The ASI1600MM is working well as my main camera. I have not, as yet, figured out guiding. I would like to know if I can do a daylight checkout of my guide camera. Can it connect, can the camera detect light, can it capture an image, adjust so that the main camera and guidescope can come to focus at the same point, etc. I would like to be able to check this out in the daytime. Then once this is validated, debug only the guiding itself in the night darkness.
I tried to do this by setting up an equipment profile that references the ZWO ASI120MM instead of the ZWO ASI1600MM. I would think that I should be able to get some image or at least detect light. But when I tried using frame and focus Take One with the gain at unity, and one second exposure I get nothing but black. Even when I take the ASI120MM out of the OAG and expose the sensor directly to daylight, nothing but black. What am I not understanding?
what happens if you just shut SGP down and try to connect PHD2 to the guide camera? it should work just as well for testing and anyway that’show you’re going to have to use it anyway, i assume…
I will try that, next time I am under the night sky. But I’m seeing that sort of thing as step 2. But, before I do that I would like to run a daylight test. There must be some application I can obtain that can operate a USB camera. When I try to run PHD2, at night, I would prefer to know that the Camera is working and can form an image, that the prism is at the right distance to grab just off the edge of the main camera sensor but doesn’t shadow the main camera sensor, that both camera sensors are in about the same focal plane, etc.
One second during the day is going to completely saturate the sensor. Try reducing the exposure time. I’d start with 0.1 seconds - and look at the histogram, not the image produced. If necessary, cover the scope with a cloth, like you were taking a t-shirt flat.
I tried this with a Starlight express camera in a 60mm guide scope. I could not get the durations short enough, not even close.
Ended up putting a piece of aluminum foil over the objective and punching a small hole about the size of a pencil or smaller in it. That helped some although the image was kind of distorted you could tell when it was in focus or not.
I use ASICAP (From ZWO) for testing. It allows you to pop up an image (day or night) on your laptop and flip between the guider and the imager. It has auto setting mode so that it shortens the exposure and gain during bright conditions. It allows me to aim the guider to match the imaging view for centering.
My goodness, you really misinterpreted my question! My point is that if I get a flat white image, which I did not, then I know that my guide camera is at least detecting light and is at least somewhat functional. If the guide camera is set to 1 sec exposure, and returns black, which it did, then something is drastically wrong with my setup. Or so it would seem.
This ASICAP sounds like it could be my solution. And it seems there is a Windows version also. Cool! Are they past the beta’s and into general release?
I believe that I interpreted your question just fine. I’m not sure that you interpreted my answer correctly
I have tested my guide camera in the daytime. To do it, I covered the scope with a cloth just as I said. Sometimes, if all the pixels are saturated, it will render on the screen as black, even through all of the pixels are are high value. I suspect that this is to do with how it auto stretches the image.
To reiterate, don’t saturate every pixel on the camera, and look at the histogram and not just the image on the screen.
I downloaded the Windows ASICAP software to my PC from astronomy-imaging-camera.com. It does exactly what I was hoping it would do. When I held the camera up to light, white screen, cover the camera, black screen. Now I know the Camera is working, at least at the most basic level. Now I can attach it to my telescope and, to a first approximation, adjust positioning of the OAG, and that the 2 cameras focus at the same point. And I can do this in daylight.
This is great forum advise. I asked how to do something and you pointed to a tool that does exactly what I need.
When I’m setting an OAG, I take some aluminum foil and poke a pin hole in it. Then cover the objective with that. This results in about a F/100 (I dunno, that’s a guess but it’s drastic) and allows both my guider and my imaging camera to capture images even on bright days with out blowing out the sensor.
