On the heels of the official SGPro 2.5 release we wanted to make some important announcements concerning the future of SGPro (starting with versions 2.5.1 and onward…):
- SGPro 2.5.1 will no longer be supporting gear without ASCOM drivers. This means that we will be dropping support for SBIG, FLI, Canon and Nikon cameras until proper ASCOM drivers are developed.
- SGPro’s existing auto focus algorithm does not work great with long focal length scopes with a central obstruction (Donut stars, star poor regions, etc.). Because of this we will no longer provide support for non-refracting telescopes. Implementation of focus algorithms that can support this are simply too difficult. We also believe refractor scopes are best fit for astrophotography and feel like this is a good way to enforce “best practices”.
Removing floating / docking module system… we feel like most of the feedback we get indicates this information just gets in the way of imaging. - The environment device will now send out “tornado”, “hurricane” and “blizzard” warnings (notification add-on required).
- Because of the way in which target start / stop times are implemented in 2.5.1, we can no longer provide support to residents of Arizona due to the lack of Daylight Savings Time (it will continue to work fine when “standard time” is in effect.
- SGPro 2.5.1 will now auto-detect if any equipment is hooked up via a USB hub and present an error when sequence start is attempted (there are too many support issues that are derived from faulty, non-powered or overly-cold hubs).
- Increasing the maximum number of filters per equipment profile (filter wheel) to 32.
- Finally, one of our most exciting new features… SGPro will create a repository of names, email addresses, equipment owned, how often you image and what you image. This data will not be publicly available, but any other SGPro user can look this information up via a new “Tools->SGPro Registry” window. We feel this will create a more tightly-knit SGPro community.
As a final note, we will be moving the auto focus feature out of the standard SGPro package and adding it as a $49 add-on. We spend most of our time here and this pricing model will better reflect our costs and efforts…