I have an ASI 2600 and it works great with NINA. I have installed Sequence Generator Pro v3, and while I see the default ZWO camera option that does not work (per Internet searches) I do NOT see what ASCOM options that all the tutorials say to use for connecting the the ZWO ASI cameras. So what do I need to do to see the ASCOM ASI cameras?
Did you install the ASCOM platform and then install the ZWO ASCOM drivers?
i have installed
ASCOM Platform 6.6
ZWO ASI Camera Drivers 3.17
(I had been on 3.16 and just upgraded to 3.17)
I rebooted; still do not see the ASCOM drive version of the ZWO camera.
Running an evaluation copy of 3.2.0.660
on Windows 10, Windows Home, version 21H1, last update on 11/12/20
I do continue to have full access via NINA.
Alan Creutz
Principal Partner
mergePoint Solutions
acreutz@mergeps.com
858-688-2258
You also need to install the ZWO ASCOM drivers.
Success! The confusion was the similarity in driver versions between
ZWO_ASI_Cameras_driver_Setup_V3.18
and
ZWO_Ascom_Setup_6.5.1.13
I didn’t realize these were two distinct driver. I went ahead and installed all the ZWO drivers (not sure I need them all but I do plan on adding an EAF).
While I have you: a question
My intent is to run two instance of Sequence Generator; one fo my SBIG STT-8300, for both imaging, to drive the Celestron scope and focuser, etc. And I use the internal chip on the STT-8300M for PhD…
and a second for the ASI 2600 camera, and the EAF focuser (I have connected the focuser but I see it is in the drop-down list now so the ASCOM issue handled that as well I believe).
I have started two instances and it seems to work (connects to everything).
I would like, however, if feasible, to have different directory locations for sequences, profiles, etc., and also have different titles on the “title bar” the place that right now says “Sequence Generator Pro - Trial version (21 days remaining)” so I can really treat them as two distinct environments…
Alan Creutz
Principal Partner
mergePoint Solutions
acreutz@mergeps.com
858-688-2258
Congratulations. It is a very nice camera. Look on CloudyNights for a thread about potential fan vibration issues. I alleviated them by isolating the back plate that holds the fan with silicone fan mounts, silicone o rings on the screws and a silicone mason jar seal trimmed to fit between the camera housing and the back plate.
Note that the ZWO ASCOM driver limits your gain to a maximum of 100. The offset setting may or may not be available in SGP. If it is, it may limit it to a maximum of 50. I set the gain and offset in the ZWO ASCOM settings dialog (click on the wrench icon in SGP on the sequence window), then set the gain to 100 and offset (I set mine to 68 to translate offset from a 12 bit sensor on my old ASI 1600 to the ASI 2600 16 bit sensor) in the advanced settings dialog.
Mark
Thanx for the heads up, and especially for the suggestion, relative to fan vibration.
The whole issue of offset and gain has me thoroughly confused. There are lots of discussion on the Internet (perhaps too many!). This camera is primarily for “wide-area” RGB photography (A-T 65EDQ, f/6.5 , so field of about 3deg x 2deg). While people disagree, setting gain to zero should maximize dynamic range; so for a while I’ll try a low (zero seems too low); then when I get a really good night, I will experiment.
As for offset, there is some discussion that suggests perhaps 50 is a good setting. On off-set, I really have no basis for any choice.
Not sure I know what I am talking about, though.
I don’t have a 2600 but I do have the 294 and it has a similar noise curve in that when HCG kicks in, the read noise drops by more than 50%, and that is generally regarded as the sweet spot. At gain=100, the read noise is abut 1.5e, and at gain=0 it is about 3.4. The theory is that the minimum exposure time to get the background signal to overwhelm read noise is proportional to (read noise)^2, so at gain 0, the exposure needs to be about 5 times as long as at gain 100 in order to overwhelm read noise. But the FWD is only about 3 times higher at gain 0 vs. gain 100, so you will end up with a greater number of saturated pixels at the lower gain setting, or so my thinking goes! I don’t know if my logic is correct, but that is how I’ve always rationalised it.
As for offset, you want an offset high enough that the histogram for your darks is not clipped at the left hand axis, otherwise it will do some odd things in calibration. I used the SharpCap sensor analysis to get an idea of the best offset to use, or you can use the default figure in the ZWO ASCOM driver - it may be a little conservative but should work.
Issue has been solved