Copyright ©2018-2023 Robin Glover

SharpCap User Manual

Copyright ©2018-2023 Robin Glover and David Richards

This version describes SharpCap 4.1.

SharpCap is an image capture application designed primarily

for Astrophotography and Video Astronomy.
Support can be obtained via the SharpCap forum at http://forums.sharpcap.co.uk .

You can download this manual in PDF format.

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Table of Contents
Foreword............................................................................................................................................... 12
Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 13
Installation and Getting Started............................................................................................................ 14
Requirements.................................................................................................................................... 14
Supported Cameras....................................................................................................................... 14
Software ........................................................................................................................................ 17
Hardware ...................................................................................................................................... 17
SharpCap Pro..................................................................................................................................... 19
Installing SharpCap Pro ................................................................................................................. 19
Trying out SharpCap Pro ............................................................................................................... 19
SharpCap Pro Features.................................................................................................................. 20
Buying a SharpCap Pro License ..................................................................................................... 22
Installing your SharpCap Pro License ............................................................................................ 22
License Expiry and Renewal .......................................................................................................... 23
Some common questions and answers and relating to SharpCap Pro Licenses.......................... 23
Claiming a SharpCap Pro license bundled with a new Camera .................................................... 25
SharpCap Quick Start ........................................................................................................................ 27
Step-by-Step: Installation and First Capture ..................................................................................... 29
Installing the Camera Driver ......................................................................................................... 29
Installing SharpCap........................................................................................................................ 29
Testing SharpCap .......................................................................................................................... 30
Removing SharpCap ...................................................................................................................... 32
The SharpCap User Interface ................................................................................................................ 33
Introduction to the SharpCap User Interface ................................................................................... 33
Title Bar ......................................................................................................................................... 34
Menu Bar....................................................................................................................................... 34
Tool Bar ......................................................................................................................................... 34
Image Display Area ....................................................................................................................... 35
Camera Control Panel ................................................................................................................... 37
Work Area ..................................................................................................................................... 37
Status Bar ...................................................................................................................................... 38
SharpCap in your language ........................................................................................................... 39
The Menu Bar in Detail ..................................................................................................................... 40
File ................................................................................................................................................. 40

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Cameras ........................................................................................................................................ 41
Capture.......................................................................................................................................... 43
View .............................................................................................................................................. 43
Tools .............................................................................................................................................. 45
Sequencer ..................................................................................................................................... 48
Scripting ........................................................................................................................................ 49
Help ............................................................................................................................................... 49
The Tool Bar in Detail ........................................................................................................................ 51
Live View ....................................................................................................................................... 51
Start Capture ................................................................................................................................. 51
Quick Capture ............................................................................................................................... 51
Stop Capture ................................................................................................................................. 51
Pause ............................................................................................................................................. 52
Snapshot ....................................................................................................................................... 52
Two Monitor View ........................................................................................................................ 52
Live Stack....................................................................................................................................... 53
Deep Sky Image Annotation.......................................................................................................... 53
Target Name ................................................................................................................................. 53
Frame Type ................................................................................................................................... 54
Display FX (effects) ........................................................................................................................ 54
Selection Area ............................................................................................................................... 55
Reticule Overlays........................................................................................................................... 55
Zoom ............................................................................................................................................. 56
Image Histogram ........................................................................................................................... 56
Calculate Focus Score.................................................................................................................... 56
Connect/Disconnect Hardware ..................................................................................................... 57
The Camera Control Panel ................................................................................................................ 57
Adjusting the Panel ....................................................................................................................... 58
Working with Control Groups ....................................................................................................... 59
Working with Controls .................................................................................................................. 60
Control Groups Overview.............................................................................................................. 62
Controlling Cameras.............................................................................................................................. 69
Camera Basics ................................................................................................................................... 69
Live Mode and Still Mode ............................................................................................................. 69
Colour Spaces Explained ............................................................................................................... 70
Uncompressed Colour Spaces....................................................................................................... 71

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Compressed Colour Spaces ........................................................................................................... 74

Capture Formats Explained ........................................................................................................... 75
Choosing the Correct Colour Space and Capture Format ............................................................. 79
Capturing Videos and Images ........................................................................................................... 80
Start Capture ................................................................................................................................. 80
Stop Capture ................................................................................................................................. 83
Quick Capture ............................................................................................................................... 83
Snapshot ....................................................................................................................................... 84
Framing Shot ................................................................................................................................. 84
Delete Last Capture....................................................................................................................... 85
Open Capture Folder..................................................................................................................... 85
Capture Dark ................................................................................................................................. 85
Capture Flat................................................................................................................................... 85
Camera Controls ............................................................................................................................... 86
Capture Format and Area ............................................................................................................. 86
Camera Controls ........................................................................................................................... 93
Image Controls ............................................................................................................................ 101
Thermal Controls......................................................................................................................... 104
Pre-Processing Controls .............................................................................................................. 106
Display Histogram Stretch........................................................................................................... 106
Scope Controls ............................................................................................................................ 106
Camera Specific Controls ............................................................................................................ 106
Frame rates and dropped frames ................................................................................................... 119
Getting Good Images .......................................................................................................................... 122
Correctly Exposing Images using the Histogram ............................................................................. 122
The Histogram ............................................................................................................................. 122
Smart Histogram ......................................................................................................................... 135
Sensor Analysis............................................................................................................................ 142
Focusing .......................................................................................................................................... 149
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 149
Understanding the Focusing Display........................................................................................... 150
Focus Tool Settings ..................................................................................................................... 155
The Focusing Tools in Detail........................................................................................................ 158
Which Focus Tool Should Be Used? ............................................................................................ 161
Focusing Procedure..................................................................................................................... 161
(Nearly) Automatic Focusing ....................................................................................................... 163

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Fully Automatic Focusing ............................................................................................................ 166

Setting the Correct Black Level ................................................................................................... 169
Using a Bahtinov Mask ................................................................................................................ 170
Live Stacking .................................................................................................................................... 171
Working with Live Stacking ......................................................................................................... 173
Live Stack Reference ................................................................................................................... 190
Seeing Monitor................................................................................................................................ 191
Configuring Seeing Monitor ........................................................................................................ 193
Seeing Triggered, Seeing Filtered Capture .................................................................................. 193
Auto Threshold Filter Capture .................................................................................................... 195
ADC Alignment ................................................................................................................................ 196
Atmospheric Dispersion Background .......................................................................................... 196
The SharpCap ADC Alignment tool ............................................................................................. 196
Alignment Procedure .................................................................................................................. 198
Collimation ...................................................................................................................................... 199
Controlling the Displayed Image ......................................................................................................... 202
Zooming and Scrolling the Image ................................................................................................... 202
Display Stretch ................................................................................................................................ 203
Adjusting the Display Histogram Stretch .................................................................................... 203
Display Histogram Stretch Buttons ............................................................................................. 204
Display Effects (FX) .......................................................................................................................... 205
None ............................................................................................................................................ 205
Highlight Over Exposed ............................................................................................................... 205
Image Boost ................................................................................................................................ 206
Image Boost More....................................................................................................................... 206
Frame Stack (3, 5, 10, 30)............................................................................................................ 206
RGB Align..................................................................................................................................... 206
Select Red/Green/Blue Channel ................................................................................................. 207
Red/Green/Blue Channel to Mono ............................................................................................. 207
Reduce Noise (Median Blur 3x3)................................................................................................. 207
Apply Threshold .......................................................................................................................... 207
Solar Colorization ........................................................................................................................ 208
Getting Information from the Image .................................................................................................. 209
Reticules .......................................................................................................................................... 209
No Reticule .................................................................................................................................. 210
Crosshairs .................................................................................................................................... 210

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Circle ........................................................................................................................................... 210

Single Crosshair ........................................................................................................................... 210
Multi Reticules ............................................................................................................................ 210
Pixel Value Readout ........................................................................................................................ 211
Stellar Photometry Estimation (Experimental) ............................................................................... 213
Polar Alignment .................................................................................................................................. 216
How does it Work?.......................................................................................................................... 216
What is required? ........................................................................................................................... 216
Step-By-Step Polar Alignment ......................................................................................................... 217
Introduction Stage ...................................................................................................................... 217
First Image Stage ......................................................................................................................... 217
Second Image Stage .................................................................................................................... 219
Adjustment Stage ........................................................................................................................ 220
Tips .................................................................................................................................................. 222
Configuring Polar Alignment ........................................................................................................... 222
Skip this introduction in future ................................................................................................... 222
Location & Refraction Correction ............................................................................................... 222
Auto Advance and Low Rotation Mode ...................................................................................... 223
Star Detection Settings ............................................................................................................... 223
Adjustment Options .................................................................................................................... 224
Troubleshooting Polar Alignment ................................................................................................... 224
Help, no matter how much I adjust I can’t get the error down to zero! .................................... 225
I’m stuck at the first Step? The ‘Next’ button never becomes enabled ..................................... 225
I’m stuck in Step 2 or Step 3; nothing updates or everything takes a very long time ................ 226
I get the wrong results – SharpCap says my Polar Alignment is great after adjustment, but it
isn’t! ............................................................................................................................................ 227
The directions that SharpCap says I should move my mount are wrong ................................... 228
I can only just see Polaris over a house/tree/obstacle ............................................................... 228
Finding, Identifying and Framing Targets ........................................................................................... 229
Plate Solving .................................................................................................................................... 229
Using Plate Solving in SharpCap .................................................................................................. 230
Deep Sky Image Annotation............................................................................................................ 231
Saving the annotated image ....................................................................................................... 233
Plate Solving for Image Annotation ............................................................................................ 233
Configuring Image Annotation Settings ...................................................................................... 233
Custom Catalogs and Objects ..................................................................................................... 234

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Goto Catalog Target/Co-ordinates.................................................................................................. 236

Choosing a Target ....................................................................................................................... 237
Selecting the Sun as a GOTO Target ........................................................................................... 237
Choosing a Target from the Full Catalog..................................................................................... 238
Entering Target Co-ordinates manually ...................................................................................... 240
Setting Options for the GOTO movement .................................................................................. 240
Goto Image...................................................................................................................................... 241
Push-To Assistant ............................................................................................................................ 243
Push-To plate solving details ...................................................................................................... 244
Advanced Options using a virtual ASCOM telescope mount driver ........................................... 244
Pixel Position/Click to Recentre ...................................................................................................... 245
Ghosted Image Alignment .............................................................................................................. 248
Solar/Lunar Framing Assistant (Experimental) ............................................................................... 249
Calibration ................................................................................................................................... 250
Using Drag to Move .................................................................................................................... 251
Feature Tracking ............................................................................................................................. 251
Hardware Requirements ............................................................................................................. 251
Setting up Feature Tracking ........................................................................................................ 252
Guiding in Action ......................................................................................................................... 256
Automated Imaging in SharpCap ........................................................................................................ 258
Deep Sky Sequence Planner............................................................................................................ 258
Before Capturing Options ........................................................................................................... 260
The Capture List .......................................................................................................................... 263
After Capture Complete Options ................................................................................................ 265
Testing and Running your Sequence........................................................................................... 265
Saving, Loading and Advanced Editing........................................................................................ 269
Solar System Sequence Planner ...................................................................................................... 269
Before Capturing Options ........................................................................................................... 271
The Capture List .......................................................................................................................... 272
After Capture Complete Options ................................................................................................ 273
Testing and Running your Sequence........................................................................................... 273
Saving, Loading and Advanced Editing........................................................................................ 276
Lunar and Solar Mosaic Planners .................................................................................................... 276
Before Starting a Mosaic ............................................................................................................. 277
Mosaic Alignment ....................................................................................................................... 277
Adjusting Mosaic Settings ........................................................................................................... 286

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Adjusting Mosaic Panel Capture Settings ................................................................................... 287

Running the Mosaic .................................................................................................................... 289
Processing Mosaic Images .......................................................................................................... 290
The SharpCap Sequence Editor ....................................................................................................... 292
The Sequence Editor user interface ............................................................................................ 293
Working with the Sequence Editor ............................................................................................. 301
Running your Sequence .............................................................................................................. 301
Available Steps ............................................................................................................................ 302
Astronomical events used by the Sequencer.............................................................................. 320
Co-ordinates in the Sequencer ................................................................................................... 321
Telescope Hardware Control .............................................................................................................. 322
GOTO Mount Control ...................................................................................................................... 322
Co-ordinate Readout................................................................................................................... 323
Movement Buttons ..................................................................................................................... 323
Plate Solving ................................................................................................................................ 324
Other Controls............................................................................................................................. 324
Focuser Control ............................................................................................................................... 325
Filter Wheel Control ........................................................................................................................ 325
Filter Offsets ................................................................................................................................ 326
Manual Filter Wheels .................................................................................................................. 326
Rotator Control ............................................................................................................................... 326
Switch Device Control ..................................................................................................................... 327
Remote Hardware Control .............................................................................................................. 328
Remote Cameras ......................................................................................................................... 328
Other Remote Hardware ............................................................................................................ 329
Using ASCOM Alpaca Hardware.................................................................................................. 329
Using Indigo Hardware................................................................................................................ 330
How SharpCap handles Hardware Errors........................................................................................ 330
Errors in Status Requests ............................................................................................................ 330
Errors in Action Requests ............................................................................................................ 331
Avoiding Hardware Errors ........................................................................................................... 331
Image Processing in SharpCap ............................................................................................................ 332
Image Processing Controls .............................................................................................................. 332
Subtract Dark .............................................................................................................................. 333
Apply Flat .................................................................................................................................... 334
Banding Suppression ................................................................................................................... 334

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Planet/Disk Stabilization ............................................................................................................. 335

Background Subtraction.............................................................................................................. 336
Remove Satellite Trails ................................................................................................................ 337
Flip (after dark/flat)..................................................................................................................... 339
Mask over-exposed Pixels ........................................................................................................... 340
Image Processing Ordering ............................................................................................................. 340
Capturing and Using Dark Frames .................................................................................................. 340
Introduction to Dark Frames ....................................................................................................... 340
Capturing Dark Frames in SharpCap ........................................................................................... 341
The SharpCap Dark Library.......................................................................................................... 343
Capturing and Using Flat Frames .................................................................................................... 344
Introduction to Flat Frames ........................................................................................................ 344
Creating Flat Frames ................................................................................................................... 346
Using Flat Frame Correction ....................................................................................................... 349
Getting good Flat Frame Correction ........................................................................................... 350
Configuring SharpCap ......................................................................................................................... 351
General Settings .............................................................................................................................. 351
Startup Settings........................................................................................................................... 351
Confirm Shutdown ...................................................................................................................... 352
Display Settings ........................................................................................................................... 352
Display in night vision colours ..................................................................................................... 353
Saved target names..................................................................................................................... 354
Saving Settings ................................................................................................................................ 355
File Formats................................................................................................................................. 356
Preferred File Formats ................................................................................................................ 356
Saving Capture Information ........................................................................................................ 356
File Format Options..................................................................................................................... 357
Hardware Settings........................................................................................................................... 359
Automatic Connection when opening a camera ........................................................................ 360
Configuring a GOTO Mount ........................................................................................................ 361
Configuring a Focuser ................................................................................................................. 362
Configuring a Filter Wheel .......................................................................................................... 364
Configuring a Rotator .................................................................................................................. 365
Configuring an ASCOM Switch Device ........................................................................................ 365
Simulated Hardware ................................................................................................................... 366
Sharing Hardware access with other Applications ..................................................................... 366

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Camera Settings .............................................................................................................................. 368

Try to reconnect to cameras that briefly disconnect from USB ................................................. 368
Timestamp Font Scaling .............................................................................................................. 369
ZWO Camera Settings ................................................................................................................. 369
ASCOM Camera Settings ............................................................................................................. 369
QHY Camera Settings .................................................................................................................. 369
Filename Settings ............................................................................................................................ 369
Capture Folder Setup .................................................................................................................. 370
Date and Time Options ............................................................................................................... 371
Other Filename Options .............................................................................................................. 372
Sample Filenames ....................................................................................................................... 372
Filename Templates .................................................................................................................... 372
Memory Settings ............................................................................................................................. 374
32-bit SharpCap Memory Options .............................................................................................. 375
Plate Solving Settings ...................................................................................................................... 376
Supported Plate Solving Engines and Detection ......................................................................... 377
Selecting a Plate Solving Engine .................................................................................................. 378
Manual Configuration of Plate Solver location ........................................................................... 378
Configuring Plate Solving ............................................................................................................ 379
Configuring Astrotortilla/Ansvr/ASPS ......................................................................................... 379
Configuring Astap ........................................................................................................................ 380
Testing Plate Solving ................................................................................................................... 380
Polar Alignment Settings................................................................................................................. 381
Guiding Settings .............................................................................................................................. 382
Using PHD2.................................................................................................................................. 382
Using the MGEN3 Autoguider ..................................................................................................... 382
Using Dither Only Guiding ........................................................................................................... 382
Dithering ..................................................................................................................................... 383
Logging Settings .............................................................................................................................. 384
Troubleshooting .......................................................................................................................... 384
GPS Logging ................................................................................................................................. 385
Start-up Scripts................................................................................................................................ 385
Saving, Restoring and Resetting the SharpCap Settings ................................................................. 386
Reset Settings.............................................................................................................................. 387
Export Settings ............................................................................................................................ 388
Import Settings............................................................................................................................ 389

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Advanced Topics ................................................................................................................................. 390

Command Line Arguments ............................................................................................................. 390
Keyboard and other Shortcuts ........................................................................................................ 391
Scripting .......................................................................................................................................... 393
The Scripting Console.................................................................................................................. 393
Run a Script ................................................................................................................................. 396
Scripting Tutorial ......................................................................................................................... 397
Scripting Samples ........................................................................................................................ 403
Trouble Shooting................................................................................................................................. 406
Bugs & Crashes................................................................................................................................ 406
How to Report a Bug ................................................................................................................... 406
How to Report a Crash ................................................................................................................ 406
How to Report SharpCap Freezing or Hanging ........................................................................... 408
The SharpCap Log........................................................................................................................ 409
USB Issues ................................................................................................................................... 410
Useful Software................................................................................................................................... 412
Glossary ............................................................................................................................................... 413

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Foreword
SharpCap was born in frustration in February 2010. The frustration was with the typical applications
used for webcam capture in Astrophotography at the time. AMCAP was a prime example – it made it
very hard to adjust the settings on your camera and very easy to do silly things like write over the
previous capture file. These shortcomings were brought even more obvious when you were trying to
use the program in the dark, on a laptop and while wearing gloves.

My response to this – a standard one for a software developer who has just encountered a poorly
designed application – was to think to myself ‘I can do better than that’. Perhaps more unusually I
actually decided that I would do better than that and I started to write SharpCap over the next few
days. One of the hard parts of a software project is often deciding on a name, but the name
SharpCap was easy to arrive at – it comes from the programming language it is written in – C#
(pronounced C-sharp).

Through its first year, SharpCap remained a fairly simple webcam capture application that was
designed to be easy to use, to use standard, familiar Windows UI elements and to show the controls
for the camera to the user at all times. This seemed to be enough of an improvement over the
available alternatives to persuade a large number of people to start using SharpCap.

About a year after SharpCap’s first release something unexpected (to me) happened – I was
approached out of the blue by an astronomy retailer selling Basler cameras asking if it would be
possible to make SharpCap work with those cameras and offering to provide a sample camera to
work with. This chance event changed SharpCap’s direction from a webcam only application to one
that today supports a wide range of dedicated astro-imaging hardware.

Over the years as well as adding support for more cameras, SharpCap has also added many more
features to the extent that this user manual is now necessary as the application is sadly no longer
simple enough to ‘just use’. The primary aim throughout has been to try to make things that are
difficult simpler – finding objects can be hard so the various image boost effects help find faint or
out-of-focus targets; focusing can be hard so there are six focus assistance tools; DSO imaging is hard
so live stacking makes it easier and of course polar alignment can be hard, but it is made simpler
with SharpCap’s easy to use polar alignment tool.

I hope that you enjoy using SharpCap and that it indeed makes your astro-imaging easier.

Clear Skies!

Robin Glover, April 2018

Copyright ©2018-2023 Robin Glover

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Introduction
SharpCap is an image capture application designed primarily for astrophotography and video
astronomy.

Support can be obtained via the SharpCap forum at http://forums.sharpcap.co.uk .

This manual describes SharpCap 4.1.

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Installation and Getting Started

Requirements
In order to use SharpCap, you need a suitable computer running Microsoft Windows and a
supported camera. SharpCap can also help control other astronomy hardware such as focusers,
GOTO mounts, filter wheels, etc via the ASCOM platform.

Supported Cameras
SharpCap supports a wide range of cameras. These can be divided into 3 basic categories:

1. Cameras supported directly by SharpCap – these include many brands of dedicated

astronomy cameras including models by Altair, AstCamPan, AstroAsis, Atik, Basler,
Celestron, Imaging Source, Moravian Instruments, Player One, Point Grey, QHY, SVBony,
StarlightXpress and ZWO.
2. Cameras supported via a Windows Webcam driver – includes most webcams (modified and
unmodified), USB frame grabbers and is also an option for many specialised cameras where
the manufacturer provides a webcam driver (sometimes called a WDM or DirectShow
driver).
3. Cameras supported via an ASCOM driver – many astronomy camera manufacturers provide
ASCOM drivers for their products and SharpCap can use these to communicate with the
camera. This category also includes cameras that can be controlled using the ‘ASCOM
Alpaca’ remote control system.
Sometimes a camera can be accessed by two (or even all three) of the options above. If that
happens, it is usually best to prefer to use the direct support for the camera as this will give the most
control over the camera’s functionality. The direct support will always be the entry for the camera
that is nearest to the top of the menu.

Altair Cameras
A UK based supplier of a wide range of CMOS cameras for guiding, solar, planetary, lunar and deep
sky imaging. Altair cameras can also be purchased from a range of dealers in the UK and other
countries. Altair’s website can be found at https://www.altairastro.com/ .

AstcamPan Cameras
AstcamPan sell a range of CMOS cameras. The cameras can be purchased direct from the
manufacturer and via various online marketplaces. Their website can be found at
https://www.astronomy-camera.com/.

AstroAsis Cameras
AstroAsis sell a steadily growing range of CMOS cameras. Their website can be found at
https://www.astroasis.com/en/.

Atik Cameras
A UK based supplier of CCD and CMOS cameras for all aspects of Astro-imaging. Atik cameras can
also be purchased from a range of dealers in the UK and other countries. Atik’s website can be
found at https://www.atik-cameras.com/.

Basler Cameras
A German manufacturer of a wide range of industrial cameras, some of which are suitable for astro
imaging. SharpCap supports Basler cameras, including those with Gigabit Ethernet connectivity. On
some models of Basler cameras, SharpCap is capable of supporting exposures longer than the

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camera's normal maximum limit by clever software control of the camera's manual exposure
triggers. Basler’s website can be found at http://www.baslerweb.com/en .

Celestron/Imaging Source Cameras

The Imaging Source provide a wide range of industrial cameras which have been used for astro
imaging for some time. Imaging Source manufactured cameras are now sold under the Celestron
brand. SharpCap should be able to control the full range of The Imaging Source and Celestron
cameras, although testing has covered the more common USB cameras only. The Imaging Source’s
website can be found at https://www.theimagingsource.com/ .

iNova Cameras
iNova cameras are no longer supported by SharpCap 4.1. Please continue to use SharpCap 4.0 or
earlier versions to control iNova cameras.

Moravian Instruments Cameras

Moravian Instruments sell a wide range of CMOS and CCD cameras for Astro-imaging. SharpCap
supports the CMOS cameras and may also work with the CCD models. The Moravian Instruments
web site can be found at https://www.gxccd.com/.

Player One Cameras

Player One sell a range of CMOS cameras currently aimed at Lunar/Solar/Planetary imaging. Their
website can be found at https://player-one-astronomy.com/. Cameras can be purchased direct
through their web site and via a number of dealers.

Point Grey Cameras (now FLIR)

Point Grey (now owned by FLIR) sell a wide range of industrial cameras that can also be used for
astro imaging and scientific imaging. SharpCap supports most Point Grey cameras and provides full
control over their functionality. More details on Point Grey cameras can be found at
https://www.flir.com/iis/machine-vision/.

QHY Cameras
QHY sell a wide range of CCD and CMOS cameras with sensor sizes ranging from webcam size to full
frame SLR and beyond. These cameras are primarily designed for the astro imaging and Scientific
markets. SharpCap supports the full range of QHY cameras and includes support for advanced
features such as built-in filter wheels, GPS timing modules and Peltier cooler control. QHY’s website
can be found at http://www.qhyccd.com/ .

StarlightXpress Cameras
StarlightXpress produce a range of CCD based cameras designed specifically for astronomy use.
SharpCap can control the full range of StarlightXpress cameras including the popular Lodestar family
of highly sensitive guiding cameras. More details of StarlightXpress cameras can be found at
https://www.sxccd.com/ .

SVBony Cameras
SVBony produce a range of CMOS Astro-imaging cameras. The SV305 and SV305Pro cameras are
supported directly by SharpCap, while other models (SV105 and SV205) are only available via their
webcam driver. SVBony cameras can be purchased directly from their website :
https://www.svbony.com/categories/astronomy-camera/ .

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ZWO Cameras
ZWO sell a range of CMOS cameras with low noise, high sensitivity sensors, ranging from webcam
size to full frame SLR. Their cameras are primarily designed for the astro imaging market, including
useful features such as built in USB hubs on some models. SharpCap supports the full range of ZWO
cameras including control of advanced features such as Peltier cooler control and USB bandwidth
adjustment. ZWO’s website can be found at https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/ .

ASCOM Cameras
Many astro cameras have ASCOM drivers and SharpCap can use these drivers to control such
cameras. This can be a good fall back option when SharpCap does not have direct support for a
camera. The ASCOM Standards website can be found at
http://www.ascom-standards.org/Downloads/CameraDrivers.htm .

Note that many popular DSLR cameras can be used in SharpCap via the ASCOM DSLR driver, which
can be found here : https://github.com/FearL0rd/ASCOM.DSLR/. These cameras should generally be
used with SharpCap in Still Mode.

DirectShow Cameras (Webcams)

Microsoft DirectShow is an architecture for streaming media on the Microsoft Windows platform.
There are a vast number of webcams and frame grabbers on the market. The controls available in
SharpCap are determined by the driver – SharpCap just shows the controls the driver makes
available.

Virtual Camera
SharpCap supports a ‘Virtual’ camera. This works by reading image files from a selected folder and
treating the images as if they were frames received from a camera. SharpCap will read all existing
images in the folder in date order and then wait for any new images that are created. You can use
the virtual camera to use SharpCap features such as live stacking with previously captured images or
with an unsupported camera if you have a program that will capture images from the camera and
save them to disk.

Testing Cameras
SharpCap includes two testing cameras that can display an image from file (or the contents of an SER
video in the case of the ‘High Speed’ test camera). These cameras can be used to try out features of
SharpCap when clear skies are not available. Most SharpCap Pro features do not require a license
when used with one of the testing cameras.

Choosing Between ASCOM and DirectShow

If a camera appears as ASCOM and DirectShow – which should be chosen?

If a camera not directly supported by SharpCap is to be used, there may be two options when
connecting to it – ASCOM drivers or DirectShow drivers. Each have their pros and cons.

ASCOM DirectShow
Pros: Pros:
• Direct control of exposure (continuously • A better selection of camera controls
variable) in the SharpCap panel. available in the panel (gamma, brightness,
• Binning may be available. contrast, etc.).
• ROI may be available. • Long exposures may be available (i.e. 1s, 2s,
• Bit depths of greater than 8 bits and RAW 4s, 8s, 16s, etc.).
modes may be available. • Region of Interest (ROI) may be available.

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• Long exposures likely to be available. • Extra controls may be available in the

camera's DirectShow config dialog.
• High frame rates possible.
• Less likely to have compatibility issues than
ASCOM.

Cons: Cons:
• Few other controls in the SharpCap panel • Exposure only changeable in multiples of 2.
as ASCOM doesn't allow for many except • Bit depths limited to 8 bits and RAW modes
exposure and gain. unlikely to be available.
• ASCOM is relatively slow, so frame rates • Using an astro camera via DirectShow isn't
will be slower. as good as using it directly (less controls,
• ASCOM can be unreliable because each less control over exposure), but it is better
manufacturer interprets the standard in than nothing.
their own way, which can lead to some
ASCOM drivers being incompatible with
SharpCap.

Software
SharpCap runs on Microsoft Windows. The minimum version requirement is:

• SharpCap 3.0 – Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10

• SharpCap 3.1, 3.2, 4.0 and 4.1 – Windows 7 with SP1, 8.1, 10, 11
SharpCap is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The 32-bit version will install and run on
both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows, while the 64-bit version requires 64-bit Windows.

In general, the 64-bit version of SharpCap is now recommended if you have a 64-bit version of
Windows and at least 8Gb of memory. If you have 32-bit Windows or 4Gb or less memory then the
32-bit version of SharpCap should be used.

Note some ASCOM drivers also do not have 64-bit support, although you may be able to work
around this by using the ASCOM Device Hub.

Multiple major versions can co-exist, for example 3.2, 4.0 and 4.1 can be installed together on the
same machine. Only one minor version of each can be installed, for example only one of 3.2.6480
and 3.2.6482 can be installed at any one time.

Note: There is no specific version of SharpCap for Microsoft Windows running on ARM processors.
You may be able to run the normal SharpCap on Windows for ARM using the emulation built into
Windows, but performance may be slow.

Hardware
The minimum hardware requirement is dependent on the type of camera being used. When
purchasing a camera, look closely at the manufacturer/vendor recommended minimum PC
specification.

The following areas need to be considered to achieve the best frame rates:

• Processor, i5 or i7 is better.
• Memory, 3Gb maximum for 32-bit Windows, 64-bit needs at least 4Gb.

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• Disk, SSD is faster than conventional drive.

• USB, USB3 (5Gb/s) is 10x faster than USB2 (480Mb/s).
• Windows 32/64-bit, 64-bit supports more than 3Gb memory.

SharpCap is designed to take advantage of the multiple CPU cores available on most modern
computers and will perform better for fast cameras if more than one CPU core is available.

Consider the hardware demands when purchasing high frame rate or very high resolution cameras.

Minimum Hardware Specification

A 640x480 resolution webcam will work well on a low specification PC. A ThinkPad X61 (used to
produce the examples in this manual) satisfies this requirement. The following specification can
achieve 30fps at 640 x 480 with a USB2 webcam.

• Core 2Duo 1.86Ghz processor

• 4Gb (3Gb usable with 32-bit Windows)
• 120Gb SATA2 drive
• Windows 10 32-bit

Recommended Hardware Specification

A dedicated astronomy camera capable of 3000x2000 pixels at 50fps will require a fast processor,
more memory, an SSD and a USB3 port to achieve maximum performance.

If intending to use high resolution cameras (10 Megapixels or more), ensure the capture PC/laptop
has:

• A minimum of i5 processor or equivalent.

• A large capacity hard drive (500Gb or more) with SSD preferred.
• At least 8Gb (preferably 16Gb or more) of memory.
• A 64-bit version of the Windows operating system.

This configuration allows SharpCap to access more memory, thus reducing the likelihood of memory
exhaustion while capturing. This applies when working in RGB mode or at bit depths of 12 or 16 bits
per pixel.

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SharpCap Pro
A number of the more advanced features of SharpCap now require the purchase of a SharpCap Pro
license. SharpCap Pro licenses are reasonably priced, can be purchased for a 1 year term and are
available from http://store.astrosharp.co.uk/ .

Installing SharpCap Pro

You do not need to install a separate version of SharpCap if you wish to use SharpCap Pro features –
the SharpCap Pro features are already in the normal installed version of SharpCap – they become
available to you when you enter a SharpCap Pro license key.

Trying out SharpCap Pro

You can try out most SharpCap Pro features before purchasing a license. If you decide to try out one
or more SharpCap Pro features without entering a license then SharpCap enters an evaluation mode
where you cannot save any images until you close and then re-start the application. Evaluation
mode allows you to see the effects of SharpCap Pro features on screen but not save the resulting
images.

When you try to use a SharpCap Pro feature without a license installed you will see a message like
this

At this point, you can choose whether to use the feature in evaluation mode, purchase a new license
or enter an already purchased one or, finally, you can choose not to use the feature after all.

Choosing the various options has the following effects:

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• Try <Feature Name> without a license – you will be able to use the feature and other
SharpCap Pro features in trial mode. In trial mode you are normally blocked from saving any
images to video or image files, meaning that you can see the results on screen but cannot
save the results.
• Purchase a SharpCap Pro License – clicking this link will take you to a web site where you
can buy a SharpCap Pro license.
• Already have a SharpCap Pro License? – if you already have a SharpCap Pro license but
haven’t entered it yet, choose this option to launch the SharpCap license window and enter
your license key.
• Get me out of here… - If you aren’t interested in trying out the SharpCap Pro feature then
choose this option. SharpCap will not activate the feature and you will not end up in trial
mode – you can just carry on using the free features in SharpCap as usual.

Note that some SharpCap Pro features have different restrictions on evaluation – for instance using
the Sequencer or Sequence Planner tool in evaluation mode limits the length of the sequence being
run to 5 minutes.

SharpCap Pro Features

The table below shows the list of features that require a SharpCap Pro license. These features are
also highlighted with the text ‘[PRO]’ where they are mentioned in the remainder of this user guide.

Feature What it does… Notes

Atmospheric Dispersion Assistance aligning an ADC by detecting ADC alignment using
Alignment from frame offsets in detail in lunar/solar images centre-of-brightness
features does not require a
license.
Advanced Focus Score Automatic focus scans via ASCOM focuser
Features require a license
Automatic Refocus Fully automatic refocus for deep sky or
solar system imaging
Background Subtraction Remove a constant or varying background
level in deep sky images
Banding Suppression Helps remove horizontal banding visible in
some CMOS camera images when
stretched
Click to Recenter Framing assistance for deep sky images
using GOTO mount
Custom Deep Sky Add your own custom objects to
Catalogs SharpCap’s Deep Sky Annotation and
GOTO target catalogs
Dark Subtraction Subtract dark frames in real time, also
includes hot and cold pixel removal
without dark frames
Feature Tracking Track a point on a lunar or solar image
using a GOTO mount
Folder Monitor Camera Read existing image files and process
them as if they had come from a camera
Live Flat Correction Apply flat frame correction in real time
(solar system and deep sky)

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Live Stack Dithering via Automate dithering during Live Stacking

PHD2 via PHD2 or an MGEN3
Live Stack Image Unsharp mask sharpening, Weiner
Enhancements deconvolution sharpening, bilateral filter
noise reduction and colour noise
reduction
Live Stack Sigma Clipped Advanced stacking mode that helps ignore
Stacking spurious data like satellite trails
Live Stack Comet Live stack on a comet, allowing stars to
Alignment trail
Live Stacking and Display Automatically set image stretch Manual adjustment of
Histogram Auto stretch parameters to bring out faint details the image stretch does
not require a license, but
the use of the ‘Auto
Stretch’ button does.
Live Stacking Colour Adjust the colour balance of images while
Adjustments live stacking
Planetary Stabilization Digitally centre a planet image in the
middle of each frame
Polar Alignment Easy to use and accurate polar alignment You can measure your
using your guide camera and guidescope polar alignment error
(or similar field of view from other without needing a
equipment). Requires view of the celestial license. Guidance on
pole. adjusting to correct any
error requires a license.
Push-To Assistant Assistance in moving a manual (non-
GOTO) mount to a target via automatic
plate solving
Python Scripting Write complex extensions and
Language customizations to SharpCap using Python
Satellite Trail Removal Detect and remove satellite trails from
captured deep sky images in real time
Seeing Monitor Monitor image quality on a Seeing Triggered capture
solar/lunar/planetary image and capture and Seeing Filtered
automatically when quality is at its best capture can only be
activated with a license.
Sequencer, Deep Sky Easy to use automated imaging tools. Can save images while
Sequence Planner and evaluating, but
Solar System Sequence sequences will be
Planner stopped after a
maximum of 5 minutes
for deep sky and a limit
on frames is applied for
video captures
Smart Histogram Customized guidance on exposure and
gain settings for deep sky imaging
Solar and Lunar Mosaic Automate capture of Solar and Lunar
Planner mosaics using a GOTO mount
Solar/Lunar drag-to- Assistance re-framing a solar or lunar
move image using a GOTO mount

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Stellar Photometry See estimated peak and total brightness

Estimation for detected stars
Two Monitor View Show the current image full-screen on a Image view on second
second monitor while the SharpCap main monitor is watermarked
window remains on the first if you do not have a
license

Buying a SharpCap Pro License

SharpCap Pro licenses can be bought by visiting https://store.astrosharp.co.uk . Payment is accepted
via Credit and Debit cards, PayPal and digital wallets such as Google Pay, Apple Pay and WeChat Pay.

Once you have paid, your license will be sent to your email address - please take care to enter it
correctly. If you pay using PayPal, the email address of your PayPal account will be used, so please
make sure that it is correct. Sometimes license emails can get caught in your ‘Junk’ email folder so
be sure to check if the license email does not arrive promptly. You will also see your new license in
your web browser – just let your browser return automatically to the AstroSharp website after
completing your payment.

Installing your SharpCap Pro License

To install your new SharpCap Pro license, run SharpCap, go to the 'Help' menu and select 'SharpCap
Pro License'. Copy the license text from your web browser or email and paste it into the license box.
Be careful to include all of the license text.

Once entered, your license should look like the example shown below (without the blurring!). Every
line of text should start with a field name (like LicenseId or Expiry), followed by an equals sign ('=')
followed by the field value. Don't include any other text and make sure you include all the lines
shown.

If your license is entered correctly then you will see the license status change to ‘Valid’ below the
license entry box.

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License Expiry and Renewal

SharpCap Pro licenses are sold on a subscription basis – that means that if you buy a one-year
license, it will allow you to use SharpCap Pro features for one year from the date of purchase. If your
license has expired then you will no longer be able to access SharpCap Pro features (but you will be
able to continue using the many non-Pro features in SharpCap). Subscription based licensing allows
the annual cost to be kept very low.

You should receive two reminder emails in the weeks before your SharpCap Pro license expires to let
you know that will soon be time to renew your license. You will also see notifications inside
SharpCap itself warning you when your license will expire soon.

If you choose to renew your SharpCap Pro license then you will receive a new license key. You will
need to replace the existing license key in SharpCap with the new key, following the steps in
Installing your SharpCap Pro License. The new key will be valid immediately, so there is no need to
wait until your old key expires before making the change. Don’t forget to delete the text of your old
license key from the SharpCap License box before installing the new one.

Some common questions and answers and relating to SharpCap Pro Licenses
I didn't receive my license email - what can I do?
Firstly, check your Spam folder or any other junk mail folder, also be aware that this sort of email
sometimes gets classed as 'bulk' email and delayed in transfer.

If you still haven't received your email you can get it re-sent to you by visiting the Recover License
page. Just enter the email address you used to purchase the license and (optionally) the time from
your PayPal receipt. We will automatically resend your license email to you (and show it in the
browser if you can enter your PayPal receipt time too).

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It says my license is not valid - what have I done wrong?

Make sure that the license text looks like this screenshot:

Every line of text should have an start with a field name (like LicenseId or Expiry), followed by an
equals sign ('=') followed by the field value. Don't include any other text and make sure you include
all the lines shown.

Some email applications seem to add extra line breaks to the license text - you may need to remove
these manually. Do not allow any automatic translation software to try to translate the text of the
license – that will cause it not to work.

Does my license include upgrades?

Yes it does - you can use any version of SharpCap with your license and update whenever new
versions are available.

I use SharpCap on more than one computer - do I need to buy more than one license?
Provided you have bought SharpCap for your personal use then the license is for you rather than a
particular computer, so you can use the same license on different PCs that you own.

In more detail, rules are as follows:

• If you are a private individual who has purchased SharpCap : You may use the license on
any PC that you own and on one additional PC that does not belong to you as long as you are
the primary user of that additional PC (this allows you to use SharpCap on a laptop provided
by your employer).
• If you are a not a private individual (i.e. you purchased SharpCap on behalf of a business,
government department, education establishment, club or society etc) : You must purchase
a SharpCap license for every PC that you install SharpCap on.

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I've renewed my license but it hasn't updated in SharpCap - what do I do?

When you renew your license you will receive a new license key by email. You need to put this new
key into SharpCap, replacing your existing key. You can start using your new key straight away.

I've lost my license - what can I do?

You can get it re-sent to you by visiting the Recover License page.

Just enter the email address you used to purchase the license and (optionally) the time from your
PayPal receipt. We will automatically resend your license email to you (and show it in the browser if
you can enter your PayPal receipt time too).

Claiming a SharpCap Pro license bundled with a new Camera

Some cameras are sold with an offer of a 1-year SharpCap Pro license included with the camera. If
you have purchased one of these cameras then follow the steps below to claim the license.

• Install any drivers necessary to allow your PC to detect the camera properly (for Altair
cameras, this means you must install AltairCapture, even if you do not intend to use it)
• Install the latest version of SharpCap
• Ensure you are connected to the internet – the license claim procedure requires a working
internet connection.
• Plug in your camera to a suitable USB port
• Run SharpCap. If you do not have a SharpCap Pro license already, then a notification should
appear at the top of the screen soon after SharpCap starts.

• Click on the ‘Claim License Now’ button

• In the license claim window, enter your email address. Take care to enter your email address
correctly, as you will receive a copy of your license by email. You can choose to share your
email address with the camera manufacturer to receive updates and special offers if you
want (this is entirely optional – if you choose not to share your email address with the
manufacturer then your email address will only be used to send you your licence key and
remind you when it is about to expire).

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• Press the Claim SharpCap Pro License button – after a few moments your claim will be
processed and you should see a message confirming the license claim has been successful.
Your license email should usually arrive within a few minutes.

Note: Licenses included with purchases cameras are only valid for use with the specific brand of
camera they were claimed against.

Note: If you have purchased your camera second-hand then the previous owner may have already
claimed the license for that camera – in that case you will not be able to claim a SharpCap Pro
license and will see this message if you do try to claim:

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SharpCap Quick Start

This section describes getting started quickly and is intended for the experienced or impatient user.

1. Download the latest camera driver from the camera manufacturer’s website.

2. Install the camera driver – there may be a need to approve an administrator prompt or run
the installer as administrator.

3. Restart the PC/laptop.

4. Attach the camera.

5. Download the latest SharpCap from https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/sharpcap/downloads .

6. Install SharpCap – there may be a need to approve an administrator prompt or run the
installer as administrator.

7. Go to the camera menu and select the camera from the list of devices.

8. If the camera is attached to a telescope or lens, a picture from the camera should be seen in
the display area. If you have not attached the camera to a telescope or lens and the cover is
still on the camera you will see a black image – look in the left hand bottom corner to make
sure that the frame count is increasing and remove the cover briefly which should cause the
image to brighten.

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9. Use the Camera Control Panel at the right-hand side of the screen to control settings such as
exposure and gain. The image should change in response to the controls being adjusted.

10. Use the Start Capture (or Quick Capture) buttons to start a video capture to a new file or the
Snapshot button to capture a single frame to a file.

Once the capture has completed, a Notification Bar will appear directly below the Tool Bar.
Click the highlighted link to go directly to the folder holding the captured image.

11. The installation and basic testing of SharpCap is now complete.

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Step-by-Step: Installation and First Capture

This section is a step by step getting started guide.

Installing the Camera Driver

Do not connect a camera until its drivers have been installed. Drivers are best installed from a
Windows user account which has administrative privileges. The drivers can be obtained in three
ways, depending on the camera:

1. Drivers delivered on a CD-ROM provided with the camera. These might not be the latest
version, so consider option 2.
2. Links to camera manufacturers’ websites can be found at http://www.sharpcap.co.uk/ , in
the Supported Devices section or in Camera Controls in this document under the
appropriate manufacturer.
3. Microsoft supported webcams (which work with DirectShow) may download a driver
automatically once the camera is plugged in.

Once the camera drivers are installed, restart Windows, plug in the camera and check via Control
Panel > Devices to see if the device (camera) is working properly.

Installing SharpCap
The download and installation of SharpCap is described here.

1. Download SharpCap from http://www.sharpcap.co.uk/downloads .

2. Navigate to the folder where SharpCap has been downloaded. Double click on the file
SharpCapInstall-<version-number>.exe to install.
3. Tick the box to agree to the license terms and conditions and press the Install button.

4. Supply an administrator account name and password if requested.

5. When the Installation Successfully Completed message appears, click Close to close the
installer or Launch to run SharpCap straight away.

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6. SharpCap is now installed.

Testing SharpCap
Consider carrying out the initial testing from inside with the telescope and camera pointing at an
object such as a tree, chimney, lamp or mast. Choose a large object.

7. Connect the camera to the telescope.

8. Connect the camera to the PC.

9. Start SharpCap. From the main menu, select Cameras. Ensure the camera is selected
(ticked) – in this example, the camera is a SVBONY SV305. If the camera name appears
twice, select the one furthest up the list.

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10. This is SharpCap’s Main Screen.

Key areas are:

Capture Display Area – the image the camera sees is displayed here.
Quick Capture Button – will start a video capture to a new file.
Snapshot Button – will capture a single frame to a PNG file.
Exposure – controls the camera exposure.

Check that the image changes in response to changing light levels – for instance shine a light
into the telescope or onto the camera sensor and check that the image becomes brighter.
Alternatively, cover the telescope/sensor and check that the image becomes darker.

If focusing of the telescope cannot be reached, try removing diagonals or adding extensions.

11. Try the Snapshot button. A Notification Bar will appear directly below the Tool Bar. Click
the highlighted link to go directly to the folder holding the captured image.

12. SharpCap will create this folder (SharpCap Captures\YYY-MM-DD) which is on the desktop
and will contain 2 files. One is the image, the other is a text file containing the camera
settings.

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13. The camera settings file looks like this:

14. Try the Quick Capture button. At the bottom-right of the main screen, a progress bar should
appear.

15. When this video capture has completed, click the link in the Notification Bar. The capture
folder should contain a video file and a camera settings file. Double click the video to play it.

16. If all the above has worked, the SharpCap and camera installation has been successfully
tested.

Removing SharpCap
This section describes the complete removal of SharpCap and all its ancillary settings. This action
might be required to perform a clean install with all old settings removed. This work is best carried
out with an account with administrator privileges

Uninstall SharpCap – either from Control Panel or via the Start button, go to Programs and Features,
highlight SharpCap and Uninstall. [Note: there may be multiple versions to choose from.]

Note: Uninstalling and then re-installing SharpCap will not reset all SharpCap settings to default - see
Saving, Restoring and Resetting the SharpCap Settings for information on how to reset all settings to
defaults.

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The SharpCap User Interface

This section describes the SharpCap user interface and gives a brief explanation of the various tools
and controls available to you. These are then explained in greater depth in the following sections of
this user manual.

Introduction to the SharpCap User Interface

Upon starting SharpCap, dismissing any Tip of the Day message and opening a camera, a screen
similar to the following appears:

The SharpCap main screen consists of seven permanent areas and one temporary area.

