Hi,
I am very much interested in AGP Software (currently I use MaximDL 6.0).
Does SGP provide
Autofocus based not on temperature but on FWHM
Thank you very much for your reply.
Regards Horst
All accessories provided with Ascom driver will work on SGP. So Moravian, CGEM and lodestar will work.
Actually there isn’t a multicamera support but it should arrive in the next version (2.5). So right now you can run only a camera+autoguide at time.
Autofocus is calculated on HFR that is a mathematical more robust version of FWHM. Same idea but more solid. You will appreciate it!
Actually you can run multiple telescopes with SGP now. I currently run 3 scopes on the same mount, taking images on all 3.
This is not directly supported at this time by SGP.
However, you can run multiple copies of SGP and control 1 camera with each instance of SGP. But there is no communication between the multiple instances of SGP.
The primary instance of SGP connects the mount, determines what targets are imaged for the session, connects the guide camera, and controls my SBIG 8300M.
The other 2 instances each control a Nikon 6D full frame DSLR with no mount or guide camera. Those just continually take images one after another for the duration of the session.
The image being taken by these other 2 cameras during the slew from 1 target to the next are trash, but not a big deal for me since I get a lot of color images while the main camera is taking all its different filter images. Plus all the images for each of these other 2 cameras are stored in the same folder.
Obviously, this is not the ideal solution, however, it works for me as an interim solution until the next release that supports multiple scopes.
And I do not dither, since this would screw up the other 2 cameras. My flats appear to deal with this rather well.
Horst,
Welcome to SGP! You’re in for a good ride. All of your equipment should work just fine. The best thing to do is download a trial copy of SGP, good for 45 days I think, and try everything out. Once you get a basic feel for SGP you will be hooked.
As of now there is not direct multiple camera support but it has been pointed out that you can run multiple instances of SGP to control multiple cameras. This does not yet support coordinated dithering etc in multiple camera setups, but I believe the developers have it on th backlog to work on for a future relase.
There are two threads I encourage you to read through:
Dear Astro-Friends,
thank you very much for your replies. Meanwhile I installed the trial version and after some initial problems I could activate Moravian 8300, Filterwheel, Focuser and Telescope. For guiding I have to use an external program f.i. PHP2, but my system rejected the downloaded EXE-file for security reasons. Is guiding also possible with PHP1?
So a full test under the sky was not possible so far.
But I will go on with testing
Best regards
Horst
When you try to download a .exe file your browser should give you some option to download the file anyway despite the security risks. PHD2 download is safe. Another trick is to simply change the file extension from .exe. to something else, say .phd in order to download it. Then after it is downloaded just switch it back to .exe
I don’t have a temperature compensating focuser so I can’t directly answer your question regarding autofocusing. I will say that using HFR and triggering autofocus to run every 1deg change in temp gives me great focus.
I got PHD2 now. Thanks. But I don’t understand. You don’t have temperature compensation but autofocus is working with change in temp? Sorry, I am a little bit confused.
Regards, Horst
Using active temperature compensation is generally not recommended as it moves the focuser during your image. We generally recommend setting an autofocus trigger such that auto focus runs on temperature change between images.
Temperature compensation is generally a property of the focuser and will move the focuser X steps per Y temperature change.
Thanks,
Jared
A temperature compensating focuser moves itself based on the temperature and therefore can move during an exposure which is a bad idea. SGPs autofocus options include a setting to run autofocus if the temperature changes by x number of degrees. At the END of an exposure, SGP will determine if autofocus is needed based on the temperature and run autofocus BEFORE the next exposure if autofocus is needed.
But that is exactly an option in MaximDL too. The focus shift based on temperature shift is not very accurate because the focus shift is different at higher or lower temperature range which has to be trained for each range. Not very practible.
Therefor I am looking for focus tracking without temperature control but only with HFR or FWHM control
I think this might already be a feature request. It is only complicated
because HFR calculation is optional just UI issues really).
ok, I understand that pure HFR focus tracking is not available in SGP (or do I misunderstand?) . So no reason fo me to change from MaximDL ?
Thanks and best regards
Horst