Very useful stuff 👍thanks.

Pete, thanks for putting this together. In the past, I just threw on the Bahtinov mask on the aperture and used SharpCap's focus mask tool. However, I would get lazy as the night would go on and did not want to go through the process of refocusing...slew the scope down, add the mask, slew the scope back up to a brightish star, focus with the mask in SharpCap, slew the scope back down and remove the Bahtinov mask. Yeah, I know, 1st world problems. Looking forward to trying out the milti-star FWHM tool.

@Xio2011

Ай бұрын

Hi, I hope the video is of some assistance. Once I setup the CPC-800 on the decking, I don't see it again until the session is over 😃The functionality in SharpCap is amazing and the focussing tools make an observation session so much easier. In the video, I approach from the negative direction, but I'm not sure that is the recommended direction for a SCT/Celestron Focus Motor? I have tried using a positive approach and (on my scope) it didn't improve the focus or maintain the focus longer than a negative approach. So, in blissful ignorance I continue to use a negative approach 😄 Recently, Doug from @EmeraldHillsSkies kindly stopped by the Isle of Wight (quite a detour) and we were trying to list KZread EAAers. Apologies, I completely forgot about your channel. I have watched your videos, but for some reason never subscribed. I have remedied that now 😀Have fun. Pete.

Pete -- thanks for useful demo. All the Best! Dave Stokes

@Xio2011

4 ай бұрын

Thanks Dave, glad you found it useful.

@woldsweather

4 ай бұрын

From What Robin Glover has told me I may not have had the connected box ticked in the bottom right of SCX. Maybe we';ll soon get the first clear night in 6 weeks and I'll bne able to give it a run!

@Xio2011

4 ай бұрын

@woldsweather That's great news. Hopefully, you will be focusing out under the stars soon. 😀 Let's not mention the weather! I thought my hobby was EAA, but it turns out it is actually watching other people observe on KZread! I should have taken up stamp collecting 🤣

@woldsweather

4 ай бұрын

As a gardener I also enjoy the lighter evening in the garden. Clear skies Pete! @@Xio2011

Very informative… can’t wait to get my focuser and give it a try…

I like Sharp Cap, I find it very easy to use, especially the latest version which incorporates the sequence planner and editor function 😊 where you also set the auto focus if you wish. I know most people on U Tube seem prefer to go with NINA, but I don't find it as easy to use as people make it out to be. SC sequence planner and editor only takes minutes to set up and has to be one of the easiest and most intuitive pieces of software I've used.

@Xio2011

9 ай бұрын

I agree with you on SharpCap's ease of use. SharpCap was my main motivation for getting into EAA. SharpCap's autofocus functionality works perfectly well for me, I use it every session. I don't use SharpCap's sequence planner as I control SharpCap via scripting and an external application that binds SharpCap, AstroPlanner and my chosen Planetarium app together. However, the sequencer appears a very powerful tool. Many thanks for your thoughts on SharpCap.

How did you set up the area in the middle? How did you get SC to recognise/add the focuser? I couldn't see a way to set SC off looking for focus.

@Xio2011

6 ай бұрын

Hi, The 'area in the middle' is setup using the 'Selection Area' toolbar button (to the right of the FX dropdown). Once clicked on, the selection box it can be moved and resized. The 'Selection Area' constrains the action being carried out. In this case the action is Multi-Star FWHM focussing. This is really useful to avoid focusing on distorted stars or even balancing the focussing across the field of view. My SCT distorts the stars as I move off centre so choosing an area roughly half-way between the centre and edge, creates a better focus across the FOV. To select your focuser or any hardware for that matter. File->SharpCap Settings->Hardware is the place to go. If your hardware is not listed then check ASCOM and your focuser driver is installed. Within the Multi-Star FWHM tool (right-hand side) is a set of buttons under the title 'Focus Scan'. In the video I pressed the 'In' button, but in the latest versions of SharpCap 4.1 that has become the 'Negative' button. This starts the focussing scan. As you may have noticed in the video there is also an 'Out' button (now 'Positive') that is greyed out. This happens because I setup the backlash settings to 'Negative' and SharpCap expects me to scan in the 'In' or 'Negative' direction. Otherwise, SharpCap would be applying backlash compensation on each focus point, which would be a waste of time. Hope that helps. Pete