The permanent areas are:

1. Title Bar – shows the SharpCap version, the selected (active) camera (if any) and the default
capture folder.
2. Menu Bar – gives access to SharpCap functions.
3. Tool Bar – gives quick access to tools frequently used for image capture. When an image
capture has completed a Notification Bar, giving save details, will appear below the Tool Bar.
4. Image Display Area – shows the image currently being captured by the selected camera.
5. Camera Control Panel – gives access to all available controls for the selected camera. Items
displayed in this panel will vary depending on the type, model and level of support of the
connected camera.

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6. Work Area – used as a display area by tools such as Image Histogram, Calculate Focus Score
and Live Stack.
7. Status Bar – gives ongoing information about frames captured/dropped and frame rate.
During a capture, a progress bar will appear at the right-hand end of the status bar.

The temporary area is:

1. Notification Bar – appears below the Tool Bar upon completion of a Capture or Snapshot
and provides a clickable link to go directly to the folder where the file has been saved or to
open the file directly. Click on the file name to open the file itself or the folder name to open
the folder. The notification bar is also used to provide other information – a green
notification bar indicates success; a yellow bar indicates a warning and an orange bar
indicates an error has occurred.

Title Bar
The Title Bar shows the selected (active) camera and the default folder for saving image captures.

Once an image or video has been captured, the full name of the last captured image/video will be
shown instead of the default capture folder.

If no camera is active, only the default folder for saving image captures is shown.

Note that the title bar also shows the version of SharpCap that you are using and whether you have
the 64-bit version of SharpCap or not.

Menu Bar
The Menu Bar gives structured access to many aspects of SharpCap functionality.

Tool Bar
The Tool Bar gives easy access to a collection of facilities commonly used when performing an image
capture.

The left-hand half of the toolbar when a camera is open in ‘Still Camera’ mode:

The left-hand half of the toolbar when a camera is open in ‘Live View’ mode:

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The right-hand half of the toolbar:

From left to right, these are:

1. Live View – toggle the camera between live (video) and still mode
2. Start Capture – start capturing images via the ‘Start Capture’ window
3. Quick Capture – start capturing images with no prompt
4. Stop Capture – stop any capture currently in progress
5. Pause – pause a video capture currently in progress (only in live video mode)
6. Snapshot – capture a single frame to an image file
7. Framing Shot – capture and display a single frame, but do not save it (only in still mode)
8. Two Monitor Mode – toggle between single monitor and two monitor mode
9. Live Stack – turn live stacking on or off
10. Deep Sky Image Annotation – turn annotation of deep sky objects on or off
11. Target Name – set the name of the target being imaged – used in filenames
12. Frame Type – set the frame type being captured – used in filenames
13. Preview Effects (FX) – choose a special effect to apply to the image as it is displayed
14. Selection Area – toggle a selection rectangle on or off for use with some tools
15. Reticule Overlays – select one of a range of reticules to draw over the image
16. Zoom – alter the zoom used when displaying the image
17. Image Histogram – toggle showing the histogram of the image
18. Calculate Focus Score – select and activate one of the focus assistance tools
19. Toggle Hardware – connect or disconnect all ASCOM hardware

If the SharpCap window is not wide enough to accommodate all the tool icons, the Tool Bar will look
like this with a downward pointing arrow at the right-hand end:

Click the arrow to access the rest of the toolbar icons:

Image Display Area

The Capture Display Area shows the view currently being seen by the active camera.

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When a camera is selected in SharpCap (or SharpCap automatically selects a camera when it is
started), SharpCap will start grabbing and displaying frames straight away if the camera is in Live
View mode. SharpCap isn't saving these frames, just showing them on the screen. Depending on
the exposure length being used, the image may update many times per second or only once every
few seconds (or even less frequently). SharpCap will only save images after use of the Start Capture
or Snapshot buttons.

If the camera is opened in Still Mode, SharpCap will not take any images unless you use one of the
Capture buttons. SharpCap will initially display a message explaining what to do to capture images –
this will be replaced by the image from the camera after the first image has been captured.

You can move around the image in the following ways:

• Adjust the zoom level of the image using the Zoom dropdown in the toolbar
• Adjust the zoom level of the image by holding down the <CTRL> key and using the mouse
scroll wheel with the mouse located over the image
• Zoom in on a particular point in the image by putting the mouse cursor over the point,
holding down <CTRL> and using the mouse scroll wheel. Once the image fills the available

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area, the point in the image under the mouse cursor will remain the same as you zoom
in/out.
• If you are zoomed to a level that means you cannot see the whole image, you can move
around the image using any of the following options
o The horizontal and vertical scrollbars (shown below)
o The mouse wheel for vertical motion and the mouse wheel with <SHIFT> held down
for horizontal motion
o Dragging the image with the mouse

Camera Control Panel

The capabilities and available controls of the active camera are displayed in the Camera Control
Panel. These controls are used to adjust camera settings such as exposure, resolution, colour
balance and others. The groups and controls displayed can vary depending on:

• The manufacturer of the attached camera.

• The model of camera (even from the same manufacturer)

See Camera Controls for a full description. The controls are grouped logically and each group can be
expanded/closed as required.

Click on the down arrow button to the left of the group name to expand a ground. Use the
‘hamburger’ icon on the right to drag the groups around to change their order – this allows you to
put the controls that you use the most at the top of the list.

Work Area
The Work Area is by default below the image display area and is used to show various tools
including:

• Histogram
• Live Stack
• Polar Align
• Focus Score

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For each tool, the title bar of the panel can be used to drag the panel out of the main SharpCap
form, for example to place it on a second monitor.

Status Bar
The Status bar at the bottom of the screen gives a constantly updated report on:

• Frames captured
• Frames dropped
• Duration of capture
• Capture speed, frames per second (fps)
• Memory available and in use along with free disk space
• Disk space remaining for saving capture files
• Cooler Status (for cooled cameras)

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• GPS Status (for GPS enabled cameras)

Frame Progress
When the exposure is set to 1s or longer, a progress bar will show on the right giving the progress of
each frame

The numbers to the right of the progress bar are the time elapsed so far in the frame and the time
left to go in the frame (both in MM:SS).

Some cameras take a considerable time to download a completed frame to the computer – while
the download is happening, the time remaining in the frame may show a negative value. A negative
value may also show if the camera has stopped responding properly and SharpCap is stuck waiting
for a frame that has not arrived.

Capture Progress
When an image capture has been initiated, a progress bar is displayed at the right showing:

• Frames completed
• Frames remaining
• Estimated finishing time

SharpCap in your language

SharpCap has partial translations into a small number of non-English languages:

Language Status Language Code

Japanese Menus, toolbars, camera controls translated. ja
Simplified Chinese Additionally, the settings window, start capture window zh-CN
French and the About SharpCap windows are translated. fr
German de
Polish The rest of the program shows in English. pl
Italian it
Russian Additionally, the installer has a Japanese translation ru
Spanish only. es
If you use one of the languages listed above as your Windows display language, SharpCap will
automatically use its translation.

You can force SharpCap to display in English by applying the ‘Always show SharpCap in English’
setting. You can force SharpCap to display in another supported language by using the /language
command line argument.

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The Menu Bar in Detail

File
The File menu item has the following options.

SharpCap Settings
The SharpCap Settings defaults have been chosen to enable ease of use of the application with
minimal configuration required after installation, however adjustment to the settings can be made
here when necessary.

See Configuring SharpCap for a detailed description of the various settings available.

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Rescan for remote hardware

SharpCap can control certain types of hardware (cameras, focusers, mounts, etc) via a network
connection. If you have turned on the remote computer or device after starting SharpCap, you may
need to tell SharpCap to rescan for remote hardware before the new devices are detected. See
Remote Hardware Control and the sections on Basler and Point Grey/FLiR cameras.

Exit
Selecting Exit or Alt+F4 will perform an orderly shutdown of SharpCap. Note that depending on your
choices in the settings, you may be prompted to confirm shutdown if you have a camera open or are
capturing or live stacking.

Cameras
The Cameras menu item allows selection and de-selection of attached imaging devices. These may
be CMOS or CCD cameras connected over USB or network connections or video capture devices
(frame grabbers).

Different types of cameras are grouped into different sections of the menu – each section is headed
by the description of the type of camera in that section – i.e. ‘Altair Cameras’, ‘DirectShow Cameras’,
‘ZWO Cameras’, etc.

Normally a new camera will be detected automatically when you plug it into your computer, but in
some cases you may need to use the Rescan for Cameras option to detect a newly added camera.

Two ‘built-in’ cameras are provided:

1. Test Camera 1 (Deep Sky), a simulation of a capture of the M42 Nebula in the Constellation
of Orion.
2. Test Camera 2 (High Speed), a simulation of a capture of Jupiter (the dark spot to the lower
left being the shadow of a moon).

These two test cameras can be used to learn and experiment with the functionality of SharpCap
without requiring a telescope or camera or clear skies for that matter.

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The ‘Virtual’ Folder Monitor Camera will also be shown. This camera allows SharpCap to
automatically load image files that are already saved (or are being saved) in a folder to allow them to
be processed. If you have a camera that SharpCap cannot detect, but have other software that can
take images using this camera and save them to a folder, you can use this choice to allow SharpCap
to work with those images.

[Note: some cameras (particularly ASCOM and DirectShow cameras) may show in the device list
even when they are not connected to the computer – selecting one of these cameras that is not
currently connected will give an error message.]

Rescan for Cameras

If a camera connection is lost or a camera plugged in while SharpCap is open, use the Rescan option
to find the device.

SharpCap automatically rescans after a USB device is added to or removed from the computer. The
rescan button is mainly useful to detect network connected cameras (i.e. Basler or Point Grey Gig-E
cameras) as SharpCap cannot detect these being added to the network.

Close Camera
This will close the currently open camera. A camera can also be closed by selecting the active camera
a second time in the Cameras menu. Cameras are also closed automatically if a different camera is
selected or SharpCap detects that the currently selected camera has been disconnected from the
computer.

Reconnect Camera
This will stop then restart the currently connected camera. Under some circumstances this may help
recover correct operation if a camera has become stuck or is not responding. If reconnecting the
camera does not cure the problem then you may need to close and re-open SharpCap or disconnect
and re-connect the camera’s USB cable.

Available Cameras
Select the camera to use from the dropdown list.

There may be occasion when a camera appears twice in the available cameras list. If in doubt which
one to select, use the one highest in the list (because SharpCap tries to put the cameras it has the
best control over at the top of the list). See the SVBony SV305 in the graphic below.

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Sometimes it is useful to close the camera currently in use without opening a different camera. This
can be achieved by returning to the Cameras menu and choosing the selected camera from the
menu again or using the Close Camera menu item.

Capture
The Capture menu item has the following options.

Capture allows control of:

• The capture process.

• The production of dark frames.
• The creation of flat frames.

See Capturing Videos and Images for a detailed description of these menu items.

View
The View menu item has the following items.

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Full Screen
The Full Screen option forces SharpCap to switch to full screen mode. This leaves only the Capture
Display Area and Camera Control Panel visible – there are no menu or tool bars available. To reverse
this situation, move the mouse pointer to the top of the screen and the menu will appear. The Full
Screen option can be unchecked. You can also switch in/out of full-screen view by pressing the F11
key.

Reset Control Order

In the Camera Control Panel, each control group has a handle at the top right corner. This handle
can be grabbed with a mouse and the control moved elsewhere in the Camera Control Panel to suit
individual preferences. By choosing Reset Control Order, the control groups can be returned to their
default order.

Night Vision Colours

Selecting this menu option will toggle SharpCap between the standard colour scheme and a night-
vision friendly dark colour scheme. You can also use the F12 key to switch between the two colour
schemes.

Two Monitor View

Selecting this option will toggle SharpCap between the standard single monitor view and a two
monitor view mode which shows the main image from the camera on a second monitor. Note that
two monitor mode is a SharpCap Pro feature.

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Tools
The Tools menu item provides access to specific functions which can assist in capturing images or
ensuring alignment of the telescope.

Note that the tools only become available to select once a camera has been selected. Some tools
also require hardware such as a GOTO mount or electronic focuser to be configured before they can
be used.

Histogram
This option provides access to the main SharpCap histogram functionality. See The Histogram for a
full description of this tool.

Live Stack
This option provides the same functionality as the Live Stack button located on the Tool Bar. See
Live Stacking for a full description of the tool.

<ALT> <L> can be used as a hot key combination to initiate Live Stack.

Polar Align
Selecting Polar Align will produce a set of screens to manage the alignment process. See Polar
Alignment for a detailed description.

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Sensor Analysis
This tool launches the SharpCap sensor analysis routine which can measure the characteristics of
your camera sensor. Once measured, the sensor data is stored and can be used in future to provide
SharpCap smart histogram functionality. See Sensor Analysis and Smart Histogram for more details.
Note that Smart Histogram is a SharpCap Pro feature.

ADC Alignment
This tool helps find the optimum alignment settings for an ADC (Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector)
by showing the offset between the red, green and blue channels in a colour image. The tool can
detect offsets in planetary images and also for views showing detail on the surface of the moon or
sun. See ADC Alignment for more details.

Pixel Value Readout

This tool allows you to read the brightness value of any pixel in the image by clicking on it. In
addition to showing the brightness value of the pixel, the co-ordinates (X,Y) are shown along with
the colour channel information for the pixel if the camera is in RAW mode. See Pixel Value Readout
for more details.

Plate Solve (Solve Only)

This tool initiates a “blind” plate solving search to determine the celestial co-ordinates of the current
image. The option will only be enabled if a compatible plate solving tool has been auto-detected or
configured in the SharpCap settings. The progress and result of the plate solve operation will be
shown in the notification bar. See Plate Solving Settings for more details on compatible plate solving
tools and configuration. Note that if an ASCOM mount is connected, SharpCap will use the current
co-ordinates from the mount as the search starting point, potentially speeding up the operation.

Plate Solve and Resync

This tool will perform a plate solve on the current image, re-synchronize the mount’s location to the
plate solve result and will then re-GOTO the original target co-ordinates. This has the effect of
putting the target into the centre of the field of view even if it is off-centre or out of view entirely.
Note that the operations performed by this action can be configured in the plate solving tab of the
SharpCap settings.

Pixel Position Readout / Click to Recentre

This tool allows you to see the sky co-ordinates (RA/Dec, Alt/Az) for any pixel in the image, provided
that an ASCOM GOTO mount has been connected to SharpCap and a plate solving operation has
been performed recently.

In addition to showing the sky co-ordinates of any point in the image, the direction of the +/- RA,
Dec, Altitude and Azimuth co-ordinates are indicated and you can get SharpCap to recentre the
image about any point by double clicking on that point. This is very useful for framing an image. See
Pixel Position Readout/Click to Recenter for more details.

Deep Sky Image Annotation

The Deep Sky Image Annotation tool uses plate solving information along with a catalog of brighter
deep-sky objects to automatically identify objects within your own images. You can even add your
own custom catalogs to the annotation database. See Deep Sky Image Annotation for more details.

Ghosted Image Alignment

This tool provides assistance with re-aligning an image with a previous capture or with creating a
mosaic. You can select any previously saved image (of the same resolution) and display it overlaid

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with the current image, helping make small adjustments to line the current image up perfectly with
the previous image. You can also offset the previous image up, down, left or right to help with
mosaic alignment. See Ghosted Image Alignment for more details.

Goto Image
Another tool to help you return to a previously imaged target – this is an automated version that
uses plate solving to determine the co-ordinates of a previous image and will then use your GOTO
mount (and rotator if you have one) to point your camera at the same target. See Goto Image for
more details.

Goto Catalog Target/Co-ordinates

Select a target from SharpCap’s built in catalog of deep sky and solar system objects. You can select
an object name, or if you aren’t sure you can filter by object type, brightness, altitude, etc to find a
good target to view. You can also enter co-ordinates for less common targets. SharpCap will take
care of moving the telescope to the new target, plate solving, centering the target, even saving an
existing live stack and starting a new one automatically if you want. See Goto Catalog Target/Co-
ordinates for more details.

Push-To Assistant
If you are using a non-GOTO mount, SharpCap can help you find targets too. You get the same
abilities for searching or filtering for a target as the GOTO Target tool, but after the target is chosen,
SharpCap will repeatedly plate solve frames from the camera, giving instructions on which direction
and how far to move the telescope with each new frame. See Push-To Assistant for more details.

Focus Assistant
The sub-options here allow the various Focusing tools to be selected, allowing for focus
measurements, scanning for best focus and autofocus.

Seeing Monitor
This launches the Seeing Monitor which can help you capture Lunar/Solar/Planetary images when
the seeing is at its best.

Feature Tracking
This launches the experimental Feature Tracking tool, which can guide your mount during
Lunar/Solar/Planetary imaging to keep the target from drifting out of view.

Collimation (Experimental)
This launches the experimental Collimation assistant which may help with collimation of Newtonian
telescopes.

Solar/Lunar Framing Assistant (Experimental)

Getting the right part of the moon or the sun in view can be tricky, even with a GOTO mount. You
move the mount upwards, but the image moves down and to the left, and then you scratch your
head wondering which way will get the image to move right. Fortunately SharpCap can handle that
for you – a brief alignment procedure lets SharpCap work out which way to move the mount for
each image direction, then you can simply drag the image around. See Solar/Lunar Framing Assistant
for more details.

Stellar Photometry Estimation (Experimental)

This tool builds on SharpCap’s star detection capabilities, displaying information about the peak and
total brightness of selected stars displayed in the image. If your camera has sensor analysis data

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available, the brightness will be calculated in electrons as well as ADU. See Stellar Photometry
Estimation for more details.

Sequencer
The Sequencer menu provides access to tools that enable SharpCap to perform automatic,
unattended imaging.

Deep Sky Sequence Planner

This menu option becomes enabled when a camera has been selected, and allows you to quickly
build and then execute a sequence of imaging operations that includes the most common steps
required for seep sky imaging. See Deep Sky Sequence Planner for more details.

Solar System Sequence Planner

The Solar System Sequence Planner allows you to quickly design and execute sequences for solar
system imaging, particularly for capturing targets in a range of filters with minimal delay between
the captures. As with the Deep Sky planner, you must have the camera you intend to use already
selected to enable this option.

Lunar Mosaic Planner

This option becomes enabled when a camera is selected and a GOTO mount is configured and
connected. The Lunar Mosaic Planner will help you plan and capture a lunar mosaic automatically –
SharpCap will take care of working out how many panels are needed and how they should be
arranged as well as moving the telescope from one panel to the next and capturing images. See
Mosaic Planning for more details.

Solar Mosaic Planner

An equivalent to the Lunar mosaic planner above but for capturing solar mosaic images. See Mosaic
Planning for more details.

Edit…
Selecting this option shows the full sequence editing tool – this is more flexible than the Deep Sky
Sequence Planner and can be used to accomplish a much wider variety of imaging tasks, but is more
complicated. See Sequence Editor for more details.

Run…
This option allows you to browse for a previously saved SharpCap Sequence (*.scs) and begin
running it.

Run Current
This option will run the sequence that is currently loaded into the sequence editing tool.

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Run Recent…
Choose a sequence that has been loaded and run recently – that sequence will be loaded and run.

Scripting
The Scripting menu item allows access to the Scripting Console and gives the ability to run existing
scripts and write new scripts. The scripts are based on Python. The functionality of SharpCap can be
extended by using scripting as a built-in programming language.

Scripting is an advanced topic and knowledge of it is not essential to be able to use SharpCap
effectively.

See Scripting for a full description.

Help
The Help menu item has the following options.

View Help
View Help will display this documentation, in Windows help file format, installed as part of the of the
SharpCap software.

SharpCap Pro License

Allows you to enter or check your SharpCap Pro license.

Check for Updates

Selecting Check for Updates will initiate a version check against the SharpCap website of the installed
versus latest version. If no updates are available, the message below is displayed.

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If an update is available, a download and installation is offered.

Note that there is a delay before new versions of SharpCap are made available via this auto-update
mechanism. You may find new versions available for download on the downloads page even if this
check shows that no new updates are available.

Under some circumstances the auto-update may fail to install correctly. If that happens, the easiest
thing to do is to download the new version manually from the downloads page and install it.

Report a Bug
This option provides direct link to the ‘Bug Reports’ area of the SharpCap forums. Before posting a
new bug report in the forums, please check that you are using the most up-to-date version of
SharpCap and also search the forums to see if the problem you are having has already been
discussed – there may even already be a fix or workaround for the problem!

Show Log
SharpCap, in the background, is constantly logging events relating to the program. Choosing this
menu item will show the log window displaying this information. New lines of information will be
added to the log window as you take actions in SharpCap. See the SharpCap Log for more
information.

Support Forum
This will launch the SharpCap forums in your web browser. You will find hints, tips, guides, and
discussion of the use of SharpCap and general astronomy on the forums.

About
Selecting this menu item will show the ‘About SharpCap’ window.

The About window provides:

• A link to the SharpCap website.

• A message informing an upgrade to a SharpCap Pro License is available.
• Acknowledgements.
• A link to License Information.
• A link to the SharpCap Facebook page.
• Version and Change history.

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The Tool Bar in Detail

The toolbar changes slightly depending on whether the camera is open in ‘Live View’ mode or in ‘Still
Camera’ mode. Some items listed below are only visible in ‘live view’ mode or only visible in ‘still
camera’ mode.

Live View
This button toggles the camera between ‘Live View’ (video) mode and ‘Still Camera’ mode.

When the camera is in ‘Live View’ mode, the button is highlighted, as shown above. Some cameras
do not have the ability to work in Still Camera mode, in which case this button will be disabled.

Note that toggling this button to an appropriate state before opening a camera will set the mode in
which the camera is opened. See Live Mode and Still Mode for more information on the differences
between Live and Still modes.

Start Capture
The Start Capture button will start a video capture to a new file.

The functionality is identical to choosing Capture > Start Capture from the menu. See Capturing
Videos and Images for a full description.

Quick Capture
Clicking the Quick Capture button will
initiate a video capture to a new file but
use a pre-selected number of frames or
seconds.

To modify the pre-selected value, click

the down arrow and select a new value.
This value will be ‘remembered’ for
future quick captures.

<ALT> <Q> can be used as a hot key combination to initiate a Quick Capture.

Stop Capture
When a capture is in-progress, the Stop Capture button will be available and will stop the current
capture.

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You can also press the <Esc> key to stop the current capture. When no capture is in progress, Stop
Capture will be disabled, as shown above.

Pause
When a capture is in-progress, the Pause button will be available and will pause capture. This is
useful if a cloud is passing over the object of interest. Pausing capture only stops frames from being
saved to file – the image shown on screen will continue to update.

Pause is not shown when a camera is in ‘Still Camera’ mode.

Snapshot
The Snapshot button will capture the current image as seen in the display area to a still image file,
which can be in PNG, TIFF, JPG or FITS file.

The location of the captured file appears in the Notification Bar below the Tool Bar, for example:

<ALT> <A> can be used as a hot key combination to initiate a Snapshot.

Framing Shot
This button, which is only visible when the camera is in ‘Still Camera’ mode, will cause the camera to
capture an image and display it on screen. The image will not be saved.

The ‘Framing Shot Quick’ option will be available if the camera in use has an adjustable gain control.
When this button is pressed, SharpCap will increase the gain, reduce the exposure to compensate,
take and display an image and then restore the exposure and gain controls to their original values.
This can be useful for checking framing or focus of a deep sky object.

Two Monitor View

This button will only appear on a PC with two or more monitors connected (the monitors must also
be used to ‘Extend’ the display rather than ‘Mirror’ it).

When pressed SharpCap will switch between the normal view on one monitor and a two-monitor
view where the camera image is transferred to the second monitor and all controls remain on the
initial monitor. This is particularly useful when Live Stacking as the live stacking controls can be
allocated much more space on the first monitor.

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Note that Two Monitor View is a SharpCap Pro feature. If you use it without a SharpCap Pro license
then a watermark will be shown on the second monitor image.

Live Stack
This button initiates the Live Stack process. The functionality is identical to choosing Tools > Live
Stack. See Live Stacking for a full description of the tool.

<ALT> <L> can be used as a hot key combination to initiate Live Stack.

Deep Sky Image Annotation

This button toggles the Deep Sky Image Annotation function on or off.

This functionality requires plate solving, so will not be available unless you have installed a plate
solving application and configured SharpCap to use it.

Target Name
Selecting Target Name in the main toolbar allows a pre-defined object to be selected and used as
part of the capture folder hierarchy.

A new name can also be typed here to represent the current object of interest – such as NGC7000
or North American Nebula.

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Subsequent captures would be saved in a sub-folder called NGC7000 (or North American Nebula)
under the default capture folder. Targets added here will not persist across SharpCap restarts. To
become permanent, the target must be added via File > SharpCap Settings > General tab.

This tool is convenient for self-documentation purposes (in the capture folder name hierarchy)
during an imaging session. For example, names such as ‘M42 CLS filter’ and ‘M42 f6.3 reducer’ can
be created to identify equipment used for a capture.

Note that when you use some other features in SharpCap (such as the GOTO Target tool or the
Sequencer), the Target Name may be set automatically based on choices you make in those other
features.

Frame Type
You can select the type of frame you are capturing here and the type will be substituted into the
filename template for any saved files.

Frame Types are also used by the Sequencer and Sequence Planner tools. Note that changing the
frame type only affects saved file naming. To capture actual dark frames you need to cover the
telescope as well as selecting dark frames in this dropdown.

Display FX (effects)
The Display Effects, FX, dropdown contains the options shown below. Note that the effects applied
to the image by the options shown here are only shown on screen – they do not affect images saved
to file.

When certain FX options are chosen, the Selection Area tool from the tool bar becomes active,
allowing you to restrict the operation of the effect to the selected area.

See Display Effects for more information on each of the available effects.

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Selection Area
The Selection Area tool creates a red selection rectangle on the image which can be dragged and re-
sized.

This selected area is used when applying display effects (FX) or when using the Calculate Focus Score,
Sensor Analysis or some other tools.

The Selection Area tool can also be used to investigate the histogram of a reduced area when using
the Image Histogram tool and specify the area of the image to be processed for other operations
such as the sensor analysis tool.

Note that if the selection area is very small, it may not be easily visible - to help find it, SharpCap will
display two red arrows pointing towards it when it is very small:

If you wish to make a very small selection larger, either use the Zoom functionality to expand the
view until the selection area can be adjusted or double-click anywhere in the image, which will reset
the selection area to an area around the point where you double-click

Reticule Overlays
The Reticule Overlay tool has 5 options.

By repeatedly clicking the icon located in the Tool Bar, the display area will cycle through the reticule
options. The reticule can also be selected directly by using the drop-down menu to the right of the
button. See Reticules for more information on each reticule and how to adjust them.

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Zoom
The Zoom tool gives the ability to zoom in or out of the image in the Capture Display Area. You can
also adjust the zoom by using the mouse wheel while holding the down the <CTRL> key. If you are
using a laptop with a touch panel, you may also be able to adjust the zoom using ‘pinch’ gestures.

This feature can be used to:

• Zoom in when searching for fainter objects.
• Zoom in when trying to place the FX Selection Area over a
single-star when using the Calculate Focus Score tool.
• Zoom in when trying to accurately set the Black Level % when
using the Calculate Focus Score tool.
• Zoom out to reduce the image when Live Stack or Image
Histogram are in use.
• Zoom out to reduce the image size displayed when capturing
at higher camera resolutions.

• The Zoom dropdown has a range of 16% - 800%, but a wider

range from 5% to 2000% is available using CTRL + Mouse
Wheel adjustments
• Auto zoom is a sensible working setting for most purposes – it
will fit the image to the screen space available.

Image Histogram
A correctly shaped Histogram is a key requirement to producing quality images.

Clicking the Image Histogram icon in the Tool Bar:

will display the Image Histogram in the Work Area of the Main Screen.

See The Histogram for a full description and examples including information on logarithmic versus
linear scales and the impact of solar/lunar/planetary/deep sky/ROI on the shape of a histogram.

Calculate Focus Score

SharpCap has a several options to help acquire focus on targets (possibly one of the most
challenging aspects of astrophotography). The tools are particularly powerful if an ASCOM focuser is
configured in SharpCap.

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Focus assistance is started by selecting the Calculate Focus Score icon from the Tool Bar, then
choosing one of the available focus tools. If you have an electronic focuser configured and have
previously made a successful focus scan, the ‘Automatic Refocus’ button gives you a one-click way to
repeat that procedure to refocus.

Focus tools for planetary or surface targets: Focus tools for stars or other point sources:

• Contrast (Edge) Detection • Multi-Star FWHM Measurement

• Histogram Range (Brightness Range) • Bahtinov Mask
Detection • FWHM Measurement
• Fourier Detail Detection

See Focusing for a full description including introductory materials and examples.

Connect/Disconnect Hardware
Pressing the connect/disconnect hardware button will quickly connect or disconnect all ASCOM
hardware with a single click.

If all configured hardware (Focuser, Filter Wheel, Mount, Rotator, Switch) is currently connected,
then this button will be highlighted, as shown on the right, and pressing it will disconnect all
hardware.

Conversely, if any hardware is currently not connected then this button will not be highlighted, as
shown on the left, and pressing it will connect all hardware.

The Camera Control Panel

The capabilities and available controls of the active camera are displayed in the Camera Control
Panel. The groups and controls displayed can vary depending on:

• The manufacturer of the attached camera.

• The model of camera (even from the same manufacturer)

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See Camera Controls for a full description of what each control does – this section describes how to
arrange, adjust and use the various types of controls and gives an overview of what to expect in each
group.

Adjusting the Panel

You can change the width of the camera control panel to either allow more space for the controls or
to allow more space for the main image. To change the width, place the mouse over the vertical line
separating the control panel from the image area. The mouse will change to a left and right arrow
when in the right position (⇔). Once you see the double arrow mouse cursor, click and drag to
either the left or right to change the width
It's also possible to make the camera controls panel automatically hide itself against the right-
hand side of the window when not in use. To do this, click the ‘auto hide’ pin on the right-hand
side of the ‘Camera Controls’ title area.

Clicking the pin will cause the Camera Controls to collapse against the right side of the window, with
just the title visible.

To access the controls, move your mouse over the title area, which will cause the entire control
panel to reappear. You can then change controls as needed. When you move your mouse out of the
controls area, it will return automatically to the collapsed state.

To turn off the auto-hide behaviour, simply make the camera controls appear and then click on the
pin again (now labelled ‘restore’).

Finally, you can move the entire Camera Control are out of the SharpCap window by dragging on the
title bar. You can then place it somewhere else on the screen – perhaps on a second monitor. The
controls can be returned to their default position by dragging them back into the main SharpCap
window are and selecting one of the ‘docking’ drop points.

Note that SharpCap will automatically remember the width of the camera control panel and whether
it is set to auto hide, and re-use those settings the next time you start SharpCap. Dragging the

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controls to a custom position is not remembered and will need to be repeated each time SharpCap is
started.

Working with Control Groups

Controls are grouped logically and each group can be expanded/closed as required. Each group has
its own heading colour which helps you quickly identify the correct group when looking for a
particular control.

Press the down arrow to the left of the group name to expand the group and show the controls
inside it. When the group is expanded, the down arrow changes to an up arrow, which you can press
to collapse the group again.

When you expand a group of controls, you will be able to see and adjust the individual controls
within the group

The control groups can be grabbed with a mouse and dragged to re-arrange their order to suit user
preferences. To reset the order to default, use Options > Reset Control Order from the main menu.
Grab the group using the three horizontal bars shown to the right of the group name to reorder.

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Working with Controls

Most controls fall into one of two categories – slider controls and dropdown controls.

Slider Controls
Slider controls allow you to adjust the control by setting a numeric value. The position of the slider
and the numeric readout shown on the right display the current value of the control. This control
shows that Gamma is currently set to a value of 1.00.

You can adjust slider controls in the following ways

• Drag the slider to the left or the right. The new value will depend on the final position of
the slider.
• Click on the slider to the left or right of the current position – this will move the slider
position by a fixed step, usually the distance between the tick marks below the slider
• Type a value into the value box on the right and press either <ENTER> or <TAB> to
confirm

Some slider controls have an option of being set automatically. If this is the case then an ‘Auto’
button will be shown between the slider itself and the value. Click this button to toggle between
auto and manual mode – when auto mode is enabled the button will be highlighted and you will be
unable to move the slider manually.

In many cases, the value of a control in ‘Auto’ mode will update every few seconds to show the
current automatically set value of that control.

The ‘Gain’ or ‘Analogue Gain’ control has additional up and down adjustment buttons to the right of
the slider than make small changes to the gain. Pressing these button makes a change of
approximately 2% to the value, or 1 unit, whichever is the smaller.

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Some slider controls are read-only – they only display the current value rather than allowing it to be
adjusted.

Dropdown Controls
Dropdown controls allow you to choose one of a range of options. The displayed value is the
currently selected option, so this control shows that captured images will currently be saved to SER
file.

To change the value of a dropdown option, click on the current value to display the list of available
options, then click on the new option that you wish to select.

As for slider controls, some dropdown controls will have an ‘Auto’ option which can be enabled or
disabled. When ‘Auto’ is enabled, you cannot change the control manually.

Other Controls
Some controls display a button that either takes an action or shows an additional window of settings
or adjustments

Controls which specify a file (for example dark subtraction or flat frame correction) have a ‘Browse…’
button to allow a file to be selected

The Exposure control has additional options to make choosing the right exposure easier

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These include a ‘Quick Picks’ dropdown to select commonly used exposure times, up and down
adjustment buttons and an ‘LX Mode’ toggle which switches the exposure slider between ‘short’ and
‘long’ exposure settings.

There are also various specialist controls to allow other hardware (such as filter wheels, focusers,
mounts, etc.) to be adjusted.

Control Groups Overview

This section gives a brief overview of the control groups that you are likely to see when using a
camera, along with the types of controls you can expect to find in each group.

Capture Profiles
The Capture Profiles group allows you to load, save and manage Capture Profiles.

A Capture Profile is a collection of camera settings stored in a text file. Various profiles can be
loaded to have instant access to known collections of settings for different targets and cameras.

• Load – loads the values from the capture profile currently selected in the drop down and
applies them to the camera controls.
• Save – takes the current values of the camera controls and writes them to the profile
currently selected in the dropdown (overwrites the profile).
• Save As – creates a new profile from the current camera control values.
• Manage – shows the Capture Profile management screen, which allows you to rename,
delete and set capture profiles as default.

A new Capture Profile can be created by clicking Save As, entering a meaningful profile name,
followed by OK.

The available stored Capture Profiles can be accessed from the drop down:

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Profiles that were created using the currently selected camera are shown in bold text. Profiles that
were created using other cameras are shown with the name of the camera in brackets after the
profile name. You can attempt to load a profile created for a different camera if you wish – but the
results may be incorrect.

Note, changing the selected item in the drop down of profile names doesn't do anything by itself, it
just changes the profile used if Save or Load is pressed.

If a default profile is set for a camera then that profile is automatically loaded each time the camera
is opened.

Capture Profile Management

You can manage your capture profiles by pressing the Manage… button in the capture profile area.
This shows the capture profile management area.

Existing capture profiles are shown, grouped by camera, on the left hand side. Clicking on a capture
profile will show the settings that it contains. You can use the buttons on the right to help manage
your capture profiles:

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• Load – loads the selected capture profile, applying the settings to the currently open camera
• Delete – deletes the currently selected capture profile. Note that there is no way to undo the
deletion of a capture profile
• Make Default – make the currently selected profile the default profile for the camera it was
created for. The default profile is loaded each time the camera is opened.
• Clear Default – available if the currently selected profile is the default profile for a camera –
removes the default flag for that profile.
• Show on Disk – launches Windows Explorer, with the file that contains the selected profile
highlighted. You can use this functionality to (for example) transfer profiles to another
computer or edit them manually or rename them.

Capture Format and Area

The controls in this section allow management of the resolution, bit depth, colour space and binning
of the camera as well as the save format for any captured images.

An alternate Colour Space can be chosen if required. This determines the bit depth and mode in
which the camera captures images. In general, select an 8-bit mode for solar system or terrestrial
imaging and a higher bit depth (12,14,16) for deep sky imaging. See Colour Spaces Explained for
more details.

When the output format is set to Auto, SharpCap will chose the most appropriate save format for
capture files depending on the colour mode chosen and the exposure length.

• Exposures of less than 5s will be saved into a video format.

• Exposures of 5s or more will be saved as individual frames.
• SharpCap will try to obey the preferred video and still image file formats specified in the
Saving Settings.
• RAW images will never be saved as JPG as this format is ‘lossy’ and would severely damage
the bayer pattern data in the RAW image. RAW8 images may be saved as WMV, but
SharpCap will automatically debayer the images before saving to WMV.
• 16-bit images will never be saved to AVI, WMV or JPG as these formats do not support high
bit depths.

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Camera Controls
The controls in this section allow management of the exposure, gain and other mostly hardware
related features of the camera. These controls (along with setting the correct Colour Space) are
generally the most important for setting up the camera to take good quality images.

Image Controls
The controls in this section allow application of basic image processing such as brightness, gamma
and contrast to the images being captured by the camera. The range of controls available is
determined by the camera manufacturer/camera driver author.

SharpCap can add a timestamp showing the date and time to captured frames from all cameras
except the Virtual Folder Monitor camera. Note that the time used for the timestamp is based on
the time that SharpCap receives the frame – this will be after the frame finished being captured. The
time difference between the frame being captured and SharpCap receiving it depends on the model
of camera in use and the camera settings.

Pre-processing
You can configure dark subtraction and flat frame correction here, along other forms of pre-
processing to improve image quality. Adjustments made here will affect both the image as displayed
on screen and image data saved to file (except for saving ‘raw’ unprocessed frames during live
stacking, which are saved without these adjustments). See the section on Image Processing in
SharpCap for more details.

SharpCap’s flat frame correction code has been designed to allow it to process images at high speed
from USB3 cameras, allowing the live removal of artifacts such as dust shadows will capturing

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lunar/solar/planetary imaging videos. See Capturing and Using Dark Frames and Capturing and
Using Flat Frames for more details.

Thermal Controls
For cameras with coolers, there will be a Thermal Controls section, allowing you to turn the cooler
on or off and adjust either the cooler target temperature, or the cooling power, or possibly both.
There will usually be a readout of the current camera temperature in this section, which will update
regularly. For cameras with a temperature sensor, but no active cooling device, the temperature
readout control will be in the Camera Controls group.

Mini Histogram and Display Stretch

This control shows an always-on mini histogram of the current image and allows the image displayed
on screen to be ‘stretched’ without affecting the data saved to file when capturing. Stretching the
displayed image means that the brightness and/or contrast can be enhanced, or faint detail can be
brightened easily. The stretch function provides similar effects to the Image Boost options in the FX
dropdown but with finer control.

Adjustments to the display brightness made here do not affect save files (except for files saved using
the ‘Save’ icon within the mini histogram area, which are saved to look exactly as they do on screen).

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See Mini Histogram and Display Stretch for more details.

Scope Controls
The Scope Controls section contains controls that allow you to operate imaging hardware such as
GOTO mounts, electronic focusers, filter wheels, rotators and more. These options will only appear if
you have configured SharpCap to use these devices in the Hardware Settings.

More details on how these controls work can be found in the Telescope Hardware Control section.

This section also contains a Notes field – you can type any text you want into the Notes field and it
will be included in the CaptureSettings.txt files that are saved alongside captured images and videos.

Note that CaptureSettings.txt files are saved at the beginning of a capture, so changes made to the
Notes field after a capture has started will not be reflected in the CaptureSettings.txt file for that
capture.

Testing Controls
The testing Controls group is specific to the two test cameras included with SharpCap. The controls
allow for the simulation of atmospheric conditions, addition of simulated dark noise or dust specks

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and other functions. These controls can often be used to test other functions in SharpCap such as
dark and flat correction, satellite trail removal, etc.

Other Controls
These are manufacturer dependent; examples include:

• GPS settings
• USB related settings which control how fast the camera tries to pump data over the USB
connection
• White Balance

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Controlling Cameras
This section introduces the basic methods of capturing video and images in SharpCap, along with
providing details of the various camera settings that can be adjusted and what the implications of
various settings are for the saved images.

Note that it is possible to set SharpCap up to automatically restore the previously used camera
settings when opening a camera. While this can be very useful, sometimes restoring the previous
settings may lead to issues. If you suspect this type of problem, hold down the <CTRL> key while
opening the camera – this will skip restoring previous settings and reset the camera controls to their
default values.

Camera Basics

Live Mode and Still Mode

SharpCap up to and including version 3.2 always ran cameras in a ‘Video Camera’ mode – that is the
camera was always taking images to be displayed on screen, but images are only saved when you
use one of the Start Capture, Quick Capture or Snapshot buttons. This has worked well for most
modern CMOS based cameras, but is less suitable for cameras that have a physical shutter (such as
DSLR cameras) or those that take a long time to download a frame to the PC (such as high resolution
CCD cameras).

SharpCap 4.0 introduced the ability to choose between running the camera in ‘Live Mode’ and ‘Still
Mode’.

Live Mode is equivalent to the way that older versions of SharpCap worked and is the default – the
camera will continuously take images for display on the screen. All cameras support Live Mode.

Still Mode is available for most types of cameras that SharpCap supports. In still mode, SharpCap will
only ask the camera to take an image when requested – otherwise the camera will sit idle.

You can switch between Live Mode and Still Mode by toggling the Live View button in the tool bar –
when the button is selected (highlighted) the camera will be in Live Mode, when the button is not
highlighted, the camera will be in Still Mode. If the button is not enabled, it means that the current
camera does not support Still Mode, so there is no ability to switch between the modes. The
following types of cameras do not support Still Mode:

• Basler cameras
• Celestron/Imaging Source cameras
• Point Grey/FLiR cameras
• Webcams and frame grabbers
• The folder monitor camera – this has its own controls that allow it to only process frames on
request, a bit like still mode.

You can also select/deselect the Live View button when a camera is not open. This controls which
mode will be used when the next camera is opened, allowing you to ensure that a camera is opened
directly into the correct mode if required.

Some functions in SharpCap currently require Live Mode and will automatically switch the camera
into Live Mode if they are selected :

• Polar Alignment

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• ADC Alignment
• Some of the options in the Display Effects (FX) dropdown.

Some functions are only available in Still Mode – for instance dithering when using the Sequencer or
Sequence Planner to capture images.

Advantages of Still Mode

• Reduced shutter activations on cameras with physical shutters
• SharpCap may be more responsive when using cameras that take a long time to download the
frame to the PC
• You can choose exactly when an image exposure starts
• The camera image will usually respond to camera setting changes with the next still frame – in
Live Mode it may take several frames before the camera setting change has an effect

Disadvantages of Still Mode

• Reduced frame rates caused by gaps between capturing frames – for instance with a 0.5s
exposure, a camera will obtain 2fps in Live Mode, but may have a lower frame rate in Still Mode.
• Not supported by all camera types
• Not supported by all SharpCap features.

Capturing Images in Still Mode

There are a number of ways to capture images when the camera is in Still Mode

• The Snapshot button – this will capture a single image and save it.
• The Start Capture button – this will prompt as usual for how many images to capture or how
long to capture for.
• The Quick Capture button – this will capture images for the specified length of time or the
specified number of frames.
• The Framing Shot button – this will obtain an image from the camera and display it on screen,
but will not save the image.

Certain SharpCap functions may automatically trigger images to be fetched from the camera when
the camera is in Still Mode. For instance, Sensor Analysis and the Smart Histogram sky background
brightness measurement will do this to perform their measurements.

Colour Spaces Explained

A colour space describes how the image data is stored for each frame captured from a camera. The
details of a colour space indicate:

• Whether the image data is colour or monochrome.

• How many levels of brightness are measured.
• Whether the image data is compressed or not.

The number of brightness levels that are available in an image is often described using the term ‘bit
depth’. The bit depth is the number of bits needed to store the full range of brightness levels in the
image. For instance, an image that has:

• 256 brightness levels will have a bit depth of 8

• 1024 brightness levels will have a bit depth of 10
• 4096 brightness levels will have a bit depth of 12
• 65536 brightness levels will have a bit depth of 16.

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Uncompressed Colour Spaces

The colour spaces listed in this section are uncompressed and lossless – meaning that they do not
reduce the quality of any images being captured. All specialist astronomy cameras and some
webcams will offer the option of uncompressed colour spaces.

RGB24
This is the default colour space for a colour image – 3 bytes are used for each pixel (one for each of
the red, green and blue channels). The one byte used for each channel means that there are 256
possible values for each colour (from 0 to 255).

Pros: • Simple to use and simple post-processing.

• Images should look correct when viewed in any application.
• Camera based adjustments such as white balance, gamma, brightness and contrast
are available (although these are usually performed in software on the PC).
Cons: • Files are large as they are typically 3 bytes per pixel.
• Bit depth limited to 8 bits.
• Debayering (turning the raw image to full colour) is performed by the camera driver
typically using a simple but fast algorithm.
• Adjustments like gamma, brightness and contrast lead to data loss when performed
as they happen in digital space.

RGB32
This is an alternative option for a standard colour image. Instead of 3 bytes, 4 bytes of space are
used per pixel, although one of the bytes is unused. Files saved in this format will be larger than the
same file saved in RGB24, but will have absolutely no difference in image quality.

Pros: • Simple to use and simple post-processing.

• Images should look correct when viewed in any application.
• Camera based adjustments such as white balance, gamma, brightness and contrast
are available (although these are usually performed in software on the PC).
Cons: • Files are large as they are typically 4 bytes per pixel.
• Bit depth limited to 8 bits.
• Debayering (turning the raw image to full colour) is performed by the camera driver
typically using a simple but fast algorithm.
• Adjustments like gamma, brightness and contrast lead to data loss when performed
as they happen in digital space.

MONO8 (also Y800 on some Webcams)

This is the basic monochrome colour space, using one byte per pixel, storing a single brightness
value between 0 and 255.

Pros: • Smaller file size (1 byte per pixel), ideal for monochrome targets (narrowband filters,
moon).

Cons: The following cons apply only when capturing in MONO on a colour camera.

• Processing to produce mono on a colour camera involves a debayer process to

produce a colour image and then that is made monochrome, so the following cons
for RGB apply:

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o Debayering (turning the raw image to full colour) is performed by the

camera driver typically using a simple but fast algorithm.
o Adjustments like gamma, brightness and contrast lead to data loss when
they are performed as they happen in digital space. It may be better to
capture as RAW8/12 and then make the final processed image
monochrome.

MONO16
This is a monochrome colour space which uses 2 bytes per pixel, allowing for 65536 different
brightness values per pixel. Note that many cameras that offer this colour space do not have the
ability to create the full range of 65536 values – for instance some cameras may have the ability to
create only 1024 different values (10 bit) or 4096 different values (12 bit). In these cases, the values
the camera produces are stretched to fill the entire range.

