I used a new camera last night for the first time an ATIK383L+ mono, also have never used the filter wheel with SGP’s autofocus before.
It worked fairly well but there was a few oddities.
I know and understand the error message about the validation reference frame.
But it seemed to be only using the bottom half of the frames for evaluation.
I did not have either the error message nor the odd ‘bottom of frame’ behavior with my DSLR obviously I have over looked something.
Thanks!
I had the same behavior last night with my 383L+.
I have to add a P.S. This feature did work with my Atik 383L in previous versions.
That’s odd at least I am not alone.
I guess I should mention that I am currently running version 2.5.1.17
This is the first time it has happened to you? Nothing else has changed. I thought it might be a star size or some other issue.
Odd indeed. This is more likely a data issue and not a camera issue. If you’re able to reproduce, it would be helpful to capture an “AF Pack” so we can take a look at the data.
Hrm, sure, if I had a clue how to ‘capture an AF pack’.
Then with the AF Pack that is generated, just zip it up and upload it to your favorite file sharing site (like Dropbox or whatever you prefer).
Thanks for that. Never noticed that before. I did cap a run but I found a work around.
It seems if you turn binning off and run AF at 1x1 it works ‘normally’.
I’m out again tonight, and I’m having the same problem. The funny thing is that when I load one of my pictures from the disk drive, the HFR works perfectly. I am using 2X2 binning. I’ll retry auto focus with 1X1 binning.
I tried it at 1X1 and it worked better, but not as it should. HFR was finding only 9-10 stars and there were lots visible. The images themselves didn’t seem right. Bright at the top, dark at the bottom. Hope this can be fixed. I’m going to go back to the non-beta version to see it worked then.
I am not sure if this matters but what “Minimum star diameter at 1x1 (px)” under “Auto Focus Options” did you set it to?
Peter
Peter it was set at 4 I tried 6 and 8 and made little difference.
“The images themselves didn’t seem right. Bright at the top, dark at the bottom”
This is exactly what I witnessed as well.
Increasing min star size will select less stars. We can provide further assistance with an AFPack.
Sounds like a camera problem. I see it’s set to 10 seconds during AF run which should be fine.
Have you tried other capture software to see if you get the same bright at top and dark at bottom images? Make sure you use same ASCOM camera driver using other capture software like Nebulosity.
Or possible bad USB cable.
Peter
I have a suggestion to try. Something similar happened to me after returning to AP after a year break. Same camera.
Try turning off “use high speed download” under the camera properties in the control panel.
It seems your data has an abnormal offset applied to it judging by the histogram.
I had the same thing happen to me. It seems the Atik 383L+ doesn’t like to use high speed download.
Ryan
The camera’s images are just fine, I guess I misspoke and should have said the display of the images in AF is odd.
It still focuses well for the most part but still has the odd display / behavior. I keep forgetting to capture a pack. It is supposed to be clear tonight so I will do my best to get some data and update.
Thanks for that Idea Ryan I will try that as well.
That’s an interesting suggestion. I’ll try it tonight if it’s clear.
I know my camera is working well outside of the AF routine.
That’s a 100% reasonable suggestion. Until about 6 months ago, SGPro forced fast download off for this exact reason. Lots of folks did not like this restriction though…
Just wanted to report that indeed turning off ‘high speed download’ has fixed the problem for me. I capped a pack but no use uploading it because it looks and acted quite normal.
I also reduced star size to 3 and bumped up step size just a little and got a spot on focus point HFR of 1.3 with a decent V not bad 
Oh I forgot to add I did not notice any difference in download time. Though I haven’t taken anything longer than 10-15 seconds.
Thanks everyone I knew you could help!
This is just to confirm that with the high speed download off, the auto focuser worked perfectly with my Atik 383L I so glad you solved this UlteriorModem