@woldsweather

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for replying Pete. I have the C8 the Celestron Focuser HEQ5PRO mount and I use Sharpcap. I can focus with the Celestron focuser software but if I try to connect to the focuser with SC (having closed the Celestron Focuser) an Ascom window pops up with a drop down menu but that menu is blank - I assume that is where I would choose my Celestron Focuser?@@Xio2011

@Xio2011

6 ай бұрын

Hi, Sorry, I might have replied but I managed to close my browser half-way through, duh! If I didn't reply, then the event I previously commented on never happened :-) I have read on the TeamCelestron forum that the installation order is important. ASCOM platform first, then the ASCOM focuser driver (a separate download, I believe?). That might explain why ASCOM does not know about the focuser. You could also run the ASCOM diagnostics tool and see if it detects any problems. I have a Celestron mount. So, I use CPWI that handles the mount and focuser. A slightly different setup. I hope you find a solution. Pete

@woldsweather

4 ай бұрын

@@Xio2011 Have finally got SC and the C8 focuser connected. Can't find a way to get SC to plot a curve like you do. I just sample differnet focus points for now till I get that working. Also when I click on select are and try to draw an area it doesn't.

@Xio2011

4 ай бұрын

Hi, Good news that SC can now see the focuser. Did you find out why SC couldn't see the focuser? It's hard to know what could be going wrong. I configured my copy of SC to use the ASCOM Simulator Focus Driver. It kept the same backlash settings as the Celestron Focuser of Overshoot in Negative, 150 steps. I then clicked on the down arrow next to Focus Assistance Tools and selected Multi-Star FWHM Measurement. SC highlighted the stars it could measure in the FOV. If I clicked on the Area toolbar button, the red box was displayed and I can move it around and grab an edge to resize. I'm also using the Test Camera 1 (Deep Sky) so I can't simulate the focus routine fully. However, I moved the focus in a positive direction 50 steps (using the focuser control) and then clicked the negative button in the focussing tool to start the scan. It all seemed to work as expected. It will plot the points but not create a graph because the image is not changing! Next time you are observing, would it be possible to video your screen and upload it to KZread. It would be easier to see what is happening when you focus and select an area of interest :-) Pete

Hi, Peter. Thank you for doing this -- as far as I can tell it's the only tutorial on SharpCap's FWHM focusing tool on KZread. That said, I'd love to help you make this more effective. I finally got the tool working as intended on my 3rd attempt. Wouldn't have been much harder without this demonstration, but I think with a little cleaning up, it could have been much easier. Among the issues I struggled with are that I believe the units for specifying how far to overshoot are focuser specific. You have the Celestron focuser, and I have the ZWO and the units for the latter are much smaller. Also, little inconsistencies like using in/out vs positive/negative interchangeably make this more confusing than it needs to be. I think I've found your snail mail address and will write to you if I don't hear from you. But easiest is if you reach out to me on Cloudy Nights. My userid is mgCatskills.

@Xio2011

Жыл бұрын

Hi, thank you mgCatskills for your comment. I hope the video was some small help. It wasn't really meant to be a tutorial; it just showed how I use SharpCap's focusing tools on my setup. You are absolutely right that different electronic focusers would require different overshoot settings. The value of 150, I use for my Celestron focuser, is really too large but it works. Just being lazy I guess :-) The step settings, number of points and samples per point could also be refined. Having said that, it appears to work and as I don't re-focus that much during a session the non-observing time is minimal. There are some great videos by James Lamb (www.youtube.com/@Aero19612) that are well worth a look on many subjects including 'overshoot' focusing. It would be great to see a video of your exploration of ShapCap's focusing tool. Have fun, Pete.