Pros: • Larger range of levels in the output, so a bigger range of brightness can be
represented in a single image
Cons: • Larger file size (2 bytes per pixel)
• No gain in actual image quality if the frames being captured are visibly noisy (just
recording the noise in more detail)

The following cons apply only when capturing in MONO on a colour camera.

• Processing to produce mono involves a debayer to produce a colour image and then
that is made monochrome, so the following cons for RGB apply:
o Debayering (turning the raw image to full colour) is performed by the
camera driver typically using a simple but fast algorithm.
o Adjustments like gamma, brightness and contrast lead to data loss when
they are performed as they happen in digital space. It may be better to
capture as RAW8/12 and then make the final processed image
monochrome.

RAW8
Colour cameras do not detect all three colour channels (red, green and blue) at each pixel – in fact
each pixel only detects light of a single colour. The colours are arranged in a grid fashion – usually
called a Bayer matrix – which looks like this (the graphic is a GRBG Bayer matrix):

Almost all colour cameras capture their colour data in this way. A technique called ‘debayering’ is
used to generate a full set of red, green and blue values at each pixel to give a full colour image.

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When using an RGB colour space, this debayering process occurs either on the camera or in its driver
software.

When capturing in a raw colour space such as RAW8, the original values of the individual red, green
and blue pixels are captured by SharpCap. SharpCap has its own debayering code, so the image as
seen on the screen will still be in colour, but saved files will appear to be monochrome with a slight
grid pattern visible at the pixel level unless they are opened in software that is capable of
debayering. Suitable software for this includes PIPP, Registax, AutoStakkert and Deep Sky Stacker.

Saved files captured in RAW8 format will consume only 1 byte per pixel, so they have the great
advantage over RGB files of being much smaller. Additionally, a file that is saved in RAW format can
be debayered by appropriate processing software using a slower but higher quality algorithm than
those typically used in camera drivers.

There are four varieties of the RAW8 colour space, depending on where in the green/red/blue grid
the top-left pixel of the camera sensor starts. These variations are named after the top left four
pixels on the camera sensor

• RGGB
• BGGR
• GRBG
• GBRG

For instance, RGGB means that the left hand two pixels of the top row are red and green and the left
two pixels on the second row are green and blue respectively.

In general, SharpCap knows which pattern a camera uses in RAW mode and will select the correct
pattern automatically, however if the wrong pattern is selected automatically then manually choose
the correct pattern by adjusting the value of the ‘Debayer Preview’ control. This control can be used
to turn off the debayering function if desired. The easiest way to find the correct pattern is to view a
red object or light with the camera – only the correct pattern will show a red image.

Note that even when SharpCap is debayering the image being viewed on screen, images saved to
any capture files are still in RAW format.

Pros: • Exact data that comes off the camera sensor with no post-processing.
• Post-processing (including debayering) can be done later at a higher quality.
• File size is small (1 byte per pixel)
Cons: • Smaller range of applications that can work with the output files.
• Post-processing is more complex.
• Output files may appear to have 'chessboard' effect if opened in applications that
don't understand raw formats.
• Bit depth limited to 8 bits.
If your images show colour in SharpCap, but are monochrome with a fine grid pattern when you
view the saved files (sample below), then you need to debayer your saved images to recover the
colour information. More information can be found here.

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RAW16
The RAW16 colour space is a raw colour space for bit depths of up to 16 bits per pixel. On some
cameras, this will be labelled as RAW10 or RAW12 to give a more accurate description of the true bit
depth available from the camera. Saved files in the RAW 16 colour space use 2 bytes per pixel.

Pros: • Exact data that comes off the camera sensor with no post-processing.
• Post-processing (including debayering) can be done later at a higher quality.
• Higher bit depth may give more information and more dynamic range if images are
low noise.
Cons: • Smaller range of applications that can work with the output files.
• Post-processing is more complex.
• Output files may appear to have 'chessboard' effect if opened in applications that
don't understand raw formats.
• Files are larger (2 bytes per pixel).

Compressed Colour Spaces

Many webcams only offer compressed colour spaces. While these reduce the amount of data that
needs to be transferred to the PC, they also mean that some detail of the image is lost. Note that
SharpCap no longer saves compressed AVI files from webcams based on their colour space – all AVI
files saved from Webcams will be in RGB24, RGB32 or MONO8 format (for mono cameras).

If you wish to reduce video file sizes and are happy to lose some quality to file compression, consider
saving the output to WMV file format.

YUY2 / YUV
These are just two names for the same colour space. In these colour spaces, brightness information
is stored at every pixel, but colour information is shared between two adjacent horizontal pixels.
Since the colour information consists of two bytes of information (hue and saturation), this means
that overall 2 bytes are used per pixel in this colour space. (http://www.fourcc.org/yuv.php)

I420
In this colour space, brightness is still stored at every single pixel, but colour information is shared
between a block of 4 pixels (2x2). This means a total of 1.5 bytes are used per pixel in this colour
space.

MJPEG
In this colour space, each frame is stored as a compressed JPEG image. This leads to a much smaller
frame size, but can lead to significant compression artefacts in the images. The level of compression
is set by the camera or camera driver and cannot be adjusted.

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Capture Formats Explained

SharpCap can capture images and save them to a variety of file formats. Some formats are still image
files, containing a single image frame each, while others are video files that can contain many
frames. In general, video file output is most appropriate when capturing a large number of frames at
a relatively high speed (many frames per second). Sill file formats are usually most appropriate when
capturing long exposures (each frame is many seconds long). There are some exceptions to this – for
instance an all-sky camera might be best set up to capture into a video file even though individual
frames may be up to a minute exposure each.

AVI
The AVI file format is a video file format. While the AVI file format is commonly used, and can be
read by many different applications, it is unfortunately a complex file format which can store video
data in many ways. This means that sometimes certain applications may have difficulty reading
certain AVI files, while the same files work correctly with other applications or on other computers.
In general, however, AVI files in either MONO or RGB colour spaces will work correctly on any
software on any system.

AVI files can only save video format at a bit depth of up to 8 bits per colour channel, so capture to
AVI is not available when using a camera in a higher bit depth mode.

While AVI files can be used to save captures in RAW format, processing software will not recognize
this automatically and will generally show a monochrome image with a pixel grid visible if the
appropriate Bayer pattern is not specified manually.

PIPP - Planetary Imaging Pre-processor (commonly referred to as PIPP) is useful software for dealing
with troublesome AVI files and to stabilise the frames of a video that are too jumpy for stacking
software to handle.

Note that SharpCap never records audio to AVI files, even if you are using a webcam that contains a
microphone.

Pros: • Can be viewed in almost any video playback software.

Cons: • File format is complex and has many sub formats.
• Correct playback may depend on other software and codecs installed on the
machine.
• Errors may be subtle and difficult to solve.
• 8-bit only.
• Mono and RAW saved in AVI may appear upside down due to limitations of the file
format.

SER
The SER file format is another video file format that has been designed specifically for astronomy
capture. SER files cannot be read, viewed or processed by as many different applications as AVI files
but there tend to be far fewer seemingly random issues caused by incompatibilities as the file
format is far simpler than the AVI file format.

The SER format can be used to save videos in the RGB, Mono and RAW formats and can be used to
capture at both 8 bits per pixel and up to 16 bits per pixel bit depth.

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When capturing in a RAW format, the details of the sensor Bayer pattern is stored in the SER file,
meaning that most processing and viewing software will automatically read this information and
correctly debayer the raw image data to a colour image.
Additionally, a timestamp for each captured frame is stored in the SER file, which is often useful for
later image processing.

A SER Player application can be downloaded from the GitHub website. Note that at the time of
writing, the main SERPlayer website (https://sites.google.com/site/astropipp/ser-player) is
unavailable.

Pros: • Simple file format with few variations - applications tend to work correctly with it or
not at all.
• SER file is written with the Bayer pattern of the camera which simplifies post-
processing for RAW captures.
• Supports bit depths of 8 bits per pixel and up to 16 bits per pixel.
• Each frame in the file is timestamped exactly.
• Supports Mono, RAW and RGB captures.
Cons: • Less post-processing applications support SER format but the ones which are most
used, listed below, all accept SER format:
o AutoStakkert AS2 (stacking).
o Registax 5 and 6 (stacking and wavelet sharpening).
o PIPP (preparing the video files for processing).
• Interpretation of the SER standard is somewhat different so sometimes the program
needs help to select the correct colour space if not automatically recognized.

WMV
WMV is a compressed video format that is ideal for capturing long video sequences from webcams,
all sky cameras, etc. where perfect image reproduction is not critical and reduced file sizes are
required.

WMV videos can be played in video players on most computers and devices, but finding tools to
further process WMV videos may be difficult.

Pros: • Gives much smaller file sizes than other video formats
• Supports bit depths of 8 bits per pixel
• Supports Mono and RGB captures. Also supports RAW8 captures, but each frame is
converted to RGB before saving
• Ideal for recording long videos that you intend to watch or share online, but do not
need to post-process
Cons: • Image quality is lost due to the compression
• Cannot be used to save RAW data or data with a bit depth of more than 8 bits per
pixel
• Post-processing the image data will require video editing tools, rather than
Astrophotography post-processing tools.

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ADV
The ADV format (Astro Digital Video) is designed to allow video capture of astronomical events with
a large amount of data stored describing not only the equipment and settings used for the capture
but also the exact time of each frame. It is particularly useful for time sensitive observations such as
occultations.

Special tools are required to process and view ADV videos – you should familiarise yourself with the
ADV format and the tools available before using this format. See
http://www.astrodigitalvideoformat.org/

Pros: • Supports MONO and RAW data in 8 bit or higher bit depths
• Rich data saved in the file describing camera settings and frame timestamps
• Suitable for specialist imaging such as occultations.
Cons: • Requires special processing software
• Not suitable for general imaging

PNG
PNG files are standard image files for capture of single frames. Almost any image processing or
viewing software will be able to open a PNG file, making them easy to work with.

Still images in any format (a bit depth of 8 or 16 bits, colour, monochrome or RAW) can be stored in
a PNG file. It is worth noting however that many image processing applications do not deal correctly
with PNG files with a bit depth of 16 bits – often they will drop the bit depth to 8 bits as they load
the file, throwing away detail.

When saving RAW images to a PNG file they are saved as monochrome PNG files and image
processing and viewing software will display them as monochrome showing a pixel grid pattern
unless correctly set up to debayer the images.

Pros: • Can be loaded into almost any graphics application

• Handles 8-bit to 16-bit depths and mono or colour images.
Cons: • Many imaging applications may discard detail from 16 bit PNG files when loading
them.
• RAW images saved in PNG will appear monochrome with a checkerboard pattern
and may need additional manual settings in post-processing to ensure correct
debayering.
• Practically no metadata is stored in the PNG file, so you need to rely on the
CaptureSettings.txt file to view any metadata such as exposure time, gain, etc.

FITS
The FITS file format is a highly flexible but specialised format that is often used for storing high bit
depth still images. While the FITS format can store images at a bit depth of 8 bits, it is usually better
to choose PNG for that case, since some software does not read 8 bit FITS files correctly.

Since FITS is a specialised file format, there are less applications that can process FITS files to choose
between – certainly most image viewing and editing applications which can quite happily work with
PNG files will not be able to open FITS files. There are however applications such as Deep Sky
Stacker or FITS Liberator that can be used to process and view FITS files.

Pros: • Supports 8 bit and greater bit depths.

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• Supports mono, colour and raw images.

• Image metadata, such as exposure, is stored in the file and some applications will
read this data.
• SharpCap can load 16 bits of data from FITS files when loading dark frames.
Cons: • Can only be opened by a limited number of applications.
• Some applications require additional plugins to open this file type.
• File format is very complex and flexible, so files may display incorrectly in some
applications and correctly in others.
• Slower to save to than other file formats, so not suitable for high frame rates.
• Some applications do not correctly handle 8 bit data in FITS files.
• Files are quite large, as they have no compression.
Note : In theory, FITS files are supposed to be saved with the bottom left pixel first which is different
to other image formats. For historical reasons, SharpCap saves with the top left pixel first, so FITS
images may appear upside down when viewed in other applications. SharpCap writes a ROWORDER
header to FITS files to indicate that the file is non-standard. Some image viewing software recognizes
this header.

Note : There is disagreement among image processing applications as to how to define the bayer
colour matrix for RAW files in FITS format. For a given image file, some applications will require
RGGB to show the colours correctly, others will require GBRG. You can specify in the Saving Settings
which image processing applications SharpCap should aim for compatibility with.

TIFF
The TIFF file format is a widely supported imaging file format that can be opened in most image
processing applications. TIFF files are typically large as they are not heavily compressed, although
they may be smaller than FITS files for the same image.

Pros: • Supports 8 bit and greater bit depths.

• Supports mono, colour and raw images.
• SharpCap can load 16 bits of data from TIFF files when loading dark frames.
Cons: • Files may be larger than other file formats such as PNG
• Less information stored in the file headers than FITS
• Slower to save to than other file formats, so not suitable for high frame rates.
SharpCap has the ability to compress TIFF files, but this option is disabled by default as many
common processing tools cannot read compressed TIFF files correctly. If you wish to enable TIFF
compression, check that your image processing software can read the compressed TIFF files that
SharpCap creates. Note that SharpCap uses the DEFLATE algorithm (TIFFtag_compression=8) when
compression is used to save a TIFF file.

SharpCap can now optionally save comprehensive image metadata to TIFF files using the AstroTIFF
specification. This adds equivalent metadata to the FITS format into the ‘Image Description’ of the
TIFF file. To enable this feature, turn on the option Save FITS Headers in TIFF Description Metadata in
SharpCap’s Saving settings page.

JPEG
The JPEG file format is a very widely used image format for digital images. Almost all imaging
applications can load, manipulate and save JPEG files. The JPEG file format can store still images at a
bit depth of 8 bits.

It is important to note that the JPEG format uses a type of compression that means that fine image
detail is lost in the saving process and cannot be recovered later. The reason that this fine detail in

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brightness and colour (that would not be easily noticed by the human eye) is discarded is because it
allows the file size to be much smaller than for other file types.

Given the limitations of the JPEG file type, it is probably only suitable for certain use cases – such as
all sky cameras where a very large number of frames will be captured automatically and having
perfect image quality for each frame is less important than having a small file size.

Pros: • Small file size.

• Can be opened by almost all imaging applications
Cons: • Image detail lost when saving
• Limited depths of 8-bits only

Choosing the Correct Colour Space and Capture Format

The choice of the optimal colour space and capture format will depend on what type of imaging you
intend to carry out. The notes below give suggestions based on common use cases

Deep Sky Imaging or Live Stacking (EAA)

Choose a RAW colour space for colour cameras and a MONO colour space for monochrome
cameras. Choose the highest bit depth on offer for your camera (i.e. RAW16/14/12 or
MONO16/14/12). The use of a RAW colour space allows the use of high bit depths and also allows
tools such as hot pixel detection and removal to work at their most efficient.

Choose an output format that creates still image files, not videos. If you intend to do further image
processing, choose FITS format if your image processing tools support it. Otherwise choose PNG or
TIFF.

Lunar/Solar/Planetary Imaging
Choose a RAW colour space for colour captures and a MONO colour space for monochrome
captures. In general an 8 bit mode will be sufficient – i.e. RAW8 or MONO8. The use of RAW8 rather
than an RGB mode reduces the size of captured files by a factor of 3 to 4. For solar imaging with a
hydrogen alpha filter, it may be useful to use MONO16 to enable both the chromosphere and some
hint of the prominences to be captured in the same images.

Choose a video output format to enable high speed capturing. Prefer the SER format to AVI as long
as your processing software supports reading SER files.

Timed Imaging (Occultations, Variable Stars, Exoplanets)

Choose a RAW colour space for colour cameras and a MONO one for monochrome cameras.
Depending on exposure length, it may be sufficient to use RAW8/MONO8 (for relatively short
exposures of up to 1 or 2 seconds) as these formats will give smaller output files. Otherwise, for
longer exposures use high bit depths.

When capturing video, consider the ADV format which stores a considerable amount of metadata
with each captured frame, however it is not widely supported by processing applications. If ADV is
unsuitable, use SER format which stores a timestamp for each frame.

When capturing still images, prefer FITS format, since that maximises the amount of metadata
available to processing applications. In particular, FITS should be used if you have a camera with GPS
timing support.

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Terrestrial (non-Astro) Imaging

Usually the primary goal will be to have images or videos that are easy to view without needing
special software or processing. To allow this, choose RGB24 or RGB32 modes if available for a colour
camera, otherwise choose a compressed mode such as I420 or YUY2. Choose MONO8 for a mono
camera, or an RGB mode if available.

If capturing video, choose AVI as the output format, or if smaller files are important choose WMV. If
capturing still images, choose PNG as the output format, or if smaller files are important choose JPG.

Capturing Videos and Images

Video and image capture can be started from the Capture menu or the equivalent buttons in the
toolbar.

Start Capture
The Start Capture menu item or toolbar button allows a custom capture limited either by number of
frames or time to be started.

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The Target Name box is highlighted in red if left blank to remind you to fill it in. If you enter text in
the Target Name box then that text will be used as the target name for saved file naming purposes.

Capture Limits Explained

• Two files will be created – a single frame
PNG, FITS or another selected still image
format, together with the camera settings
TXT.
• Upon completion of the capture,
information will be displayed in the
Notification Bar.
• The files will be stored in the default
capture folder.

• Two files will be created – an AVI or SER,

together with the camera settings TXT.
• Note if a still file format is selected in the
‘Output Format’ control, multiple still
image files will be created in a single folder
instead of a single video file.
• Upon completion of the capture,
information will be displayed in the
Notification Bar.
• The files will be stored in the default
capture folder.
• The capture will continue until the Stop
Capture button in the tool bar is clicked.

• Two files will be created – an AVI or SER,

together with the camera settings TXT.
• Note if a still file format is selected in the
‘Output Format’ control, multiple still
image files will be created in a single folder
instead of a single video file.
• Upon completion of the capture,
information will be displayed in the
Notification Bar.
• In this example, the capture file will
contain 5 frames.
• The files will be stored in the default
capture folder.

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• A time limit can be set using HH:MM:SS.

In this example 30 seconds is the limit set
for the capture.
• Two files will be created – an AVI or SER,
together with the camera settings TXT.
• Note if a still file format is selected in the
‘Output Format’ control, multiple still
image files will be created in a single folder
instead of a single video file.
• Upon completion of the capture,
information will be displayed in the
Notification Bar.
• In this example, the capture file will be a
30 second video.
• The files will be stored in the default
capture folder.

Performing Simple Sequences

• This repeats the capture defined in the
capture limit section above.
• Note this option cannot be activated when
the capture limit set above is ‘Unlimited’.
• A sequence of captures, with an interval
between them, can be initiated.
• In this example, 3 captures will be taken,
with an interval of 10 seconds between
them.
• Six files will be created – 3 AVI or SER,
together with 3 camera settings TXT.
• Upon completion of the capture,
information will be displayed in the
Notification Bar.
• In this example, the capture files will be a 3
x 10 second videos.
• The files will be stored in the default
capture folder.

Planning Deep Sky or Solar System Imaging Sessions

You can access a much richer variety of tools for planning an automated deep sky imaging session by
clicking the Deep Sky button in the Advanced Sequence Planner section. This will launch the Deep Sky
Sequence Planner. Similarly, the Solar System button will launch the Solar System Sequence Planner
for planning automated planetary, lunar or solar imaging.

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Starting the Capture

Once the capture options have been set, press the Start button to begin the capture or press the
Cancel button to abort.

With large numbers of frames or extended time sequences it is advisable to use a guided telescope.

During a capture, the progress will be shown at the right-hand end of the Status Bar (bottom right of
the screen).

Actual/Total frames and an estimated finishing time (ETA) are displayed for the duration of the
capture.

When the capture is complete, information about the status, location and name of the captured file
is displayed in the Notification Bar below the Tool Bar.

The blue text in the Notification Bar is clickable. If you click on the filename part (in the above
example ‘20_42_24.avi’) then SharpCap will attempt to open the captured image or video for you,
using your default viewing application for that file type. If you click on the folder name part,
SharpCap will open that folder in Windows Explorer so that you can view the files in it.

Stop Capture
Once a capture has been initiated, the Stop Capture option becomes available – this will stop the
current capture immediately. Note that pressing the <ESC> button on the keyboard will also stop any
capture in progress.

Note that if a sequence of captures is in progress it will only stop the current capture, not cancel the
sequence. The whole sequence can be cancelled using the Cancel button in the notification bar that
appears while waiting for the next capture in the sequence.

If the delay between captures in the sequence is short, you may find it hard to press the Cancel
button in time. In that case press and hold the <ESC> button until the capture is fully cancelled.

Quick Capture
Quick Capture is only available in the toolbar. Pressing the down arrow to the right-hand side of the
button will show a list of quick capture options from 100 up to 5000 frames and 10 seconds up to
180 seconds. You can choose from one of these options and capture will start immediately.

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You can also just click the Quick Capture button – that will use the option most recently chosen from
the dropdown list and begin capturing straight away.

Snapshot
Snapshot is also only available in the toolbar. Pressing the Snapshot button will capture a single
frame and save it to a still image file. If a video capture file type is selected in the Output Format
control then the preferred still file save format will be used instead.

If the camera is in Live Mode and taking relatively long exposures (more than about 2s), Snapshot
will try to save the currently displayed image rather than waiting for the next image to arrive from
the camera. However, it will wait for the next image to arrive under either of the following two
conditions

1) Any camera controls have been changed since the current image arrived from the camera
2) The current image has already been saved using the Snapshot button

If the camera is in Still Mode then the Snapshot button will always start a new exposure and save the
resulting image.

Framing Shot
Framing Shot is only in the toolbar and is only available when the camera is in Still Mode. Pressing
the Framing Shot button causes the camera to capture a new image, but the image is only displayed
on screen in SharpCap – it is not saved to file. This is useful to check that the target is in view and
positioned correctly without creating saved image files that you will need to delete later.

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For cameras that have a Gain control and where SharpCap understands the relationship between
the gain value and the effect on image brightness, the dropdown next to the Framing Shot button
will reveal the Framing Shot Quick option. A quick framing shot is taken by setting the camera to
maximum gain, reducing exposure to compensate for the increased brightness, taking an exposure
and then putting the gain and exposure back to their original values. This will create a noisier image,
but will do so much more rapidly than a normal Framing Shot.

Delete Last Capture

Once a capture has been completed, the option to Delete Last Capture becomes available. A
confirmation dialogue window is shown, which is useful if a capture is taken accidentally or if
something goes wrong during a capture.

Open Capture Folder

Open Capture Folder opens a File Explorer window at the location where captures are currently
being saved. In a default configuration, this would normally be:

Desktop\SharpCap Captures\YYYY-MM-DD

Capture Dark
This menu item launches the SharpCap dark frame capture assistant – see Capturing and Using Dark
Frames.

Capture Flat
This menu item launches the SharpCap flat frame capture assistant – see Capturing and Using Flat
Frames.

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Camera Controls
Correctly adjusting the camera controls is essential for any type of imaging, and it is equally
important to understand the function of the various controls in order to understand which
adjustments are needed.

The various controls you might see for cameras that you use in SharpCap are listed below, separated
into the control groups in which they will appear. Not all controls are available for all cameras –
some are specific to certain brands of camera. Some controls only appear on a very limited range of
cameras and will be covered in the separate *** Specialist Controls *** section.

Capture Format and Area

The Capture Format and Area control group typically contains controls that influence the size, bit
depth and colour information of captured images, as well as the format of files that will be saved
when capturing. In general, changing controls in this group (aside from the Output Format control)
will restart the camera, causing imaging to pause and any capture or other action in progress may be
stopped.

Colour Space
The colour space control determines the image format each frame is captured in. This includes
choosing the bit depth to capture in where there are multiple choices available and whether to
capture in colour or monochrome. In general, there are four categories of colour spaces :

• Monochrome
• Colour
• Raw
• Compressed

See Colour Spaces Explained for more detail on the colour space to choose and the implications of
each choice.

Some cameras may have additional colour spaces – for instance ‘RAW8 (slow)’ and ‘RAW8 (fast)’ or
‘MONO 16’ and ‘MONO 16 (Ultra Low Noise)’. In such cases, the image format is the same for the

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two options, but the camera may be set into a different operation mode, which may have effects on
the data that it captures.

Capture Area
This controls the size (in pixels) of each frame captured. For most cameras, the choice of a smaller
capture area selects capture of a subarea of the full sensor area – this is often termed ROI (region of
interest) capture.

As well as giving smaller saved files, selecting a smaller capture area often gives a higher frame rate,
providing the exposure time is short enough.

Many cameras offer the ability to select a custom capture area – there are two ways to activate a
custom capture area :

• Press the Select ROI button to the left of the dropdown showing the possible capture areas.
Once pressed, a red selection box will appear over the image that can be moved and resized
using the mouse. The Select ROI button will change to Apply ROI, and can be pressed to
activate the new ROI once the selection area is chosen.

• Choose the Custom… option at the bottom of the list of available capture areas. This will
show a separate window where you can enter the width and height of the capture area that

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you would like to use.

Note that many cameras have restrictions on the exact sizes that are allowed for capture areas – for
instance that the height must be even, or the width must be divisible by 8. SharpCap will take these
rules into account if appropriate and choose a valid capture area that is close in size to the one
requested.

Resolution
This is an alternative to Capture Area that is used for Webcams (DirectShow cameras). The different
name reflects the fact that most webcams do not change to a Region of Interest mode when a lower
resolution is selected, instead they tend to provide the same image at a smaller resolution.

A small number of webcams (notably Microsoft branded ones) have a Zoom control – increasing that
may enable an ROI mode when a smaller resolution is selected.

Region Of Interest Selection (Pan/Tilt)

When a camera is operating in Region of Interest (ROI) mode, SharpCap will show this control to
allow you to move the ROI area around on the sensor.

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The mid grey rectangle represents the whole of the sensor area, while the dark grey rectangle
outlined in red represents the area currently being used for ROI capture.

You can adjust the position of the ROI area by dragging the dark grey rectangle around with the
mouse, or by adjusting the values of the Pan and Tilt controls (Pan controls left/right position, Tilt
controls up/down).

Moving the ROI rectangle in this way will not cause the camera to restart, but may lead to one or
two glitched frames during or just after the movement.

If you click in this control to select it, then the ROI area can be moved around using the arrow keys
on the keyboard. Each press will move the ROI area by 8 pixels in the appropriate direction.

Read Mode
Some cameras may offer a choice of read modes, which can be used to switch the camera between
different operational modes. Read modes may allow for different interpretations of the camera’s
resolutions, or different gain profiles or control other aspects of the camera.

When the read mode is changed, the ranges or available values for other camera controls may also
change.

Binning
Binning is a technique used to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of an image at the expense of
reducing the resolution. Binning works by taking the value of 2 or more neighbouring pixels on the
sensor and either adding or averaging them to produce the value for a single output pixel. Binning is
usually 'symmetric' - meaning that the same number of pixels are averaged over in each direction.
For instance, a binning value of '2x2' or just '2' means that a 2 by 2 block of sensor pixels are used to
make each pixel in the final image – this will reduce the resolution of the final image by a factor of 2,
but also increase the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N ratio) of the image by a factor of 2.

As an example, with a 1280x960 sensor, using 2x2 binning will give an output image of 640x480.
Using 4x4 binning will give an output image of 320x240.

A binning value of '1' or '1x1' means that no binning is being applied.

Note: Most cameras will continue to display the unbinned resolutions in the capture area control
when binning is applied. That is, a camera with a 1920x1080 sensor in 2x2 binning mode will
continue to show capture areas up to 1920x1080, but will capture at 960x540 due to the binning.
However, Altair cameras do the opposite – when binning is applied, the sizes shown in the Capture
Area control will drop to reflect the binned sizes of the image.

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Note: Some cameras add pixel values when binning (meaning that the image will get brighter when
binning is turned on), while other cameras average the values (meaning that the image doesn't get
brighter, but the noise reduces instead). In both cases, the same increase in S/N ratio is achieved in
the final image – if a brighter image is required and the camera averages then just turn up the gain –
the result being the same as if the camera had added pixels.

Additive Binning

Unbinned (width 2x, height 2y) Binned 2x2 (width x, height y)

Additive binning – no other changes were made to camera settings between the unbinned and
binned images. Applying the 2x2 binning halves the size of the captured image and brightens the
image by a factor of four. Note that a considerable level of noise is visible in the brighter right hand
section of the image in both frames.

Averaging Binning

Binned 2x2 Binned 2x2 with extra gain

Unbinned (width 2x, height 2y)
(width x, height y) (width x, height y)

Averaging binning – no other changes were made to camera settings between the unbinned and
binned images. Applying the 2x2 binning halves the size of the captured image but does not
brighten the image in this case. However, looking closely at the bright area on the right-hand side of
the image shows that applying the binning has significantly reduced the noise in this area (and across
the rest of the frame). Increasing the gain further does brighten the binned image producing a
similar image to the additive binning result both in terms of image brightness and noise level.

Note that a small number of cameras may offer a Binning Mode control that allows you to switch
between additive and averaging binning.

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Output Format
Output format allows the choice of the format any captured files will be saved in. The options for
capture format can be found in Capture Formats Explained. The following rules apply:

• For 'Snapshot' (single frame) captures, one of the still capture formats (PNG, FITS, TIFF and
JPEG) are always used, even if the selected output format is a video format (AVI or SER). If
the output format is a still file format, the selected format is used.
• For multi-frame captures, the selected format is always used. If a still file format is selected
each frame will be saved to a separate file.
• If the camera is in Still Mode, video file formats will not be shown as options in this control.

When the output format is set to ‘Auto’, a compatible video format is selected if the current
exposure is less than 5 seconds and a compatible still format is selected if the current exposure is
greater than 5 seconds. The preferred output formats specified in the settings dialog are used
(providing the preferred format is compatible with the type of image being captured – for instance
16-bit depth images cannot be saved to AVI format). See the Saving Settings to adjust the preferred
file formats for still and video captures.

Note: If the ‘Start Cameras with Auto Output Format’ option is checked in the Saving Settings then
cameras will always start with this control in ‘Auto’ mode.

Debayer Preview
This control appears either when a RAW colour space is in use on a colour camera, or if a MONO
colour space is in use on an ASCOM camera that claims to be monochrome.

This control can be used to

• Turn off debayering of the displayed image in SharpCap by setting to Off. Doing this will display a
monochrome image on screen in SharpCap that may have a grid pattern visible at the pixel level
if the camera is a colour one.
• Correct the colour shown in SharpCap by choosing one of the Force XXXX options – this is useful
if SharpCap incorrectly detects the bayer pattern of your camera and shows the image with
incorrect colours.

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• Apply debayering to get correct colours displayed when using a colour camera via ASCOM if the
camera incorrectly identifies itself as monochrome by choosing one of the Force XXXX options.

In general, leaving this control set to On will be the correct setting for 99.9% of cameras.

Note that changing the setting of this control does not affect the image data saved to file (but does
affect the file metadata for SER, ADV and FITS format – setting the correct debayer preview setting
should help ensure that compatible processing applications automatically debayer the saved RAW
files correctly).

The images below show two possible outcomes of an incorrect setting for this control (the images
are zoomed considerably – the squares are individual pixels). On the left is a typical grid that will be
seen when the control is set to Off for a colour camera in RAW mode. On the right is an example of
choosing a Force XXXX option that is incorrect – in this case interpreting the values of red and blue
pixels as green and vice-versa. The purple colour cast is typical of two of the three possible wrong
Force XXXX settings – the final wrong setting swaps the red and blue colour channels, giving a more
subtly incorrect image.

One good way to find the correct pattern for a camera in case of doubt is to shine a red light (red
torch, LED, etc) into the camera, then try each pattern – the one that shows a red image rather than
green or blue will be the correct setting.

Frames Per Second (FPS)

This control is only shown for webcams, and adjusts the maximum rate at which the camera will
provide frames to SharpCap.

Note that setting a long exposure along with a high FPS value (for instance 0.5s exposure and 30fps)
may have unexpected results – any of the following may happen, depending on the exact webcam in
use:

• The frame rate may reduce - to approximately 2 per second in the example given
• The exposure selected may not actually be applied – in the example, the frame rate may stay at
30fps and the exposure may really only be about 1/30s
• The frame rate may stay at 30fps, but while 30 frames per second are being processed, the
image may only change about twice per second.

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Pin Options
This control is only shown for webcams. It provides access to a separate window of camera settings
that can be adjusted. The content of this window is provided by the webcam driver, not by
SharpCap. You may be able to use the Pin Options window to make adjustments to the camera
settings that are not possible in SharpCap. SharpCap will pause the camera while the Pin Options
window is visible, and restart it with any changes applied when you close the Pin Options window.

Camera Controls
The camera controls are the primary controls for setting up the camera, and includes key controls
such as the length of the exposure and the camera gain.

In general, adjusting controls here will adjust the way that the hardware of the camera works, rather
than applying digital processing to the image that has been captured (controls in the Image Controls
section are usually related to digital adjustments to the image).

Exposure
The Exposure control is one of the key controls for configuring the camera – it controls the length of
time that the camera collects photons for each frame. Almost all cameras (with the exception of
frame grabbers and a few webcams) will have an exposure control that you can adjust.

Setting longer exposures allows more photons to be collected during each frame, and will give
brighter images. Conversely, setting shorter exposures will give darker images.

Since setting the exposure is so important, the exposure control has more functionality than most
controls in SharpCap

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Things to note about using the exposure control:

• The ‘LX Mode’ checkbox does nothing to the camera, but it changes the range of the slider from
short exposures (up to 5s) with the box unchecked to long exposures (1s and up) with the box
checked.
• You can type an exact exposure that you want into the numeric display box – something like
’10.5s’ or ‘30ms’ or even ‘5m’. If you just put ‘5’, it will be treated as 5s.
• You can pick from the list of commonly used exposures in the ‘Quick Picks’ dropdown
• Clicking to the left of the slider halves the exposure, clicking to the right will double the
exposure.
• The up and down arrows to the right of the slider change the exposure up/down by approx. 2%
for each click
• For most cameras, if the ‘Auto’ exposure mode is enabled the currently set auto exposure will be
displayed and updated from time to time. Note that not all cameras support an auto exposure
setting.

The limits on minimum and maximum exposure available are determined by a combination of the
camera hardware and the device driver/SDK software written by the camera manufacturer.
SharpCap does not apply its own limits on minimum or maximum exposure.

A particular exposure value will place a limit on the maximum frame rate that a camera can achieve
– for instance if the exposure is set to 200ms, no more than 5 frames per second are possible. If the
exposure is reduced to 20ms then – in theory – up to 50 frames per second are possible. Of course
there are other limits such as the maximum speed the camera sensor can take images and the rate
at which image data can be transferred to the PC that may prevent 50 fps from being achieved.

When using longer exposures in live mode, SharpCap will try to cancel the current frame in progress
and start a new frame when the exposure control is adjusted. For instance with the exposure set to
30s, you decide to increase it to 60s. SharpCap will try to cancel the current 30s frame in progress
and start a new 60s frame as soon as possible. Depending on the camera, the cancelled frame may
be stopped early and displayed rather than discarded.

When using still mode, it is best to avoid changing the exposure while a frame is being captured.

Gain or Analogue Gain

The Gain control is probably the second most important control in the Camera Controls group. It acts
a bit like a volume control for the image brightness. Setting it to higher values increases the
brightness of the image (for the same exposure time and amounts of illumination). Importantly, the
effects of this control are applied before the ADC (analogue to digital conversion) stage of image
processing, meaning that setting higher gains can have some beneficial effects in reducing the
inherent read noise associated with each frame. Paradoxically, in spite of potentially lowering one
sort of noise, increasing gain makes images noisier because it magnifies the other sort of noise (shot
noise) associated with capturing photons.

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Since fine adjustments to the gain value can be important to getting good images, SharpCap includes
a pair of up/down buttons to the right of the slider, which will change the gain value by about 2% (or
1 unit if 2% is smaller than 1 unit).

Note : Cameras that use CCD sensors may not have an adjustable gain control. While almost all
CMOS cameras have a gain adjustment, some webcams may not make the gain available for
adjustment. For DSLR type cameras, the ISO reading in use is effectively the gain, and this may be
shown as a dropdown of available options rather than a slider control.

What does a gain value mean?

For many dedicated astronomy cameras that are directly supported, SharpCap understands the
relationship between the gain value (the number displayed next to the slider) and the effect on the
image brightness. If this is the case then hovering the mouse over the slider will show a tooltip
containing information about how the gain is affecting image brightness.

In the example above, the tooltip of ‘2.00x (6.02dB)’ indicates that the gain value of 100 is causing
the image to be 2.0 times brighter than it would be at minimum gain, which is a brightness increase
of 6.02dB (decibels – an increase of 20 decibels is the same as making the image 10 times brighter).

Support for showing this information varies by camera brand and model as detailed below

Camera Brand Gain Brightness Info Available Gain Value Measured In

Altair Yes % of minimum gain
AstcamPan Yes 0.1 dB
AstroAsis Yes 0.1 dB
Atik No Unknown
Basler No Unknown
Celestron/Imaging Source No Unknown
Moravian Instruments Yes 1 dB
Player One Yes 0.1 dB
Point Grey (FLIR) No Unknown
QHY Some Models 0.1 dB or 1dB or Unknown
StarlightXpress No Unknown
SVBony Yes 0.1 dB
ZWO Yes 0.1 dB
ASCOM Cameras No Unknown
DirectShow/Webcams No Unknown
The last column in this table shows how the gain value translates into brightness changes – where
this information is known. For many cameras the gain value indicates either the brightness increase
in dB (starting from zero for minimum gain, with a range maybe up to 30 to 60) or in 0.1dB (starting
again from zero ranging up to perhaps 300 to 600 depending on model). For Altair cameras,
minimum gain is 100 and the brightness increase is 2 for 200 gain, 4 for 400 gain, etc.

Note that for cameras where gain/brightness information is unavailable, some other features such
as the Exposure/Gain Shift control and Framing Shot Quick will not be available.

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R/G/B Gain
A small number of colour cameras have separate gain adjustments for the red, green and blue colour
channels. Where present, these will show as separate red, green and blue gain controls. Note that
these differ from the standard red/green/blue white balance controls that appear for many other
cameras – R/G/B gain is applied before analogue to digital conversion, whereas R/G/B white balance
is applied by adjusting the digital data after conversion.

Digital Gain
Some cameras will offer a digital gain control, either on its own or in addition to a normal analogue
gain control. Digital gain is applied by multiplying pixel values up by some amount. Although best left
set to minimum when capturing images for later processing (as it damages data by making some
non-saturated pixels saturated), digital gain can be useful when using shorter exposures to find
targets, assist focusing, etc.

Black Level/Offset
This is another important control for astro imaging. Adjusting this control sets the average pixel
value that will be produced by the camera for a black pixel (one with no light falling on it during the
exposure). Because there are random fluctuations in the electronics of any camera, even when
taking an exposure with no light at all, some pixels will have values below this average level by a bit
and some a bit above it. This random spread of values becomes larger as the gain is increased.

Note that some cameras name this control as Offset and some as Black Level. For historical reasons,
ZWO cameras call this control Brightness and appears in the Image Controls group. Regardless of
name, the effects and procedure to properly set the control are the same.

The value of this control should be adjusted with reference to the Histogram tool, looking at the
histogram produced with no light entering the camera and the gain set to the value to be used for
imaging.

The image below shows a typical histogram for dark frames for low gain, with a narrow peak that is
well separated from the left hand side of the graph. In particular, there are no pixels with zero value.
In this case the Offset control could be lowered to move the histogram peak left, closer to (but not
touching) the left hand side of the graph.

The second image below shows how the histogram changes when a medium gain is selected – giving
a broader peak. Looking at the individual red/green/blue lines, you can see that there are a few
pixels with zero value, but not many (maybe less than 100 of each colour out of a total of ~ 2

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million). In this case the Offset value is roughly optimal – it could be increased slightly to reduce the
number of pixels that have zero value, but the practical effects of any increase would be very small.

Finally, the third image below shows how the histogram spreads further for a high gain value. You
can now see that there are tens of thousands of pixels of each colour that have zero value. This
indicates that the value of the Offset control should be increased to move the histogram peak to the
right, away from the left hand side of the graph.

The reason that it is important to keep the histogram for dark frames clear of the left hand edge of
the graph is as follows : If a significant number of pixels have zero value, then – due to the random
spread of pixel values seen in the graphs – some of those with zero value would really have
measured as negative values if negative values were possible. Since negative values are not allowed,
those pixels get the value zero, which is a bit higher than the value should be for those pixels. When
you capture lots of frames and average them together, the average will be increased a bit because of
the pixels that had their values boosted up to zero, and because of that you will either have dark
frames that overcorrect somewhat or light frames that have some extra unnecessary background.

Having the Offset control set too high has the small negative effect of limiting the amount of pixel
brightness range between the black point and the maximum pixel value – i.e. reducing the available
dynamic range of each frame a little.

Exposure/Gain Shift
This control is implemented by SharpCap and appears for cameras where both an exposure and gain
control are available and SharpCap understands the relationship between the gain value used by the
gain control and image brightness.

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The control adjusts both the exposure and the gain at the same time in a way designed to keep the
image brightness constant. For every unit the control is moved to the right, the exposure will double,
but the gain will be adjusted to halve the image brightness to compensate. For every unit the control
is moved to the left, the exposure will halve, but the gain will be adjusted to double the image
brightness to compensate.

The main use of this control is to quickly move between camera settings aimed at deep sky capture
(long exposures, relatively low gain) and settings suitable for focusing, plate solving or framing
images (shorter exposures, high gain to keep the target visible).

The limits of this control depend on how much adjustment is available on exposure and gain in the
direction required – for instance if your camera is already at minimum gain, you will not be able to
move this control to the right at all, since there are no lower gain values to adjust to. The maximum
possible range is between -6 (1/64th exposure, gain making the image 64 times brighter) and +6 (64x
exposure, gain reduced to make the image 64 times dimmer).

Note that if you make a separate adjustment to either the exposure or the gain controls then this
control will reset to zero – allowing you to make adjustments based on your new basic
exposure/gain settings. This control will be disabled if either the exposure or the gain are set into
Auto mode.

Frame Rate Limit

This control is implemented by SharpCap for all cameras, and does not affect the hardware of the
camera. Instead, it limits the rate at which SharpCap will accept frames from the camera to (roughly)
the set value.

The camera will still be capturing images at the normal rate, but if this is set to ‘2 fps’ then SharpCap
will only select 2 of those images every second to display and save (if currently saving images) – any
extra images are discarded.

This feature can be useful to limit the rate at which frames are captured to a video file, for instance
for time lapse imaging or all sky cameras.

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Note that the timing between selected frames will not exactly match the rate specified by this
control.

USB Speed/Turbo USB

Many CMOS cameras allow a USB Speed or Turbo USB control to be adjusted. This control adjusts
how hard the camera tries to push image data over the USB connection as fast as possible.

Setting a high value gives the potential for achieving maximum frame rates for high speed imaging,
whereas setting a low value tends to improve reliability and stability and may be best when the
frame rate is not important (i.e. when using long exposures).

Under some circumstances, a value that is set too high can lead to any of the following symptoms :

• Frame rates dropping to very low levels

• No frames at all coming from the camera
• Other errors in communication with the camera

If these symptoms are observed, setting this control to a lower value is a good first troubleshooting
step to see if the problem is resolved.

USB Traffic
This control is available for QHY cameras as an alternative to USB Speed or Turbo USB. It has exactly
the same behaviour as those controls except that the values are reversed – set the lowest value to
try to achieve the maximum frame rate and set higher values to increase stability.

Flip
The Flip control is provided by some cameras and allows the orientation of the image to be altered –
flipped in either the horizontal, vertical or in both directions.

This control should be used with extreme caution, since when changed from None, the you must
take care to

• Deal with changed bayer patterns for RAW colour images in processing software
• Only use dark and flat frames that have been captured with the same Flip setting. Using dark or
flat frames captured with a different Flip setting will give incorrect results

It is typically better to use the Flip (after dark/flat) control in the Preprocessing group – this is
provided by SharpCap for all cameras and flips the image after SharpCap has applied dark and/or flat
correction.

Note : Some cameras provide separate controls to turn horizontal and vertical flip on and off.

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Auto Exposure Target

This control sets the brightness level (out of a maximum of 255) that the camera auto exposure will
aim for. It has no effect when the camera exposure is set to manual mode.

Auto Gain with Auto Exposure

This control, only available on Altair cameras, configures whether the camera can automatically
adjust gain when auto exposure is enabled, and if so, how high a gain value can the camera use.

The control has no effect when camera exposure is set to manual mode.

Hardware Binning
This control, available on ZWO cameras, sets whether binning calculations are performed in
hardware on the camera (set to On) or in software on the computer. Under some circumstances,
setting this to On when using binning may increase the maximum frame rate. The control has no
effect on image quality.

High Speed Mode

Some cameras (typically ZWO models) may offer a High Speed Mode control, which can be turned on
or off. This control typically only has an effect when the camera is in an eight bit mode. Turning the
High Speed Mode control to on may allow higher frame rates to be achieved, but may have the side
effect of changing the image brightness and increasing the amount of noise visible in the image.

Temperature
Some cameras do not have a cooling system, but have a temperature sensor which measures the
temperature of the imaging sensor inside the camera. For such cameras, a temperature control may
be visible inside the Camera Controls group, which will show the current temperature reading of the
camera. This will be a read-only control – it cannot be adjusted. The value will typically update every
few seconds, but for some camera models it may only update once per frame.

Fan
A small number of cameras may contain a cooling fan, but no thermoelectric cooler. If the fan can be
adjusted then a Fan control may be shown to allow the fan to be turned on or off or the speed to be
adjusted. Note that for cameras that have a thermoelectric cooler, the Fan and Temperature
controls will appear inside the Thermal Controls group.

Focus, Zoom (Webcams)

DirectShow cameras (Webcams) may offer Focus and Zoom controls in the Camera Controls group, if
the camera hardware supports those actions. The Focus control will typically adjust the focus of the
built in Webcam lens and may offer an automatic as well as a manual option. The Zoom control is
unlikely to actually adjust the zoom lens attached to the Webcam – it is more likely that it adjusts a
digital zoom effect that allows the image to zoom in on a section of the entire camera frame. When
combined with choosing a lower than maximum resolution, the zoom control may make it possible
to achieve ROI mode using a Webcam.

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Byte Swap 16 bit data (PGR)

This control may be shown for Points Grey cameras – it offers to the ability to adjust how SharpCap
interprets the data from the camera when the camera is running in a 16 bit mode. If the image from
the camera appears incorrect when running in 16 bit mode, try adjusting this control to the opposite
setting, which should correct the image. Unfortunately it seems to be impossible to autodetect the
correct setting for this control from the camera SDK.

Image Controls
The Image Controls group mainly contains controls that affect the adjustments applied to the image
after it has been captured by the camera sensor. Most of these adjustments are applied by adjusting
the digital pixel values of the image according to some appropriate calculation. These adjustments
are carried out in the camera software provided by the camera manufacturer, and are applied to the
image data before the data reaches SharpCap. This means that it is very likely to be impossible to
accurately undo the effects of these adjustments if you later decide that they were applied
incorrectly.

