected the camera to my PC and then opened the Device Manager and took screen shots of the Properties Page and Driver Details tab. I have attached links to these screen captures (below).

The main properties page from Device Manager listed the driver version as 2.12.26.0 with a date of 2/24/2017.

The details Page listed file version 2.12.26.1

Links:

It looks like the Aluma may use a new set of drivers compared to the other SBIG cameras, in which case it may not be supported by SGP at the moment. Their site states that they have an ASCOM driver, which will work with SGP but I could not find on their site. Hopefully their support can point you to it.

Thank you,
Jared

Yes. They did confirm that the Aluma uses a new set of drivers. The ASCOM drivers should be ready in early Feb.

Thanks for helping with this issue.

I do have to wonder why any camera manufacturer would release a camera w/o having a functional ASCOM driver. Clearly not the SBIG of old.

1 Like

lock-in to MDL, right?

rob

Well, maybe. Not sure what their thinking is. I have owned many SBIG cameras from way back in the early days when they were pretty much the only game in town. They were always great as were the cameras. I still own two (STT 8300) and use them a lot.

Having said that, it is no longer owned and run by the same people as it was in those days so the new folks probably have a different set of goals. I have not bought an SBIG camera since that change (bought QSI and Moravian instead). I doubt that I will.

In fact, I wish there were a really good US astro-camera company left. Never liked Apogee or FLI (I won’t go into the reasons), SBIG is now not the same, and QSI is effectively a British company now. :sleepy:

yeah, agreed - i also have an STT8300 and am dreading the day when they can no longer be repaired. even the one repair that i had to do was so expensive it had me thinking about buying another camera.

rob

The one bright spot is that SBIG repairs, as I understand it, is a separate entity. Bill Lynch there knows his business. As long as he is around, repairs should be available and competent. After that, who knows, but by then maybe there will be a better american alternative. QSI used to be that alternative, but no more. We need a new and lower cost American alternative.

well i hope so. when my STT failed it seemed reasonably certain to me that an internal power regulator had failed, based on the symptom (everything worked, but blank image from main imager.)

if i had the schematics for the camera, i could have figured it out and replaced it myself. i sent the camera to bill expecting him to do the same, but instead he replaced the whole main board. if that’s the level of repair they are doing, then when they run out of replacement boards, that’s the end of STT repairs. making small runs of PCBs and assembly is exorbitantly expensive, so i have to believe they are running on surplus stock…

i guess FLI is still around but that doesn’t fall into the category of “lower cost” :smile: