SGPro 3.0 and FocusLock

Both the ASI and Lodestar have the same back focal distance of 12.5mm, and
the same CS threads. However there are some differences:

  1. The ASI sensor is about twice as big as the Lodestar sensor
  2. The hole right above the sensor in both cameras looks to be the same
    diameter, however the ASI hole is closer to the sensor than the Lodestar
    hole is.
  3. In light of #2, the thread depth on the ASI is “deeper” than the
    Lodestar.

A few weeks ago I contacted Jeff at Optec and asked if a Lacerta would work
with the 174MM-mini. After a couple initial emails I sent the above info
and haven’t received a response yet, but that was right around NEAF and I
know that Optec took some time off after NEAF as well. I suspect my email
got lost in the shuffle.

I would suggest that you contact Optec and give the above info to them and
see if you get a response. Perhaps if more of us ask the same question
we’ll get an answer.

Thanks for the info Joel.
I’ll send him an e-mail right away.

Please post back here if you get any more info. I’m interested in this too.

The lacerta will almost certainly work but you’re going to be losing a TON of FOV when you put it in the ASI174. Here’s my lodestar with the lacerta installed to give you an idea:

Thanks,
Jared

Will it work with the Ultrastar?

Technically yes it will but the size of the prism and the hole is designed for the Lodestar with the smaller chip. So you are sacrificing real estate. If you are going this route might as well buy a X2.

Thanks Michael.

I guess I see no sense spending $350 for sw and lacerta, then buying a lodestar on top of that. Ultrastar was supposed to be the lodestar replacement when working with the horrible maxim dl and its’ problems with hot pixels on the lodestar. Not to mention other problems that maxim still has to this day with version 6. Seems rather backward in the thinking at optec, if this is the case. For now, I’ll just stay with the focus routine in sgp and adjust on temp change.

This is certainly true, but another limiting factor is the size of the OAG. In my case (QHY-OAG-M), the OAG prism limits the ASI174mm mini to about 2/3 of the sensor. So I wonder how much further real estate I would be sacrificing with the Lacerta on ASI174.

Without knowing exactly how the Lacerta is designed, I’m hoping that Optec can design a Lacerta for these larger chip guide cameras. I’ve been on the fence for a while with Lacerta/Focuslock, but if a Lacerta could be designed so that more of the chip was utilized I’d probably jump on it.

I was literally about to e-mail Jeff and mention this very thing. I’ll link him back to this post. :slight_smile:

Good idea! :smiley:

Well… the ZWO OAG prism is like 8x8mm… I end up having only a circle mid screen, so my FOV is already gone… lol

Hi Harry,

Not sure if this has been resolved for you but here is a thread where I had the same problem (and no responses):

I suspect the responses not forthcoming as the main effort was in this thread.

Having read this and seen my own, I do believe there is some kind of bug. The error is typically a programming error apparently.

My ONAG arrives tomorrow (Yea!!!).

But I’m confused, is Maxim DL required or not (with SGP)? Would much prefer to stick with (just) PHD2 and SGP. 3.x.

Maxim DL is not required for the ONAG (FocusLock) with SGP. You do need to purchase the Focuslock software from Optec I believe still. Then SGP, Focuslock, PHD is all you need on the software side. It really is a great combo. I focus once at the beginning of a imaging session and it keeps everything nice and focused all night. Saves a lot time not having to refocus through the night.

Thanks for that, Yeah I paid for, and have installed focus lock. The confusion comes because the focus lock “help” manual from optec hasn’t been updated and still says Maxium DL is required.

Similar to the “Sharp Lock” manual at innovation foresight itself.

Hopefully the steps at the top of this thread will be enough to get me going. I’ll report back.

The other surprise in reading through all the manuals (ONAG and Focus lock) is that I may need the astigmatism corrector, as I am using a TPO 12" Truss RC with Focal Reducer, so I am both near F6 AND have > 45% center obstruction. Guess we’ll see (and yes I have done all the back focus calculations for the ONAG including the FR).

Anyone having issues with focus lock not reading the offsets from SGP? If I remember correctly back when 3.0 was released focus lock talked to sgp and handled the filter offsets automatically. I took a long break and updated sgp and now I cant get focus lock to work with filter offsets. Just not sure if I am forgetting or missing something.

Similar to djnetboy’s question…

I Had trouble getting FocusLock to work last night… I was actually testing outside of SGP but was wondering if anyone might have an idea. I setup FocusLock with the 2 cameras parfocal with roundness close to zero when using the Red filter. I added the roundness offsets for all of the other filters some of which were as much as 20. I had the boxes checked for:

“If you wish to use the Filter Wheel every time you should check (1).
If you want FocusLock to automatically apply these filter settings with Filter Wheel changes check (2).”
I noticed that it also said:

“Note: FocusLock assumes that the program that called for the Filter Wheel change applies the ASCOM focus offset for that filter.”

The problem that I’m having is when I change a filter, FocusLock continues to aim for 0 relative roundness which is great if I’m trying to focus the Red Filter but not if it’s the Ha which has a roundness off set of about 20%.
If I had started FocusLock through SGP,would this have been a non issue?
I’m also really wondering about:
“Note: FocusLock assumes that the program that called for the Filter Wheel change applies the ASCOM focus offset for that filter.”
Why would it need the calling program to apply filter offsets when FocusLock should be adjusting focus for the new filter based on the roundness offsets setup in FocusLock?

Thanks,

Bruce

I spoke with Daniel at Optec today. He’s the Developer of FocusLock, and if I understood him correctly,
filter offsets that are entered into SGP are applied to the focuser on Filter change to get in the ball park of focus with the new filter. FocusLock then takes over, and applies the roundness offset for that filter and starts to adjust focus. FocusLock roundness offsets are applied internally behind the scenes in FocusLock. The relative roundness reading that is displayed in FocusLock, masks this, and always displays that it’s aiming for Zero rather than the roundness offset that you entered for each filter. FocusLock must be started from within SGP for the monitoring in SGP to function. If your roundness offsets are accurate, then FocusLock should get you focused for each filter accurately and the FocusLock module in SGP should accurately reflect this.

Best,

Bruce