For instance a control that adjusts the blue component of the image to give white balance
adjustment (White Balance(B) or WBB) is likely to do so by multiplying all the pixel values for blue
pixel data by some factor – perhaps 1.3 if the control is set to 130. One effect of this adjustment is
that all pixel values higher than 196 will be set to the maximum pixel value of 255 (for 8 bit data).
Any information in the image in that pixel range between 196 and 255 for blue pixels is lost and can
never be recovered.

Given the above, you may wish to avoid using these controls, and leave them in their ‘neutral’
positions. This allows the unmodified data from the camera sensor to be received by SharpCap and
saved to file. Adjustments for colour balance and other image adjustments can then be applied after
processing and stacking, meaning it is always possible to go back to the original data and try again if
the initial settings don’t work exactly as you had hoped. On the other hand, many people
successfully produce great images by using these controls to adjust the colour balance and other
aspects of the image before stacking, so both approaches are possible.

It is usually possible to work out the ‘neutral’ value for these controls by observing the image
histogram while displaying a terrestrial image (not an astronomy image) and adjusting the controls.
The histogram graph will usually show artefacts such as gaps in the graph, failing to reach the right-
hand side even when well exposed, or crenelation features when these controls are set to values
that cause them to make an adjustment to the image data. These effects disappear when the
controls are set to the neutral value.

The images below show, from left to right:

• the red channel failing to reach the right-hand side of the histogram due to a white balance
adjustment that is reducing the amount of red in the image.
• the red channel showing crenalation features due to a white balance adjustment that is
increasing the amount of red in the image.

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• The histogram of a monochrome camera showing gaps due to the use of a gamma adjustment
control.

Note that for some models of camera, the controls in this group will be unavailable or disabled if the
camera is in a RAW mode. If you wish to use these controls find them a thing or disabled for your
camera, try putting the camera into an RGB mode via the Colour Space control.

Digital Processing (on/off)

Some cameras (notably Altair models) have this control as a master switch which can be used to turn
on or off the remaining digital image processing controls in the group. Setting this control to Off
ensures that digital processing is not applied and may lead to small reductions in CPU usage or small
improvements in camera frame rate.

Negative
This control, when enabled, will invert the image in the manner of a photographic negative – making
the brightest areas of the image dark and the darkest areas of the image bright, both on screen in
SharpCap and in saved files. When applied to a colour image, the effect is applied to each of the
three colour channels separately.

Contrast
This control adjusts the contrast of the image – setting higher values will increase the contrast by
making the bright areas brighter and the dark areas darker. Conversely, lower values will decrease
the contrast by making bright areas darker and darker areas lighter. Very low values may give a
uniformly grey image.

Brightness
This control adjusts the brightness of the image – setting a higher value will make all areas of the
image brighter by a uniform amount. For ZWO cameras, this control acts as the offset or black level
control for the camera and should be adjusted according to the instructions given for the Black
Level/Offset control in the Camera Controls group.

Gamma
This control will adjust the gamma of the image. Usually a neutral gamma which will have no effect
has a value of one, but some cameras may use an alternative scale where the default neutral gamma
has a different value like 100.

Correctly interpreted, gamma of less than 1 will boost the shadows and mid tones, gamma greater
than 1 will lower the mid tones and highlights. Some applications and cameras treat gamma the
opposite way around – increasing gamma boosts the shadows.

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In most cases it is best to leave the gamma control at its default, neutral, setting. A better alternative
to bring out hard to see detail in the image is to use the display stretch functionality built into the
mini histogram. This allows the image has displayed on-screen in SharpCap to be adjusted without
making any changes to the data saved file.

White Balance R/G/B

Colour cameras may offer White Balance controls (sometimes called colour balance) to adjust the
colour of the image and allow any unnatural colour cast be removed. Depending on the brand of
camera being used there may be three white balance controls for adjusting the strength of the red,
green and blue channels or only two controls that allow the red and blue channels to be adjusted. In
the latter case the green channel cannot be adjusted directly but the same results can be achieved
via adjustments to the red and blue channels. Note that many cameras do not offer colour balance
adjustments when the camera is operating in RAW mode.

For each white balance control, increasing the value will brighten the associated colour in the image,
whereas reducing the value will darken the associated colour. For instance, for an image that has a
green colour cast you might either decrease the green control or increase both the red and blue
controls to give the image neutral colours.

If you decide to use the white balance controls to adjust the colour balance of the image, a good way
to achieve accurate results is to point the camera at a white piece of paper and the sunlight and
adjust the exposure so that the images unsaturated, then adjust the white balance controls to give a
uniform light grey image.

Some models of camera may have an automatic white balance option – either with auto options
which can be enabled for continuous automatic white balance or a separate Adjust button, which
when pressed will auto adjust the white balance once based on the image currently being captured
by the camera. Note that while auto white balance often works well for ordinary images but can
sometimes be confused by astro images, so should be used with caution.

Note that the default, neutral, value for white balance controls varies depending on the make of
camera and sometimes four different models made by the same manufacturer. Notably for ZWO
cameras, the default neutral value is 50.

Timestamp Frames
This control is provided by SharpCap for all cameras, and offers the option to add a timestamp to the
top left-hand corner of the image on each frame that is captured from the camera. For most
cameras, the timestamp represents the time according to the PC’s clock at the moment that the
frame was delivered to SharpCap. This will actually be some point after the end of capturing the
frame – the difference being determined by how long the frame takes to be transferred from the
camera to the PC and how long the camera manufacturers software running on the PC spends
dealing with the frame before handing it SharpCap.

Note that the size of the font used to add the timestamp to the image can be adjusted in the Camera
Settings page of the SharpCap settings.

Colour Temp and Colour Tint

Colour Temperature and Colour Tint controls provide alternative way of adjusting the colour balance
for some cameras, notably Altair colour models. These controls are unavailable when the camera is
in RAW mode, so adjusting them is rarely necessary for astro-imaging purposes.

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Lowering the colour temperature tends to make the image bluer, while raising it will tend to give the
image a more yellow/orange cast. For the Colour Tint control, lower values shade towards pink while
higher values shade towards green.

An automatic white balance Adjust button may be available to auto set these controls, although the
auto set values are not reflected in the slider positions after automatic adjustment.

Saturation
The Saturation control adjusts the amount of colour in the image. Setting lower values will make a
colour image tend towards greyscale, while setting higher values will exaggerate the strength of the
colours within the image.

For many cameras the Saturation control is unavailable when the cameras operating in RAW mode,
and therefore this control need not be adjusted for most Astro-imaging uses.

Hue
This control typically adjusts the colour of the image by shifting colours around a colour wheel – for
instance green becomes blue, blue becomes purple, purple becomes pink and so on. This control is
usually best left at the default neutral value.

Sharpness
Some Webcams may offer a sharpness control which can be used to digitally enhance the sharpness
of the image. Setting higher values will typically increase the sharpness of the image but may also
increase the noise level visible in the image.

Backlight Compensation
Some Webcams may offer a backlight compensation control, which can help deal with situations
where the foreground of the image is less well illuminated than the background (for example,
someone sitting with a window behind them). This control is not normally useful for astro-imaging.

Filter Options
This control is only shown for webcams. It provides access to a separate window of camera settings
that can be adjusted. The content of this window is provided by the webcam driver, not by
SharpCap. You may be able to use the Filter Options window to make adjustments to the camera
settings that are not possible in SharpCap.

Thermal Controls
The Thermal Controls group appears for cameras that have an active cooling system that can be
controlled by SharpCap. These cameras will almost always need a separate 12V power supply to
power the cooling system – without power the thermal controls may be adjusted but will have no
effect.

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In addition, when the camera has a cooler, a summary of the cooler status will be shown in the
status bar, showing the current cooler power level, current temperature and target temperature.

Cooler on/off
Certain cameras provide a master ‘on/off’ switch for the cooler – switching this to Off will turn off
the camera cooler and disable other cooling related controls.

Fan
Some cameras allow adjustment of the fan independently of the cooling system. If that is possible
then the fan may be turned on or off, or the speed adjusted by using this control. If the cooler is
active, it is recommended to have the fan switched on and set to the maximum speed, otherwise
cooling may not function or the performance may be poor.

Temperature
Almost all cooled cameras have a temperature sensor which measures the temperature of the
imaging sensor inside the camera. This control show the current temperature reading of that sensor.
This is a read-only control – it cannot be adjusted. The value will typically update every few seconds,
but for some camera models it may only update once per frame.

Target Temperature
Most cooled cameras allow a target temperature to be set. The camera will then automatically
adjust the cooler power to try to keep the sensor at the target level.

With modern CMOS cameras, keeping a constant temperature (even if not particularly cold –
perhaps -5 to +5C) is more important than trying to get the sensor to the coldest possible
temperature. It’s best practice to ensure that dark frames are taken at the same sensor temperature
as light frames.

Depending on how the camera handles changing cooler power, it may take several minutes to adjust
to a change in target temperature. The Deep Sky Sequence Planner and Sequence Editor can be used
to carry out staged cooldown and warm up, if desired.

Cooler Power
Some cameras allow manual adjustment of the cooler power level. If there is also a Target
Temperature control then set this control to Auto to enable automatic cooler power and the use of
the Target Temperature control. When this control is set to manual, the Target Temperature will be
ignored.

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Window Heater Power

Cooled cameras may have a separate heater which warms the optical window covering the sensor.
This warming can help avoid dew on the window as the camera cools in humid conditions. This
control allows the power of the window heating element to be adjusted.

Pre-Processing Controls
Information on using the controls in this group can be found in the Image Processing in SharpCap
section.

Display Histogram Stretch

Information on using this control can be found in the Display Stretch section.

Scope Controls
Information on controlling telescope mounts and other hardware using the controls in this group can
be found in the Telescope Hardware Control section.

Camera Specific Controls

The controls listed below will appear in addition to the common controls listed above.

Altair Camera Controls

SharpCap supports all current models of camera produced by Altair Astro. If the camera is a new
model and not in the Cameras list, please check for an updated version of SharpCap which may
include changes needed to support the camera.

Further information can be found at the Altair Astro website. Drivers, software and technical notes
can be found at the Altair Support website.

There are no special controls for Altair cameras.

ASCOM Camera Controls

ASCOM cameras have relatively few controls available in SharpCap. Drivers and further information
can be found at the ASCOM Standards website.

There is no guarantee all ASCOM cameras will offer all the controls listed below. For instance, some
ASCOM cameras have no cooler at all and of those with coolers some may offer direct control of
cooler power while others may not.

Camera Controls
Options Allows the ASCOM configuration dialog for the camera to be shown.
May have additional camera options that can be configured. The
camera is temporarily closed while the dialog is displayed and will
restart when it is closed.

AstcamPan Camera Controls

You can find driver downloads and other information about the cameras on this website : here.

There are no special controls for AstcamPan cameras.

Atik Camera Controls

SharpCap supports most Atik camera models. You must install the latest Atik core software
otherwise SharpCap may be unable to detect or control your camera.

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Camera Controls
Preview Mode Available on some cameras – when enabled the readout time of the
camera may be decreased at the expense of reduced image quality.
Enabling Preview Mode may be useful for framing and focusing, but it
should be disabled for capturing images.
Capture Dark Frames Only available on cameras with a physical shutter. When enabled the
shutter will not open when taking an image, allowing dark frames to
be captured without needing to cover the telescope aperture.
High Speed Mode Available on some CMOS cameras – putting the camera into high
speed mode will increase the frame rate, which may be useful for
solar/lunar/planetary imaging. High Speed Mode should be disabled
for deep sky imaging or live stacking.

Image Controls
Digital Gain Available for CCD cameras that do not have an analogue gain control.
Digital Gain artificially brightens the image by enhancing the
brightness of each pixel by multiplying it by the digital gain factor.
This can be useful to allow shorter exposures for focusing, framing,
etc., but should be disabled when capturing images.

Basler Camera Controls

Drivers and further information can be found at the Basler website.

Basler Specific Controls

Capture Format and Area

Colour Space Basler cameras use non-standard colour space names for RAW modes.

• BayerBG8 – equivalent to RAW8 with BGGR Bayer pattern.

• BayerRG12 – equivalent to RAW12 with RGGB Bayer pattern.
• Bayer GB12Packed – equivalent to RAW12 with GBBR Bayer pattern.
In packed 12 bit modes, 2 adjacent pixels are packed into 3 bytes (1.5
bytes each) rather than requiring 2 bytes each in unpacked mode.
This may increase frame rates in some circumstances as it reduces
the amount of data that needs to be transferred from the camera to
the computer.

FPS The number of frames per second that the camera will attempt to deliver to
the computer. When left on auto it will aim for the maximum possible rate.
Note that the frame rate set in manual mode may not actually be achieved
due to factors such as the exposure being too long or the data rate between
the camera and the computer being insufficient to cover the desired frame
rate.

If aiming for a limited frame rate, then setting this to a low value is better
than leaving this at a high value and setting the 'Frame Rate Limit' control as
it should reduce the CPU load on the capture computer.

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Camera Controls
Black Level Allows the black level to be adjusted. This control should be adjusted with
the camera covered to ensure that both sides of the black level peak in the
histogram are visible and distinct from the zero level to ensure that black
level noise can be averaged out correctly in stacking. Called offset or
brightness on some other cameras.
Digital Gain An additional gain that can be applied to the image. Each step above zero
doubles the image brightness but also doubles the noise levels

Celestron/Imaging Source Camera Controls

SharpCap should support all Celestron branded Skyris and NexImage cameras (manufactured by The
Imaging Source) as well as Imaging Source branded DMK and DFK cameras.

Drivers and further information can be found at the Imaging Source website and the Celestron
website.

Camera Controls
Focus Controls the focus of the built-in camera lens (if available).
Iris Controls the aperture of the built-in camera lens (if available).
Pan, Tilt and Roll Physical controls to pan, tilt and roll the camera if it has motor drive to
allow it to be controlled remotely.
IR Cut Filter Turn on/off the IR cut filter on cameras equipped with a controllable filter.

Image Controls
Colour Enhancement Enhance colours in the image.
Highlight Reduction Reduce the relative brightness of the highlights in the image.
Denoise Apply a noise reduction filter to each frame (will also tend to reduce
detail).
Colour Enable Switch colour cameras between colour and monochrome mode.
Sharpness Apply a sharpening filter to each frame to enhance detail (will also tend to
increase noise).

Moravian Instruments Camera Controls

SharpCap supports CMOS Moravian Instruments cameras. CCD based cameras may also work.

Drivers and further information can be found at the Moravian Instruments website.

CMOS cameras may have additional choices for the colour space options – for instance

• RAW8 slow
• RAW8 fast
• RAW12 slow
• RAW12 fast

The ‘fast’ modes may give higher frame rates. Other read modes may be available depending on the
model of camera.

Player One Camera Controls

SharpCap supports the full range of Player One cameras.

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Drivers and further information can be found at the Player One website.

Player One cameras currently do not have any specialized controls.

Point Grey Camera Controls

SharpCap supports FlyCapture based Point Grey cameras. Spinnaker based cameras are not
supported. USB, GigE and Firewire models are all supported.

Drivers and further information can be found at the Point Grey website.

Note that you may need to restart SharpCap to detect GigE cameras if they are connected after
SharpCap has been run.

There are no special controls for Point Grey cameras.

QHY Camera Controls

SharpCap supports a wide range of QHY CMOS cameras. The cooling features of the QHY ColdMOS
cameras are supported as well as the GPS features of the QHY174-GPS. Older QHY CCD cameras may
not work correctly (but may be usable via their ASCOM drivers).

Drivers and further information can be found at the QHY website.

Camera Controls
Amp Noise This control is available for some cameras and when activated will reduce
Reduction the amount of amp glow created by the camera for long exposures.

In general, it is best to leave this control on the 'Auto' setting as it will

apply the amp glow reduction when appropriate. If amp glow reduction is
enabled manually, this may result in incorrect images for certain exposure
and gain combinations.
Row Noise Reduction This control is available for some cameras and can be adjusted to reduce
banding effects between camera rows.
Use DDR Buffer Available on some cameras. Turns on/off the use of the internal DDR
buffer on the camera. Using the DDR buffer may improve frame rate and
reduce problems with dropped frames.
Optimize Light Level Allows the sensor on the camera to be optimized for low or bright light
levels.
Filter Wheel Allows a QHY filter wheel connected via the camera port to be controlled.
Note that a connected filter wheel may not be detected if it is still
initializing when the camera is opened in SharpCap.
Enable Live Enable live broadcast of the images being shown in SharpCap via the QHY
Broadcast video broadcast application.

GPS Controls
GPS Enable or disable the built-in GPS functionality on cameras that support it.
The GPS feature allows frames to be timestamped precisely to
microsecond precision. GPS may require the camera to be supplied with
12V power. When GPS is enabled and has a satellite lock the timestamp
for each frame taken from the GPS system is used for the timestamp in
capture settings files and SER file frame timestamps. Without further
adjustment, frame times will be accurate to millisecond levels, but to get
microsecond precision the following controls must be adjusted correctly.

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GPS Calibration LED The GPS calibration LED must be turned on to be able to correctly adjust
the following two controls. The camera must also be covered so that the
light from the LED can be seen in the image. Turn up the gain so that the
light can be seen easily.
Calibration Start Pos With the GPS LED on, turn the calibration Start Pos down to zero and then
turn it up until the calibration light appears as a glow at one side of the
image. Then turn the value down a small amount until the light vanishes
again. Setting this control allows the GPS frame start time to be corrected
for the time difference between the camera circuitry requesting the frame
starts and the actual exposure starting.
Calibration End Pos With the GPS LED on, set this to a value just above the calibration Start
Pos value and then turn up the value until the LED light vanishes again.
Turn the value down a small amount until the light re-appears.
This allows the end of frame time to be adjusted for the time difference
between the camera circuitry requesting the frame to stop and the frame
having finished.

After calibrating the Start and End Pos, don't forget to turn the calibration
LED off again. Also, note that the calibration needs to be repeated after
having changed the camera exposure or the camera colour space.

Starlight Xpress Camera Controls

SharpCap supports the full range of StarlightXpress CCD cameras. Drivers and further information
can be found at the Starlight Xpress web site.

Capture Format and Area

Some Starlight Xpress cameras have interlaced sensors, meaning that only half of the lines on the
sensor can be read at a time. When a camera with an interlaced sensor is in use, SharpCap adds an
Interlace Handling control to allow various ways of dealing with the interlaced camera to be chosen.

The options for Interlace Handling are

• Capture Odd then Even Rows - this option will expose the camera twice for each frame
shown in SharpCap, first capturing the odd lines of the sensor, then the even. This is the
only option that gives full sensor resolution, but frame rate is halved (for instance with a 2s
exposure selected, the image will only update once every 4s)
• Interpolate from Odd Rows – this option will only expose the odd rows of the sensor, but
will generate a full-size image by generating data for the even rows by averaging

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(interpolating) the data of the odd rows on either side. Frame rate will be normal, but there
will be less detail in the image
• Interpolate from Even Rows – as Interpolate from Odd Rows, but exposes only the even rows
of the sensor, with the odd rows being generated by averaging
• Capture Odd Rows – exposes the odd rows of the sensor and forms an image only half the
normal height (290 pixels for the camera shown above). Frame rate will be normal, but
images will be distorted due to halving the height of the image
• Capture Even Rows – as Capture Odd Rows, but captures only the even rows.
• Capture All Rows (2x vertical bin) – this option exposes all pixels on the sensor, with a 2x
vertical binning being applied before reading the sensor. As for Capture Odd Rows and
Capture Even Rows, the image will be distorted due to being half normal height, but the
sensitivity of the sensor is maximised as all pixels are exposed and measured in each frame.

Image Controls

Image Controls
Digital Gain Starlight Xpress CCD cameras do not have an analogue gain
adjustment option, but the deep well depth means that a usable
image can be generated even at relatively low saturation levels.
Unfortunately, such images are very dark due to the signal on
each pixel being low compared to the maximum signal. The digital
gain option provides a way to compensate for this problem by
boosting the whole image after it is read from the sensor, by a
factor of up to 100x.
The use of Digital Gain is particularly helpful when focussing or
using the Polar Alignment tool.

Black Level This is a software black level adjustment. It should only be

necessary to adjust this control when using the Digital Gain option
(to keep the black level of the histogram down to a reasonable
range).

SVBony Camera Controls

SharpCap supports the full range of SVBony dedicated astronomy cameras. Cameras from the SV305
upwards are supported directly. Older SVBony cameras (SV105, SV205) are supported via their
Webcam drivers.

You can find driver downloads and other information about the cameras here.

There are no special controls for SVBony cameras.

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ZWO Camera Controls

SharpCap supports the full range of ZWO cameras.

Drivers and further information can be found at the ZWO website.

Image Controls

Image Controls
Mono Bin [Colour Only applies when binning is selected. Creates a monochrome binned
Cameras only] image rather than a colour binned image.
Note: ZWO cameras no longer offer a Gamma control – the ability to adjust Gamma was removed by
ZWO several years ago.

Miscellaneous Controls

These control the auto exposure and auto gain

functions of the camera.

Miscellaneous Controls
Auto Exp Max Auto Exp Max Brightness sets the target level for the maximum brightness
Brightness point in the histogram in the range 50 (targets a histogram peak at about
the 20% level) to 150 (targets a histogram peak at about the 60% level).
Auto Exp Max Exp Auto Exp Max Exp is the maximum exposure (in seconds) that can be used
when auto exposure is enabled.
Auto Exp Max Gain Sets the max allowable gain in the same way.

DirectShow Cameras
Microsoft DirectShow is an architecture for streaming media on the Microsoft Windows platform.

There are a vast number of webcams and frame grabbers on the market. In general, SharpCap
should work with any of them but some cameras/grabbers have buggy drivers which may prevent
them from working correctly with SharpCap. The controls available in SharpCap are determined by
the driver – SharpCap just shows the controls the driver makes available. Sometimes more controls
are available in the Video Capture Pin and Video Capture Filter dialogs provided by the device driver.
These can be accessed using the Pin Options and Filter Options controls in the Capture Format and
Area and Image Controls sections respectively. To show the respective dialog, press the Show button
for that control.

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Examples of the Pin and Filter dialogs are shown below:

Video Capture Filter Video Capture Pin

Note that the controls available in, and the design of, the Video Capture Filter and Video Capture Pin
dialogs is determined by the camera driver for the camera being used, not by SharpCap.

Additionally, SharpCap allows the images being captured from a webcam to be processed by
sophisticated features available to dedicated astro cam users – for instance Live Stacking and Polar
Alignment are both usable with images coming from a webcam or frame grabber provided a long
enough exposure can be set to start seeing details and/or stars.

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Frame Grabbers
A frame grabber is an electronic device able to capture frames from an analogue video signal. The
frame grabber is a USB device. The analogue video signal is commonly supplied by a day/night CCTV
style security camera. This type of camera, generically called an astro video camera, is commonly
based on the LN300 style CCTV body, usually with enhanced firmware or electronics which allow for
internal stacking of video frames. Camera output can be to a frame grabber or an analogue screen.
This arrangement is commonly used for live image display and internet video broadcasting of
astronomical objects particularly in outreach type scenarios. This arrangement has proved to give
satisfactory results under heavily light-polluted skies.

A typical video capture device is the EzGrabber from http://www.ezcap.tv/. [Note: there are lots of
clone devices that look the same as the ezcap but may contain completely different hardware and
have different drivers – sometimes these drivers have compatibility problems.]

Well known manufacturers of the astro video type cameras are Revolution Imager and Mallincam.

A typical setup comprising frame grabber and astro video camera is shown below.

Analogue video camera with Bluetooth adapter

for accessing the camera’s internal menu. USB2 video frame capture device. Shows in
Video/power balun (left hand side) used to SharpCap as a USB 2861 device.
connect ethernet cable.

From left to right –

video frame grabber, balun, ethernet cable, balun, analogue video camera.

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SharpCap will see this USB frame grabber as a USB 2861 (typically 28xx) device. The details of the
camera connected to the frame grabbing device will not be detected by SharpCap. The camera is
controlled by its own internal menu system and is usually accessed via a USB or Bluetooth
connection. This type of camera typically has a maximum resolution of 720 x 576 and will be NTSC
or PAL.

SharpCap view of a frame grabber Astro video camera internal menu

Modified Webcams
Modified webcams are those which have been electronically modified. Typical modifications are
long-exposure (LX) and amp glow removal. SharpCap 3.1 and above no longer support LX modified
webcams - you should use an earlier version of SharpCap (3.0 or earlier) to control these cameras.
Details on their use can be found in an earlier version of this user manual.

DirectShow Controls
DirectShow cameras have a fixed set of available controls defined by Microsoft, however not all
cameras will offer all these controls.

Format & area (Video format) Camera controls Image controls

• Colour space • Pan • Brightness
• FPS • Tilt • Contrast
• Resolution • Roll • Hue
• Frame divisor • Zoom • Saturation
• Exposure • Sharpness
• Iris • Gamma
• Focus • Colour Enable
• White Balance
• Backlight Compensation
• Gain

Virtual Cameras
SharpCap can talk to a wide range of cameras directly and even more via either an ASCOM or
DirectShow driver. It also has a pair of testing (simulated) cameras that can be used to try out the
features of the program on cloudy nights. The Virtual Folder Monitor Camera adds another way to
get images into SharpCap – it can read existing or newly added image files from a directory opening
up new ways to use SharpCap. As a couple of examples:

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• You have a camera that isn’t supported by SharpCap, even using a DirectShow or ASCOM
driver, but you have an application that will capture frames from that camera and save
them to a folder. You can use the folder monitor virtual camera to load each new frame
saved to the folder into SharpCap, allowing you to access SharpCap tools like focus
measurements, live stacking, etc.
• You have a series of image frames of a target captured with either SharpCap or another
capture application. You can use the folder monitor virtual camera to live stack these
frames in SharpCap (or repeat the live stacking with different parameters if these were
frames originally saved in SharpCap).

The virtual folder monitor camera only has a limited set of controls available – it’s obviously not
possible to adjust camera controls like exposure, gain or colour balance when the images are being
read from saved files! The resolution and colour space values are also determined by the contents of
the image files being loaded and cannot be changed.

You do have the ability to browse for the folder that contains the files you want to work with and
move through the list of files in the folder either automatically (in play mode) or stepping
forward/back manually in pause mode. Additionally, dark subtraction and flat frame correction can
be applied and the frame rate limit can be set.

To select the folder source, press the ‘Browse’ button and either select a folder (which will process
all image files in that folder) or select a single image file (PNG, TIF, FITS and JPG supported), which
will process all image files of that type in the same folder. When you select a new folder:

• If the folder contains image files then the first image file of the selected file type is loaded
into the camera and displayed, then the camera is paused automatically, allowing you to
make any adjustments necessary or select tools such as live stacking before pressing the
‘Play’ button to begin processing the other images in the folder
• If the folder does not contain any image files then the camera will enter play mode
automatically, which means that the first image will be processed and appear on screen
soon after it is saved into the selected folder.

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The playback controls provide a way to move through the image files present in the folder.

Rewind – go back to the first frame in the folder.

Single Step Back – go back to the previous frame.

Pause – cancels ‘Play’ and waits for further input.

Replay – process the current frame again as if it had just come from a camera.

Play – automatically process frames in turn from files already in the folder and then
new files as they are added.

Single Step Forward – move to the next available frame.

Image files are always processed in date order (starting with the oldest first). The resolution and
colour space values are selected from the first frame processed, and files that have different
resolutions or colour space settings will be skipped. If SharpCap runs out of files in the folder (or if
there are no image files in the folder initially) then it will wait for new image files to be added and
load them when they appear.

If multiple image files are present in a folder and the ‘Play’ function is selected then they will be
rapidly displayed in turn with no pause between images unless

• The frame rate limit control is set to limit the rate at which frames are displayed or
• Live Stacking is selected, in which case a new frame will be loaded only after the previous
frame has completed any live stacking calculations, ensuring that no frames will be
skipped by the live stacking.

Under some circumstances, errors may occur if SharpCap tries to access a newly created file
immediately after it is placed into a folder (for instance if certain Antivirus software scans the file
after it is created). If you see errors with SharpCap failing to read newly added files, you can increase
the New Frame File Delay control to add an additional pause before SharpCap tries to process a
newly added file.

The Virtual Folder Monitor Camera is a SharpCap Pro feature.

Test Cameras
The Test Cameras are useful to experiment with and understand settings and their effect. Much of
the material in this manual has been derived from the Test Cameras. Hence this document can be
used as a learning aid without having a telescope or camera attached to the PC/laptop or when the
sky is cloudy. The use of a suitable lens (which can be purchased for a few pounds) will allow astro
cameras to be tested without waiting for clear skies.

Test Camera 1 (Deep Sky)

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See Camera Controls for a description of generic camera/image/display controls.

This camera has a collection of Testing Controls that allow various features of SharpCap to be tested
without the need for clear skies.

• Image – click the Browse button to load a PNG file stored in the SampleFiles folder. Other
user created PNG, JPG or FITS files can be stored here for access via the test camera.
• Random Rotation – applies a random small rotation to each frame shown in the capture
display area. On/Off, default = Off.
• Random Offset – applies a random offset effect to the image shown in the capture display
area. On/Off, default = Off.
• Random Seeing – applies a random seeing effect to the image shown in the capture display
area. The seeing effect is a blurring of the image. On/Off, default = Off.
• Random Noise – applies a random noise effect to the image shown in the capture display
area. Default = 10, range 0..50.
• Focus Offset – available if no ASCOM focuser is selected. Range is -1000 to 1000. when set to
non-zero, the image will be blurred to an amount that increases as the value moves away
from zero.

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• Add Dark Noise – adds another image to the sample image as simulated dark noise. This
allows dark subtraction to be tested. The image used for dark noise can be changed by
pressing Browse and must be the same size as the main image.
• Add dust and Vignetting – applies dust spots and vignetting from a flat frame to the sample
image, allowing flat frame correction to be tested. The image used for this can be changed
by pressing Browse and must be the same size as the main image.
• ST4 Rate and Rotation – simulates the effect of an on-camera ST4 guiding interface by
moving the image in response to guiding commands. Can be used to test feature tracking.
• Musk’s Curse – add fake satellite trails to the image, the details of which can be controlled
by the Trail Brightness, Trail Speed and Trail Width controls. This can be used to test the
satellite trail removal feature.
• Add Horizontal/Vertical Background Gradient – adds a background to the image with a
gradient in the chosen direction – these controls can be used to test the background
subtraction features.

Test Camera 2 (High Speed)

See Camera Controls for a description of generic camera/image/display controls.

• Image – allows the image to be displayed to be chosen by pressing the Browse button or
selecting from available previously used images in the dropdown. If a still image is chosen
then the image will be repeated by the camera. Additionally, video files in SER format can be
selected, in which case the camera will play the video file from beginning to end repeatedly.
• Focus Offset – simulate focuser movement and can be used in Focus Score > Graph. Default
= 0, range -1000..+1000. Note that this Focus Offset control is only available if the selected
focuser in the Hardware Settings is set to None.
• Random Offset – applies a random offset effect to the image shown in the capture display
area. On/Off, default = Off.
• Random Seeing – applies a random seeing effect to the image shown in the capture display
area. The seeing effect is a blurring of the image. On/Off, default = Off.
• Random Noise – applies a random noise effect to the image shown in the capture display
area. Default = 10, range 0..50.

Frame rates and dropped frames

For imaging solar system targets, it’s often important to capture many frames in a short period of
time, so achieving a high frame rate can be important. SharpCap shows the frame rate in the status
bar along with information on how many frames have been captured by the camera so far and how
many frames have been ‘dropped’.

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An understanding of how dropped frames can come about and of which camera controls and other
factors affect frame rate can help you get the best results out of your camera.

What affects Frame Rate?

There are three main limits on the frame rate SharpCap can achieve when receiving frames from a
camera. The actual frame rate achieved will be controlled by which of the three gives the lower
value.

1) The exposure in use – with an exposure of 0.1s (100ms), no more than 10fps can be
achieved. Reduce the exposure to 0.01s (10ms) and the camera may be able to achieve up to
100fps.
2) The maximum frame rate achievable by the camera sensor – this may be documented by the
camera manufacturer, and may increase when the camera is used in ROI mode.
3) The time taken to transfer a frame from the camera to the computer – if it takes 50ms to
transfer the data then no more than 20fps are possible.

The first limit is determined entirely by the exposure time set, but the other two are more
complicated. Things that may improve the frame rate for either of the last two limits include

• For USB3 cameras use a USB3 cable and a USB3 port on the computer to get maximum data
transfer rate
• Use an ROI to reduce the amount of data in each frame.
• Reduce ROI height as for many cameras it has more effect on maximum frame rate than ROI
width does
• Turn up any USB Speed or Turbo USB settings to try to increase data transfer rate (for QHY
cameras, turn down USB Traffic).
• Capture in 8 bit modes (RAW8, MONO8) rather than high bit depth modes (RAW16,
MONO16, etc) to reduce the amount of data in each frame.

Frame Rate when capturing images

When you are capturing images and saving them to file (rather than just viewing them on screen).
The frame rate may be further reduced as an extra limit is introduced

4) How fast can SharpCap save images from the camera to file

This rate can vary significantly depending on:

• What format SharpCap is saving to (video formats like SER and AVI are much faster than
saving each image to a separate file for PNG or FITS)
• How fast your SSD or hard disk can write data
• How full your SSD or hard disk is

If you see the frame rate drop only while capturing to file, the problem is almost certainly going to
be related to the speed at which SharpCap can write images to disk or SSD. The frame rate may not
drop immediately when you start capturing as SharpCap can use memory to store a number of
frames waiting to be written to file, but this memory storage may fill up, after which the frame rate
will drop.

Note that while SSDs are generally fast when writing data, some models have a limited amount of
space set aside for ‘fast’ writing. If you fill this space by capturing large amounts of video data

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quickly then the write speed may drop dramatically. The SSD itself will then slowly move the newly
written data to slower storage areas over time (taking from minutes to hours), releasing the fast
write area for another use.

What are dropped frames?

SharpCap shows a dropped frame count to represent frames of image data that have in some way
been lost or discarded. The reasons that could cause a dropped frame can include

• The frame data is lost or corrupted when being transferred from the camera to the
computer
• The camera does not provide an image when one is expected
• SharpCap is applying image processing to the frames (dark subtraction, background removal,
flat correction, satellite trail removal, etc) and the next frame arrives before the processing
for the previous frame is finished
• SharpCap has run out of memory to store frame images waiting to be written to disk
• The frame has been rejected by some filtering criteria in SharpCap (i.e. the Seeing Filtered
Capture in the Seeing Monitor).

More details on which of these might be causing dropped frames in cases where it is not obvious can
be found by checking the SharpCap log and looking for lines mentioning ‘Dropped Frames’.

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Getting Good Images

This section covers techniques for getting good astro-images using the features available in
SharpCap. In particular, use of the Histogram and Smart Histogram functions help set the correct
exposure and gain for your camera and the type of image being captured. The focus assistance tools
– ranging from just measuring the quality of focus to full autofocus will help ensure that you capture
sharp images.

Correctly Exposing Images using the Histogram

The Histogram
The image histogram acts as a graphical representation of the brightness distribution in a digital
image. It plots the number of pixels for each brightness value. The histogram will quickly highlight
problems with an image including under exposure, over exposure or colour balance issues and is
used to help capture the highest quality data possible.

The histogram can be shown by clicking the Image Histogram icon in the Tool Bar:

which will display the Image Histogram in the Work Area of the Main Screen, as shown below.

Clicking the FX Selection Area icon in the Tool Bar shows a red rectangle on the image which can be
dragged and re-sized. While this selection area rectangle is enabled, the histogram is only calculated

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for the parts of the image within the rectangle. This allows for more detailed scrutiny of a restricted
region of the image and of how the histogram in the region appears.

Notice the two histograms above are different but no camera settings have been changed.

The Histogram in Detail

Auto Hide – at the top right, the ‘pin’ icon can be used to auto hide the histogram when the mouse is
moved away from it. Moving the mouse back over the collapsed histogram tab will re-show it.

Horizontal Zoom selection – this checkbox can be used to zoom the horizontal axis by a factor of 3 to
5, allowing fine details in the histogram to be studied

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Logarithmic/Linear selection – the checkbox will switch between a logarithmic vertical axis display
and a linear display. Logarithmic tends to be a better way to see small values in the histogram that
would otherwise be invisible due needing to show tall peaks elsewhere in the graph. When using the
logarithmic option, remember to keep referring to the values shown on the vertical axis to see the
number of pixels at each brightness level.

Mean and Standard Deviation (SD) – statistical information for each colour channel giving the mean
and standard deviation of the pixel values for that channel. These are measured in ADU (Analogue to
Digital Units) with a maximum value of 255 at 100% for 8-bit images and 65535 at 100% for
10/12/14/16-bit images.

Crosshairs – these show when the mouse is moved over the histogram area and allow you to read
off the ADU value and pixel count for any point on the histogram graph easily. Note that the
readouts for both value (ADU level) and pixel count correspond to the horizontal and vertical
positions of the crosshair. To read the number of pixels at a particular level, ensure that the
crosshair is vertically at the level of the graph reading you wish to measure.

Horizontal axis – the % of maximum pixel brightness (in 8 bit modes the pixel brightness is 0 to 255,
in 16 bit modes 0 to 65535). This is scaled as 0 – 100 and caters for 8-bit, 12-bit, 14-bit and 16-bit
cameras in a uniform presentation.

Vertical axis – the number of pixels at that brightness.

The Histogram Lines – The four lines on the histogram graph showing the brightness distribution of
each of the three primary colour channels (Red, Green and Blue) and the distribution of the total
brightness of each pixel (often referred to as Luminance).

Horizontal Colour Bars – these bars below the horizontal axis represent the ranges of the Luminance,
Red, Green and Blue channels (commonly referred to as LRGB).

This histogram below conveys the following information:

• Approximately 400k pixels have 3% of maximum pixel brightness. This is the histogram
peak.
• Approximately 15 pixels have 100% of maximum pixel brightness”, that is, are saturated in
this case. This is a very small number of pixels compared to the total number in the image,
so the clipping at the right-hand side is of little significance.

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Note when using a Mono colour space, there is only a single white horizontal bar (Luminance) and
single line on the graph.

Understanding the Histogram Axes

The diagram below defines the units of the horizontal and vertical axes.

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Note SharpCap shows the horizontal scale as a %, giving a uniform method of labelling to cover 8, 12,
14 and 16-bit cameras.

The horizontal scales can be found on the internet using a representation of the bit depth capability
of the camera. The table indicates alternate horizontal scales that may be encountered, the
numbers being derived as 2n-1, where n = bit depth of camera.

Camera bit depth Histogram horizontal scale

8 0..255
12 0..4095
14 0..16383
16 0..65535

Linear and Logarithmic Scales

By deselecting or selecting the Logarithmic checkbox at the top right, the shape of the SharpCap
histogram can be changed.

Vertical scale is linear, checkbox not selected Vertical scale is logarithmic, checkbox selected

In the graphics above, notice the vertical scales are different. The following is a description of the
difference between Linear and Logarithmic scales.

Note: ~ means approximately in the calculations. The slight inaccuracies are due to rounding errors
when scaling to fit the screen.

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Linear Scale is unchecked in the Image Histogram.

• The numbers are uniform.

• The tick marks are equally spaced.
• The tick marks have uniform differences between their values.
• The values are 0, 37k (1*37), 75k (~2*37), 113k (~3*37k), 150k
(~4*37k), 188k (~5*37k).
• The increment from one tick mark to the next is ~37k (37000), that is
37k is added to each value to get the next value.
• If the graph is twice as high in one place (say at 50% brightness) as
another (say 25% brightness), meaning there are twice as many pixels
with 50% brightness as with 25% brightness.

Logarithmic Scale is checked in the Image Histogram.

• The numbers are non-uniform.

• The tick marks are equally spaced.
• The tick marks do not have uniform differences when moving from
one value to the next – instead they are multiplied by some amount.
For instance, the values are 13, 180 (~13*13), 2400 (~13*13*13) and
so on.
• Those who can remember basic algebra, will recognise 130, 131, 132,
133 and so on.
• The vertical scale increases the height of areas where there are small
values and reduces the height where there are large values.
• Becomes easier to see those parts of the graph with a much-reduced
number of pixels at each level.
• Logarithmic scales help to get all the data on the chart so the values
are readable – they supress the high values and enhance the low
values.

After reading the above, the question is “Should a Logarithmic scale or a Linear scale be chosen
when using the Image Histogram?”

The answer is “think about the type of object being imaged and use whichever obtains the best
images” but, bear in mind the following:

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• Linear makes most sense when the area the histogram is being applied to is roughly uniform
in brightness, for instance:
o A lunar or solar image when the frame is filled.
o A planetary image when the ROI is used to select a region inside the planetary disk.
• Logarithmic makes sense when there are distinct different regions inside the histogram area,
for instance:
o A deep sky full frame containing a small area of nebulosity.

If the deep sky was looked at with a linear histogram, the peaks from the nebulosity and
stars would be swamped by the vast black level peak and therefore invisible. However, the
logarithmic scale gets around this.

The following two examples both use a logarithmic scale but depending on the type of object being
imaged (deep sky or large disk) the desired histogram shape is totally different.

Deep Sky Large Disk

Using the Histogram to Improve Image Quality

The shape of a ‘good’ Histogram can vary depending on:

• A logarithmic or linear vertical scale being selected.

• The object being viewed:

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o Deep Sky.
o Solar/Lunar/Planetary.
o Solar/Lunar/Planetary when ROI (Region of Interest) is used to select an area inside
the disk.

Guidelines for ‘good’ histogram shapes for linear/logarithmic vertical scales and object types are
summarised below. Following these guidelines will help ensure images are correctly exposed.

Deep sky - linear Deep sky - logarithmic

Solar/lunar/planetary – linear Solar/lunar/planetary - logarithmic

Solar/lunar/planetary with ROI - logarithmic

Solar/lunar/planetary with ROI or when target
is filling frame (i.e. no black background) –
linear

It is helpful to consider the following information to understand why these shapes of histogram are
associated with the given types of image:

• Deep sky histograms have a peak at low intensity levels due to the dark background and
typical low brightness of any nebulosity.
• Solar/lunar/planetary histograms usually have a peak near the black level due to the dark
background and another peak for the (relatively) large and bright image of the target.
• Solar and Lunar histograms where an ROI is used or the sun/moon fill the entire frame will
not have a peak near the black level as there is no black background.

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The following two diagrams show the type of problems (plus suggested fixes) encountered with a
histogram.

When the histogram looks like this (shifted too

far left), the image is said to be under-exposed
or black level clipped. This will result in an
image with a grainy background. The grainy
background is difficult to remove with post-
processing software. Faint detail will be hard to
bring out. To fix, expose the image for longer
(preferred) and/or increase gain and/or
increase brightness or offset.
Under-exposed image
When the histogram looks like this (shifted too
far right), the image is said to be over-exposed.
Pixels in the image become saturated, resulting
in detail being lost. To fix, expose the image
less (preferred) and/or reduce gain.

Over-exposed image

Quick Guides for Different Imaging Situations

Solar/Lunar/Planetary Imaging
Key goals:

• Short exposures to freeze seeing and allow for high frame rates
• No saturated pixels
• Reasonable image brightness of target

Method:

• Set an 8-bit mode (RAW8 or MONO8) to allow high frame rates.

• Consider using an ROI capture (smaller capture area) for planets to allow higher frame rate.
• Set a short exposure to allow a fast frame rate. For instance, 30ms will allow up to around
30fps.
• Reduce exposure further on brighter or fast changing targets (Sun, Moon, Jupiter) to get a
higher frame rate. Once the frame rate stops increasing, the exposure is short enough.
• Increase gain to bring image brightness for the target up to a maximum level of about 85%
on the histogram.
• If maximum gain reached, or image is excessively noisy, consider increasing exposure back
up towards 30ms, meaning a reduced gain can be used.
• Use the Exposure/Gain Shift control to explore possible trade-offs between lower
exposure/higher gain and longer exposure/lower gain. Longer exposures will reduce image
noise but also reduce frame rate.

Note that H-alpha capture of the sun may benefit from high bit depths (MONO12-16) if you wish to
try to capture both the photosphere and prominences at the same time. This will usually reduce the
frame rate.

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A correctly exposed histogram for planetary capture with a maximum brightness level of roughly
80% – the size of the peak on the left hand side will depend on the amount of dark sky surrounding
the planet included in the measurement.

An under-exposed histogram for planetary capture – peak brightness levels reaching barely 50%,
leaving the remainder of the camera’s range unused. Increase gain and/or exposure length to
achieve correct exposure levels.

An over-exposed histogram for planetary capture – parts of the image are at 100% saturation, so
image data is being lost. Reduce gain and/or exposure length to bring peak brightness levels below
90% saturation.

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Note that when capturing a full frame surface (Solar, Lunar imaging), the left-hand side of the above
histograms will not show the peak near 0% - instead falling away at the lowest brightness levels. The
right-hand side will continue to show over/under/correct exposure in the same way.

Flat Frame Capture

Key goals:

• No saturated or nearly saturated pixels

• Minimize noise in final master flat
• Avoid low pixel values where noise will have large effect on flat correction calculations

Method:

• Use a high bit-depth mode (RAW12-16, MONO12-16) to capture maximum image detail
• Set low gain to minimize noise in frames (no need to take flats at same gain as lights)
• Adjust exposure while observing histogram.
• Avoid histogram reaching 100% or below 10% (if possible).
• Minimize histogram above 80% or below 30% (as much as possible).

Note that colour cameras and situations with strong vignetting or deep dust shadows may make it
hard to obey all of the guidelines at the same time. It is however essential to avoid the histogram
hitting 100%.

A reasonably well exposed histogram for flat capture. Ideally the peak green level would be lower
than 90%, but this must be balanced against the weaker values of the blue channel not being too
low.

An underexposed histogram for flat capture – all pixels in the blue channel are below 20% and the
top half of the histogram range is completely unused.

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An over-exposed histogram for flat capture. The green channel has pixels at the 100% level – in
particular some pixels should really be higher than 100% and will not perform proper flat correction.

Deep Sky Imaging/EAA

Key goals:

• Capture at the highest available bit depth

• Avoid clipping the histogram on the left side for dark frames
• Set gain to reduce read noise (and hence reduce exposure length - if required)
• Exposure length must be long enough to minimize effects of read noise and keep number of
frames captured to a reasonable level, but short enough not to risk bad frames due to poor
tracking/guiding

Method:

• Set maximum bit depth (RAW12-16 or MONO12-16).

