I use a ZWO ASI26000 MM Pro camera with SGP. The ZWO ASCOM driver has two problems wrt SGP: 1) The offset does not work, so I fix it in the ZWO ASCOM driver settings, and 2) The gain is limited by ZWO to 100, which is very problematic.
ZWO refuses to change the gain limit. I do not know if the 6200 suffers from the same problem.
I am asking Ken and Jared to again reconsider adding support for the ZWO native driver. It works well with SharpCap Pro 4, so maybe ZWO has stabilized their native drivers.
Just adding my two centsā¦in my opinion the only reason to go above gain 100 is if you are doing EAA or planetary imaging, in which case you probably donāt want to use SGP anyway. Other than that, there is no reason to go above gain 100 because thatās the magic number where the read noise drops while still keeping high full well capacity. If you go over 100 all you are doing is decreasing the well capacity and not gaining any improvement with read noise.
I increase the gain for plate solving and focusing to reduce exposure time. Also, If I am imaging RGB just to get star colors, I can push the gain and sacrifice full well depth/dynamic range. I usually image with gain 100 to get into the high dynamic range mode of the camera, but sometimes there are some targets where I can use higher gains as well.
Decided not to use sg pro in the future since it does not provide full fits data and is unable to work with zwo native driver, have used native drivers for last 3 years without issues on ASI6200, 1600, 183 pro cooled cameras and both large and small filter wheels. SG competitors donāt seem to have any issues with zwo native drivers so easier to move to another provider. Itās a shame since I liked the look and feel of the program.
You certainly have the right to do what is best for you. However, I would like to point out that ZWO expects thousands of amateur astronomers to spend tens of thousands of dollars on their cameras but they refuse to invest a very small amount of money to provide the defacto standard of amateur astronomy ā properly working ASCOM drivers for their cameras. Adding support for a non ASCOM camera to any imaging application represents a huge amount of software coding and testing time for the developers ā hours that could have been used to add useful features to the application itself. IMHO amateurs should not purchase cameras, mounts, focusers, etc from any vendor that refuses to provide ASCOM support for their products.
Thanks Bernd. Iām still using the old ZWO ASCOM driver, I think 6.5.1.5, and itās been working fine. I think I had to use 6.5.1.5 specifically for the 2600MM and then a more recent ASCOM driver for the filter wheel (my filter wheel wasnāt working with the 6.5.1.5 version of the FW driver)ā¦ fortunately the ZWO drivers allows which component (filter wheel, camera, EAF, etc) to install to enable mixing and matching.
Good to know that different ZWO driver versions for camera and filter wheel can be mixed. I am glad that this approach is working for you.
Unfortunately the thread in the ZWO forum was set to āAnsweredā by tech@zwo. So I fear that there will be no further reply from ZWO in their forum. It would be nice if Ken or Jared communicated with ZWO about this issue in order that in future SGP users will be able to use up-to-date ZWO driver versions.
I emailed them a while back when we first noticed the offset issue but I can contact them again. It seems odd that they would purposefully limit the gain in the ASCOM version as well as stop supplying the offset. Iām not sure if the latter is a regression or an attempt to make their ASCOM driver less viable (which would be odd).
I feel like ZWO is spending their development time on their own proprietary hardware (ASI Air) and its associated software. It seems they have decided the best direction for them is to build a closed system of hardware/software for imaging that only supports their hardware. They donāt seem to see any value in making it easier for folks using non-ZWO hardware, or using other software to communicate with their cameras and filter wheels. I think that is a mistake for them because they certainly have the best value in cameras and accessories in the hobby these days. Just my 2cents.
I am a Support Subscriber and I now have higher expectations for support to respond to user requests in order to keep SGP on top. I again request that SGP support native camera drivers, especially for the ZWO ASI 2600. I am taking a closer look at NINA as it is under extensive development.