Transcription of SharpCap User manual
1 Copyright 2018-2021 Robin Glover Page 1 of 311 SharpCap User manual Copyright 2018-2021 Robin Glover and David Richards This version describes SharpCap SharpCap is an image capture application designed primarily for Astrophotography and Video Astronomy. Support can be obtained via the SharpCap forum at . You can download this manual in PDF format. Copyright 2018-2021 Robin Glover Page 2 of 311 Table of Contents Foreword .. 15 Introduction .. 16 Requirements .. 17 Supported Cameras .. 17 Altair Cameras .. 17 AstcamPan Cameras.
2 17 Atik Cameras .. 17 Basler Cameras .. 17 Celestron/Imaging Source Cameras .. 17 iNova Cameras .. 18 Moravian Instruments Cameras .. 18 Player One Cameras .. 18 Point Grey Cameras (now FLIR) .. 18 QHY Cameras .. 18 StarlightXpress Cameras .. 18 SVBony Cameras .. 18 ZWO Cameras .. 18 ASCOM Cameras .. 19 DirectShow Cameras (Webcams) .. 19 Virtual Camera .. 19 Choosing Between ASCOM and DirectShow .. 19 Software .. 20 Hardware .. 20 Minimum Hardware Specification .. 21 Recommended Hardware Specification .. 21 SharpCap 22 Installing SharpCap Pro.
3 22 Trying out SharpCap Pro .. 22 SharpCap Pro Features .. 23 Buying a SharpCap Pro License .. 24 Installing your SharpCap Pro License .. 24 License Expiry and Renewal .. 25 More information about SharpCap Pro Licenses .. 25 I didn't receive my license email - what can I do? .. 25 Copyright 2018-2021 Robin Glover Page 3 of 311 How do I enter my license? .. 25 It says my license is not valid - what have I done wrong? .. 25 Does my license include upgrades? .. 26 I use SharpCap on more than one computer - do I need to buy more than one license?
4 26 Claiming a SharpCap Pro license bundled with a new Camera .. 27 Quick Start .. 29 Installation and First Steps .. 31 Installing the Camera Driver .. 31 Installing SharpCap .. 31 Testing SharpCap .. 32 Removing SharpCap .. 34 Introduction to the SharpCap User Interface .. 35 Title Bar .. 36 Menu Bar .. 36 Tool Bar .. 36 Capture Display Area .. 37 Camera Control Panel .. 39 Work Area .. 40 Status Bar .. 40 Frame Progress .. 41 Capture Progress .. 41 SharpCap in your language .. 41 The Menu Bar .. 43 File .. 43 SharpCap Settings.
5 43 Exit .. 43 Cameras .. 43 Rescan for 44 Close Camera .. 44 Reconnect Camera .. 44 Available Cameras .. 44 45 View .. 45 Full Screen .. 46 Reset Control Order .. 46 Night Vision Colours .. 46 Copyright 2018-2021 Robin Glover Page 4 of 311 Two Monitor View .. 46 Tools .. 47 Histogram .. 47 Live Stack .. 47 Polar Align .. 47 Plate Solve (Solve Only) .. 47 Plate Solve and Resync .. 48 Sensor Analysis .. 48 ADC Alignment .. 48 Pixel Value Readout .. 48 Pixel Position Readout / Click to Recentre .. 48 Focus Assistant .. 48 Seeing Monitor.
6 48 Collimation (Experimental) .. 48 Feature Tracking (Experimental) .. 48 Sequencer .. 49 Deep Sky Sequence Planner .. 49 .. 49 .. 49 Run Current .. 49 Run .. 49 Scripting .. 49 Help .. 50 View Help .. 50 SharpCap Pro License .. 50 Check for Updates .. 50 Report a Bug .. 50 Show Log .. 50 Support Forum .. 52 About .. 52 The Tool Bar .. 53 Live View .. 53 Start Capture .. 53 Quick Capture .. 54 Stop Capture .. 54 Pause .. 54 Copyright 2018-2021 Robin Glover Page 5 of 311 Snapshot .. 54 Framing Shot .. 54 Two Monitor View.
7 55 Live Stack .. 55 Target Name .. 55 Frame Type .. 56 Preview FX (effects) .. 56 None .. 56 Highlight Over Exposed .. 56 Image Boost .. 57 Image Boost More .. 57 Frame Stack (3) .. 58 Frame Stack (5) .. 58 Frame Stack (10) .. 58 RGB Align .. 59 Select Red/Green/Blue Channel .. 59 Red/Green/Blue Channel to Mono .. 59 Stop Motion Video .. 59 Selection Area .. 60 Reticule Overlays .. 60 No Reticule .. 61 Crosshairs .. 61 Circle .. 61 Single Crosshair .. 61 Zoom .. 62 Image Histogram .. 62 Calculate Focus Score .. 63 Camera Control Panel.
8 65 Capture Profiles .. 67 Capture Profile Management .. 68 Capture Format and Area .. 69 Camera Controls .. 70 Image Controls .. 71 71 Mini Histogram and Display Stretch .. 72 Scope Controls .. 72 Copyright 2018-2021 Robin Glover Page 6 of 311 Testing Controls .. 73 Other Controls .. 73 Capturing Videos and Images .. 74 Start Capture .. 74 Capture Limits Explained .. 75 Performing Simple Sequences .. 76 Planning Deep Sky Imaging Sessions .. 76 Starting the Capture .. 76 Stop Capture .. 77 Delete Last Capture .. 77 Open Capture Folder.
9 77 Capture Dark .. 77 Capture Flat .. 77 Camera Basics .. 79 Live Mode and Still Mode .. 79 Advantages of Still Mode .. 79 Disadvantages of Still Mode .. 80 Capturing Images in Still Mode .. 80 Colour Spaces Explained .. 80 Uncompressed Colour Spaces .. 80 RGB24 .. 81 RGB32 .. 81 MONO8 (also Y800 on some Webcams) .. 81 MONO16 .. 82 RAW8 .. 82 RAW16 .. 84 Compressed Colour Spaces .. 84 YUY2 / YUV .. 84 I420 .. 84 MJPEG .. 84 Choosing the Correct Colour Space .. 84 Capture Formats Explained .. 85 AVI .. 85 85 WMV .. 86 ADV.
10 86 Copyright 2018-2021 Robin Glover Page 7 of 311 PNG .. 87 FITS .. 87 TIFF .. 88 JPEG .. 88 Camera Controls .. 89 Common Camera Controls .. 89 Capture Format and Area .. 89 Camera Controls .. 92 Image Controls .. 93 Pre-processing .. 95 Mini Histogram and Display Stretch .. 97 Camera Specific Controls .. 99 Altair Camera Controls .. 99 ASCOM Camera Controls .. 100 AstcamPan Camera 100 Atik Camera Controls .. 101 Basler Camera Controls .. 102 Celestron/Imaging Source Camera Controls .. 103 iNova Camera Controls .. 103 Moravian Instruments Camera Controls.