• Use Smart Histogram below to calculate the best gain and exposure times for your camera.
• Alternatively, examine the ‘Read noise vs Gain’ graph provided by your camera
manufacturer – examples below

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• Set a gain value just to the right of any big drop in the graph (i.e., gain 100 on the left-hand
plot), or where the descending curve flattens somewhat (i.e., gain 20 to 30 on the right-hand
plot).
• Cover the telescope and capture dark frames of 1s exposure. Adjust the Offset/Black
Level/Brightness control to ensure that the peak in the histogram on the left-hand side does
not touch the 0% level.
• Set a 30s exposure and take test images of the target.
• Increase exposure providing no poor star shapes from bad tracking/guiding and the only
saturated areas of the image are bright stars.
• Decrease exposure/gain if you see trailing stars due to poor tracking or saturated areas of
the image.

The exact procedure for setting exposure and gain for deep sky imaging is unfortunately complex,
and a manual adjustment requires consideration of

1. Camera characteristics including how read noise varies with gain

2. Properties of any filters in use
3. The amount of light pollution in the area being imaged
4. The focal ratio of the telescope in use
5. The quality of tracking/guiding – how long can exposures be before glitching becomes
obvious and frequent?
6. The total number and size on disk of saved images, along with the time taken to process
them (shorter exposures will create more saved images over 1 hour of imaging).

The Smart Histogram calculation will take care of the points 1 to 4 above and allow you to limit the
minimum and maximum exposure times that can be used to account for items 5 and 6.

A correctly set-up dark frame histogram for the adjustment of the Black Level/Offset/Brightness
control. Note that the peak is effectively separated from the 0% level (maybe one or two pixels at 0%
is fine). Note that the horizontal scale here only extends to about 20% due to the Horizontal Zoom
function of the histogram being in use.

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A histogram indicating that the Black Level/Offset/Brightness value needs to be increased due to
some pixels having values at 0%.

Smart Histogram
Have you ever wondered whether you are using the right gain or exposure when deep sky imaging?
Whether 6x ten-minute exposures really do give you more detail than 12x five-minute exposures?
No more guesswork is required with the SharpCap Pro Smart Histogram feature. In combination with
the results of Sensor Analysis, SharpCap can measure the sky background brightness for you and
then perform a mathematical simulation of the impact on final stacked image quality of using
different gain and exposure combinations. You can also see graphs showing the impact of using
longer or shorter exposures (or lower or higher gain) than suggested.

If you try this using a modern, low noise, CMOS sensor you might be pleasantly surprised to find out
that the optimal exposure length isn’t nearly as long as you imagine and that maybe the
complexities of guiding will become a thing of the past (The use of long – 5 to 10 minute or even
longer – exposures in traditional deep sky imaging is not required to see faint targets, it’s actually
required to deal with the high typical read noise of CCD sensors. Since the optimal exposure length is
proportional to the square of the read noise and CMOS read noises can be 1-3 electrons instead of 8-
10 electrons, exposures can often be much shorter with no loss of quality).

Note that Smart Histogram functionality is only available for certain cameras:

• Smart Histogram is not available for any Cameras used via a DirectShow (Webcam) driver.
• Smart Histogram is only available for cameras that have been analysed using the Sensor
Analysis tool. SharpCap ships with a selection of camera analysis data for the most popular
Astronomy cameras, but you may need to run Sensor Analysis on each of your cameras to
make the Smart Histogram features available.

The Smart Histogram Bars

The basic form of Smart Histogram takes the form of a pair of coloured bars along the top of the
histogram area:

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The top bar with the red, amber and green sections shows the impact of the camera’s read noise on
the total image noise at that brightness level. For areas of the image in the red highlighted region of
the histogram, the camera read noise dominates the total noise (more than 50% of total noise). In
the amber region, the read noise contributes significantly to the total noise (10% to 50%). In the
green region, the contribution from read noise is small (less than 10%).

The size of the red and orange zones will vary as you vary the gain and offset controls of your
camera. Once you have picked values for those controls, you should adjust the exposure so that the
histogram peak corresponding to the sky background is just to the right of the orange zone – this will
give you optimum image quality without entering the zone where increased exposure time has
diminishing (to zero) returns.

The lower bar indicates the effect of bit depth on the quality of captured image. In high bit depth
modes (12, 14, 16 bit), the bar is green and light green (as seen above) – the light green section
shows the range where the increased bit depth is not helping you because the total pixel noise
equals or exceeds the distance between ADU levels in 8-bit mode. In the light green region, the use
of high bit depth simply means that you are recording the pixel noise in greater detail!

In 8-bit modes, the lower bar is amber and green:

The amber region indicates the part of the histogram where you are throwing away data by using 8-
bit mode (i.e. you would get more image quality by switching to 10/12/14/16 bits for parts of the
image in this histogram region). The amber region will shrink to the left as you increase the camera
gain level, and at the high gains used in planetary imaging it may not be visible at all – this shows
why there is no need to use high bit depth modes for planetary ‘lucky’ imaging (and also that the
Smart Histogram isn’t only useful for deep sky!).

The coloured bars at the top of the histogram are just the quick way to use the Smart Histogram
features, giving you some basic guidance on exposure times and bit depths. For a more in-depth
calculation that gives recommendations on gain, offset, exposure and bit depth, press the ‘Brain’
button next to the coloured bars to bring up the Brain window.

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The Smart Histogram Brain Window

The ‘Brain’ window looks quite complicated, but if you follow it from top to bottom it should not be
too hard to use.

The goal of the Brain is to help you pick the right camera settings to get the best deep sky images.
Note that the Brain is not aiming to give you fabulous quality sub-exposure images, it is calculating
how to get the best final image when you stack all frames taken in a set period of time (1 hour by
default). The calculations will work out for you whether it is better to take 360 x 10 second images or
10 x 360 second images or some other combination. Note that the primary results (suggested
exposure length and gain) do not change if you select longer or shorter total stacking times than the
default value of 60 minutes.

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Measuring Sky Brightness

The first step is to measure (or enter) your sky brightness – this is measured in electrons per pixel
per second and is a measure of how much signal is arriving at every pixel on your camera every
second from sources that we don’t really want – light pollution and thermal noise being the main
culprits. If you press the ‘Measure’ button then SharpCap will set the gain to maximum and take a
number of increasing length exposures to measure this value – you should point the telescope at
your target before taking a measurement – SharpCap will automatically measure the darkest region
in the field of view of the camera.

For a colour camera, you may wish to choose which channel (red, green, blue or darkest) to
measure. Often the blue channel will be the darkest and will therefore lead to longer exposures
being recommended.

If you are using filters when imaging, you should measure the sky brightness with the filter in place –
filters are often designed specifically to reduce the background sky brightness, and it is important for
SharpCap to be able to take that effect into account. If you use multiple filters you may want to
measure the sky brightness with each filter separately, or to work from the values given for the
darkest filter.

If your imaging setup suffers from vignetting (darkening) near the edges/corners of the image,
consider selecting the Ignore Image Edges/Corners option. This will stop SharpCap from taking those
areas of the image into account in its measurement, making sure the calculations are optimised for
the central area of the image.

Note that the sky brightness will vary depending on a number of factors such as the altitude of your
target, sky transparency, proximity of a bright moon, etc.

After using the Brain Window a number of times, you may become familiar with typical values for
sky brightness at your observing location and be able to enter the value directly by using the manual
adjustment to specify an approximate sky brightness in e/pixel/s instead of performing a
measurement.

Setting Limits and Targets

The next step is to set limits and targets for the calculation – you can set a minimum and maximum
exposure to consider (typically maximum exposure is determined by mount tracking/guiding quality
and minimum by how much data you have to save with very short frames or stacking speed for live
stacking). You can also set the time you intend to image for (setting this value is not critical, changing
this will *not* change the suggested values) and the contribution you are prepared to tolerate from
the sensor read noise in the final image noise level. If you select a ‘Read Noise Limit’ of 10%, that
means that the calculations will allow the total noise level in the final stacked image to increase by
10% above the minimum achievable noise level (i.e. to go from 10 to 11 on some arbitrary scale).

The last choice in this section determines how the gain is chosen – the two options are ‘Unity Gain’
which aims for 1 electron per ADU (or as close as possible) and ‘Max Dynamic Range’. ‘Max Dynamic
Range’ finds the gain where the final stacked image will have the maximum ratio between the
brightest thing that is not quite saturated and the noise level. Max Dynamic Range will often (but not
always) choose the minimum gain value.

If ‘Max Dynamic Range’ is selected then the calculation takes account of the number of frames that
can be captured (based on the exposure recommendation). If you choose ‘Max Dynamic Range’ and
then use a longer exposure than the suggested one, you may be missing out on better alternative

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camera settings. It’s better to increase the Minimum Exposure setting in this case to force a longer
exposure to be considered, which will result in a correct recommendation.

The Results
Once the sky background is measured and the limits and targets are set you can examine the results.
In the image above, you can see that with a 5e/pixel/s sky brightness (quite bad light pollution), the
calculation is recommending a gain value of 398, an exposure of 9.4s and a black level of zero
(because the sky brightness will be enough to pull the histogram clear of the left-hand side). The
graphs below show useful detail on the calculations that help you understand the result and if
necessary tweak the values.

The optimal exposure chart shows you the exposure time you need to use to hit your ‘Read Noise
Limit’ criteria for different gains – it also shows your minimum and maximum exposure limits as
horizontal red lines if they fall within the range of the graph. From this graph we can see that in this
case the recommended exposure is 46.9s at 398 gain, but an exposure of 60s could be used at 230
gain or 30s at about 1400 gain to get very similar results. You aim for at least the exposure time
shown on this graph, although selecting a longer exposure won’t improve things much as we will see
in the detection threshold simulation chart.

Note that the calculations performed here take into account only the visibility of faint detail above
the noise level of the captured images. Other factors can also have an impact on the exposure/gain
that you wish to use – for instance:

• You may wish to limit the number of frames captured or the size of the captured image files
– this may prompt you to increase the exposure.
• You may wish to ensure that sufficient bright stars are shown in the image to allow stacking
to work well – again this may prompt you to increase the exposure
• Light pollution might lead to a very high background level in longer exposures – this may
prompt you to limit the exposure length

If any of these apply, causing you to want to adjust the recommended values, it’s a good idea to use
the minimum/maximum sub-exposure times – for instance to specify a minimum exposure of 60s if
you want to limit the number of frames captured. Doing this will ensure that you get the best
recommendation for your situation – setting a minimum exposure of 60s may give different

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recommended gain and black level values to those give with a minimum exposure of 15s under some
circumstances.

The relative stack dynamic range chart shows how the dynamic range of the final stacked image will
be affected by changing the gain (assuming you follow the suggested exposure time for each gain
value). This chart shows information for different bit depths if the required sensor analysis data is
available. In this case the stack dynamic range for the 8-bit line drops to zero at gains below about
450. This happens when there are no valid solutions for the exposure time that fit all the limits you
have chosen – for instance in this case a read noise limit of 10% would require exposures longer than
the maximum exposure value of 5 minutes when in 8-bit mode with a gain less than 450. In this case
(in common with many cameras), you can get a slight increase in the dynamic range of the final
stacked image by moving to lower gain values.

The third chart shows how the faintest visible object in the final stacked image varies with different
exposure times. This chart makes it very clear how little extra final sensitivity you will achieve by
exceeding the recommended exposure times. In this case at the recommended values (Gain=398,
Exposure=47s), the expected faintest detectable object would be 0.0176 e/pixel/s. Increasing the

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exposure from ~47s to 300s drops that to 0.0168 e/pixel/s, an improvement of about 5%. You can
also see that by this point the curves are basically flat – further increases in exposure bring
practically no improvement to visibility of faint objects in the final stacked image.

You should use the figures recommended by the Smart Histogram feature as a starting point for fine-
tuning the optimal settings for your imaging. For instance if you have good guiding and Smart
Histogram recommends 30s exposures, you may wish to use somewhat longer exposures.

The Detection Threshold Simulation assumes that the faintest object you will be able to see in the
final stacked image is equal in brightness to the noise level in that image. In fact, for objects that
cover a large number of pixels, you might do a bit better than that as it is easier to see a large faint
object than a small one, but this does not change the shape of the curve, in particular the fact that
beyond the recommended exposure level there is practically no improvement in final image
sensitivity to faint detail with further exposure increases.

In summary, when you use the Brain window, SharpCap simulates in a fraction of a second all the
possible combinations of gain and exposure that you might use to image and calculates what the
effect of each set of parameters would be on the final stacked image. This is possible because the
results of the Sensor Analysis allow SharpCap to calculate the behaviour of the sensor for any
combination of gain and exposure.

Smart Histogram requires a SharpCap Pro license and SharpCap needs sensor analysis data on each
model of camera that you intend to use. SharpCap ships with sensor data for over 150 popular
astronomy cameras, so you may find that Smart Histogram works for you straight away.

If you are using a camera that SharpCap does not have sensor data for, you must perform sensor
analysis on each model of camera you intend to use. For best results perform sensor analysis in both
8-bit and high bit depth (12/14/16) modes.

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Sensor Analysis
Camera manufacturers frequently produce charts of sensor gain, read noise and dynamic range for
their cameras. Such charts are useful for comparing the characteristics of one sensor with another
and also for helping choose the optimum camera settings for a particular imaging situation.
However, until now, creating these charts was outside the reach of all but the most dedicated
amateur astronomer, requiring as it did dozens of careful measurements and careful calculation.

SharpCap now automates the measurements and calculations required to perform this analysis on
almost any camera (DirectShow cameras cannot be analysed because they do not have a fine-
grained exposure control that SharpCap can adjust).

The results of the SharpCap Sensor Analysis procedure are used to support the Smart Histogram
functionality that helps guide the choice of gain, exposure and bit depth when imaging.

Preparing to run a Sensor Analysis

These are the steps you need to carry out before running SharpCap’s Sensor Analysis tool.

• Ensure your camera is working well with SharpCap

• Set your camera into its highest bit depth mode, and if it is a colour camera, set it into RAW
mode rather than RGB mode
• Find a source of constant illumination.
o Natural daylight on a clear or overcast day is ideal, but not on a day with scattered
clouds as the brightness changes.
o Artificial light can work well but you may see lines in the image at short exposures
due to the 50/60Hz flicker of many artificial lights – if this is the case then select a
tall, thin area for measurement to include multiple flicker bands in the area
• Arrange for an evenly illuminated area to show in the camera field of view. Note that the
whole field of view does not need to be evenly illuminated, just an area of at least 100x100
pixels. You can do this by
o Using your telescope, putting it out of focus and pointing it at the cloudy or blue sky
or putting a white T-shirt or similar over the lens.
o Using a translucent 1.25” dust cap over the nosepiece of the camera
o Using a CS or C thread lens and pointing the camera at an evenly illuminated
featureless object (like a sheet of paper)
o Using the camera with no lens or cover (but beware getting dust on the sensor).
• Arrange to be able to vary the brightness of the illumination of the sensor. You may need to
do this to get the process to run to completion successfully (note: avoid changing the

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illumination brightness during the run – you may need to adjust at the beginning to get the
right brightness to start).
• Arrange to be able to cover the sensor so that dark measurements can be made
• Set any colour balance, gamma or contrast controls for the camera to their ‘Neutral’ state.
• If your camera has a physical shutter (DSLR) or takes a long time to download a frame (large
CCD), put the camera into Still Mode.

Running Sensor Analysis

To begin the process, select Sensor Analysis from the Tools menu. Any existing tool (such as the
Histogram or Live Stacking) will close and the Sensor Analysis will open. The selection area rectangle
will also appear in the image preview area.

Some basic instructions and a small image histogram will show in the Sensor Analysis tool window.
Only check the Skip Binning Measurements checkbox if sensor analysis has failed or become stuck at
the final stage of measuring the effects of binning in a previous run. Once you have checked you are
ready, press the Start button.

Selecting the Measurement Area

Once the Start button is pressed, SharpCap will automatically select the lowest gain level of your
camera. SharpCap will also automatically adjust the camera exposure to correctly expose the region
inside the Selection Rectangle.

At this point you should adjust the move and/or resize the Selection Rectangle to select a region of
the image that is of uniform brightness and colour. A suitable area of image will show a histogram
similar to the one below with a single, symmetric peak towards the right-hand side. You should also
adjust the brightness of illumination to give an exposure time in the range suggested. SharpCap
calculates the required range based on the characteristics of your camera to try to ensure that the
whole analysis procedure can be carried out with exposures under 2s and well above the camera’s
minimum exposure.

Do not adjust the exposure value yourself – it will be automatically adjusted as you change the
illumination levels or adjust the selection area.

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If the selected area is not uniform then the histogram will have more than one peak or an
asymmetric peak. If the exposure time is too long or too short then a warning message will be shown
in red giving instructions on what changes need to be made. Both of these situations are shown in
the image below.

Once the light levels have been adjusted correctly and the selection area chosen, press the Proceed
button to start the actual measurements.

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During the measurement period, be careful not to

• Disturb the camera while measurements are being taken

• Move in front of the camera (which will change the light levels being measured)
• Allow the light level reaching the camera to change (except when asked to cover/uncover
the sensor).
• Adjust any of the camera controls manually – making manual adjustments will very likely
cause inaccurate or invalid results.

Bit Depth and e/ADU Measurements

The first stages of sensor measurement involve measuring the true bit depth of the images that the
camera produces and the e/ADU (electrons per ADU) of the camera at minimum gain. While the
e/ADU measurements are being made a scatter graph will draw to the right of the histogram which
shows the relationship between measured frame noise and measured mean ADU at various
exposures. The green crosses should be close to a straight line.

After this stage is complete, the sensor must be covered so that no light can reach it to allow dark
measurements to be made.

Linearity and Gain Range Measurements

The next stage measures the linearity of the sensor response to changing exposure time and also
makes a rough measurement of the effect of the camera’s gain control. It’s particularly important
not to allow the light level to change during these measurements – the most likely cause of a low
sensor linearity limit in the final results is a variation of light level during measurement.

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Dark Measurements
SharpCap will prompt you to cover the sensor to allow dark measurements to proceed.

SharpCap will set a high gain and a 100ms exposure which will most likely lead to a white image
showing on screen at this point. When you cover the sensor, the camera image will go dark and the
Proceed button will become enabled. Press the Proceed button when it becomes enabled and the
sensor is fully covered.

A large number of dark measurements need to be made, but they typically proceed fairly quickly
unless the frame rate is very low. The initial measurements are of the brightness of the image with
different values set for the Gain and Offset controls (Offset is also known as Black Level or
Brightness). These are followed by measurements of the amount of noise present in dark frames at
various gain values.

When the dark measurements are complete, the sensor must be uncovered to allow the final Gain
and Binning measurements to take place.

Gain and Binning Measurements

SharpCap will prompt you to uncover the sensor.

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Once you uncover the sensor, SharpCap will begin to adjust the exposure to correctly exposure the
selection area. At this point, you may (if required) adjust the brightness of illumination and the
selection area as you did initially to ensure the area being measured is uniform and the exposure is
in the recommended range. Once any necessary adjustments have been made, press the Proceed
button, which will become enabled when the sensor is uncovered. Do not make any further
adjustments after the Proceed button is pressed.

After you press the Proceed button, the final stages of sensor measurements will commence, which
involve gradually adjusting the camera gain and measuring how much the exposure must be
changed to counteract each change in gain. It is vitally important that the brightness of illumination
of the camera does not alter during this part of the measurement process, otherwise incorrect
results will be produced.

The final step is to briefly adjust the Binning setting of the camera to determine how the camera
deals with binning, after which the results will be shown.

Sensor Analysis Results

The primary results of the measurement process are

• The sensor bit depth, shown above the results table, here 12 bits meaning that the sensor
can produce 212 (4096) different ADU values (different brightness levels).
• The e/ADU values for different gain settings, shown as the green crosses on the graph and in
the table. This figure is the number of electrons required per pixel to increase the brightness
measured by the camera by 1 ADU

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• The Read noise of the camera for different gain settings, shown as the red crosses on the
graph and in the results table. This is the amount of noise (in electron equivalents) that is
added to each image due to the camera electronics not being perfect at reading the
brightness of each pixel.

The other results, shown in the table are

• The Full Well capacity of a pixel – that is the number of electrons that it can hold before it
becomes saturated (gives a 100% white signal).
• The Relative Gain for each gain setting, measured as a multiplier of the minimum gain or in
dB
• The Dynamic Range for each gain setting – this is the ratio between the brightest signal that
can be properly measured (the full well signal) and the dimmest (the read noise). This value
is measured in photographic stops (effectively powers of two).

Usually, the graphs will show two smooth curves, with the highest values for both e/ADU gain and
read noise at the left-hand side. The example above shows a sharp drop in the read noise at a gain
value of approximately 200. In this case, the camera sensor switches to a more sensitive and lower
noise mode when the gain is higher than 200 and this is reflected in the measurements.

SharpCap stores the results of completed Sensor Analyses on your computer and will use them later
to provide Smart Histogram functionality on analysed cameras. If you re-run the analysis then the
previous saved version will be overwritten. Note that previously saved sensor data will not be shown
when you re-select the Sensor Analysis tool. It can however be viewed in one of the tabs of The
Smart Histogram Brain Window.

To gain full Smart Histogram functionality, you should analyse your camera at both its maximum bit
depth (i.e. in RAW12/RAW16/MONO16 mode) and at a bit depth of 8 bits (i.e. in RAW8/MONO8
mode).

Sensor analysis is a free feature and does not require a SharpCap Pro license, however users with a
SharpCap Pro license can copy the table of values from the results if they wish.

Note: Sensor Analysis can be run with the camera in Still Mode. This is recommended for cameras
with a physical shutter (such as DSLR cameras) and for high resolution CCD cameras that take a long
time to download frames.

Sensor Analysis Data Files

Sensor Analysis data is stored in files saved in the folder
%APPDATA%\SharpCap\SensorCharacteristics

alternatively, you can access this folder as

C:\Users\<your windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\SharpCap\SensorCharacteristics

You can copy sensor analysis files from one computer to the same folder location on another
computer to avoid having to run the analysis on each computer.

If you have a SharpCap Pro license then these files can be opened in a text editor and you can
inspect the data that they store. If you do not have a SharpCap Pro license then these files are
encrypted so that only SharpCap can read them (copying the data from the analysis results or access
the data via the data file is a SharpCap Pro feature).

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Focusing
SharpCap has a several options to help acquire focus on targets (possibly one of the most
challenging aspects of astrophotography). The tools are particularly powerful if an ASCOM focuser is
configured in SharpCap (An ASCOM focuser is a device which uses a stepper motor or DC motor to
move the telescope focuser and can be controlled from a computer via a USB cable).

Introduction
There are six Focus Score tools, the appropriate one must be chosen for the target. Each tool
attempts to measure the quality of focus of the image (the different tools measure the quality of
focus by different methods) and displays the measurement in the work area as both figures and a
graph. The graph may look something like this:

Green bars always indicate better focus while red bars always indicate poorer focus. The most
recent measurements are shown at the right-hand side of the graph with older measurements to the
left. Note, for some tools the best focus is associated with low scores (short bars in the graph), while
for others it is associated with high scores (tall bars in the graph) – the best scores will always be
green though.

It is possible to just select one of the focus tools and adjust the focuser until obtaining the best score
such that the score can no longer be improved by moving the focuser in either direction, but better
results can be obtained with a methodical approach and an understanding of how the process works
and the adjustments available.

Don't try to use the focus tools if the image is a long way out of focus. The tools are to be used to go
from being close to focus to perfectly in focus. If focus is a long way out and there are problems
getting anywhere near focus, try one of the following:

• Focus on a terrestrial object at least 200m away in daylight (the further the better), which
will get close to the focus point for astronomical objects.
• Use the moon, if it is visible, as it is easy to find and bright. This helps because it can be hard
to find any objects when the telescope is a long way out of focus. However, the moon is
bright enough to be hard to miss even when the focus is very bad.
• With high gain and exposure of 2s or so, aim at a bright star or planet. Increase the
brightness of the displayed image by one of the following:
o Reducing the mid-level value for the display stretch or using display auto stretch.
o Selecting 'Image Boost' from the FX dropdown.
o Selecting 'Image Boost More' from the FX dropdown.

If the bright object is either in or near the field of view, all or part of a bright donut
(reflector/SCT) or bright disk (refractor) of light will be seen – this is the very out-of-focus
view of the object, made visible by the high gain and brightness boost. Adjust the focuser of
the telescope to make the disk/donut smaller, which will bring the telescope nearer to
correct focus.

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Understanding the Focusing Display

When selecting one of the Focus Score tools, Contrast (Edge) Detection in this case, the following
screen appears. This screen layout is the same for all six Focus Score tools.

There are four distinct regions when a Contrast Focus Score tool is in use.

The Capture Display Area

In the Capture Display Area, a red Selection

Area rectangle appears. The rectangle can be
dragged with the mouse and resized. It should
be moved over the edge of the object,
completely onto the surface, or expanded to
surround the complete object.

• Any area outside the red rectangle will be

excluded from focus score calculations.
• Any area within the rectangle which is not
shaded (above the black level) will be
included for focus score calculations.
• Any area within the rectangle which is
shaded will be excluded from focus score
calculations. These areas are below the

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Black Level and considered to be part of

the background. Adjust the Black Level on
the left if the wrong areas are being
shaded.

The Controls Pane

• Various controls may be available

depending on which focus score has
been selected. See the focusing tools
and Focus Tool Settings sections for
more detail.
• Brief Help for each tool is available.

The Graphs Pane

• The graph region will display a plot for:

Focus Score history (History tab)
• The black line is used to indicate
Focuser Position (only shown if a
focuser is connected, explained later).
• The blue line is Average Score – an
average of the 10 previous focus
scores.
• The left hand vertical axis shows focus
scores.
• The right hand vertical axis shows
focuser position.
• Alternatively, you can show the Focus
Score v Focus Position graph (Graph
tab). [Note: This only shows if there is
an ASCOM focuser connected.]
• The triangles represent focus
measurements and different focuser
positions – green when moving in the
positive direction and red for negative
movements

The Scores Pane

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• The title bar of the panel can be used

to drag the panel out of the main
SharpCap window, for example to
place it on a second monitor
• The Pin icon can autohide the focus
tool displayed in the Work Area.
• Current score (Now) and Best score
recorded so far (Best) are shown.
• The Reset button clears the history
and the best score. If the Selection
Area is enabled, disabled or moved, or
the Black Level changed, the Reset
button should be used.
• If an ASCOM focuser is configured, but
not connected, the Connect Focuser
button will appear as an easy way to
connect to your focuser and enable
advanced features in the focus tools.

The Graph Pane

The History tab always appears (1st diagram below). The additional Graph tab will only appear when
an ASCOM focuser is connected (2nd diagram below).

History Tab
The History tab shows the history of focus score values in a column graph with the oldest
measurements on the left and the most recent measurements being added on the right.

The History tab is the default tab when you do not have an ASCOM focuser connected. While it can
be used with an ASCOM focuser, the Graph tab is better suited for use with focusers.

• Blue 'average' line appears,

an average of the last 10
focus score measurements,
helps to see changes when
the focus value is varying
from frame to frame due to
noise.
• New measurements appear
on the right, older ones will
disappear from the left
once the chart area is filled.

No ASCOM focuser connected

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• Focuser Position axis on the

right appears.
• Black Focuser Position line
appears.
• Blue average line changes
to a stepped graph.
• Each horizontal segment of
the average line
corresponds to a period
when the ASCOM focuser
was at a certain position.
• When the focuser position
moves, a new segment
starts.
• The horizontal segments
indicate the average focus
ASCOM focuser connected score value over all the
samples when the focuser
was at that certain position.

This is the range of colours that can be displayed – from red (poor focus) to green (good focus).

Red > Orange > Yellow > Light Green > Dark Green

Colours and heights of focus graph bars are not an absolute measure of 'good focus', they are a
measure relative to the other recent focus measurements made. The best focus score recently
obtained will always get a vivid green bar and will be the highest (lowest for FWHM) one in the
graph. This doesn't mean perfect focus; it means the best focus achieved since the focus tool was
opened (or since last reset). The exception to this is the Bahtinov mask tool - there the value of zero
is an absolute measure of perfect focus.

Graph Tab
This graph only appears if an ASCOM focuser has been configured in SharpCap and is connected. In
that case it becomes the default tab (although you can switch back to the History tab if you wish).

The Graph tab shows how the focus score measurements have varied with focuser position, with the
focuser position being measured along the horizontal axis and the focus score being measured on
the vertical axis.

Best focus is indicated by either a peak (maximum) at one point on the graph (contrast based focus
scores) or a trough (minimum) at one point (star based focus scores).

The graphic shows the focuser position was stepped from -3 to +3 in the following sequence:

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-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3

This graph shows the focuser position along the horizontal axis and the focus score on the vertical
axis.

• The green upward pointing triangles show data points collected when the focuser was
moving in the positive (outward) direction.
• The red downward pointing triangles show data points collected while the focuser was
moving in the negative (inward) direction.
• Stronger colours indicate more recent data points.
• Faded colours indicate older data points.

The black lines and numbers on the History graph below correspond to the focuser positions shown
in the Graph above.

With an ASCOM focuser installed, work from the Graph tab rather than the Histogram tab. To find
the point of best focus using the focus score axis (at the left of the graph) look for:

• The peak value (Contrast Detection/Fourier options).

• Minimum value (FWHM options).
• Zero (Bahtinov option).

Note: This functionality can be experimented with using the Focus Offset control available in two
Test Cameras. The focus offset control can be found in the Camera Control Panel, and will apply
blurring to any image when it is set to a non-zero value. This control is only available if an ASCOM
Focuser is not configured in the SharpCap settings (i.e. set the choice of ASCOM focuser to None to
use this feature).

History and Graph Manipulation

• Drag with left mouse button to move around.
• Mouse wheel to zoom.

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• Select an area with middle or right mouse button to zoom to that area.
• Double click to return to default view if lost.
• Right click on the Graph area to show options for moving the ASCOM focuser to the position
where you right-clicked.

Hovering the mouse over the

blue line will show focus score
history of the preceding 10
samples.

Hovering the mouse over the

focuser graphics will display a
focuser position and score
report.

Right-clicking on the graph

allows you to command
the focuser to move to
the position that you
clicked on. Movement
can either be direct or a
‘move past and return’
movement which can
help deal with focuser
backlash.

Focus Tool Settings

Each focus tool has settings for averaging – these setting control how many focus readings are
averaged before adding a data point to the graph.

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Averaging – choose either average or best

score from an averaging period to be the value
recorded.

Average Over – the period can be specified as

either number of frames or a time-period by
the settings offered. Averaging is more useful
for high speed imaging (lunar/solar/planetary)
– for deep sky imaging, setting the Average
Over option to 1 frame is usually sufficient.

Ignore frames captured when focuser is moving

– this option is available when SharpCap is
configured to use an ASCOM focuser. When
enabled, SharpCap will ignore the focus score
from any frame where the time over which the
frame was captured overlaps with any time
during which the focuser was moving. This is
best left enabled to exclude possibly blurred
frames from analysis

The tools also have settings to control the focus detection calculations – these vary from tool to tool.
Most tools have some of the following options:

Black threshold – anything below that level is

excluded from the calculation, avoids including dark
level noise in the calculation. The level is measured
in terms of the percentage of maximum brightness.

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Noise Reduction – applies a Gaussian blur to the

image to cut down on pixel noise before performing
the measurement. The amount of blurring can be
adjusted. Note that the blurring is not shown in the
image on screen when this is adjusted.
Image Processing – available for all focus tools
except for FWHM measurement tools. This allows
you to apply simple image processing to the image
before the focus measurement is calculated.
Options are:

• None – no image processing

• Bin 2x2 – apply 2 by 2 binning, which will
create a monochrome image for colour
cameras
• Select one of the colour channels (for colour
cameras only).

Selecting binning or one of the colour channels can

help prevent the focus algorithm from picking up
spurious detail from the bayer pattern in the raw
image.
The colour channel options can be used to focus
specifically for one colour (in the case where the
telescope may show chromatic aberration).
Compensate for brightness changes – when
enabled, SharpCap will attempt to calculate focus
scores that are unaffected (or less affected) by the
target changing brightness slightly. This can help if
there are variable amounts of thin clouds when
lunar, planetary or solar imaging
Track target with selection area – This option is
designed to help achieve good measurements when
focusing on planetary targets (or solar/lunar if the
whole disk is in view). If this option is selected and
the Selection Area feature is enabled, SharpCap will
monitor the position of the brightest object in the
image and try to keep the selection area in a
constant position relative to that object. This should
allow the same are of a planetary or lunar/solar disk
to be measured even if the target is drifting or is not
steady.

Each focus tool also has a small amount of built-in help available that can be shown by clicking or
hovering over the ‘Help’ link. For example, this is the Help for Contrast (Edge) Detection:

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The Focusing Tools in Detail

The six available focusing tools can all be found under the Calculate Focus Score icon from the Tool
Bar. Select the desired tool to begin measuring focus. The tools come in two groups – one that is
suitable for focusing on the Sun, Moon, Planets or a surface, the other group is suitable for focusing
on stars.

Contrast (Edge) Detection

Suitable for planetary or surface targets. Measures the total amount of contrast in the image -
better focus gives more contrast which gives higher scores.

Tall green bars (high values) indicate the most contrast and hence best focus. Short red bars (lowest
values) indicate the worst focus.

Histogram Range (Brightness Range) Detection

Suitable for planetary or surface targets (especially high noise). Measures the range between the
brightest and dimmest parts of the image - better focus should give higher scores. May work better
for noisy (high gain) images than Contrast (Edge) Detection.

Tall green bars (high values) indicate the most contrast and hence best focus. Short red bars (lowest
values) indicate the worst focus.

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Fourier Detail Detection

Suitable for planetary or surface targets. Measures focus by examining amount of detail in small
scales in the image as determined by a Fourier Transform. Good focus leads to higher scores. May
be less sensitive to noise than contrast detection options.

Tall green bars (high values) indicate the most contrast and hence best focus. Short red bars (lowest
values) indicate the worst focus.

Multi-Star FWHM Measurement

Suitable for stars and point sources. Measures the FWHM (Full-width, Half Maximum – a measure of
the width of the star) of all suitable stars in the frame, giving an average score. When a frame is out
of focus, stars appear larger, making this measurement increase, so smaller values mean better
focus.

The Multi-Star FWHM score has a number of controls to adjust star detection. You should adjust
these controls to try to detect at least 20 stars (but no more than a few hundred). Guidance on
adjusting these controls can be found below.

At least five suitable stars must be detected for a valid score to be generated – if less than five stars
are detected then a placeholder score of 25 is reported.

Note that SharpCap actually calculates an estimate of the Half Flux Diameter (HFD), which is a
measure closely related to the FWHM. The HFD is, however, less affected by noise in the image than
a direct measurement of the FWHM.

Suppress Hot Pixels – Enabling this option

adjusts the star detection process to avoid
detecting a star from a single hot pixel in the
image. You may need to turn this off if you are
using a large pixel camera and a short focal
length telescope (i.e. your stars are very small).
Use Display Stretch – when this option is
selected, any display stretch applied to the
image is also used for star detection to help
detect faint stars. In general, leave this option
selected.
Sensitivity – This controls the overall sensitivity
of the star detection process – increase this
value to try to detect more stars, decrease it to
reduce the number of stars being detected.
Note the following:
• Setting a higher sensitivity can make
star detection take longer, potentially
slowing down the stacking process
• SharpCap will auto-adjust the
sensitivity for you, turning it down (to a
minimum of 75) if more than 200 stars
are detected and turning it up (to a
maximum of 75) if less than 25 stars are
detected.
Max Brightness – this is the maximum
brightness level for stars to be considered for

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part of the FWHM measurement. Fully

saturated stars are not included as it is
impossible to tell how over-saturated they are,
meaning that they can give inaccurate results.
Noise Reduction – when enabled applies a
Gaussian blur to help SharpCap to ignore low
level noise and hot pixels. Increasing this may
help detect stars correctly in noisy images.

Short green bars (low values) are indicated best focus. Red bars (highest values) indicate worst
focus.

Note that this option actually measures the half-flux-diameter, a property that is closely related to
the FWHM, but is not so badly affected by noise or mis-shaped stars.

Bahtinov Mask
Suitable for stars or other point sources. Requires a Bahtinov mask to be placed over the aperture of
the scope and the area around the star and lines to be selected using the selection tool. Best focus
is achieved when all three lines intersect at the same point which gives scores (positive or negative)
closest to zero.

A Bahtinov mask of suitable diameter must be placed over the end of the telescope to use the
Bahtinov Focus Score tool. Negative values are possible, values nearest zero are best, so -0.1 and 0.1
are equally good, 0.0 is perfect and +3.9 and -3.9 are equally bad.

Angular Resolution and Line Width are controls found only in the Bahtinov focus score.

Angular Resolution – measured in degrees and

defines how finely to scan the full 360 degrees
when looking for Bahtinov lines – the default
scans once per degree, but it can be made
finer. Possible values are 0.20°, 0.25°, 0.33°,
0.5°, 1.0°

Line width – measured in pixels and should be

set to roughly the width of the Bahtinov spikes
seen on the screen – the correct value here
helps SharpCap separate the spikes from the
noise. Possible values are 1..40 in increments
of 5.

Short green bars (low values) are best – values can be positive, negative or zero. A value of zero
indicates best focus. Red bars with large values (either positive or negative) are worst.

FWHM Measurement
Suitable for stars or other point sources. Measures the width (FWHM) of a single star – which must
be selected using the selection area tool. Better focus gives narrower stars and a lower FWHM
score.

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Multi-Star FWHM is usually better than single-star because it takes 10s or 100s of FWHM
measurements and averages them, so there should be less noise and less systematic error in the
reading.

Short green bars (low values) are indicated best focus. Red bars (highest values) indicate worst
focus.

Which Focus Tool Should Be Used?

For a field of view with many visible stars, use Multi-Star FWHM.

For a single-star (or sparse) field use either FWHM or Bahtinov Mask.

For planetary or surface targets, there are three tools to choose from:

• Contrast (Edge) Detection

• Contrast (Brightness Range) Detection
• Fourier Detail Detection

When trying to focus a planetary or surface target consider the following:

• The different focus score algorithms are attempts to find a better balance between two
opposing factors – sensitivity to being in good focus and insensitivity to noise.
• There are trade-offs involved in the various approaches. Which to use is going to be a
matter of trial and error and/or personal preference. The Contrast (Edge) Detection tool is
(probably) a good starting point in most circumstances.

Focusing Procedure
The table details the various steps to be followed to achieve good focus of the telescope.

Telescope (no ASCOM focuser) Telescope (with ASCOM focuser)

Preparation Phase
• Initial visual focus with camera and telescope against a distant object.

Setup Phase
• Check target not over exposed using Image Histogram tool.
• Select appropriate Calculate Focus Score tool – adjust black level, target detection
parameters, ROI box – to obtain best focus score.
• Reset the graph to wipe the score history.

Focusing Phase Focusing Phase

• Adjust telescope focuser manually, watch • Adjust telescope focuser using the Focuser
focus scores. Stop when best score controls in the camera control panel, watch
obtained. focus scores
• Telescope now in focus. • Use the Graph tab. Stop when best score
obtained.
• Telescope now in focus.

During the Setup Phase, the scores being shown are meaningless as they are changing because of
changing the software parameters, not changing the focus of the telescope.

At the end of the Setup Phase, Reset the Graph to wipe the score history.

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During the Focusing Phase, only adjust the telescope's focuser, not any of the settings within
SharpCap – this is to ensure the changes seen in the focus score are only a result of the changes in
focus of the telescope and are not influenced by anything else. If any SharpCap settings are changed
during the focusing stage (for instance because a planetary target has shifted in the field of view and
there is a need to update the ROI), reset the graph after making the adjustment – effectively starting
the focusing phase again.

Focus will need to be checked throughout a session as it could change because of one or more of the
following factors:

• Change in temperature affecting telescope tube.

• Change in temperature affecting optics.
• Changing filter
• Mechanical slippage (creep) of the focuser under heavy camera loading

The table below shows what would be seen in SharpCap when using the appropriate Calculate Focus
Score tool for a telescope both without and with an ASCOM focuser.

Telescope (no ASCOM focuser) Telescope (with ASCOM focuser)

FWHM measurement for star. In this trace, the

Contrast Edge Detection for a planet. In this
focuser was moved from a position of
case, the focuser was moved from an initial
reasonable focus (initial yellow/green bars) to a
poor focus to a better focus and past best focus
position of poor focus (red bars) and back to a
back to a poor focus position. [Note: History
position of good focus (dark green bars). [Note:
and Graph tabs.]
History tab only.]

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(Nearly) Automatic Focusing

When using an ASCOM focuser, SharpCap Pro users can activate additional features that allow many
of the steps outlined above to be automated. The actions that can be automated are

• Scanning over a range of focuser positions, measuring the focus score at each position to
produce a focus quality graph automatically.
• Returning automatically to the position at which the best focus score was measured
• Refocusing completely automatically re-using the settings from the last successful focus scan

All of these functions can be activated using the controls which are available in the top-right corner
of the Focus Graph

Note that the buttons in the Goto and Scan groups will appear slightly transparent until you move
your mouse over them – this allows graph detail behind the buttons to be seen.

Automatic Focus Scanning

The Scan In and Scan Out buttons can be used to initiate an automatic scan over a range of focuser
positions, measuring the quality of focus at each position. This is best started one side of the point of
best focus so that the scan will pass through the expected position of best focus.

The scan will continue, building up data in the Focus Graph until either

• The Stop button is pressed

• The focuser reaches its maximum or minimum possible position
• The number of steps configured in the options has been completed
• A best focus position has been found (if Smart Scanning is enabled).

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During the scanning process, information on progress will be shown in the notification bar.

Point of Best Focus Detection

SharpCap will monitor the focus data being accumulated during both automatic and manual focus
movements and try to find a pattern in the data. In particular SharpCap is looking for the point of
best focus, which will be indicated by a best-fit curve with either a peak (as shown below) or a valley.
A valley shaped best-fit curve should be expected for focus scores where the lowest values are best
(i.e. star FWHM measurements), a peak should be expected for scores where the highest values are
best (i.e. contrast measurements).

The best-fit curve will indicate the position where best focus is expected to be found, even if it
occurs between two measurement positions.

Note that the focus measurements must include at least three measurements each side of the point
of best focus for the focus best-fit curve to be detected properly. If a focus scan stops at or before
this point (i.e. the stopping point has the best score so far) then press the scan button again to
continue the scan past the point of best focus.

A best fit curve will only show if there is a relatively strong pattern in the measurements showing a
peak or a dip in the focus score. If the focus measurements are very variable with no distinct pattern
then a curve will not appear. This problem is often caused by the movement of the focuser being
within the ‘backlash’ region, such that even though the motor is turning the focuser itself is not
moving the camera.

Once the best-fit curve is shown and has a clear peak or valley, the Go To Best Focus button can be
used to return the focuser to the point where the best focus was achieved.

Returning to Best Focus

SharpCap can return to either the focuser position where the best focus score was obtained using
the Go To Best Focus button.

This button has a dropdown to allow choice of which direction of movement to use the best data
from – positive (outward) or negative (inward). The Focus Graph can show two best fit lines (green
for movement in the outward direction, red for movement in the inward direction). If the focuser
hardware has any significant backlash then these lines may not peak in the same position, making it
important to be able to choose between them.

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The default action of the Go To button (if you do not choose from the dropdown but just press the
button) is to choose the direction that was scanned most recently. When this button is pressed,
SharpCap will calculate the focuser position for the optimum point on the best-fit curve and then
move the focuser to that position (from the same direction as the curve measurements were made
to minimize backlash). This should place your telescope into best focus.

Whichever direction of scan is chosen, SharpCap will always move the focuser so as to approach the
best focus position in the same direction as the scan data being used, moving the focuser past the
best focus region if necessary first to allow approach from the correct direction. This is necessary to
keep the effect of any focuser mechanism backlash to a minimum

Focus Scan Options

The details of the focus scan can be configured by pressing the Options… button and setting

• Scan Step Size – this is the amount of focuser movement between each focus measurement
• Max Step Count – this is the total number of steps of Scan Step Size to make during the focus
scan
• Samples to collect at each Step – the number of focus score samples to use to measure the
focus score at each step. Note that SharpCap will wait at least one frame to allow movement
to settle at each step before starting measurement.
Note that if you have set an averaging option (perhaps to 5 frames) and you set 3 samples
here then 15 frames 5*3 will be collected at each position.

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• Move to best focus position when scan complete – when this option is selected and a focus
scan successfully determines the point of best focus, SharpCap will automatically move the
focuser to the best focus position after the scan finishes.
• Use Smart Scanning – when this option is selected, SharpCap may modify the scan to try to
ensure success of the focus scan. This can include adding extra steps to the end of the scan if
success seems likely but not enough data has been collected to be sure. Additionally,
SharpCap may stop the scan early if a best focus position has clearly been found before the
specified number of steps is complete
• Prompt to update measurement area on Refocus – enabling this option will cause SharpCap
to pause to allow the Selection Area to be positioned correctly when running a Refocus. This
is most useful when focusing for the sun, moon or planets.
• Use experimental ‘V Shape’ focus curve detection – SharpCap usually looks for a ‘U’ shaped
pattern in the focus data, which works well when close to focus. Enabling this option makes
SharpCap look for a ‘V’ shaped pattern instead, which may help if the scan includes data
from a considerable distance out-of-focus on each side of the best focus position.

Automatic focusing with a Bahtinov Mask

The discussions of automatic focussing above concentrate on focus score methods such as Contrast
Detection and FWHM Measurement which give either a maximum value or minimum value at the
point of best focus. When using the Bahtinov Mask focus tool, the best focus is at the point where
the focus score is zero.

The automatic focussing routines described are capable of working with the Bahtinov mask tool and
will properly return to the point where the focus score is zero.

ASCOM Focusers and Backlash

Backlash in the focuser mechanism will be present in all real focusers and shows itself as the best
focus point appearing in differing positions depending on which direction the focuser is moving. So,
if the peak focus score is at focuser position 20100 when the focuser is moving in the positive (+ve)
direction, it could be at 19900 when moving in the negative (-ve) direction, there are 200 steps of
backlash in the focuser movement. If trying to return the focuser to the position where the score
was at its best, always approach from the same direction used when measuring the focus to avoid
errors caused by backlash.

Ideally, you should calculate the amount of backlash in your focuser (the difference between the
best focus position in the positive and negative directions) and configure SharpCap to correct for
that amount of backlash. See Focuser configuration.

Fully Automatic Focusing

Fully automatic focusing (for deep sky images) is available via the Refocus button and also the
Sequencer and the Deep Sky Sequence Planner. Fully automatic focusing builds on the scan and
return to best position steps described above, so it is best to ensure that those steps work correctly
before using fully automatic focusing. Note that fully automatic focusing is a SharpCap Pro feature.

The Refocus Button

The Automatic Refocus button is available in the Focus Assistant sub-menu and in the focus tools
dropdown in the toolbar. An almost equivalent Refocus button is available in the Focus work area.

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To use these options to perform a refocus, the following conditions must be satisfied:

• A camera must be open

• An ASCOM focuser must be selected and connected
• A previous focus scan and goto the best focus position must have succeeded
• A SharpCap Pro license is required

When a focus scan succeeds in finding the point of best focus, SharpCap saves information about the
settings used for that scan – number of steps, size of each step, number of samples captured at each
step, which focus tool was used, etc. These saved settings are re-used by the Refocus tool. Note that
the Automatic Refocus buttons will launch the same focus tool (i.e. Multi-star FWHM or Contrast
(Edge) detection) that was used for the previous successful focus, where the Refocus button in the
focus work area will use the currently selected tool.

When Refocus is in progress, the main SharpCap user interface will be disabled to prevent manual
adjustments to camera settings or focuser position from interfering with the automatic focus
procedure. A Refocus Progress window will be shown, which gives updates on the current status of
the refocus operation.

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The focus work area will also appear, showing the focus data as it is collected on the graph tab. Any
data previously showing in the focus graph area will be cleared at the beginning of the scan to
ensure that only data from the scan is included in focus measurements.

The Refocus Progress window has both the Cancel and Emergency Stop buttons to allow the
procedure to be stopped if necessary.

• The Cancel button will stop the scan as soon as possible and will return the focuser to the
position it was in before the scan started.
• The Emergency Stop button will stop the scan straight away and will also send ‘stop
movement’ commands to the focuser and any other connected ASCOM hardware. The
focuser will not be returned to the initial position. This button can be used when something
seems to be going wrong and you are concerned that hardware damage may occur if the
procedure continues.

If the refocus procedure is successful in finding the point of best focus then the results of the
calculation will be shown in the progress window and the focuser will be moved to the point of best
focus. The Refocus Progress window will close automatically a few seconds after the refocus process
is completed.

If the refocus procedure fails then information about the failure will be shown in the progress
window, the focuser will be returned to the initial position and the progress window will close after
a few seconds. An error notification will also be shown giving the reason for the refocus failure.

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Note that if the Refocus procedure opened the focus work area then it will close it again at the end
of the refocus run. If the focus work area was already open when the refocus was started then it will
remain open after the end of the refocus run.

Refocusing from the Sequence Planner and Sequencer

When using the Deep Sky Sequence Planner, autofocus and refocus will be performed using the
Multi-star FWHM tool. Additionally, the range of the refocus scan (how many focuser steps either
side of the current position) and the number of measurement steps to take within that range can be
specified manually. The values to use for these settings should be reasonably easy to choose once
you have some experience with focus scans and the use of the Refocus button. Progress of the focus
procedure will be displayed in the main sequencer progress window, but otherwise the procedure
runs in a similar manner to the Refocus procedure described above.

When using the sequence editor, three autofocus steps are available for use

• Autofocus between <Start Focuser Position> and <End Focuser Position> with <Scan Step
Count> steps allowing for backlash of up to <Backlash Allowance>
• Autofocus from offset <Start Focuser Position (Offset)> to <End Focuser Position (Offset)>
with <Scan Step Count> steps allowing for backlash of up to <Backlash Allowance>
• Refocus using the same settings as the most recently used autofocus run

The first two steps will always use Multi-star FWHM and allow the range and number of
measurement steps to be specified in the same way as in the Deep Sky Sequence Planner. The
second option specifies positions relative to the current focuser position, while the first specifies
absolute start and end points.

The third option is identical in effect to using the Automatic Refocus option from the menu or
toolbar, as described above.

Setting the Correct Black Level

For most focus score tools, setting the correct Black Level value will help give more reliable scores.
Parts of the image that are below the Black Level brightness are not included in the focus score
calculation. Note that the Multi-Star FWHM score does not require the black level to be set manually
– it is handled automatically.

Before setting the black level, ensure the object is not over-exposed by viewing with the Image
Histogram – avoid the Image Histogram hitting the right-hand side.

For a large planetary target, the optimum black level is when there is a thin black area between the
object and the dark area. This can be difficult to see, so use the Zoom tool from the tool bar to
improve the detail.

Contrast (Edge) Detection focus score used.

Here the Zoom is 100%. The black level

happened to be 6.5% in this case.

The actual optimum percentage black level will

vary depending on camera and settings. The
picture illustrates how the black level shading
should look when the black level is set
correctly.

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When the ROI is over the planet, and everything within the ROI is part of the desired image. The
requirement is to measure the focus of all of it. Hence in this case, the black level is set to low or
zero.

For a star as target, the optimum black level is when there is a thin black area between the object
and the dark area. This can difficult to see, so use the Zoom tool from the tool bar.

FWHM focus score used.

Here the Zoom is 150%. The black level

happened to be 21% in this case.

The actual optimum percentage black level will

vary depending on camera and settings. The
picture illustrates how the black level shading
should look when the black level is set
correctly.

This is the effect of the correct black level on the focus score, making it clear the graph should
always be reset after adjusting the black level or other parameters to avoid confusing the results of
these adjustments with actual changes in the quality of focus.

Using a Bahtinov Mask

A Bahtinov mask must be fitted to the telescope for the Bahtinov mask focus score tool to work.
Here are examples of diffraction patterns obtained using a Bahtinov mask in the conventional way,
where the intersection of all three diffraction spikes at a single point indicates good focus.

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Good Off to the left Off to the right

The Bahtinov Mask is used for single stars, which must be selected with the region selection area.
Good focus is indicated by short green bars. No bars, or a score of 0, indicated perfect focus.

When using the Bahtinov mask tool, ensure the Black Level control is set to a value that excludes the
background area around the diffraction spikes from the focus score calculation but includes the
entire visible diffraction spike area.

SharpCap attempts to detect the diffraction lines created by the Bahtinov mask and calculate
whether they all meet at a single point (in focus) or not – SharpCap will draw coloured lines over the
diffraction spikes as can be seen in the diagrams below.

Check the lines really are following the diffraction spikes, as sometimes the wrong lines will be
detected and if this happens (as shown in the diagram on the right) the focus score will not be
accurate. When the lines are detected incorrectly, it is usually possible to correct the problem by
adjusting the black level or camera parameters such as gain or exposure.

SharpCap overlay
Resulting graphic
Diffraction spikes
Diffraction spikes overlaid by the SharpCap mask gives the aligned graphic at focus.

Live Stacking
Live stacking is a feature that enables the capture of deep sky images within SharpCap without the
traditional requirements of a high accuracy, guided, equatorial mount and long sub-frame
exposures. The capture of a larger number of shorter exposures and software correction within
SharpCap for any drift or rotation of the field of view between frames makes deep sky
astrophotography accessible to a much wider audience at much lower cost.

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The traditional requirements of long exposures and accurately guided mounts arise from traditional
CCD cameras used for deep sky astrophotography have a high-level of read noise. If there is a high
read noise every time that a frame is captured, long exposures are required to allow faint deep sky
objects to be seen above the read noise level. Long exposures mean that an equatorial mount which
tracks accurately and is typically auto-guided is required.

This all changes when modern low noise CMOS cameras are used instead of CCD cameras. The low
level of read noise means that faint objects can be detected in far shorter exposures (and can be
enhanced by stacking many short exposures – something that would not be possible without low
read noise). If exposures are short enough (often 30s or less), mount accuracy is less important as
the amount of drift during a 30s exposure is far smaller than the drift during a 300s exposure. Away
from the zenith, field rotation due to the use of an ALT/AZ mount is also not usually going to be
significant during a single 30s exposure. SharpCap corrects for any gradual drift or rotation between
successive frames by tracking the movement of the brightest stars in the image. As the number of
frames captured increases the noise level visible initially visible in the stacked image will reduce
giving astounding deep sky images with the minimum of fuss.

Because of the simple satisfaction of watching deep sky images appear in real time without the need
to use a separate stacking program, Live Stacking is particularly well suited to outreach uses.

Live Stacking is started by choosing the ‘Live Stack’ option from the Tools menu or by selecting the
Live Stack toolbar button.

Once selected, Live Stacking will immediately begin capturing, aligning and stacking frames. A
minimum of 3 stars must be detected in each frame for alignment to be possible (see the following
sections for further details on alignment and how to customize star detection). It is possible to save
the stacked image at any point using the Save button that appears in the Live Stack work area – the
Save can be repeated as required – for instance after 50 frames and again after 100 frames and so
on.

Note that adding more frames when using Live Stacking does not, by itself, make the image brighter
(if you wish to make the image brighter, adjust the stretch applied in the Histogram tab or by using
the Display Histogram Stretch). Instead, as more frames are added to the stack, the noise in the
image will slowly reduce, producing a higher quality and more pleasing image. As the noise level
reduces, you may find that you can enhance the image further by :

• Increasing the amount of stretch applied to brighten faint detail by using the Histogram tab
• Using sharpening adjustments in the Enhancement tab

These adjustments may give good results when the noise level is lower after many frames have been
added to the stack, even if they look unnatural when there is a high noise level after only a few
frames have been added to the stack.

The images below show the Horsehead Nebula after 1 frame (left), 10 frames (centre) and 100
frames (right) with otherwise identical settings for camera, live stacking and display stretch.

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Working with Live Stacking

The UI to control Live Stacking appears in the work area below the camera image, and is divided into
an always visible left panel and a series of tabs to the right.

The left panel controls and reports on the most important aspects of the stacking process and is
always visible during Live Stack. The right panel has ten tabs to allow the monitoring and control of
the details of the Live Stack process.

Left Panel
The most important controls in Live Stacking are located in the left panel and are available at all
times – these include clearing and saving the stack and controlling key features such as alignment,
filtering and whether to save raw frames.

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Overview Group
• Frames Stacked – the current number of frames on the stack.
• Frames Rejected – the number of frames rejected (not stacked). This can happen because of
alignment problems, SharpCap not seeing enough stars, frame failing to achieve a focus
score criteria or other reasons.
• Total Exposure – the length of time the current stack has been running. Some cameras
cannot report their exposure value to SharpCap (for instance DirectShow Frame Grabbers).
In those cases, SharpCap estimates the exposure based on the time between subsequent
frames.

Controls Group
• Align Frames – turn alignment and de-rotation on/off (default on). See Alignment tab on
right panel for more details.
• FWHM Filter – enable/disable filtering of each frame by the average FWHM (focus quality)
value. High FWHM value frames are discarded as indicating poor
focus/seeing/transparency/cloud. See Filter tab.
• Brightness Filter – enable/disable filtering of each frame by the brightness of the stars
detected in the frame. A reduction in star brightness is often caused by thin cloud.
• Auto Save on Clear/Close – enable/disable saving the stack automatically when the clear
button is pressed or another action causes the stack to be reset.
• Raw Frames – these options control whether the raw (unprocessed frames) are also saved.
The options available are:
o Save None – Raw frames are not saved
o Save Stacked – Raw frames that are added to the stack are saved, frames that are
not added to the stack are not saved (frames may not be added for a number of
reasons : failure to align, FWHM or brightness filters, stacking being paused,
dithering)
o Save except when Paused/Dithering – Raw frames are saved except when the
stacking has been paused or when a dither operation is taking place
o Save All – All raw frames are saved.

Note that the saved raw frames do not have any pre-processing applied to them (dark
subtraction, flat correction, banding suppression or background subtraction, etc.). This
means that they can be processed later in another application.

Note also that the Preferred Still Format setting will determine the file format that the raw
frames are saved to, and the raw frames will be found in a folder like YYYY-MM-
DD\Capture\HH_MM_SS\rawframes.

• View – you can choose to view either

o Stack (show the stack so far – the default)
o Individual Frames (show the individual frames being captured by the camera). This
can be useful when you are having problems with live stacking. By viewing the
individual frames, you can see what stars are visible, if conditions have changed, etc.
• Stacking – Allows you to choose the stacking algorithm between the default algorithm, the
sigma-clipping algorithm and the maximum value (meteor detection) algorithm. See
Stacking Tab for more details. Note that changing the stacking algorithm will reset the stack.

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Actions Group

The Clear button will reset the stack to start from scratch. Note, other actions can cause the stack to
be reset; for instance, changing camera, resolution, colour space, etc. Changes to exposure, gain,
brightness or applying a dark/flat will not cause the stack to be reset, but such changes should
generally be avoided while a stack is in progress as they may lead to poor results.

The Save button has 4 sub options:

• Save as 16 Bit Stack will rescale the stacked data linearly between the 0 and the maximum
pixel value into the range 0 to 65535 and save this as a 16-bit FITS file. The 16-bit FITS
option is the default as it gives a high bit depth image with the full range of the image used
(i.e. brightest pixel is 65535).
• Save as Raw (32-bit) Stack will save the full 32-bit stack data as a 32-bit FITS file. The data
will be bit-shifted to fill most of the available range of 32-bit data (the amount of bit-shifting
will be stored in the BITSHIFT header of the fits file).
Note: when using Sigma Clipped stacking, the 32 bit values will be stretched up to a
maximum value of 231-1.
Note: SharpCap can be configured via the Saving Settings to Save 32 bit FITS files as Floating
Point. This can increase compatibility of these saved files with some imaging/processing
applications such as GIMP.
• Save with Adjustments will save the image with the Live Stacking adjustments applied (i.e.
after histogram adjustments and colour adjustments have been applied) as an 8 or 16-bit
PNG file (depending on bit depth of camera being used).
• Save Exactly as Seen will save the image exactly as shown on screen as an 8-bit PNG file. This
will include the effects of both the live stacking histogram and colour adjustments and the
display stretch if one is applied.

The Pause/Resume button will temporarily stop or resume stacking. Stacking will automatically be
paused if the Live Stack window is closed or if the user switches to another tool such as Histogram.
Switching back to Live Stack will allow stacking to be resumed in these circumstances if another
action would cause the stack to reset has not been carried out (for instance changing resolution or
colour space), providing that live stacking has been closed for less than 60 seconds. This ensures that
stacked data is not lost through accidentally selecting other SharpCap functions that might close Live
Stacking.

Finally, in the Advanced section, you can choose to automatically save and reset the stack after a
selectable interval. This can be useful if you live in an area with heavy aircraft traffic as taking a large
number of shorter stacks may avoid a single set of aircraft lights spoiling a long stack. Note that the
time limit for this depends on the Total Exposure for frames added to the stack, so the actual time
may be longer if frames are rejected or actions such as dithering interrupt stacking.

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Status Tab

The Status tab shows some more detailed information about the stacking process and the stack so
far. Of interest is the Stacking Time, which is the amount of time taken to process the alignment and
stacking calculations needed for each frame. If this time is longer than the exposure length, frames
will be dropped from the stack (due to the previous frame still being stacked when the next frame
arrives). The Render Time indicates how long the calculations to redraw the image on screen take to
complete. Certain Live Stacking features such as noise reduction and sharpening can increase the
render time. If the render time is large then the program will only respond slowly to changes in the
Live Stack histogram or colour settings. The Save Raw Time shows how much time is being used
saving raw frames to file (if that option is enabled).

The right-hand column of the Statistics shows information on the FWHM measurements made on
frames captured during the stack so far, showing the FWHM values of the best (minimum) and worst
(maximum) frame as well as the average frame FWHM. Note that if the FWHM Filter option is
enabled, some of the frames with higher FWHM values may have been excluded from the stack by
the filter.

The right-hand information panel shows the current status or warning or error messages if stacking
errors are occurring.

Histogram Tab

The Histogram tab shows not only the histogram of the live stack data, but also allows the image
levels to be stretched by moving the three vertical dashed yellow lines which represent the White
Level, Black Level, and Mid-Level. The yellow curve shows the Transfer Curve which determines how
bright the viewed image is for a given histogram level. For pixels at the Black Level point (and below)
the viewed image will be black. For pixels at the Mid-Level point the viewed image will be mid (50%)
grey. For pixels at (or above) the White Level point, the viewed image will be at maximum (100%)
intensity.

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• Tweaks to the Black Level, White Level and Mid-Level affect how the image is shown on
screen and how it is saved if choosing Save with Adjustments or Save Exactly as Seen.
• The changes do not affect the actual values in the stack or the result if Saving As 16 or 32 bit
stacks.
• Changes made to the levels here do not affect the shape or position of the histogram shown
in the Live Stacking panel, but will show in the Mini Histogram in the Camera Control Panel
on the right.
• Additionally, the Histogram Stretch Controls on the right, in the Camera Control Panel, affect
only how the image is viewed on screen and do not affect saved data except when using the
‘Save Exactly as Seen’ option.

Adjust White Level

• The white level applies to the horizontal axis of the histogram, so left is 0% and right is
100%. It is not usually necessary to adjust this line.

Adjust Black Level

• The black level applies to the horizontal axis of the histogram, so left is 0% and right is 100%.
• Turn up the Black Level slightly (move slider to right) to suppress sky glow/chip noise and
give a dark background to an image. Turning the black level up too far can give the image an
unnatural look or make faint detail vanish.

Adjust Mid-Level
• The mid-level line also applies to the horizontal axis of the histogram and specifies the level
on the histogram that will be displayed as a mid (50%) grey level. The mid-level is restricted
to be between the black level and the white level.
• Moving the mid-level control to the left towards will enhance the brightness of dim areas of
the image. Moving the mid-level control to the right towards the white level will darken dim
areas of the image but enhance contrast in the brighter areas of the image.

Transfer Curve
• The yellow transfer curve shows how the levels between the black and white points are
going to be displayed on screen. The shape of this line is determined by the positions of the
black level, white level and mid-level controls, and the line acts in a way similar to the
‘Curves’ adjustment found in many image processing applications. For this line the vertical
axis of the graph is the display brightness from black (bottom) to white (top). The brightness
of a pixel in the viewed image is calculated by taking its horizontal position of the pixel on
the histogram, moving up to the red transfer curve line and taking the vertical position of
the line at that point as the displayed brightness for that pixel.

Auto-Stretch and Reset Buttons

These buttons are located at the top-right of the main histogram area. The Auto-Stretch
button (with the lightning bolt) will automatically set the black, mid and white levels to
appropriate values to enhance the view of the image being stacked. The Reset button (with
the circular arrow) will set the levels back to their default values. Note that the use of the
Auto-Stretch button requires a SharpCap Pro license.

If you find you want a slightly stronger stretch, hold down the CTRL key while clicking on the
Auto-Stretch button. Holding down the SHIFT key will give a slightly weaker stretch than
normal. You can also adjust the strength of the default stretch in the Display Settings.

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Colour Adjustment

The colour adjustment sliders can be found to the right of the main histogram area and only
show for colour cameras. The four sliders are, in order from left to right:
o Red Adjustment
o Green Adjustment
o Blue Adjustment
o Saturation Adjustment
The three colour sliders can be used to adjust the colour balance of the image. The
saturation slider can be used to increase or decrease the amount of colour seen.
Adjustments made here affect the image as viewed on screen and the saved images when
choosing either ‘Save With Adjustments’ or ‘Save Exactly as Seen’.

The colour adjustment sliders can apply an adjustment of between -10db (0.32x) and +10db
(3.2x) to each colour channel.

Below the colour sliders are three buttons – from left to right:
o Auto colour balance based on aligning image histogram peaks
o Auto colour balance based on star colours
o Colour adjustments reset button
Horizontal Axis Scaling
The scaling of the horizontal axis of the histogram can be adjusted by checking one or both
of the Zoom and Log(arithmic) checkboxes.

Using either the horizontal axis zoom or the logarithmic scaling can make it much easier to
adjust the histogram (particularly for faint targets), since it makes the region of interest in
the histogram take up much more of the available space.
Stretch Mode
Adjusting the Stretch Mode provides additional control over the shape of the transfer curve,
which may be useful when imaging some targets. In particular, bright targets such as M31 or
M42 may be difficult to adjust correctly in the default stretch mode (mode 2), giving over-
saturated bright cores. Setting a higher Stretch Mode increase the steepness of the transfer
curve in the darker regions of the histogram and reduces the steepness in the brighter
regions, which may help deal with bright targets.
Note that in higher stretch modes, it may be difficult to adjust the black level correctly in the
Live Stack histogram, however the Display Histogram Stretch control allows these fine
corrections to be made easily in this situation.
Making fine adjustments to the Histogram
Sometimes it is necessary to make fine adjustments to the histogram stretch levels or the colour
balance sliders to get the desired effects.

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• Hold down the <SHIFT> key while dragging the Black/Mid/White level lines – this will reduce
the speed at which the lines move, making them easier to adjust.
• Start dragging the Black/Mid/White level lines and move the mouse pointer to the top of the
screen while continuing to drag. The further you move the mouse pointer out of the
histogram area, the slower the lines will drag left/right
• Click on one of the colour balance bars and use the up/down arrow keys on the keyboard to
make small adjustments or make the live stack area taller.
• Tick the Logarithmic Horizontal Axis checkbox, which will adjust the horizontal scale of the
histogram to give more space to the shadows and mid-range and less to the highlights
region. Note that the vertical scale of the histogram is always logarithmic.
• Holding down <SHIFT> while adjusting the colour balance and saturation sliders also
provides fine adjustment, with the adjustment made being reduced by about 10 times from
normal.

Alignment Tab

The Alignment tab controls the alignment process which, along with the FWHM filter, depends on
the detection of stars in each image. SharpCap can only align images in which it can detect stars (do
not use Live Stack for planetary, solar or lunar images).

• A minimum of 3 stars is required for Live Stack with alignment to work. However, for
reliability and good alignment a star count of 10-15 or more is to be preferred.
• Too many stars being detected can also cause problems, with either false alignment matches
or with the star detection stage slowing down the stacking process. 100 to 200 stars is
sufficient.

Alignment Group
• Align Frames – enable or disable the alignment of frames. The first frame in any stack
becomes the reference frame – all other frames are aligned with that frame when alignment
is enabled. SharpCap uses the stars it detected in the first frame to align all subsequent
frames with the stack. Stars in the stack are re-detected if any of the star detection
parameters are changed. The absolute minimum requirement is 3 stars detected, although
having 3 stars is no guarantee of alignment working if too close together or close to being in
a straight line for instance. Ideally, aim for 10-20 or more stars detected with a good
distribution across the frame.

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• Align using – to select number of stars. It can be 10, 15, 20 or 25 stars. Using a larger
number of stars may slow down the stacking process, but may give better alignment results.
Only increase this value if detecting plenty of stars but still having difficulty aligning.

Comet Alignment
• Align on a Comet – enabling this option changes the alignment calculations to a mode where
aligning on a comet is possible. Instead of using 3 or more stars to align, in Comet mode,
SharpCap looks for a single fuzzy blob in the image and aligns on that. Since the comet is
likely to be moving appreciably against the background stars, the stars will form trails in the
resulting image, but the comet should form a good image. The image below shows comet
C2022/E3 (ZTF) captured in Live Stack Comet mode.
• Ignore Stars Filter Size – when aligning on a comet, SharpCap needs to ignore all the stars in
the image (which are small and bright) so that the only bright thing left is the comet (which
is more spread out and bright). As SharpCap processes the image looking for the comet, it
will wipe out stars up to the size specified by this setting. Note that a second extended
object in view (galaxy, nebula) may confuse the comet alignment routines and should be
avoided.
• Detection Threshold – with the stars removed according to the Ignore Stars Filter Size,
SharpCap will look for the brightest area of the frame (the brightest pixels as limited by this
threshold) and use the average position of those bright pixels as the position of the comet.

Comet alignment is best set up by

• Turning on Align Frames and Align on a Comet

• Turning on Highlight Detected Stars
• Switching the View option to Individual Frames
• Setting a good Display Histogram Stretch to make the comet visible in the individual frames

In this configuration, SharpCap will highlight a single ‘detected star’ in the image – the place it is
detecting for the comet. Now adjust the Ignore Stars Filter Size and Detection Threshold until the
detected position aligns well with the nucleus of the comet. In general a high Ignore Stars Filter Size
and a low Detection Threshold give good results.

Note that Comet Alignment is a SharpCap Pro feature.

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Once the detection rectangle is aligning with the comet nucleus, turn off Highlight Detected Stars,
switch the View option back to Stack and reset the stack to start a new comet stack that should align
correctly.

Because comet alignment depends on detection of a single target (the comet), it cannot adjust for
rotation of the image as normal star based alignment can. Avoid using comet alignment with an Alt-
Az mount (particularly near the Zenith) otherwise the stacked image quality may be affected by
rotation.

Star Detection Group

• Sensitivity – This controls the overall sensitivity of the star detection process – increase this
value to try to detect more stars, decrease it to reduce the number of stars being detected.
Note the following:
o Setting a higher sensitivity can make star detection take longer, potentially slowing
down the stacking process
o SharpCap will auto-adjust the sensitivity for you, turning it down (to a minimum of
75) if more than 200 stars are detected and turning it up (to a maximum of 75) if less
than 25 stars are detected.
• Noise Reduction – when enabled applies a Gaussian blur to help SharpCap to ignore low level
noise and hot pixels. Increasing this may help detect stars correctly in noisy images.
• Maximum Star Size (pixels) – set a maximum star size, which can be helpful to prevent
SharpCap from detecting small non-stellar targets (such as Planetary Nebulae) as stars.
• Suppress Hot Pixels – Enabling this option adjusts the star detection process to avoid
detecting a star from a single hot pixel in the image. You may need to turn this off if you are
using a large pixel camera and a short focal length telescope (i.e. your stars are very small).
• Optimize for Faint Stars – Use this option if you are having trouble with alignment but can
see faint stars in the image that are not being detected.
• Highlight Detected Stars – checking this will put boxes around the detected stars – yellow
stars are used for alignment; red are not used for alignment. This can be very helpful to
determine and understand the causes of problems with star detection and alignment.

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Note that the detected stars shown are the stars for the stack when View is set to Stack, and
are the stars for the raw frames from the camera when View is set to Individual Frames.
• Reset All – this button resets all star-detection related options to their default values.

Status Groups
• Shows various data including offset of the frame from the stack, rotation and number of
stars detected.
Note that the offset and rotation is relative to the first frame in the stack.

Stacking Tab
The Stacking tab allows the selection of either the Default or Sigma Clipped stacking algorithm and
also allows adjustments to be made to the settings for the Sigma Clipped algorithm.

Default Stacking
The Default Stacking Algorithm adds the pixel values from each frame to the stack data. All frame
date from stacked frames is included in the stack. The default stacking algorithm does not have any
adjustable controls.

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Sigma Clipped Stacking

The Sigma Clipped Stacking Algorithm averages stacked frames together to create the stack data.
The algorithm tracks fractional pixel values, so stack quality is maintained. The algorithm also
compares the value of each pixel in a new frame to the value of that pixel so far in the stack – if the
two differ too much the data from that pixel is ignored for that frame.

The advantage of Sigma Clipped stacking is that anomalous features in individual frames – for
example satellite or aeroplane trails do not end up in the stack data, since the anomalously bright
pixels are rejected by the algorithm.

SharpCap keeps track of the mean value of each pixel in the stack as well as the amount of variability
in the pixel value for each pixel. The amount of variability for each pixel is known as the standard
deviation or Sigma value for each pixel.

The decision on whether to include the data for a particular pixel from a particular frame in the stack
is made on the basis of the difference between the pixel value in the frame and the mean pixel value
in the stack so far for that pixel. The size of this difference is compared to the sigma value for that
pixel multiplied by the Sigma Threshold value. If the difference is larger than the pixel data is
ignored.

The following controls are available to adjust the behaviour of the Sigma Clipped Algorithm:

• Initial Frame Count – this controls the number of initial frames during which the algorithm
learns what values are expected for each pixel without rejecting any potentially unusual
values. A value in the range 5 to 10 is usually sufficient.
• Sigma Threshold – this controls how different from the current stack pixel value a frame
pixel value must be to be rejected. Setting a higher value here will mean that less pixel data
is discarded but will reduce the effectiveness of the algorithm at excluding anomalous pixel
data. This control should be adjusted while watching the Status information which shows
the fraction of pixels being rejected in each frame.
• Sigma Low Limit (%) – this control specifies a lower limit on the value of sigma calculated for
any pixel in the stack. This is required to prevent incorrect rejection of image data when the
individual frames have very little noise.

Note that Sigma Clipped Stacking requires a SharpCap Pro license.

Maximum Value (Meteor Detection) Stacking

When the stacking mode is set to Maximum Value (Meteor Detection), SharpCap will use the
maximum pixel value seen at a location as the value to be displayed (rather than the average value
as used in other modes). In this mode, stacking will not reduce image noise significantly, but meteor
trails across the image (and satellite trails for that matter) will persist rather than slowly fading due
to averaging.

Enhancement Tab
The controls in the Enhancement tab provide a way to improve the live stack image by either
reducing the noise in the image, sharpening the image or both. All tools in the enhancement tab,
except for the simple Gaussian Blur noise reduction require a SharpCap Pro license.

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Gaussian Blur – a simple noise reduction tool which blurs each pixel in the image with its neighbours.
This helps reduce the noise in the image but also has the effect of blurring the image somewhat. The
Radius control determines how large an area each pixel is blurred over, increasing this value will
strengthen the noise reduction effect but also blur the image more.

Bilateral Filter – a more sophisticated noise reduction tool which can reduce noise in areas of similar
colour without blurring detail as much as the Gaussian Blur noise reduction tool. Once again, the
Radius control determines the area over which the noise reduction operates. The Luminance
Tolerance control determines how big a change in brightness is required to be regarded as a feature
that will be preserved. The Bilateral Filter algorithm requires much more calculation than the
Gaussian Blur algorithm and may slow down live stacking when using high resolution cameras or on
slower computers.

Colour Noise Reduction – a noise reduction applied only to the colour information in the image (to
be precise to the Cb and Cr channels of the image in YCbCr format). This can be particularly effective
in reducing the apparent noise in an image in the early stages of stacking when only a small number
of frames have been stacked. Because no noise reduction is applied to the luminance channel, fine
detail in the image is largely unaffected.

Unsharp Mask is a simple image sharpening tool which strengthens the sharper components of the
image relative to the less sharp components, producing a sharper looking image. The Radius control
adjusts the split between the ‘sharp’ and ‘less sharp’ components of the image – the higher the
value set the larger the scales of details that will be considered part of the ‘sharp’ component. The
Amount control determines how much boosting is applied to the ‘sharp’ components of the image.
Applying the Unsharp Mask sharpening unfortunately has the side effect of increasing image noise in
the image. Setting the Amount control to too high a value may lead to an unnatural look to the
image.

Note that for colour images it is possible to apply the Unsharp Mask sharpening only to the
luminance of the image by ticking the Luminance Only checkbox. This can be helpful to avoid the
creation of colour artefacts in the image when sharpening.

Weiner Deconvolution is a sophisticated image sharpening tool based on determining the shape of
stars in the stacked image as an indication of the nature of blurring in the stacked image, then
attempting to undo this blurring to the image to produce a sharpened image. The only control to
adjust for this sharpening algorithm is the Signal to Noise Ratio. This is an estimate of how much
brighter the image signal is in the stack than the noise. The Signal to Noise Ratio control should be
set to the highest value that gives a natural look to the image (setting the value too high will give the

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image an unnatural, ‘orange peel’ look). The Weiner Deconvolution algorithm requires a significant
amount of calculation and may slow down live stacking when using high resolution cameras or on
slower computers.

Note that Weiner Deconvolution requires star detection to be active and finding stars in the image,
since it uses the average star shape as an estimate of the ‘Point Spread Function’ which describes
how the image has been blurred by seeing, optics, etc. If no stars are being detected then the
deconvolution option will have no effect. Weiner Deconvolution is only applied to the luminance
channel of colour images.

The sharpening and noise reduction algorithms affect both the image as shown on screen and the
image saved when using Save with Adjustments or Save Exactly as Seen. Since the sharpening and
noise reduction is applied every time the image on screen is updated, using these tools may reduce
the responsiveness of the live stacking to changes in other controls such as colour adjustment or
histogram changes.

Guiding Tab
SharpCap can work with the popular freeware guiding application PHD2 and also the MGEN3
Autoguider to monitor and control guiding and dithering while live stacking. Additionally SharpCap
can dither using a connected ASCOM mount without needing a guiding application. See the Guiding
Settings for more information on configuring guiding/dithering options, including configuring
dithering settings that were found in this tab in older versions of SharpCap.

The Guiding tab also allows you to set up periodic re-centring of the target using Plate Solving and a
GOTO mount. This is an excellent way to prevent the telescope from drifting too far from the target
if you are not guiding.

Configure your guiding setup in the Guiding Settings before trying to start guiding or dithering while
live stacking.

If Monitor Guiding Application is checked then SharpCap will attempt to connect to the selected
guiding application/device when live stacking starts. A notification message will indicate if
connection has succeeded or failed and if connection succeeds then the Status information will
update regularly.

If SharpCap has successfully connected to the guiding application/device then a status such as
‘Guiding’, ‘Calibrating’ or ‘Stopped’ will be shown in the Status box on the right. If guiding
monitoring is disabled or SharpCap cannot connect to the guiding application/device then ‘Not
connected to guiding’ will be shown.

To retry the connection (perhaps if PHD2 was not running initially, or your MGEN3 device was not
plugged in), uncheck and then re-check the Monitor Guiding Application checkbox.

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Monitoring Guiding
Basic guiding monitoring is managed by the following option:

Only Stack when guiding is active – if enabled then SharpCap will pause any live stack in progress if
the guiding status changes from ‘Guiding’ to any other status, or if guiding is not connected. Note
that if you start a new stack with this option enabled and guiding is not active, SharpCap will not
stack any frames until the option is cleared or guiding becomes available.

Notification messages will be shown in the SharpCap notification bar when guiding starts or stops,
explaining if stacking is disabled due to guiding not being active.

Note that if Dither Only Guiding is selected in the Guiding Settings then SharpCap will always report
guiding as active if an ASCOM mount is available, and the Only Stack when guiding is active checkbox
has no effect.

Dithering
SharpCap Pro users can also enable dithering using their guiding application/device while live
stacking. In order to enable dithering, tick the Automatically Dither checkbox and set the dithering
interval as required.

SharpCap will send instructions to dither at regular intervals. The dithering interval may either be set
as an elapsed time (in seconds) between dither operations or as a number of captured frames
between dither operations. If the dithering interval is set to a time and the dither time arrives while
a frame is being captured, SharpCap will wait until the frame ends before starting dithering.

SharpCap will exclude frames captured during the dithering operation from the stack, so that frames
that may be blurred due to the dithering movement are not included in the stack. The stack will
recommence normal operation after the end of the first frame to finish after the dither has finished
settling.

Dither Every – this specifies the interval between dithering operations, either in frames or in
seconds. Note that if a short dither interval is specified (i.e. dithering every frame or two), it is critical
to set the Reduce Exposure while Dithering option to avoid an unacceptable loss of time due to a
large fraction of frames being discarded due to dithering.

Reduce Exposure while Dithering – If this option is selected then SharpCap will reduce the exposure
of the camera to approximately 2 seconds during dithering operations and reset it back to the
normally selected exposure time when the dithering operation is complete. This reduces the amount
of lost imaging time at each dither and should normally be left checked. The reduced exposure (2
second) frames will not be added to the stack and will not be saved as raw frames unless the Save All
option is selected for saving raw frames. The use of this option is recommended.

Automatic Recentering
Automatic recentring provides an alternative to guiding as a way to limit mount drift for long
stacking sessions. Recentring is available if the following criteria are satisfied :

• A GOTO mount is available and connected

• A Plate Solving application has been configured in the SharpCap settings
• Either Monitor Guiding Application is unchecked (no guiding) or it is checked but Dither Only
Guiding is in use (as opposed to real guiding such as PHD2 or an MGEN3 device).

The functionality is controlled by setting the amount of drift that is allowed before recentring is
activated – this is controlled by adjusting the Recenter when drift exceeds <XX> pixels value.

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When the drift of the current frame from the stack exceeds the threshold, SharpCap will

• Plate solve the stacked image

• Calculate the mount offset needed to make the mount point back at the stacked image from
the plate solving information and the stacking offset
• Reduce the camera exposure if the Reduce Exposure while Dithering option is set
• Move the mount as required to bring recentre
• Wait for the mount to settle
• Restore the camera exposure time
• Resume stacking new frames

Subsequent recentre operations will happen when the offset again exceeds the threshold –
however, subsequent operations will not require plate solving as the data from the first operation is
re-used.

If the plate solving fails then SharpCap will retry up to 2 more times before showing a failure
notification and automatically disabling recentring to allow stacking to continue anyway.

Note that it is possible to configure SharpCap to treat the drift threshold as counting un-binned
camera pixels by ticking the Treat above value as un-binned pixels checkbox. When checked and
using binning, SharpCap will for example treat a threshold of 40 pixels as being equivalent to 20
pixels movement at bin 2. This can be useful as it keeps the physical amount of drift allowed
constant even if binning is changed.

Filter (FWHM) Tab

This filter allows poor-quality frames (poor atmospheric conditions or clouds) to be excluded from
the stack. Frame quality is judged only by the FWHM (full-width-half-maximum) estimate of the
quality of focus in the frame.

• Filter on FWHM – check to enable FWHM (focus score) filtering.

• Maximum FWHM – use the slider to specify a maximum FWHM value for frames to be used.
It shows a history of recent frames. Used frames are green, frames discarded by filtering are
red.
• Filtering does not apply to the first frame in any stack.

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Filter (Brightness) Tab

This filter can help detect reductions in frame brightness caused by passing cloud, stopping frames
spoilt by cloud from being added to the stack. The frame brightness is judged based on the
brightness of stars detected in the frame, so this filter can only operate correctly when sufficient
stars are detected in the frame.

The graph shows the brightness of recent frames with the most recent frames on the right-hand side
and the oldest frames on the left. Frames that are rejected are shown as red squares, frames that
are stacked are shown as green squares.

The controls available are:

• Filter on Brightness – check to enable brightness filtering

• Minimum Brightness – adjust the level of brightness below which frames will be rejected.
The level is measured relative to the average brightness of recently stacked frames.
• Auto – check this box to allow SharpCap to set the Minimum Brightness threshold
automatically based on the statistics of recent frames. Uncheck this box to allow the
Minimum Brightness to be set manually.

Drift Graph Tab

The drift graphs show the history of movement and rotation of the image during the current live
stack.

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The left-hand graph shows the amount of movement of the image on a scatter (X,Y) graph. Green
crosses represent frames that were added to the stack, red crosses represent frames that were not
added to the stack for some reason (filtering, stacking paused, etc). More recent frames have larger
crosses and the most recent frame is a blue cross.

The right-hand graph shows the history of rotation of the stack with the amount of rotation
measured on the vertical axis and time (with the most recent frames on the right) measured on the
horizontal axis. Rotation will be very low for equatorial mounts, but may be significant for Alt-Az
mounts.

Hovering the mouse over either graph will display a larger version.

Log Tab
Shows some log information of Live Stacking in more detail than is saved in the main SharpCap log.
If something is not working, this is the place to look.

The log tab also contains two controls that are sometimes useful:

• Reset All Settings – pressing this button will reset all live stacking settings to their default
values.
• Warn After X Ignored Frames – adjusting this setting changes the number of frames that
must be ignored in a row before SharpCap begins showing warning notifications.

Settings Tab
The settings tab provides a number of options to customize the behaviour of live stacking.

• Auto Save on Clear/Close – this duplicates the auto save option available in the Left Panel of
the Live Stacking work area. When enabled, the current stack will be automatically saved if

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you Clear the stack or close Live Stacking. Note that auto-saving only occurs if at least one
frame has been added to the current stack.
• Start stacking immediately on clear – when checked (which is the default), Live Stacking will
begin stacking straight away with the first frame received from the camera after clearing the
stack. When this option is disabled, clearing the stack will effectively pause Live Stacking – in
order to start a new stack you must press the Pause/Resume button (which will change to a
Start button).
• Disable Display Stretch when Live Stacking is activated – both the Display Histogram Stretch
and Live Stacking contain can apply a strong stretch to the image to make faint detail visible.
If you tend to keep the Display Histogram Stretch active to show faint targets when
framing/slewing/focusing etc., you may notice that when you begin Live Stacking, the
combination of the two stretches gives a poor result due to the displayed image being over
stretched. By enabling this option, you can cause SharpCap to disable the Display Histogram
Stretch when starting stacking (and re-enable it when stopping stacking) to avoid this
problem.
• Create CSV log of frame information for each stack – SharpCap can create a log file with
information about each frame considered for stacking. This feature is off by default, but can
be turned on using this option. Note that the log is not saved unless at least one other file is
saved from the stack (raw frame or saved using one of the save options). The information
saved to the log includes :
o Date & Time that frame was captured
o Frame Index in the stacking process
o Whether the frame was added to the stack or not
o Number of stars detected in the frame
o Frame star brightness reading
o Frame average star FWHM value
o The offset of the frame from the stack in pixels (X and Y direction)
o The rotation of the frame relative to the stack
o The filename of the saved raw frame file (if saved)

Live Stack Reference

For default stacking, SharpCap maintains a 32-bit integer value for each pixel of the stack with the
value from each frame being added to the pixel value.

• For a 16-bit camera it is possible to stack up to 32768 (215) frames before running out of
values in the stack.
• For an 8-bit camera it is possible to stack up to 16 million frames (224) before running out of
values in the stack.

For sigma-clipped stacking, SharpCap maintains 2 32-bit floating point numbers for each pixel – to
represent the average pixel value and the variation in the average pixel value.

All files saved during a stack will be saved in a single folder (raw frames and processed stack images
saved in subfolders). This helps keep the saves from the stack together. The folder is named after
normal file naming rules based on the time stacking was started and the name of the target object
selected.

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Renaming a Live Stack

If the name of the target in the toolbar is changed during Live Stacking, SharpCap will rename the
output folder. This will take place automatically without prompting if no images have yet been
saved by the current stack. If images have been saved then you will be prompted to confirm the
rename of the stack.

Note: The live stacking process will be paused while waiting for the answer to the rename
confirmation question.

Note: The new name is not applied until you click away from the Target Name box or use the <TAB>
key to move the cursor out of the box.

Live Stacking with a camera in Still Mode

SharpCap can live stack with a camera that is in Still Mode (note however that you cannot change
between Live Mode and Still Mode while Live Stacking is active).

When Live Stacking is enabled with a camera in Still Mode, SharpCap will automatically request
frames from the camera as required to keep the stacking working – there is no need to use the
Snapshot or Framing Shot buttons to capture frames.

There are some advantages to using Still Mode – when stacking is paused to allow for dithering,
recentering or for other reasons, the camera can be kept idle rather than having it continually take
frames as happens in Live Mode.

Seeing Monitor
The Seeing Monitor is a new application of the image quality measurement techniques that
SharpCap has provided to assist focusing for some time. Instead of helping you find the point of best
focus, you can now use the image sharpness measurements to help you capture the moments of

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clearest seeing without the eyestrain and fatigue usually associated with carefully watching the
image to pick out seeing improvements.

Seeing Monitor is launched from the Tools Menu, and shows a chart of the recent range of image
quality with the most recent values highlighted. This gives an objective measurement of when the
seeing is at its best.

Every new frame is analysed for sharpness (contrast) and the results are added to the graph that will
build up below the image. The quality of the results can be improved by selecting the area of interest
using the selection area tool (for instance sunspots, prominences, craters). Using the standard colour
scheme for focus measurements, sharp frames build the graph in green on the right hand side of the
graph, poor frames build the left hand side in red.

If the seeing is relatively constant then the graph will be like the one above with a single peak. If the
seeing improves or worsens then a new peak will begin to build (to the right for improved seeing, to
the left for worse seeing), like the image below. Note that other factors can also change the score
and cause a new peak – for instance brightening or dimming caused by passing thin clouds.

In both graphs you can see a number of vertical lines:

• Dashed line labelled Mean - The mean image quality value for all samples measured so far
• Dashed line labelled Mean + 2S.D. – The image quality value that corresponds to the mean
plus two standard deviations. If the seeing is steady then you would only expect to see about
2% of frames exceed this level due to small random fluctuations.
• Solid red line labelled Latest Value – This shows the quality of the most recent frame
recorded. If this line moves to the right of the Mean + 2SD line for any significant length of
time then it is likely that the seeing has improved.

It is important to remember that other actions can cause the quality of the image to change – for
instance

• Adjusting Focus

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• Adjusting camera parameters such as gain or exposure

• Moving the selection area rectangle
• The image moving due for some reason (poor tracking, mount adjustments)

When any of these occur, press the Reset button to clear the graph and start accumulating new
seeing data, otherwise the data may be misleading.

Configuring Seeing Monitor

On the left-hand side you will see a selection of controls allowing adjustments to be made to the
Seeing Monitor settings.

• Sample Rate – shows how often SharpCap is measuring the frame quality
• Average Over <X> frames – controls how many frame measurements are averaged together
before plotting a new data point on the graph. Typically this should be set to a value
between one half and one fifth of the sample rate to give a few new data points being added
each second

The options available in the Controls tab are identical in effect to those used for configuring the
Focus Tools.

Finally, the Capture Length setting controls how many frames will be captured when a Seeing
Triggered Capture begins – see below for more details.

Seeing Triggered, Seeing Filtered Capture

With a SharpCap Pro license, three additional functions become available – Seeing Triggered
Capture, Seeing Filtered Capture and Auto Threshold Filter Capture. These functions help capture
images when the seeing improves without the need to constantly watch the Seeing Monitor graph.

The first two functions (Seeing Triggered and Seeing Filtered Captures) rely on setting a Threshold
level in the seeing monitor graph, which can be set and adjusted by clicking on any point in the
graph.

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Both modes can be activated using the buttons found on the right-hand side of the graph.

Seeing Triggered Capture will automatically start capturing when the Latest Value exceeds the
Threshold Value and will then capture the number of frames given by the Capture Length setting in
the left-hand controls region. Note that the specified number of frames will be captured even if the
image quality then falls back below the Threshold level.

Seeing Filtered Capture works in a different way – when the Start button is pressed, SharpCap will
immediately begin capturing, but will deliberately discard all frames where the frame image quality
is below the Threshold Level. This will be reflected by the dropped frames count rising rapidly in the
Status Bar. Only frames that meet or exceed the Threshold Level will be saved to the capture file.
Capture will continue until the Stop Capture button on the toolbar or the Stop button is pressed.

Note: While Seeing Filtered Capture is active, the captured frame count shown in the status bar may
seem to fluctuate slightly at times when all frames are being discarded. This behaviour is normal.

Note: Some frames may be saved to the output file even at times where the Latest Value line on the
graph is below the Threshold line. This is because the position of the Latest Value line is an average
of the image quality of a number of frames. The average value may be below the threshold, but a

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number of the individual frames that make up the average may have an image quality above the
threshold.

Auto Threshold Filter Capture

Auto Threshold Filter Capture also utilizes the frame quality measurements to try to only save the
best frames to file, but works in a different way – instead of setting a threshold manually, with this
option, SharpCap can capture the best frames in a fully automatic way.

When capture is started using the Auto Threshold Filter Capture Start button, SharpCap will begin
saving frames from the camera into memory, recording the quality information for each frame.
When the memory storage becomes nearly full, SharpCap will automatically choose a quality
threshold that will keep approximately 10% of the frames in memory and start saving those frames
above the quality threshold and discarding the rest. At this point, memory levels will rapidly
decrease and then the cycle of filling memory, choosing a threshold, saving only the frames above
the threshold will repeat until the specified number of frames have been captured.

A capture started using this tool can be stopped early using the standard Stop Capture button in the
toolbar.

The number of frames that can be captured to memory in each cycle is determined by the amount of
memory allocated to High Speed Frame Cache in the Memory Settings. The number of frames
available (and the number currently in use) will be shown in the memory section of the status bar at
the bottom of the SharpCap window.

Note that the number of frames shown as in the Capturing status in the status bar will be an
approximate value while this tool is active and is filling memory with frames to be filtered.

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ADC Alignment

Atmospheric Dispersion Background

In the same way that light rays entering or leaving a pool of water are bent at the surface, making
things in the water appear less deep than they really are, light from the stars and planets is bent
slightly as it enters our atmosphere from the vacuum of space. The light is bent very slightly towards
the vertical, making the source appear a little higher in the sky (further above the horizon) than it
would if there were no atmosphere. Not only that, but blue light is bent more than green light,
which in turn is bent more than red light. The effect becomes stronger (both in terms of the total
amount of bending and the amount it varies from red to blue) as the source gets closer to the
horizon.

The effects of this can be seen in images as colour fringing on each side of bright objects, with blue
fringes above the object and red below. An extreme example is shown below in an image of Venus in
crescent form taken close to the horizon.

This effect leads to degradation of image quality, particularly when performing high resolution
planetary imaging. Although it is possible to use software to undo some of the damage by re-aligning
the red, green and blue colour channels, this approach cannot fix the problem that each colour
channel is itself blurred by the effect – deep blue colours are bent more than those nearer the green
end of the blue channel for instance.

A better solution to the problem is to use a device called an Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector (ADC),
which is placed between the camera and the telescope. This device typically uses a pair of adjustable
prisms to also apply a colour-dependent bending to the light. With correct adjustment, the effect of
the ADC can be made to cancel out the effect of the atmosphere, removing (or at least greatly
reducing) the damage done to the image quality. You can read more about ADCs and how they work
on this excellent web page : Sky Inspector ADC Page.

The SharpCap ADC Alignment tool

SharpCap’s ADC alignment tool is designed to help you adjust your ADC to give optimal image
quality. It provides an easy-to-see readout of how badly the three colour channels of the camera
image are mis-aligned, thereby helping guide you through the ADC adjustment process.

Applying the tool to the highly dispersed image of Venus shown above, gives a result like this :

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From this, notice the following :

• The background is shaded red – this is achieved by adjusting the Black Threshold control in
the ADC Alignment panel (shown below). The red shaded area is ignored by SharpCap in its
calculations, and you should adjust the Black Threshold so that all the dark area around the
target is shaded, but avoid the shading covering any part of the target (including the colour
fringes on its edges).
• The green dot shows the centre of brightness of the green channel of the image.
• The blue and red lines show how far (and in what direction) the centre of brightness of the
blue and red channels are offset from the centre of the green channel. The length of the
lines are increased to make them easier to see.
• The numbers adjacent to the lines show the size of the offset (in pixels) between the centres
of the greed and red channel (in red) and the green and blue channel (in blue).
• In its simplest terms, the process of aligning the ADC is a matter of making adjustments to
the rotation of the ADC and the magnitude of its correction to give the minimum possible
values for the red and blue offsets.

A small number of controls are available to adjust the ADC alignment process:

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• Calculate colour offsets from – SharpCap can calculate the offsets between the colour
channels in the image in two ways. For a planetary image, where the entire target is in the
field of view, using the Center of Brightness option is appropriate. For images of a surface
(lunar/solar) where the entire field of view is filled by the target, use the Feature Detection
option instead. Feature Detection will automatically find image features in each of the three
colour channels and calculate the position offsets between them.
Note that calculating offsets from surface feature detection is a SharpCap Pro feature.
• Black Threshold – this specifies the percentage image brightness that separates dark
background (ignored) from bright target (included in calculations). Adjust this until the red
shading covers all the background and surrounds (but does not cover) the target.
• Average Over Frames – How many frames of measurement will be taken before updating
the graph with a new data point. If you have a noisy image you may want to increase this
number.
• Reset – clear historical offset data from the graph.
• Track object using selection area – if you have used the Selection Area tool to restrict the
measurements to a certain area of the image then you can check this box to have SharpCap
automatically keep the selection area centred on the bright target within it (even if the
target moves).

The Alignment history graph shows how the measurement of dispersion has changed over time (due
to adjustments made to the ADC).

The length of the red line (red-green offset) on the display is tracked by the red columns shown
above zero, while the length of the blue line (blue-green offset) is tracked by the blue columns
shown below zero. The arrows show both the directions and relative lengths of each line at each
measurement.

Newer measurements are continually added on the right hand side of the graph. Once the graph fills
up, old measurements will gradually be moved off the left hand side allowing the latest data to be
shown on the right.

Alignment Procedure
ADC Alignment is a two-step procedure, first getting the rotation of the ADC correct and then
adjusting the amount of correction applied by the ADC to give the minimum possible values for the

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red and blue offset lines. You can read more about alignment procedure on the Sky Inspector ADC
Page or try the procedure below.

Rotation Adjustment
For this stage, set your ADC to the maximum possible magnitude of correction. Once this is set and
the ADC alignment tool in SharpCap is ready, gradually rotate the ADC (the camera can rotate too)
through 360 degrees. Keep an eye on the size of the offset lines during the rotation. At one point in
the rotation, the ADC will be pointing exactly in the wrong direction (180 degrees out) – at this point,
the amount of dispersion and the length of the offset lines will be at a maximum, since the ADC and
the atmosphere will both be acting to bend the colours in the same direction. At a point 180 degrees
away from that maximum you should encounter a minimum value for the dispersion and the length
of the offset lines – at this point the ADC is compensating for the atmospheric dispersion, but is
over-correcting. Note that during this adjustment phase, the direction in which the offset lines point
does not matter – you are only worried about the lengths of these lines and at which points in the
rotation the lengths are largest and smallest.

Once you have located these two positions, position the ADC so that you are in the location which
gives the smallest dispersion and is roughly opposite the largest dispersion point and move on to
adjusting the magnitude of correction.

Magnitude Adjustment
This is a simpler adjustment stage – having completed the rotation adjustment above you know that
the ADC is aligned in the correct direction, so it is simply a matter of gradually reducing the amount
of correction that the ADC is applying until you get the minimum possible lengths of the two offset
lines. Once this point is determined, you may wish to check to see if any small tweaks to the rotation
help reduce the offsets further.

Collimation
SharpCap’s experimental collimation tool is designed to help spot collimation problems on
Newtonian telescopes by measuring star size across the field of view.

If you take images of a well-focused star field with little nebulosity then in a correctly collimated
Newtonian telescope the sharpest stars should be in the centre of the frame while stars towards the
edges and particularly in the corners will be larger due to the effects of coma and (potentially) other
aberrations.

When the collimation tool is activated, SharpCap will detect and measure the sizes of stars across
the frame and highlight each detected star. SharpCap will also try to find a pattern in the sizes of
stars across the frame and draw a contour plot of star sizes over the image.

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Small, well-focussed stars will be highlighted in green to yellow colours, larger, less well-focussed
stars in orange to red colours. In the example above you can see that there is indeed an area with
smaller stars surrounded by regions with less well-defined stars, but that centre of the pattern is just
below the centre of the frame and is slightly elliptical rather than circular. This offset indicates that
the collimation is not quite correct.

Offsets of the pattern from the centre are largely caused by incorrect collimation of the primary
mirror. Elliptical patterns (i.e. non-circular) are largely caused by incorrect secondary collimation or
camera tilt. A circular (or very nearly circular) pattern centred in the middle of the frame represents
good collimation.

The normal Star Detection and other controls are available to the left-hand side – these are
described in detail in the documentation on the Focus Tools Controls. The collimation tool
additionally offers the ability to ignore star size variation on small spatial scales across the frame –
sometimes this can help bring out the pattern of star size variation on the larger scale.

The collimation status information shows

• Pattern Strength – this is an indication of how much of the variation in star size is explained
by the pattern. High strength patterns are more reliable than low strength patterns.
• Pattern Shape – this must be ‘Ellipse’ or ‘Circle’ for the tool to be useful – other patterns do
not have a centre point and cannot be used to guide collimation

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• Eccentricity – this shows how far from circular an elliptical pattern is. An eccentricity of zero
means circular.
• Misalignment – this shows how far from the centre of the frame the centre of an elliptical or
circular pattern is
• Max/Min FWHM – these figures show the minimum and maximum star widths measured in
the frame

Note: while this tool can detect collimation errors, it can still be difficult to make adjustments
successfully based on the measurements shown

Note: using a coma corrector dramatically reduces the coma of stars away from the centre of the
field of view. While this improves images dramatically, it also makes it very hard or impossible for
this tool to make accurate readings of collimation.

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Controlling the Displayed Image

SharpCap provides a number of ways that you can adjust the image displayed on screen without
actually making changes to the image data captured to file. These features are very useful for
locating faint targets, seeing small details, checking focus, etc.

Zooming and Scrolling the Image

The most basic manipulation of the image is to adjust the zoom level of the image to change its size
when displayed on-screen in SharpCap.

The zoom level can be adjusted in a number of ways:

• Using the Zoom dropdown in the toolbar, which offers a range of standard zoom levels that
can be selected.
• Scrolling using the mouse wheel while the <CTRL> key is held down. Scrolling up will zoom
in, scrolling down will zoom out.
• Using the keyboard shortcut <CTRL+0> (that’s a zero, not an O). This will set the zoom to
‘Auto’ to fit the image into the available space.
• Using the keyboard shortcut <CTRL+1>. This will set the zoom to 100%, so that one pixel on
the image corresponds to one pixel on screen.
• For advanced use, via the Sequencer or Scripting.

When the zoom level is high, individual pixels in the image are enlarged enough to be clearly visible
on the display. A maximum zoom level of 2000% (20 times natural size) can be reached using the
<CTRL> and mouse wheel approach.

If the zoom level is low, or the image being captured from the camera is a relatively low resolution,
the whole of the image may fit in the space available in the SharpCap window. However, at higher
zooms or for high resolution captured images, the available space will only be large enough to
display part of the image. In this case, scrollbars become available to the right of and below the
image to allow you to the viewed area around in the full image.

Whole image visible (left) and part of image visible with scrollbars (right)

You can also move around the image when zoomed-in in the following ways:

• Use the mouse scroll wheel to scroll vertically.

• Use the mouse scroll wheel with <SHIFT> held down to scroll horizontally.

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• Click and hold anywhere in the image – the mouse cursor will change to a grabbing hand
cursor. You can now drag the image around by moving the mouse with the button still held
down.
• Click on the image, then use the keyboard arrow keys (left, right, up, down) to move around
the image. You can also use the Page Up and Page Down keys to move up and down one
screen height at a time.

Note that when the Zoom is set to Auto, changes in the size of the display area – for instance due to
changing the size of the SharpCap window or due to showing a tool in the work area – will cause the
zoom level to update automatically to fit the image into the new available space.

Display Stretch
This control shows an always-on mini histogram of the current image and allows the image displayed
on screen to be ‘stretched’ without affecting the data saved to file when capturing. Stretching the
displayed image means that the brightness and/or contrast can be enhanced, or faint detail can be
brightened easily. The stretch function provides similar effects to the Image Boost options in the FX
dropdown but with finer control.

Adjusting the Display Histogram Stretch

Basic operation of the stretch adjustments involves dragging the position of the three vertical
dashed yellow lines using the mouse. These three lines represent the histogram levels that will be
displayed as black, mid grey and white respectively.

It is usually most useful to adjust the black and mid-level lines. Adjusting the mid-level line so that it
is no-longer half way between the black and white level lines will create a transfer curve, shown as a
yellow curve on the histogram that controls how the image pixel values are converted to displayed
screen brightness.

Moving the mid-level line to the left will create a curve that initially rises rapidly then flattens out.
This will have the effect of boosting the brightness of the darker areas of the image, making it easier
to see faint detail. Moving the mid-level line to the right will create a curve that is initially relatively
flat before rising more sharply near the white level. This has the effect of darkening the brighter
areas of the image, perhaps making more detail visible in those regions.

The default settings of the Display Histogram Stretch (image displayed without adjustment):

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The mid-level line moved to the left, enhancing the brightness of faint detail:

The mid-level line moved to the right, enhancing contrast in bright areas of the image:

Moving the black-level line to the right will effectively darken the whole image. This can be useful to
give a blacker background – making background noise and light pollution less noticeable.

Display Histogram Stretch Buttons

The power button is a master on/off switch for the display stretch functions. When the
stretch is enabled, the power button is green (as shown on the left). Clicking on the power
button toggles the stretch between on and off – when the stretch is turned off, the power button
changes to red.

The lightning bolt button will perform an auto-stretch designed to pull out faint detail in the
current image. This will adjust the black, mid and white level lines automatically based on an
analysis of the brightness levels in the image. You can adjust how strong a stretch will be
applied when using this button in the General Tab of the SharpCap settings. Using the auto-stretch
feature requires a SharpCap Pro license.

The circular arrow button will reset the black, mid and white level lines back to their default
positions, removing any display stretch currently in effect.

The save button will save the current image exactly as seen onscreen as a PNG file. Unlike
the normal SharpCap image saving functionality, this saved file will include the effects of
any display stretch currently in effect. Note that the saved image file will have a bit depth of
8 bits regardless of the bit depth setting of the current camera.

The negative button will invert the image when it is toggled on – that is white areas will
become black, black areas white, etc. Sometimes viewing the image as a negative can help
spot faint features as dark smudges against a white background when they are hard to see against a
dark background.

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The locked stretch button can be toggled on to cause SharpCap to continually apply the
Auto Stretch calculations every few frames. In this mode, the stretch will automatically
adapt to changes in the image brightness. Locked Stretch can be turned off again by clicking this
button a second time.

Any changes made in the Display Histogram Stretch section only affect how the images are displayed
on screen – there will not be any changes made to the images saved to capture files (except those
saved using the ‘Save Exactly as Seen’ button in the display histogram stretch control (or the
equivalent ‘Save Exactly as Seen’ option when saving from Live Stacking).

Display Effects (FX)

Various effects can be added to the displayed image if required – note that these do not affect the
images saved to file when using the various capture buttons, again with the exception of the Save
Exactly as Seen. Depending on the colour space of the image being viewed, some of the options
listed below may not be available.

None
No effects are applied to the image.

Highlight Over Exposed

Any part of the image which is deemed to be over exposed is highlighted, flashing to either red or
black every few frames. In this graphic, notice the red highlighted areas.

This is a more extreme example using the moon – the camera exposure or gain settings may need to
be reduced to remove the red highlighted area if they are any more than a few of the brightest stars.
For instance, the image of Jupiter below is overexposed in the brighter cloud regions, which is
highlighted.

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Image Boost
Image Boost is useful when trying to find fainter objects. The image will appear slightly grainy as
noise is introduced. Note that using the display stretch in the mini-histogram provides a more
flexible way of brightening faint objects in the image.

Image Boost More

Image Boost More applies a greater boost to the image, allowing even fainter objects to be revealed.
An increase in graininess is to be expected.

Frame Stack (3, 5, 10, 30)

With Frame Stack, images are stacked – 3, 5,10 or 30 depending on the selected option. This effect
can assist when looking for fainter objects. Stacking when this option is applied does not attempt to
align new images with previous images in the stack. Note that the image will update less frequently
when this option is being used – for instance when Frame Stack 10 is selected, SharpCap will collect
10 frames from the camera and then update the image with the result, then start collecting another
10 frames for the next image update.

RGB Align
RGB Align can be used for planetary imaging when, due to atmospheric conditions, the object being
imaged has colour distortion at the edge. In this extreme example, note the red on one side and the
blue on the other, caused by the varying refraction of colours of light as they enter the atmosphere.

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Use this option to adjust the red/blue values to obtain a good image on screen to ensure best focus
when preparing to capture. The right-hand image shows the same view of Jupiter with the colour
channels aligned.

RGB Align applies only to the previewed image, it does not affect the captured data. Other
programs, such as Registax, allow re-alignment of RGB channels in the final captured images.

Since the RGB align only affects the image as displayed on screen, its main use is to correct for RGB
misalignment to allow a better judge of focus quality to be obtained, or for live broadcasting of
planetary imaging.

Select Red/Green/Blue Channel

These effects are available only for colour cameras. Selecting a particular channel will remove the
other two colours from each image, leaving an image showing in shared of red, green or blue
respectively.

Red/Green/Blue Channel to Mono

These effects are only available for colour cameras. Selecting one of these options will show the
appropriate colour channel data as a monochrome image.

Reduce Noise (Median Blur 3x3)

This option applies a simple median blur to the image (for every 3 by 3 block of pixels, it takes the
middle value out of the 9 values when placed in ascending order as the new value for the central
pixel). This significantly reduces noise in the displayed image.

Apply Threshold
This effect can be used to threshold the image from the camera – making all pixels darker than the
Threshold Level value turn to black. Pixels brighter than the threshold level can either take their
original values or be set to white (giving a purely black and white image displayed on screen).

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This option can be particularly useful when looking for faint targets against a bright background – for
instance the thin crescent moon against a blue sky. By setting the threshold correctly, the blue sky
can be changed to black (below the threshold), while the slightly brighter moon will remain white.

There are a number of options that can be adjusted:

Convert Image to Mono – this is useful when using colour cameras, otherwise an odd colour effect
can occur with different colour channels being set to black in different areas.

Set pixels above threshold value to maximum brightness – when this is selected, pixels above the
threshold level will be set to maximum brightness (white), giving a pure monochrome image.

Auto scan threshold level – when set, the threshold value will be gradually increased by SharpCap,
running through a range covering from the darkest pixels in the image to the brightest over about 30
seconds and then repeating. This can be helpful to spot features in the image when the automatic
threshold adjustment takes the threshold to just the right value.

Threshold Level – this slider allows the threshold level to be adjusted (unless auto scan is in
progress).

Solar Colorization
This effect is only available for monochrome cameras and applies a colour scheme typically used for
solar images to the monochrome image from the camera, giving a more interesting image. Since this
is only applied to the image displayed on-screen, it is primarily useful for outreach or live broadcast
of imaging sessions.

The colour scheme applied approximates the one described by John W. O’Neal, II on his web page
describing the technique (https://www.photographingspace.com/colorize-solar-images/).

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Getting Information from the Image

SharpCap gives you several ways to extract information from the image that can be used for
purposes ranging from variable and double star measurements to collimation of telescopes to drift
alignment to many more.

Reticules
SharpCap allows a range of reticule overlays to be placed on top of the image. The reticules can be
adjusted (moved, resized, rotated) and put to use for many different purposes.

To show a reticule, select one from the reticules dropdown on the toolbar. You can also cycle
through them by pressing the reticule button repeatedly (without opening the dropdown).

The reticules are generally displayed in red over the image – for example the circle reticule shown
below.

The reticule can be adjusted in the following ways:

• The reticule can be ‘grabbed’ by the mouse and moved around in the display area.
• When the reticule is displayed, the center point can be moved by clicking anywhere on the
preview display.
• Dragging or clicking with the right mouse button instead will adjust the orientation or size of
the reticule.

The rotation angle of each reticule is also shown near the center of the reticule. For the circle
reticule, numbers are displayed near each circle which indicate the radius of that circle, in pixels.

Note that selecting Pixel Value Readout or Pixel Position/Click to Recenter will disable any currently
selected reticule. Selecting a reticule will disable these two tools if they are currently selected.

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No Reticule
The reticule graphic is cleared from the image. This is the default.

Crosshairs
A crosshair graphic is imposed over the image in the display area. This can be used to facilitate
accurate mount alignment using a camera rather than an eyepiece.

Circle
A circular graphic is imposed over the image in the display area. This can be used to facilitate
accurate mount alignment using a camera rather than an eyepiece. The rings can also be used to
assist with collimation.

Single Crosshair
A simple single crosshair (one line only in each direction).

Multi Reticules
The multi-reticule tool allows up to 8 reticules to be placed on the image at once, which can be
moved and sized independently. Six circular reticules and two line reticules are available. A separate
window is shown to help choose which reticules to show and which one is currently being adjusted.

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For each of the reticules, you can choose to show or hide it by ticking or unticking the checkbox in
the Show column. You can also select one of the reticules to adjust by selecting the appropriate
radio button in the Adjust column. The reticules can be locked to protect them from accidental
adjustment.

The state of the multi-reticule tool is remembered automatically between uses, allowing for instance
the reticules to be set up for a collimation camera once rather than needing to be adjusted each
time. Each reticule can however be reset to defaults using the Reset button.

Note that line reticules show both the line itself and its perpendicular bisector. Circle reticules show
additional larger and smaller concentric circles when being adjusted to make it easier to fit them to a
circular feature in the image.

Pixel Value Readout

The Pixel Value Readout tool allows you to view the detailed brightness information about any pixel
in the image. When you select the tool, a red crosshair will appear over the image along with
information about the brightness of the pixel in the centre of crosshair.

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You can click anywhere in the image to move the crosshair to that location. The crosshair will also
follow your mouse location if you move the mouse around over the image with the left button
pressed down. If you find it hard to place the crosshair exactly over the pixel that you require, you
can use the zoom functionality available in the toolbar to zoom in on the area of interest, making the
pixels larger and easier to select.

The information presented adjacent to the crosshair depends on whether a colour or monochrome
camera is in use.

For a monochrome camera, the information is as follows:

• X – the X co-ordinate within the camera image that is at the centre of the crosshair.
• Y – the Y co-ordinate within the camera image that is at the centre of the crosshair.
• LUM – the luminosity (brightness) value of the pixel at the centre of the crosshair.

For a colour camera in RAW mode, the X and Y positions are shown along with

• RAW – the RAW brightness of the pixel

• CHN – the colour channel corresponding to the pixel – this could be R(ed), G(reen) or B(lue)
• R, G, B – the brightness values in the three colour channels for that pixel after debayering
the image to full colour.

For a colour camera in RGB mode, the X and Y positions are shown along with

• R, G, B – the brightness values in the three colour channels for that pixel after debayering
the image to full colour.

The pixel values will either be measured on a 0 to 255 range (for 8 bit modes) or a 0 to 65535 range
(for 10, 12, 14 or 16 bit modes).

You can disable the Pixel Value Readout tool by selecting it again from the Tools menu.

Note that the values displayed will be affected by:

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• Any active processing controls in the Preprocessing group – for instance dark subtraction,
flat correction, background subtraction, etc.
• Any active display effects selected in the FX dropdown in the toolbar.
• Adjustments made to the image by live stacking (the readout will be the output of live
stacking, not the input image).

Disable these features before using Pixel Value Readout if you wish to see the raw pixel values from
the camera. The use of the Display Stretch in the mini histogram does not affect the values shown.

Note that selecting this tool will disable any reticule that is currently visible and conversely, selecting
a reticule will disable this tool.

Stellar Photometry Estimation (Experimental)

The Stellar Photometry tool provides quick estimates of the brightness of stars in the images being
captured by your camera. Various information is available, some of which requires Sensor Analysis
data to be available for the camera being used or requires Plate Solving information.

Note that Stellar Photometry Estimation is a SharpCap Pro feature.

Typical results of the tool are shown below.

Stars are detected using the same procedures that SharpCap uses for focusing or live stacking, but in
this case the information about the brightness of each star is collected and displayed. Information
that can be shown for each star is as follows (note that the following refers to ADU – Analogue to
Digital Units – which is basically the pixel value for a given pixel that comes from the camera with no
processing):

• Background ADU – an estimation of the image background brightness in the vicinity of the
star. This level might be caused by light pollution, nebulosity, the offset value of the camera,
etc.

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• Total ADU – the total brightness of the star (added across all pixels in the star image),
measured from the Background ADU level.
• Peak Luminosity ADU – the ADU of the brightest pixel in the star image. This indicates
whether the star is close to saturation or not.
• FWHM – SharpCap’s estimation of the Full-Width Half-Maximum size of the star. Note that
for stars close to saturation, no value will be given (the value shows as NaN – ‘Not a
Number’).
• Estimated Peak e- – the estimated number of electrons from the star in the brightest pixel
(this corresponds to the Peak Luminosity ADU value). All electron based values require
Sensor Analysis data for the camera to be available.
• Estimated Total e- – the estimated total number of electrons from the star captured across
all pixels making up the star in the image.
• Estimated Total Background e- – the estimated total number of electrons corresponding to
the image background level across the star area.
• Estimated SNR (Signal to Noise Ration) – this is an estimate of how much the brightness
estimation of the star should vary due to statistical fluctuations in the number of photons
collected in each image. This is calculated as
𝐸𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑒 −
√𝐸𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑒 − + 𝐸𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐵𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑒 −

The numerator being the number of electrons coming from the star (signal) and the
denominator is the estimate of the shot noise in the total number of electrons (star and
background combined) collected over the area of the star.

• RA/Dec Co-ordinates – the J2000 co-ordinates of the star’s centre point are shown if plate
solving data is available.

Various adjustments are available to control the star detection and the data shown on screen.

The most significant control is the star detection Sensitivity which can be used to control the number
of stars being detected (higher sensitivity values will include fainter stars). The Maximum Star Count
setting can also be used to limit the number of stars being detected if too much information is
shown. It is also possible to use the Selection Area tool, which allows the star detection and
annotation to be restricted to only applying to stars within the currently active selection area.

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Important Note : Controls in the Preprocessing group, such as Subtract Dark, Apply Flat, Background
Subtraction should not be used when this tool is being used, as they may cause incorrect values to
be calculated, particularly for the electron based measurements.

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Polar Alignment
SharpCap Polar Alignment is designed to help astronomers achieve excellent polar alignment
quickly, easily and reliably. This helps ensure that targets are tracked accurately and that GOTO
movements find the required part of the sky.

The idea behind SharpCap’s polar alignment was inspired by the PhotoPolarAlign application created
by Themos Tsikas. Themos has been kind enough to help with testing and suggestions during the
development of the polar alignment feature in SharpCap.

The Polar Alignment procedure can be started from the Tools menu provided that a camera is
already active. If the camera is in Still Mode then Live View Mode will be enabled automatically to
allow polar alignment to work.

How does it Work?

The polar alignment works by analysing two pictures taken of the area near the pole. Take one
picture, let SharpCap analyse it, rotate the mount by about 90 degrees about the RA axis and take
the second picture. By recognizing the stars in each of the pictures, SharpCap can work out two
things:

1. The exact area of sky represented in each image - this process is called Plate Solving.
SharpCap has a built-in plate solving algorithm that doesn't need an internet connection or
any other program or database to be installed. Note that SharpCap's built-in plate solving
only works within about 6-7 degrees of the pole (N or S).
2. The centre of rotation about which the stars seem to rotate when going from the first to the
second image.

Since SharpCap has worked out exactly what RA & Dec the telescope was pointing at in each image,
it knows where in the image (or perhaps how far off the image) the celestial pole is. SharpCap also
knows the point about which the stars seem to rotate - that's where the mount’s RA axis is currently
pointing. If those two points are the same, the polar alignment is perfect. If they are not the same,
all that is required is to adjust the Altitude and Azimuth adjusters of the mount until they are the
same point and that will complete polar alignment.

SharpCap will guide through this process with on-screen instructions, including a live update of how
far is still needed to move the mount in each direction to get perfect alignment.

What is required?
• An equatorial mount.
• A camera supported by SharpCap combined with a telescope/finder-scope on the mount.
• A field of view in the camera of between about 0.6 degrees and about 2.5 degrees.
• A clear view of the celestial pole.
• Able to see at least 15 stars in the field of view.
• To already be aligned within about 5 degrees of the pole

It is not required to have perfectly aligned the guider scope or main scope as the polar alignment
process is not affected by this sort of misalignment.
SharpCap cannot align if you do not have a clear view of the celestial pole through at least a 30-45
degree rotation in RA.

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Step-By-Step Polar Alignment

Introduction Stage
When first selecting the Polar Alignment tool you will see an introduction which reminds you of the
requirements to get polar alignment working. Once you have checked that you have everything you
need, you can move on by pressing the green Next button.

Once you have pressed Next, SharpCap will move on to capturing the first image.

First Image Stage

At this stage, SharpCap will try to plate solve each frame coming from the camera, beginning the
Polar Alignment process.

This is a good time to make adjustment to your camera settings to ensure enough stars are visible. A
good starting point is setting the exposure to 2 seconds and setting a relatively high gain (the exact
value depends on the camera, but start in the upper half of the range).

If enough stars are detected and the field-of-view is the right size and close enough to the pole
something like this should be seen:

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The stars SharpCap is using to perform the plate solving are highlighted in yellow, other stars are
highlighted in red. The North (or South) celestial pole is shown and circles of different radii are
shown around it. Note that the pole may be out of view - don't worry if it is, carry on to the next
stage.

[Note: the ‘Next’ button will turn green when SharpCap is ready to advance to the next stage and
that the user needs to press the button.]

If the plate solving fails and the Next button does not become enabled, there are three likely causes:

1. Not enough stars detected.

2. Too far from pole.
3. Field of view too large or too small.

The last two require physical changes to be made to the setup, but the first might be fixable by
adjusting the star detection parameters at the bottom of the screen or by adjusting the exposure or
gain of the camera in use. If the stars are too faint, try turning up the exposure, gain or star
detection sensitivity. You could also try using the histogram stretch functionality to increase the
brightness of the stars, as this will help SharpCap’s star detection.

Once the first frame is solved, press the NEXT button to move to the next stage.

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Second Image Stage

After pressing NEXT, SharpCap will prompt you to rotate the RA axis through about 90 degrees. Do
this either by unlocking the RA clutch or by using the mount's GOTO system if it has one. If you have
a GOTO mount connected in SharpCap then a set of buttons will be shown allowing you to rotate the
mount either east or west by holding down the appropriate button.

SharpCap will continue attempting to plate solve each frame - once it manages to solve a frame that
has rotated far enough it will offer the option to move on to the adjustment phase - looking a bit like
this:

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At this point, SharpCap has calculated the position in the image that the RA axis is pointing at - this is
the point around which the image appeared to rotate and is marked with the red cross and RA label.
The RA axis point might be out of view, so don't worry if it doesn't show up, so long as the Next
button becomes enabled.

If the Next button does not become enabled, try different amounts of rotation (or rotating in the
opposite direction). If that still fails, it is likely that not enough stars are being picked up in the
rotated position - the best way to fix this is to leave the mount in the rotated position and press the
'Restart' button to go back to the start of the alignment process. This leaves a view of the rotated
position with the star detection controls available to adjust until a plate solve can be achieved in that
orientation.

DO NOT ADJUST THE ALTITUDE OR AZIMUTH UNTIL NEXT HAS PRESSED TO MOVE TO THE FINAL
STAGE.

Adjustment Stage
Once the button is pressed to move to the adjustment stage, one of the brighter stars on screen will
be highlighted with an arrow pointing to a target, like this:

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All that is required to get good polar alignment is to move the indicated star into the target - doing
this will also line up the NCP with the RA axis and polar alignment done. At the bottom of the
screen, below the Polar Align Error figure are some guidelines indicating which direction the mount
needs to be moved. These are also repeated in large text overlaid on the camera image.

The movement directions should be interpreted as follows:

• Stand looking past your telescope and mount towards the celestial pole.
• Then you should move the mount so as to shift the far end of the telescope (the one
pointing at the sky) in the direction indicated
• That is, if the directions suggest left and down then (in the northern hemisphere) you should
move the mount so the scope points further towards the west (left as you look past it
towards the pole) and further down towards the horizon.

The direction suggestions are calculated based on your latitude and longitude – if you have not
entered these accurately then the information on which direction to move (up/down/left/right) is
only approximate.

During the adjustment phase the highlighted star might switch to a different one - no need to worry,
just keep adjusting. As this gets closer the arrow and target changes to a pair of parallel lines that
need to be brought together to finalise the alignment process.

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If it is found that the length of the arrow isn't updating, or is only updating now and then, it is likely
that the plate solving isn't working for every frame - either ignore the problem and just get the star
into the target or alternatively try further tweaks to the gain, exposure or star detection sensitivity
to get the star detection and plate solving working more reliably. Watch the Most Recent Frame
status indication – for good results that should almost always show Solved in green – if it frequently
changes to Could not solve then you need to check your star detection or camera settings.

An alignment error of under 2 minutes of arc is considered good and under 1 minute of arc is
excellent. Do not waste time trying to get the alignment error all the way down to zero.

Tips
• Try using a guiding camera (such as ZWO120MC, QHY5LII, Altair GPCAM and others) with a
~200mm focal length finder-guider - this will give the correct field of view.
• Read the on-screen instructions - they will walk through the procedure.
• Select a high gain and an exposure of 2-4s - this should let SharpCap see enough stars.
• If the mount is on a pier, the pier mounting plate bolts can often give finer adjustment than
the mounts own alt/azimuth adjusters.
• Don't worry if the scope or finder is aligned with the mount correctly - misalignment won't
affect the result.
• SharpCap needs to know the approximate longitude to work out which direction
(up/down/left/right) the mount needs to be moved. If the time zone is set incorrectly, the
wrong directions may be suggested.

Configuring Polar Alignment

There are several options that can be used to configure the polar alignment process:

Skip this introduction in future

On the introduction page, checking this option will mean that the next time you run Polar Alignment,
you will not see the introduction and will go straight to the First Image Stage.

Location & Refraction Correction

SharpCap can use your location for two aspects of the polar alignment process:

• Determining which direction is up/down/left/right when providing adjustment guidance

• Correcting for atmospheric refraction when aligning

By default, SharpCap will estimate your longitude from your computer time zone (for instance EST is
estimated at 75W). SharpCap will prompt for Northern/Southern hemisphere in the First Image
Stage and assume a latitude of either 45N or 45S

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These default estimates of location are sufficient for the up/down/left/right guidance directions to
work with a good degree of accuracy, but do not allow refraction correction to be enabled.

To enable refraction correction, you must go to the Polar Alignment tab of the SharpCap Settings
and enter your exact location either directly or by setting SharpCap to retrieve location from your
ASCOM mount. This will update the Polar Alignment tool to show your true location and the amount
of refraction correction being applied.

Note that it is probably not worth correcting for refraction if you are at a latitude of 40 degrees or
more. The refraction of the polar becomes larger at lower latitudes, so correction becomes more
important if you observe nearer to the equator.

Auto Advance and Low Rotation Mode

Two other options that you may wish to enable are:

Auto Advance - enabling this option causes SharpCap to automatically move to the next stage when
it becomes available – no need to press the Next button.

Allow smaller rotation angles – enabling this allows you to align with a smaller rotation between the
two images. This may be useful for mounts with limited rotation such as sky trackers, but may be
less accurate.

Star Detection Settings

These settings affect the detection of stars by the polar alignment process. Ideally, having about 30
to 50 stars detected in each image (of which 15 will be used) will give best results.

Sensitivity – This controls the overall sensitivity of the star detection process – increase this value to
try to detect more stars, decrease it to reduce the number of stars being detected. Note the
following:

• Setting a higher sensitivity can make star detection take longer, potentially slowing down
the stacking process
• SharpCap will auto-adjust the sensitivity for you, turning it down (to a minimum of 75) if
more than 200 stars are detected and turning it up (to a maximum of 75) if less than 15 stars
are detected.

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Noise Reduction – when enabled applies a Gaussian blur to help SharpCap to ignore low level noise
and hot pixels. Increasing this may help detect stars correctly in noisy images and may help reduce
problems with the polar error jumping to a different value with each new frame from the camera.

Suppress Hot Pixels – Enabling this option adjusts the star detection process to avoid detecting a star
from a single hot pixel in the image. You may need to turn this off if you are using a large pixel
camera and a short focal length telescope (i.e. your stars are very small).

Use Display Stretch – when this option is selected, any display stretch applied to the image is also
used for star detection to help detect faint stars. In general, leave this option selected.

Note that you may need to adjust the star detection settings slightly when moving from one stage of
polar alignment to another if the rotation of the mount brings an area of the sky with fewer stars
into view.

Adjustment Options
These options are available on the adjustment stage and are designed to help in situations where
the computer running SharpCap is not easily visible while you are making physical adjustments to
the mount altitude and azimuth.

Show align error on image – this option places the alignment error and movement direction info on
the camera image in a large, clear font. This information is visible and readable from a greater
distance than the normal adjustment text below the image.

Play sounds during adjustment – when enabled, SharpCap will play a beep through the computer’s
sound system as each adjustment frame from the camera is processed. As the polar alignment error
is reduced, the pitch of the beep will increase, giving audio feedback on the alignment process.

Troubleshooting Polar Alignment

The information below should help you resolve a number of commonly encountered problems with
the polar alignment tool.

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Help, no matter how much I adjust I can’t get the error down to zero!
STOP!!! You don’t need to get the polar align error down to exactly zero and you are wasting clear
sky time if you try! A polar alignment within 1 arc minute of the pole is usually considered to be
excellent and good enough for long exposure imaging.

I’m stuck at the first Step? The ‘Next’ button never becomes enabled

Getting stuck at this stage means that SharpCap can’t plate solve the view from the camera and
work out where near the pole the camera is pointing. The most recent frame status will be ‘Could
Not Solve’ in red all the time and the First Frame Status will be ‘Working’. Sometimes you will find
that you will eventually get past this stage if a frame from the camera happens to be a bit better
than the others and plate solves – don’t be tempted to move on if that happens as you will get stuck
further on – fix the problem by running through the troubleshooting steps below instead.

The likely causes for this problem are:

Not enough stars being detected

if the number of detected stars is low (less than 10) then this is the most likely cause. Here are some
suggestions to fix the problem

• Increase camera exposure up to 2-4s

• Increase camera gain if the camera has a gain control. Start at about 1/2 gain and work up
towards maximum
• Increase the star detection sensitivity from the default value of 75
• Try using the Display Stretch functionality to increase the brightness of any stars – this will
help the star detection work correctly.
• Check that your focus is correct – out of focus stars are harder to detect than in-focus stars.

The camera/telescope is pointed more than 5-6 degrees away from the pole
If plenty of stars are being detected, but the plate solving still fails, you could be starting from too far
away from the pole

SharpCap has a star database out to 7 degrees away from the pole. If the image is taken of an area
further from the pole than this then plate solving will fail. If you have a plate solving application
installed and configured in SharpCap, you can use the Plate Solve (Solve Only) menu item to check
exactly where the telescope is pointing. You can also make this check without a plate solving
application by saving a frame (press the ‘Snapshot’ button) and uploading it to nova.astrometry.net
for plate solving.

Hot pixels are being detected as stars

Some cameras suffer from hot pixels (pixels which have maximum value even though no light falls on
them). With some star detection settings, single hot pixels may be detected as stars. If enough of
these hot pixels exist and are detected, they may confuse the plate solving algorithm. If you are

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seeing this problem, ensure that the Suppress Hot Pixels option is checked and if necessary increase
the Noise Reduction setting.

The field of view is too small or too large

SharpCap’s star database goes down to magnitude 13, meaning that it has over 16000 stars in each
hemisphere available for plate solving calculations.

If your field of view is very small, there may be very few stars of magnitude 13 or greater within view
of the camera, meaning that plate solving may fail. This happens more frequently as the field of view
drops below 0.5° in either direction. If your field of view is only just smaller than this you may find
that plate solving works intermittently – sometimes there will be enough stars in view for it to work
and on other occasions you will by chance end up in a much less rich part of the sky and plate solving
will fail.

If your field of view is very large, bright stars outside the area covered by SharpCap’s star database
may be detected and confuse the plate solving operation. You could try using your camera in ROI
(region of interest) mode to reduce the field of view.

I’m stuck in Step 2 or Step 3; nothing updates or everything takes a very long time
Once you have made adjustments to your telescope or moved SharpCap on to a new step in the
polar alignment process, you shouldn’t have a long wait to see the results or for SharpCap to find a
solution – a few seconds or so is typical. If you find yourself waiting more than 15 seconds then
something isn’t right and the most common cause is that SharpCap is not able to plate solve every
frame that is coming from the camera – in fact it might only be solving one frame in 10 or even one
in 100.

This problem is easy to spot because the ‘Most Recent Frame’ status will be ‘Could not solve’ in red
most of the time, but will change to a green ‘Solved’ every now and then.

This problem has exactly the same causes as the problem of being stuck at step 1 above. Use the
suggestions found above under Not enough stars being detected to ensure that plenty of stars are
detected and that all frames are being solved.

Note that sometimes you find this problem occurs for Step 2 even though you had a good solution
straight away for Step 1 – this could be because the rotation around the RA axis has moved the
camera to point to an area of sky that is harder to plate solve (perhaps fewer bright stars). A good
trick for this problem is to leave the RA axis rotated but reset the SharpCap Polar Align routine back
to Step 1 – then adjust the camera settings and star detection settings to get good plate solve in the
rotated position before continuing the process by rotating back to the home position.

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I get the wrong results – SharpCap says my Polar Alignment is great after adjustment, but it
isn’t!
The first thing to check is that you have pressed the ‘Next’ button to move to the adjustment stage
before you started tweaking the Alt/Az of your mount. If you don’t move to the adjustment stage
then you will get incorrect polar alignment.

The most common cause of poor results is that something is shifting as the mount is being rotated
around the RA axis. If you are using a guide scope/camera it could be that the scope is not mounted
firmly or that a cable is pulling (or just hanging loose) which can shift the camera slightly. This
problem has also been experienced by people who have a problem with their RA axis bearings!

The first thing to do if you suspect this problem is to confirm you have an issue. Run a SharpCap
polar align normally (starting in the home position and rotating 90 degrees), and adjust as usual.
Once you are finished, leave the scope at the 90 degree position and re-run polar alignment in
SharpCap (this time rotating back to the home position when prompted to rotate). If the
measurement from the second PA run matches the first then you probably don’t have this issue. If it
doesn’t match by a big margin then flexure/movement as you rotate is the likely cause.

You can test for this problem quite easily by rotating the mount in stages of about 15 degrees.
SharpCap plots a dark red cross at the point it calculates to be the centre of rotation (where the RA
axis is pointing) for each stage of the rotation – these should form a tight group on screen if there is
no flexure. In the screenshots below I deliberately let the cable to the guide camera hang loose for
the polar alignment run shown on the left. Here you can see that the measured RA axis positions
have drifted as I have rotated further due to the weight of the cable pulling on the camera. Once the
cable was properly secured the RA axis positions form a much tighter group.

Loose Cable – note that the red vertical crosses are spread in a line away from the red diagonal
cross (the final result).

Secured Cable – note that the red vertical crosses are in a tight group around the red diagonal cross.

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If you discover that you have problems with flexure when rotating you can obviously try the usual
hardware fixes of tightening all connections and securing all cables. Another possible trick that can
help is to run the two steps of the polar alignment at about 30-40 degrees left of home and 30-40
degrees right of the home position. Depending on how your equipment is configured there may be
less flexure when using this approach because the scope is largely ‘up’ during the hole procedure
rather than going from ‘up’ to ‘sideways’ after rotation.

The directions that SharpCap says I should move my mount are wrong
Remember that the directions given are assuming that you are looking at your mount and you are
facing in the direction of the pole (i.e. the telescope is pointing away from you at the pole). An
instruction to move up means ‘move the mount altitude so that the objective end of the telescope is
pointing higher up’, while right means ‘move the mount azimuth so that the objective end of the
telescope points further to the right (east for NH. west for SH)’.

I can only just see Polaris over a house/tree/obstacle

If your view of the pole is limited, you may find that you can see the region around the pole when
the mount is in the home position (scope up, weights down), but not when you have rotated
through 90 degrees. In this case, try starting with the telescope 30-40 degrees to the left of the
vertical and rotating it to 30-40 degrees the other side of the vertical (a total rotation of 60-80
degrees). This will keep the scope higher, hopefully maintaining view of the pole while still achieving
the rotation required.

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Finding, Identifying and Framing Targets

SharpCap has a number of tools to help you find targets in the sky and get them positioned correctly
in your camera’s field of view. While many of these tools require a GOTO mount to be set up in
SharpCap, there is also assistance for users of non-GOTO mounts via the Push-To assistant tool.

Plate Solving
Plate Solving is the process of calculating the co-ordinates of an astronomical image by matching the
patterns of stars seen in the image against a database containing information on the positions and
brightness of stars in the sky. Many tools described in this section of the documentation either
require Plate Solving in order to work or have enhanced functionality if Plate Solving is available.

While SharpCap has a built-in plate solving tool that is used for Polar Alignment, this tool is limited to
working only in the areas of sky close to one of the north or south celestial poles. However, there
are a number of freely downloadable Plate Solving applications that can be installed and SharpCap
can be configured to use those applications for plate solving.

The applications that SharpCap can work with are:

• Astrotortilla (https://sourceforge.net/p/astrotortilla/home/Home/)
• All Sky Plate Solver - ASPS (https://www.astrogb.com/astrogb/All_Sky_Plate_Solver.html)
• Ansvr (https://adgsoftware.com/ansvr/)
• Astap (https://www.hnsky.org/astap.htm)
• PlateSolve2 (https://planewave.com/download/platesolve2/)
• PlateSolve3 (download link available via NINA documentation - https://nighttime-
imaging.eu/docs/master/site/advanced/platesolving/)

To enable plate solving in SharpCap, you must:

• Install one of the tools above

• Install the appropriate database index files (star data) for the tool you have installed. The
documentation or installer for your selected tool will explain how to do this
• Configure SharpCap to use the plate solving tool you have installed via the Plate Solving
Settings

Once these steps have been completed, SharpCap will detect that a plate solving tool is available and
the functionality that depends on plate solving will become enabled for use.

Note that plate solving an image can take a long time, especially for an image with a small field of
view (possibly several minutes). The process can be speeded up if SharpCap can give hints to the
plate solving application to reduce the amount of searching needed. SharpCap can send two hints to
plate solving applications :

• The approximate position of the image in the sky – this is used if a GOTO mount is connected
in SharpCap – the current co-ordinates of the mount are used as the approximate position,
which forms the starting point of the search. In some cases SharpCap may limit the search
area to within 15 degrees distance of the GOTO mount co-ordinates.
• The approximate size of the image (field of view). This is used if the pixel size of your camera
is available and the focal length of your telescope has been configured in the Plate Solving
Settings. Note that setting an incorrect focal length will lead to an incorrectly calculated field
of view, which may cause plate solving to fail repeatedly. Set the focal length setting to Do

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not Use in case of uncertainty – plate solving will be slower but this possible cause of failure
will be eliminated.

SharpCap will display notifications when plate solving using an external application begins and when
it succeeds or fails.

If you have problems getting plate solving to work, the first thing to do is to check that sufficient
stars are visible in the image – turn off the Display Histogram Stretch temporarily, since that can
make stars visible on the display that are actually very faint. Plate solving tends to work best when
between 100 and 300 stars are detected in the image by the plate solving application. If plate solving
still fails after ensuring that stars are visible, check the SharpCap Log where additional information
directly from the plate solving tool in use will be recorded. This information may help you work out
what is going wrong.

Using Plate Solving in SharpCap

A number of SharpCap’s features will use plate solving automatically, but there are also two ways to
launch plate solving directly from the Tools menu.

Plate Solve (Solve only)

This option is available provided that a supported plate solving application has been installed and
configured for use in SharpCap. Selecting this option will cause SharpCap to perform the following
actions:

• Capture a frame from the camera

• Pass the captured image to the configured plate solving application
• Request that the plate solving application search the whole sky
• Use the co-ordinates of a connected ASCOM mount as a starting point for the search. If no
mount is connected but SharpCap knows the latitude and longitude then the point currently
at the zenith is used as the starting point
• Wait for the plate solving application to complete its search

If plate solving succeeds, SharpCap will show a notification giving details on the co-ordinates, field of
view and rotation of the current image, as shown below. The Copy button can be used to copy the
plate solving details to the clipboard in text format.

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SharpCap will also record the plate solving information internally, allowing it to be used if some
other SharpCap functions requiring plate solving information are used immediately afterwards.

Note that SharpCap takes no further action with the plate solving results when this tool is used.

Plate Solve and Resync

This tool is available if a GOTO mount is configured and connected in SharpCap (in addition to a plate
solving application having been installed and configured). Selecting this option will cause SharpCap
to use plate solving to correct for any pointing inaccuracy of your GOTO mount, placing the target
that you wish to view in the centre of the camera image.

The normal way to use this tool is to use the normal GOTO functions of your telescope mount to
move it to the co-ordinates of the target you wish to view (you can use the handset, or a
planetarium application or other tools in SharpCap to make choose the target and GOTO the target
co-ordinates). Due to inaccuracies in the alignment or movement of the GOTO mount, the target
may be off-centre or even out of view. At this point, use the Plate Solve and Resync tool and wait for
the procedure to complete – if it is successful then the target should be centered in view.

In more detail, the tool performs the following actions:

• Capture a frame from the camera

• Pass the captured image to the configured plate solving application
• Store the current co-ordinates from the ASCOM mount as the target co-ordinates
• Use the co-ordinates of a connected ASCOM mount as a starting point for the search
• Request that the plate solving application search within 15 degrees distance of the starting
point
• Wait for the plate solving application to complete its search
• Move the mount to place the target co-ordinates in the center of the camera view.

The last stage may be done either by using a ‘Sync’ command to set the mount co-ordinates
accurately followed by a GOTO, or by using a calculated offset GOTO. See the Plate Solving Settings
for more information on this and which option to choose.

Note that this tool can also be launched by using the GPS button ( )in the telescope control area.

Deep Sky Image Annotation

Deep Sky Image Annotation will label bright stars and deep sky objects in the image for you, making
identification easy. It can be launched from the Tools menu provided that a plate solving application
has been installed and configured for use in SharpCap. If SharpCap already has plate solving
information stored (for example you have recently used Plate Solve Only or Plate Solve and Resync)
then you will immediately see information about stars and deep sky targets overlaid on the camera
image, otherwise SharpCap will prompt you to let you know that you need to plate solve.

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If plate solving is required, it can be started by either double-clicking the image as prompted or using
one of the two plate solve buttons in the Deep Sky Annotation Results window. Once plate solving
completes successfully, SharpCap will show information on deep sky targets in view overlaid on the
image.

Additionally, the Deep Sky Annotation Results window shows when this tool is active, giving more
information on the targets in view, information on targets nearby and options to customize the
display and behaviour of the annotation tool.

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On the Objects in View and Objects Nearby tabs you can select individual objects in the list to show
their details in the right hand panel (for Objects in View, the selected object is also drawn in yellow
rather than orange text). You can also set the target name (used for file naming when capturing) to
the name of the selected object and SharpCap can automatically center any object in view if you
have a GOTO mount connected.

Closing the Deep Sky Annotation Results window will turn the annotation off.

Saving the annotated image

You can save the image with the annotations added by using the Save Image With Annotations
button at the bottom right of the results window. The image will be saved into PNG format and the
text will be sized for viewing at 100% zoom.

Plate Solving for Image Annotation

Image annotation requires accurate plate solving information. If you are using a GOTO mount in
SharpCap then the software can compensate for small movements of a few degrees from the
position where the plate solving was originally carried out. If you are not using a GOTO mount in
SharpCap then you must perform a new plate solve each time you move the mount, otherwise the
annotation markings will be shown in the wrong positions on the image.

Plate solving operations can be launched using the two buttons in the Annotation Results window.

The two buttons operate as follows:

• Nearby – solves within 15 degrees of the current GOTO mount position or the most recent
plate solve result position (if no GOTO mount connected). Always available when a GOTO
mount is connected, available for 2nd and subsequent uses when no GOTO mount.
• Whole Sky – attempts to find a solution across the whole sky, so may take longer. Not
available if a GOTO mount is connected.

If you are imaging near the north or south celestial poles then the errors in object positions may be
larger than usual (particularly if the pole itself is inside the field of view). To minimise errors, plate
solve again when moving the mount at all if near the pole.

Configuring Image Annotation Settings

On the Display tab, you can configure which types of object should be shown, which catalogs to use
and what information on each object should be shown on screen. It is also possible to customize the
font size and the size of the marker cross used for point objects.

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Any catalogs or object types that are unticked will not be shown on the image or in the Objects In
View/Nearby lists.

Finally, there are a small number of settings that can be configured on the Settings tab.

Custom Catalogs and Objects

SharpCap includes 5 built-in catalogs:

• 110 Messier objects

• 109 Caldwell objects
• 13327 NGC/IC catalog objects
• 15435 Bright stars (down to magnitude 7)
• 11 Solar System objects (Sun, Moon, 8 Planets, Pluto – positions calculated in real time)

These catalogs provide good coverage of the most common deep sky imaging targets, but some
people will want to add more specialist objects to SharpCap’s catalogs (for instance variable stars,
planetary nebulae, etc). This can be achieved in two ways – custom catalogs and pasting custom
object information.

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Custom catalogs are suitable when you want to add a large number of objects or you want the same
objects to appear in SharpCap every time you launch it. Pasting custom object information is suitable
when you only want to add a single object (or a small number) and you only intend to use the
information once – this might be good for adding a comet or asteroid.

Note that custom catalog data is not only used by SharpCap in Deep Sky Image Annotation – objects
in custom catalogs can also be selected for tools such as Goto Catalog Target and the Push-To
Assistant.

Note that using custom catalogs is a SharpCap Pro feature. If you do not have a SharpCap Pro
license, SharpCap will simply ignore any custom catalog files.

Custom Catalog File Format

The format for custom catalog information is text in the following format
IDs|Names|Type|RA(decimal hours)|Dec(degrees)|VMag|RMax(arcmin)|RMin(arcmin)|PosAngle
IC0001|IC0001|Double star|0.14084722|27.717667||||
IC0002|IC0002|Galaxy|0.18357778|-12.822861||0.98|0.32|142
The fields in each row are separated by the vertical bar character (|), and are – in order :

• ID or IDs of the object

• Name or names of the object (may duplicate the ID if no common names)
• Object type
• Declination in decimal degrees
• Right Ascension in decimal hours (0 to 24)
• Visual Magnitude (optional)
• Maximum radius in arc minutes (optional)
• Minimum radius in arc minutes (optional)
• Position angle of elliptical extent (0 is N/S, 90 is E/W, etc) if RMax > RMin (optional)

Note the following:

• All numeric values must use ‘.’ for the decimal separator, not a comma.
• The first three fields may contain any characters except the vertical bar separator character.
• Multiple IDs or Names should be separated by a comma – i.e. ‘NGC1976,M42|Great Orion
Nebula, Orion Nebula|…’
• The last three fields specify the size of extended objects – only RMax is required for a
circular extent, RMax, RMin and PosAngle are required for an elliptical extent
• The header row is not required

Text in this format can be pasted from the clipboard using the Paste Custom Object Info button – this
will add the custom objects to SharpCap’s catalog – they will be available until SharpCap is closed
but will not be available the next time you run SharpCap.

Custom catalog files should be text in this format and should be saved as a CSV file into the folder
(the AnnotationCatalogs sub-folder does not exist by default and must be created):
C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Roaming\SharpCap\AnnotationCatalogs

Note that custom catalogs and pasting custom object info are both SharpCap Pro features and you
will need a SharpCap Pro license to use them.

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Goto Catalog Target/Co-ordinates

The Goto Catalog Target/Co-ordinates tool is available if a GOTO mount is configured and connected
in SharpCap. Enhanced functionality is available if you have a plate solving application configured. If
you use a non-GOTO mount, consider using the Push-To Assistant instead.

When this tool is launched from the Tools menu, the Goto Catalog Target/Co-ordinates window will
appear, which allows you to choose the target and set a variety of options controlling how the GOTO
process will proceed. The list of steps that SharpCap will carry out is shown at the bottom of the
window.

The operation of this tool is simple:

1) Select a target either from the catalog or by entering co-ordinates (see Choosing a Target,
Choosing a Target from the full Catalog, Entering Target Co-ordinates Manually)
2) Set options for additional steps to be performed such as using plate solving to refine the
final position (see Setting Options for the GOTO movement)
3) Press the Start button

The progress of the operation will be shown as the GOTO movement and any other steps complete.
At any time during the procedure the Cancel button can be used to stop the process or the
Emergency Stop button can be used to stop the process and immediately stop the GOTO movement
if necessary.

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Once the process is complete, the window itself will close automatically a few seconds later.

Choosing a Target
The quickest way to choose a target is to pick one from the dropdown short catalog list – this
contains the targets from the Messier and Caldwell catalogs, along with the 10 solar system targets.
The list is ordered by current altitude with those targets highest in the sky first and those lowest (or
below the horizon) last. SharpCap also indicates the compass direction of each target so that you can
take into account any limitations of your observing location (i.e. if you have poor viewing to the
north due to nearby trees).

You can also use the search button to the right of the drop down and enter a catalog ID such as M42
or part of a target name. SharpCap will show the objects in the short catalog that match the search
text that you enter

Of course, the short catalog is rather limited with just the 219 objects of the Messier and Caldwell
catalogs available to choose from. A much wider range of objects (and a powerful method to filter
and sort the available objects) is available by pressing the Full Catalog… button.

Selecting the Sun as a GOTO Target

IMPORTANT WARNING – VIEWING THE SUN THROUGH A TELESCOPE CAN LEAD TO BLINDNESS

Pointing a telescope at the Sun without using proper filters to cut down the amount of light can be
extremely dangerous. Looking through a telescope at the sun without proper filters will almost

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certainly lead to instant, permanent, blindness. Cameras or other equipment connected to a

telescope pointing at the sun are likely to be damaged. The telescope itself may be damaged if
concentrated sunlight cracks mirrors or lenses, or melts plastic parts.

SharpCap will warn you if you ask it to move the telescope to point at the sun by selecting the ‘Sun’
target from the catalog or using other tools or sequencer steps to move to that target.

If you have suitable filters installed that will protect the telescope, camera and your eyes then you
can choose to Continue. If you do not have proper filters installed, or you are unsure, choose Cancel.

To avoid this warning from becoming annoying for people who regularly observe the sun, it is
possible to permanently disable it by ticking the Don’t warn me again… check box at the bottom.
Please remember that if other people use this computer, they need to be aware of the dangers of
pointing the telescope at the sun, as the warning will not show for them.

IMPORTANT NOTE: SharpCap cannot prevent you from pointing a telescope at the sun in all
circumstances. If you enter co-ordinates manually that are close to the sun then you will not see this
warning box. If your mount is misaligned then the telescope may end up pointing at the sun even
when the co-ordinates of the mount indicate it is pointing elsewhere. If you use your telescope
during the day then you need to be aware of the risks of the telescope pointing at the sun.

Choosing a Target from the Full Catalog

Pressing the Full Catalog… button launches the Select a Target window, which will appear as shown
below.

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The window is divided into three areas

• The filter area in the top left – here you can choose to filter the targets according to the
following conditions
o Only include targets above a selectable minimum altitude – this helps exclude
targets that are close to the horizon and will give poor views or be blocked by trees
or buildings
o Only include targets down to a selectable faintest magnitude. Note that the catalogs
include many deep sky targets that do not have a magnitude value, so targets with
no magnitude can be included or excluded
o Only include targets that have at least the specified time before they cross the
meridian – this helps exclude targets which will require a meridian flip imminently
o By name – enter part or all of a target name or ID to filter the list to only those
targets matching the text.
• The object type selection in the top right – here you can choose which types of object you
are interested in by ticking or unticking the various types. You can use the Select All
checkbox to quickly tick or untick all object types.
• The Results List at the bottom which shows the targets matching the criteria you have
selected.

By default, the objects listed in the result list are ordered with the ones with the highest current
altitude (nearest the zenith) first and the lowest altitude last. However, by clicking on the headers of
the list you can sort the list by other criteria such as magnitude or time to meridian.

Once you have found the target that you wish to move the telescope to, click on it in the Results List
then press the OK button – the selected target will be transferred to the main Goto Catalog
Target/Co-ordinates Window.

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Note that SharpCap will remember the settings for the various filters and the object types to be
included for the next time you use the Select a Target window. Custom Catalog objects will appear in
the results in the Select a Target window but not in the short catalog dropdown.

Entering Target Co-ordinates manually

If you wish to move to a target that is not in any catalog – perhaps one that moves like a minor
planet or comet – you can enter the co-ordinates manually. Select the GOTO target at RA/Dec
option and enter the co-ordinates and optionally an object name.

SharpCap will interpret most formats for celestial co-ordinates and will ignore text around them as
long as the only numbers are the co-ordinates and the RA comes first before the Dec. For instance,
on a popular night sky website, the following text was found describing the current position of
Asteroid 1 Ceres

The current Right Ascension of Dwarf Planet 1 Ceres is 14h 04m 03s and the
Declination is -07° 21’ 46”

As long as the ‘1’ of ‘1 Ceres’ is not included, it’s possible to paste the text ‘14h 04m 03s and the
Declination is -07° 21’ 46”’ directly into the target co-ordinates box and SharpCap will interpret it
correctly. SharpCap shows a popup giving details of how it has interpreted the co-ordinates, which
also includes the calculated altitude and azimuth of the target (here it is sadly below the horizon!).

Setting Options for the GOTO movement

There are three options that may be available to configure the GOTO process as shown below

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Reduce exposure and increase gain during goto movement and plate solving
This option is available when the camera exposure is set to more than 5s, the camera also has an
adjustable numeric gain control and both exposure and gain are in manual (not automatic mode).

When enabled, SharpCap will reduce the exposure during the main movement stage and during the
plate solving/re-centering stage (if selected). Along with the exposure reduction to about 4s,
SharpCap will increase the camera gain to compensate for the reduced image brightness caused by
shorter exposures. At the end of the GOTO process, SharpCap will restore the original camera
settings.

This option is particularly useful when longer exposures are in use – without the reduction in
exposure, SharpCap may have to wait a long time for a new exposure to be available for plate
solving, since it will ignore any exposure that was partly captured during mount movement.

Refine position using plate solve and resync/re-goto

This option is available as long as a plate solving application has been installed and configured for
use in SharpCap.

When this option is enabled, SharpCap will automatically perform a Plate Solve and Resync
operation after the initial GOTO is completed, ensuring that the selected target is placed into the
center of the camera image.

Start a new Live Stack

This option is available if you are Live Stacking when you start the Goto Catalog Target/Co-ordinates
process.

Regardless of whether this option is enabled or not, SharpCap will save and close the current live
stack before the GOTO operation commences. This ensures that data from the live stack that is
already in progress is not lost.

If this option is enabled, SharpCap will automatically start a new live stack after the GOTO operation
is completed. Since the GOTO operation will set a new target name if one is specified, the new stack
will be created with files named for the new target.

Goto Image
The Goto Image tool provides similar functionality to the Goto Catalog Target/Co-ordinates tool, but
instead of choosing a target from the catalog or entering co-ordinates, you select a previously
captured image of the target that you wish to return to.

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Press the ‘…’ button to browse for an image – you can use images in any format that SharpCap will
write (PNG, TIFF, FITS or even JPG). You can select options to use a rotator device if you have one
configured in SharpCap to match the orientation of the camera to that of the image and also to
refine the final position using plate solving.

When Start is pressed, SharpCap will work through a series of steps to carry out the action, including
plate solving the target image to get the correct co-ordinates to move to. Since FITS images contain
the co-ordinates of the mount used when capturing, selecting a FITS image as the target image
should make this plate solving of the image stage fast.

As for the Goto Catalog Target/Co-ordinates tool, progress is shown at the bottom of the window,
with each stage being ticked off as it is completed.

The Cancel and Emergency Stop buttons can be used to stop the process if necessary, with the
Emergency Stop button additionally bringing all hardware movements to a halt.

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Push-To Assistant
The Push-To Assistant provides target finding assistance for non-GOTO mounts using plate solving
information to work out which direction (and how far) the mount needs to be moved to bring the
target into view. Note that the Push-To Assistant is a SharpCap Pro feature.

This tool is available provided that a camera is open and is in Live View mode, and that a plate
solving application has been installed and configured for use in SharpCap.

Since this tool relies on plate solving images, it is important to make sure that the image is well
focused and the exposure and gain controls of the camera are set to ensure that plenty of stars are
visible in each frame. A good starting point would be to set an exposure of 2s to 4s and a relatively
high gain.

When the tool is selected, the Push-To Assistant window appears.

The top half of the window contains options for selecting the target object that you wish to find.
These allow selection of the target from a catalog or entry of the target co-ordinates, exactly as for
the Goto Catalog Target/Co-ordinates tool. See Choosing a Target, Choosing a Target from the Full
Catalog and Entering Target Co-ordinates Manually for information on how using these features.

Once the target has been selected, press the Start button. This will cause SharpCap to start plate
solving frames from the camera – the current plate solving status and the movement needed to get
the telescope to the target will show in the lower part of the Push-To Assistant window. Initially the
movements will be Not yet known – this will update when the first attempt at plate solving succeeds.

Once some plate solving information is available, SharpCap will display the movements required to
reach the target.

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The Required Movement line in the information gives the movements required in RA/Dec to reach
the target. If you are using an Alt/Az mount, then follow the instructions in the bottom line instead.

Once you get closer to the target, the highlight colour for the Required Movement and Distance To
Target rows will change from red (far away) through orange, yellow and finally green as you get very
close to the target.

When you have located the target to the required degree of accuracy (an arc minute will usually be
good enough) then you can close the Push-To Assistant window and begin imaging.

Push-To plate solving details

The first plate solve may be slow, as SharpCap will cause the plate solving application to check the
whole sky for a result. However, once SharpCap has one set of results, it will use that position as the
starting point for solving the next frame (with a 15 degree search limit), meaning that subsequent
plate solving operations will be much faster.

SharpCap will continue to try plate solving based on the most recent location and a 15 degree search
radius unless there are three failed attempts in a row – if that happens then SharpCap will revert to
allowing the plate solving application to search the whole sky (although it will still use the last known
position as the starting point). This will happen if you move the telescope a long way (more than 15
degrees) without pausing to allow a plate solve to complete.

Advanced Options using a virtual ASCOM telescope mount driver

Some additional options are available if you have an ASCOM mount driver connected in SharpCap –
these are aimed at advanced users who use a virtual ASCOM mount driver such as the ‘Telescope

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Simulator for .NET’ to allow SharpCap and other applications such as Stellarium to share co-
ordinates.

These options provide the following possibilities

Find a target at <Co-ordinates> (the current co-ordinates of <Name of ASCOM Mount Driver>) – If
you have previously found the target you wish to view in a planetarium application such as
Stellarium or Cartes-du-Ciel then SharpCap can use the co-ordinates that the other application has
set for the telescope mount driver as the target.

Update mount position with plate solve results – when selected, SharpCap will update the position of
the ASCOM telescope mount driver each time a plate solving operation succeeds. This means that if
planetarium application is tracking the same ASCOM telescope mount driver, the planetarium
application will automatically update to reflect the current pointing position of the telescope.

Pixel Position/Click to Recentre

The Pixel Position/Click to Recentre tool provides an easy-to-use way to see the celestial location of
any part of the image and also a way to re-centre the image with on any selected point. In order to
use this functionality, you must have a GOTO mount configured and connected to SharpCap. and
have a plate-solving tool configured for use in SharpCap. If these conditions are not satisfied then
the menu item for this tool will not be enabled.

If you have already performed a plate solving operation recently (within a few degrees of the current
position) then you will immediately see the direction rose display (see below). Otherwise you will
see a crosshair with an information message stating that No Plate Solving information available.

At this point you must perform a plate solving operation to enable the functionality of this tool. You
can:

• Double click as prompted anywhere in the image. This will perform a plate solve operation
limited to an area within 15 degrees of the current mount pointing co-ordinates.
• Use the Plate Solve and Resync menu item or the GPS button in the mount controls. These
options will perform a plate solving operation as above and also resynchronize and recentre

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the mount around the original target co-ordinates – see Plate Solve and Resync for more
information.
• Use the Plate Solve (Solve Only) menu item to perform a plate solving operation. Note that
this scans the whole sky for a valid solution and will therefore frequently be a lot slower
than the above two options.

One a plate solving operation has been completed successfully, the display will change to show the
co-ordinates of the crosshair point and the direction rose overlaid on the camera image:

A great deal of information is present in this overlay:

• The red crosshair shows the selected point in the image. You can move this point by clicking
anywhere in the image.
• The yellow text shows the RA and Dec co-ordinates of the selected point. Both the JNOW
and J2000 values for the co-ordinates are shown. If you are using these co-ordinates to
identify a feature against a star atlas, you will most likely need to use the J2000 co-ordinate
values.

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• The green arrows show the directions of increasing and decreasing RA and Declination
within the image. For instance +RA points in the direction of increasing RA and -Dec points in
the direction of decreasing declination
• The tick marks on the green arrows show the size of the change in RA and Declination from
the reference point (the red crosshair) to the tick marks. For instance, above you can see the
tick marks are at 15 minutes of arc in the + and – declination directions and 1 minute of RA.
• The cyan arrows show the orientation of the image in terms of the directions that would
apply to a naked eye observer looking at the target – i.e. Down points towards the horizon,
Up towards the zenith, left in the direction of reducing Azimuth co-ordinate, right in the
direction of increasing Azimuth co-ordinate.

Once the direction rose is visible, you can recentre it on any part of the image by clicking on the
target area.

Double clicking on the image activates the recentre functionality – SharpCap will calculate the mount
co-ordinates that need to be set to put the point that was selected in the middle of the image – the
calculations take account of any inaccuracy in the mount’s pointing that were detected by the plate
solving and any movements since the plate solving operation.

When you double-click on a point, SharpCap will prompt you to confirm the action :

If you click Yes then the movement will take place, otherwise no action will be taken. Note that
double-clicking to recenter is a SharpCap Pro feature.

Some actions will invalidate the plate solving information – this will cause the direction rose to no
longer be shown. If this happens then perform another plate solving operation to re-enable the
direction rose. Some of the actions that will cause this to happen include :

• Changing the resolution, binning or pan/tilt (ROI) settings of the camera

• Moving more than 10 degrees away from the mount position where the plate solving
occurred.

You can disable the Pixel Position/Click to Recentre tool by selecting it again from the Tools menu.

Note that selecting this tool will disable any reticule that is currently visible and conversely, selecting
a reticule will disable this tool.

Note: The RA and Dec arrows may point in incorrect directions and click-to-recentre operation may
be inaccurate very close to the celestial pole – particularly if the celestial pole is within the field of
view of the camera.

Note: The Up/Down/Left/Right arrows may point in incorrect directions very close to the zenith –
particularly if the zenith is within the field of view of the camera.

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Ghosted Image Alignment

The Ghosted Image Alignment tool provides assistance when manually trying to return the telescope
to the exact position of a previously taken image by allowing the current image from the telescope
and a previous reference image to be overlaid in the image display area. Any shift between the two
will be visible as double stars, etc., allowing corrections to be made to align the two perfectly. The
tool can also be used for manual mosaic creation, as the reference image can be offset by 75% of its
width/height in any of the four directions.

If you use a GOTO mount, the GOTO Image tool may be easier to use for returning to the location of
a previous deep sky image and the Lunar and Solar Mosaic Planners may be a better choice for
mosaic images of the moon or sun.

When the Ghosted Image Alignment tool is selected, the work area will show controls to allow the
reference image to be selected and adjustments to be made.

Browse for Reference Image – press this button to select the image file that SharpCap should use as
the reference image. This file can be in any image supported by SharpCap (FITS, TIF, PNG, JPEG).
Once you have chosen a reference image, the name and location of the reference image will be
shown above the Browse button. The selected reference image needs to be the same size (width and
height in pixels) as the camera image – if it is not then an error will be shown and the reference
image will not be loaded.

Reference Image Strength – this slider allows you to adjust the relative strengths of the camera
image and the reference image on the display. When set all the way to the left, only the camera
image will be shown; when set all the way to the right, only the reference image will be shown;
when set in the center (the default), the reference and camera images will have 50% strength each
and will be seen overlaying each other, as shown below.

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Rotate 180 degrees – when this box is checked, the reference image will be rotated through 180
degrees, which is useful after a meridian flip, since the movements of the flip will rotate the camera
image through 180 degrees.

Reference Image Shift – these buttons allow you to shift the reference image by 75% of its width left
or right, or to shift it by 75% of height up or down. This functionality allows a manually aligned
mosaic to be captured more easily, since it helps ensure a consistent overlap between panels. If a
direction shift is selected by pressing on of the direction buttons then the arrow on that button will
highlight red until a different shift is selected or the shift is cancelled by pressing the center button.

Solar/Lunar Framing Assistant (Experimental)

This tool can assist with moving the field of view around on the solar or lunar disc using a GOTO
mount. Often this sort of adjustment to move a different part of the disc into view can be a case of
trial-and-error, since the camera view is usually rotated relative to the telescope movement axes,
meaning that moving the mount east might well result in the image on screen moving perhaps down
and to the left.

The Solar/Lunar Framing Assistant makes this easier by allowing SharpCap to work out how the
image moves for each direction that the mount moves in a simple alignment procedure. After
alignment is complete, you can use the mouse to drag the image around on-screen and SharpCap
will move the mount to make the image move to match your requests. Note that the Solar/Lunar
Framing Assistant is a SharpCap Pro feature.

When selected, you will see a small window showing the options for the tool and an overlay on the
image which gives instructions on how to calibrate.

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Calibration
The calibration procedure is very simply – just click on a recognizable point somewhere near the
center of the camera image (it’s probably best to set the Zoom level to Auto before calibrating), and
continuing clicking on the same feature in the image every couple of seconds as SharpCap
automatically moves the mount first in one axis and then in the other.

If the movement of the target is too fast then you can try again after setting the Calibration Speed to
a lower value. If the movement is very slow then increase the Calibration Speed instead.

During the calibration process, the overlay on screen will update to keep you informed about how
far through the process you are:

Once the first axis calibration is complete, SharpCap will pause, waiting for you to begin the
calibration of the second axis by clicking a feature on screen – if you need to, you can use a different
feature for the second axis.

Calibration can fail for various reasons, including:

• A gap of more than 5s between clicks on the moving point during calibration
• Not enough click points during the movement – there must be at least 4 points in the final
80% of the movement distance (the first 20% of movement distance is ignored to deal with
backlash issues)
• The click points are not roughly in a straight line on the image
• The spacing of the click points doesn’t reflect a fairly constant speed of movement of the
image

If calibration does fail for anything except the first reason above then it’s worth retrying with a
different calibration speed set to see if that helps. Press the Reset Calibration button to clear all data
and start again.

Once calibration has been completed successfully, the window will display Calibration Complete –
drag to move mount and the overlay on the image will disappear. At this point, SharpCap knows
enough information to work out how far the mount needs to move – and in what direction – to
move the image by a particular amount.

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Using Drag to Move

Once calibration has been completed, you should leave the Solar/Lunar Framing Assistant window
open, as closing it will de-activate the tool (note: if you close it and then re-activate the tool, you will
not need to recalibrate). While the tool is active and has calibration data, you can simply drag on the
image to move the view of the telescope. If a particularly good active region on the sun is in the top-
right of your image, use the mouse to drag it to the center of the image. When you release the
mouse, SharpCap will calculate the mouse movement required and then send a GOTO command to
the mount to put the ‘dragged’ point to the position where you released the mount.

You can continue using this feature as your telescope mount tracks the sun or moon across the sky,
however you should re-calibrate after any of the following:

• Changing camera or telescope focal length

• Changing binning
• Crossing the meridian with an equatorial mount (meridian flip)

Feature Tracking
Feature tracking is a tool designed to assist with solar/lunar/planetary imaging, where it can help
stop the target from drifting out of view even if the telescope is not tracking perfectly. Guiding
during longer exposure deep sky imaging can be achieved using tools such as PHD2 guiding.

Note that Feature Tracking is a SharpCap Pro feature.

Hardware Requirements
In order to use Feature Tracking, you need to be using either

• An ASCOM compatible GOTO mount – the mount must be selected in the Hardware Tab of
the SharpCap settings and connected.

Or

• A supported camera with an ST4 pulse guiding port that is connected to a pulse guide-
capable mount. Select ‘On Camera ST4’ as the mount option in the Hardware Tab to use this
option.

Or

• A camera in ROI mode, allowing the position of the ROI to be adjusted to track the target.
Note that in this mode the tracking is limited – if the target moves too far then SharpCap will
run out of ROI adjustment space.

Either of the first two options will allow SharpCap to move the mount in all four directions, although
the ST4 option only allows a single movement rate, so the ASCOM option should be preferred if
available. The ROI option provides limited adjustment – once the ROI reaches the edge of the
camera’s full field of view, the limit of adjustment has been reached.

There is no need to have a separate guide scope or guide camera for this functionality. SharpCap will
use images from the main imaging camera to track any movement without affecting normal imaging
functionality.

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Setting up Feature Tracking

Feature Tracking is launched by selecting it from the Tools menu, which will show the Feature
Tracking Window. This is a separate window meaning that Feature Tracking can be used at the same
time as other features such as Focus Assistance, Seeing Monitor or Histogram.

The top left of the Feature Tracking Window shows the hardware that will be used for guiding and
allows the mount movement speed to be chosen if an ASCOM GOTO mount is being used. If
appropriate guiding hardware is not selected, or not connected, a warning will be shown here and
guiding functions will be unavailable. Note that the Use Camera ROI option will only be enabled
when the camera Capture Area is set to a value smaller than the maximum, meaning that the ROI
position can be moved.

There are two choices in the Tracking section – movement in the image can either be tracked by
automatic detection of image features or by using the ‘centre of mass’ of the image brightness.

Choose Centre of Mass for tracking a planetary image where the only bright thing in view is the
planet. Choose Feature Tracking for lunar or solar imaging. For other targets it may be best to try
both and see which works best.

Starting Monitoring Image Drift

Press the Monitor button to begin monitoring the image for drift.

When using Center of Mass tracking, SharpCap will draw a cross on the image at the calculated
position of the center of mass (brightness) in the image. Check that this cross really is in the center
of the planet or other target and adjust the Background Level setting if necessary to exclude
information from the darker parts of the image. You can also set the Minimum Contrast value –

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frames that have less than this amount of contrast between the darkest and brightest regions will
not produce tracking info, helping exclude frames where the whole view of the camera is being
obscured by cloud.

When using Image Features tracking, SharpCap will automatically find a range of identifiable feature
points on the image and highlight them on-screen with small circles. As the image moves, these
points will follow the feature on the image, allowing SharpCap to track how far the image has moved
and in what direction.

If the image is very low contrast or very out-of-focus then SharpCap may not be able to find
sufficient image features to track accurately.

Tracking may be lost if

• The image moves very rapidly

• The image moves such a long way that most of the tracked features move out of view
• The image brightness is increased or decreased drastically

When image monitoring is active, the Monitoring Status area will be updated regularly.

The Last Movement values show how far the image has moved between the most recent frame
measured and the previous measured frame. The Accumulated Movement shows the total amount
of image movement detected since monitoring was started. These measurements are in pixels.

The Tracking Points value shows how many features on the image SharpCap is currently tracking. If
the number of tracked features falls then the Re-Initialize button can be used to find a new set of
features to track while monitoring is still active.

You may wish to test if the tracking is working correctly by moving your mount slightly – this should
be detected and lead to changes in the Accumulated Movement figures.

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Calibration
SharpCap needs to work out which direction (and how far) the image moves when the mount is
moved in the four different directions (RA +/-, Dec +/- or Alt +/-, Az +/-). This is affected by a wide
range of factors such as camera orientation, telescope focal length, optical configuration of
telescope, reducers or Barlow lenses being used, etc. In order to avoid having to enter all of the
above information (which would be tedious and prone to error), SharpCap works out this
information by moving the mount in each direction and measuring how the image moves – this
process is known as Calibration.

One image monitoring is running successfully with a suitable number of tracking points, press the
Calibration button to begin the calibration process.

Note that the ROI movement option does not perform any actual calibration – just press the
Calibrate button and the user interface will immediately allow guiding to begin if you are in ROI
mode.

During the calibration process, SharpCap will move the mount in each of the four directions, starting
with small movements and gradually increasing the size until the image shift is detected. SharpCap
will continue moving the mount until a total image shift of 50 pixels is measured (this value can be
configured in the calibration settings). During the calibration process for each direction, a graph
showing the measured image movement on the Y axis against the total mount movement on the X
axis is drawn.

The graph should generally be a straight line, although as shown here it is common for the image not
to move as much for the initial mount movements – this is due to backlash in the mount mechanism
and should not normally cause a problem unless the amount of backlash is excessive.

During the four phases of the calibration process, a graph will build up in the Scatter tab showing
how the image moved in response to each of the four mount movement directions. This graph
should form the shape of an ‘X’ or cross. The two arms should be roughly straight, and close to being
at right angles with each other.

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If the scatter plot does not resemble the one shown above then the calibration process may fail.
Possible causes of calibration failure include:

• The image does not move in response to SharpCap moving the mount in one of the four
directions
• The image moves at significantly different rates when the mount is moved in opposite
directions
• When moving the mount in opposite directions the image does not move in opposite
directions
• The direction the image moves when the mount is moved in the RA (or Az) axis is not
roughly at right-angles to the direction the image moves when the mount is moved in Dec
(or Alt)

The most likely cause of all of the above is excessive backlash in the mount movements. It may help
to select a higher movement rate (if possible) to reduce the influence of backlash. Setting a higher
Initial Step Size or Required Movement value may also help. The reason for any calibration failure will
be shown in the Status area of the Calibration controls and more information may be available in the
SharpCap guiding log, which can be found in the same folder as the normal SharpCap log files.

Once calibration has completed successfully, the Guide button will become enabled.

Note: After a successful calibration, SharpCap saves the calibration results so that they can be re-
used later. If you return to Feature Tracking after re-starting SharpCap, you can choose to load the
saved calibration by using the dropdown at the right-hand side of the Calibrate button.

The saved calibration will only be valid if you have not adjusted or rotated the camera and are still
imaging in the same region of sky. Note that you can continue using the same calibration after
performing a meridian flip – SharpCap detects this situation and adjusts the calibration data
automatically to correct for the effective rotation of the camera after the flip.

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Guiding in Action
After calibrating or loading a previously saved calibration, press the Guide button to begin guiding.
SharpCap will then attempt to move your mount so as to keep the target roughly stationary in
image. Note that SharpCap does not attempt to keep the target stationary to ‘pixel perfect’ levels –
just to keep it from slowly drifting out of view.

The status of the guiding process can be monitored by checking the Accumulated Movement
information, which should stay close to X=0 and Y=0 when guiding as active and also by viewing the
Movement Graph, which shows both the history of image movement and corrections made

Red crosses on the Movement Graph represent measurements of the image position relative to the
target position (the X and Y axes are measured in pixels). The most recent measurements are shown
as larger red crosses while older measurements are smaller. Blue arrows represent guiding
corrections made to bring the image back to the target position.

There are a number of adjustments that can be made to control the guiding procedure:

• Dead Zone Size – this is the size of the zone (in pixels) around the target position in which no
guiding corrections at all will be made. The default is 5 pixels.

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• Excessive movement size – detected movements of the image greater than this size will be
treated as errors and ignored.
• Max Move Duration – the maximum length of a move command that will be issued (in
seconds) as part of a guiding correction. The actual amount moved will depend on both this
and the guiding rate chosen.
• Correction Scaling – the percentage of the calculated correction to apply when issuing a
guiding command. Typically setting this between 50 and 70% ensures that there are no
problems with over-correction or oscillation from one side of the target to the other, even if
the calibration data is not 100% accurate.
• Tracking lost after – adjusting this option allows you to set a time limit for how long
SharpCap will continue in the active guiding state when there is no movement signal being
detected (perhaps because the target is temporarily obscured by clouds). When the
movement signal has been lost for more than this length of time, tracking will stop and must
be restarted manually. When the movement signal returns after a shorter loss than this,
SharpCap will attempt to continue guiding without needing intervention.
• Move center of mass to image center – This option applies only in Center of Mass tracking
mode – when enabled, SharpCap will move the center of mass of the image (most likely the
planet) to the image center at the start of guiding. When disabled, SharpCap will leave guide
by keeping the center of mass in its current position.

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Automated Imaging in SharpCap

SharpCap now supports a number of options for automating imaging, including:

• Simple Sequence Captures – suitable for timelapses or repeated video captures

• The Deep Sky Sequence Planner for automating many aspects of deep sky imaging
• The Solar System Sequence Planner to automate capturing lunar/solar/planetary videos with
different filters
• The Lunar and Solar Mosaic Planners, which automate capturing mosaic images of the moon
and sun
• The Sequence Editor, which provides flexibility to do all of the above and much more by
building and configuring lists of actions for SharpCap to carry out

Note that these features (aside from the Simple Sequence Captures) are SharpCap Pro features.

Deep Sky Sequence Planner

The Deep Sky Sequence Planner provides an easy-to-use way to plan and automatically execute a
deep sky imaging session without needing to worry about the complexities of the SharpCap
Sequence Editor. Most of the options you need for deep sky imaging are catered for by the planner,
including:

• Camera setup
• Cool down and warm up of cooled cameras
• Target selection and framing
• Guiding and dithering
• Automatic focus
• Filter changing

Almost all of the actions that can be configured using the sequence planner can be tested
individually using the Test buttons. Additionally you can run the entire plan sequence in either
daytime or night-time Test Run mode. This ability to test gives you confidence that your sequence
should execute as planned when you run it for real.

If you find that you cannot achieve the results you wish using the Deep Sky Sequence Planner, you
may be able to achieve them using the SharpCap Sequence Editor, which has considerably more
flexibility. You can even design the outline of a sequence in the Sequence Planner and then
customize it further in the Sequence Editor by pressing the Advanced Edit button.

Note that you must have your camera selected in order to start the sequence planning process in
SharpCap. Having the camera already selected allows SharpCap to tailor the options available to you
to match the capabilities of your camera and any other hardware. It’s also good practice to have any
ASCOM hardware (focuser, mount, filter wheel) connected while planning your imaging sequence. If
you have ASCOM hardware selected but not connected then the Sequence Planner window will
prompt you to connect it in order to enable hardware-related planning functionality such as
autofocus and filter changes.

Note that the sequence planner will not be available for cameras that cannot run in still mode.
Currently, this means that the following types of camera cannot be used with the deep sky sequence
planner :

• Basler

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• Celestron/Imaging Source
• Point Grey/FLIR
• The SharpCap Folder Monitor Camera
• Any webcam or USB frame grabber used via direct show drivers.

The Sequence Planner window can be divided into four distinct areas as highlighted in the
screenshot below :

1. The Before Capturing section, in which you can specify camera parameters, information
about the target that is to be imaged and make choices related to guiding, dithering, cooling
etc.
2. The Capture List section. This section specifies all of the different captures that are to be
carried out during the imaging session. These may include the capture of dark, flat and light
frames and may also include filter changes, allowing LRGB or narrowband imaging to be
sequenced.
3. The After Capture Complete section. This specifies actions to be taken after the images have
been captured – for instance warming up the camera or parking the mount
4. The Action Buttons. The buttons here can be used to save or load or run your sequence. You
can also carry out a test run and to transfer the planned sequence into the full sequence
editor for further customization.

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To build your deep sky capture sequence, first choose the options that you would like to enable in
the Before Capturing section, then build up the capture list with the appropriate entries for dark
frames, flat frames, light frames etc. Finally, select the steps that you wish to run after the capturing
is complete. More detail can be found in the sections below.

Note that SharpCap will automatically save changes that you make to the sequence planner and
restore the most recent settings the next time you open the sequence planner window. You can also
save plans for future reuse.

Before Capturing Options

Each of the tabs in the Before Capturing area allows you to set up a particular aspect of your imaging
session.

Capture Setup
In this section you can choose the camera colour space that will be used for all captures as well as
the file format that saved images will be written to.

All captures during the sequence will be captured with the camera in still mode. Since the goal of the
sequence is designed to be deep sky imaging, it is highly recommended that you use the highest bit
depth available on your camera (i.e. RAW16, RAW14, RAW12 or MONO16, MONO14, MONO12).

The output format to save captured images to will depend upon your choice of software for
processing those captured images, but in most cases choosing the FITS format would be best.

If a filter wheel is connected and you intend to capture with different filters, you can also specify
here which filter should be used for initial steps such as focus, plate solving, etc.

Camera Settings
In this section you can set up the most important camera settings such as exposure, gain and offset.
Note that the default gain and default exposure set here will be used throughout the capture
sequence except when they are overridden for a particular initialisation stage or capture step. The
offset/brightness/black level chosen here is used throughout and cannot be overridden.

There are three ways that you can set up these parameters:

• Set each of the parameters manually

• Loading a previously saved capture profile that contains the desired camera settings (note
that this approach can be used to set other camera settings beyond the
exposure/gain/offset.
• Measuring the sky background and computing the most appropriate values based on upon
the SharpCap Smart Histogram functionality. This is equivalent to using the Smart Histogram
Brain functionality to measure the sky background and the settings that it recommends. This
option will only be available if Sensor Analysis data is available for your camera.
• Make no changes – leave the current camera settings alone and use them for capturing.

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Target
In this section, you can set information about the target that you will be imaging. The range of
options available here will depend on whether you have a GOTO mount configured and connected in
SharpCap.

Without a GOTO mount, the only options available to you relate to setting the name of the target
that will be used as part of the capture filenames created whilst the sequence is running.

If you have a GOTO mount configured in SharpCap but it is not connected, you will be prompted to
press the Connect Hardware Now button to connect to the mount and enable the additional options.

With a GOTO mount available, the following additional options are available to you

• Unpark the mount as the first step if necessary.

• Pick a target from SharpCap’s built in database of deep sky objects (currently this includes
the Messier and Caldwell catalogues) and go to that target.
o Note that SharpCap shows not just the name of the target but also the current
altitude and orientation of the target to enable easy selection of targets that are
currently well clear of the horizon.
• Pick a target from SharpCap’s full catalog (including NGC, IC, Brightstar and any installed
custom catalogs) by using the Full Catalog… button.
• Enter the coordinates and name of a target that you wish to image.

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o The coordinates should be in RA/Dec notation and a wide variety of forms are
accepted, for instance any of the following forms will be accepted as the co-
ordinates of the Orion Nebula
05 35 17.3 -05 23 28 05 32 49.8 -05 25 21
RA 5h 35m 17s | Dec -5° 23′ 28″ 5h 35m 17s -5° 23′ 28″
5h35m17.39s/Dec-5°23'28.24" RA= 5h 35.4m, Dec= -05° 27´
RA: 05h 35m 24.0s Dec: -05°27'00" 5h RA, -5° DEC
RA 05h 35.4m |Dec. -05° 27″ RA 05h 35.4m, dec. –05º 27’
{RA=05:35:16,Dec=-05:23:28} 5.58805 -5.391
(05:35:20.556, -05:18:32.593) (83.84, -5.309)
In all cases, RA co-ordinates are assumed to be in hours (not degrees) if the value is
less than 24.
• Cause the sequence to prompt for the target name when executed if the name has not been
set in some other way.

Finally, if you have a plate solving application configured as well as having a GOTO mount connected,
you have the option of using the plate solving functionality to ensure that the target is centred in the
field of view before starting to image. This is equivalent to using the Plate Solve and Resync tool.

Cooling
If your camera has a temperature controlled cooling system, you can choose to have the camera
cool to a particular target temperature before the image capturing commences.

Guiding
If you wish to use guiding or dithering during your captures, you can configure it here. Before using
this section, you should configure your guiding/dithering settings in the Guiding Settings.

Note that if the ‘require guiding’ option is set then SharpCap will not only pause capture if guiding is
lost, it will also actively try to restart guiding repeatedly to allow imaging to continue.

When a time interval is set for dithering, operations will occur at the end of the next frame to finish
after the time interval expires. So, for example if dithering is set to occur every 300s with an
exposure of 40s, dithering will occur after every 8th frame (7 frames take 280s, which will finish
before the 300s dithering interval completes, so an 8th frame will start, which will finish after 320s).

Focus
If you have an ASCOM focuser connected then you have the option to configure SharpCap to
perform an autofocus before imaging commences.

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The autofocus procedure will use the Multi-Star FWHM Focus Measurement tool for best focus
scanning, so you should make sure that you have tried that tool manually and configured any
necessary settings before trying to use the autofocus option. The autofocus procedure is designed to
bring the camera to best focus from a position that is already close to focus – it will not find focus if
the camera starts a long way out of focus.

The following parameters can be set to configure the autofocus procedure:

• Focuser position range to scan – this is specified as an offset in each direction (+/-) from the
current focuser position and should be large enough to ensure that the point of best focus is
within the range.
• Exposure and gain to be used when capturing frames for focus. In general you will want to
set a higher gain and shorter exposure to stop the focusing procedure from being
exceptionally slow.
• The direction to scan in – this will also be the direction used for the focuser motion to the
final best focus position.
• The number of measurement points to test the focus at between the minimum and
maximum focuser position being scanned.
• A backlash allowance – this should be set to a value larger than the backlash amount of your
focuser to ensure that backlash does not ruin the autofocus procedure. If you have
configured backlash compensation then you can set this to a small value.

For instance, if your current focuser position is 13200 and you use the parameters shown above,
SharpCap will scan between positions 12950 and 13450, measuring at 15 different positions (about
33 focuser steps between positions).

SharpCap will begin by moving to position 13450, then to 12750, then to 12950 before starting the
scan – these moves clear any backlash on the focuser movement.

Finally, you can select the option to have the autofocus procedure repeated after any filter change.
This may be considered as an alternative to defining focus offsets for the filters in your filter wheel.

The Capture List

A typical capture list is shown below – it specifies the type and ordering of image captures that
SharpCap is to perform as part of the sequence. You can use the buttons on the right to Add, Delete
and re-order the steps in the capture list to adjust it to match your imaging requirements.

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Each step in the capture list has the following properties which may be adjusted

• Frame Type – the frame type may be set to Light, Dark, Flat, Dark Flat, Bias or Other. The
frame type is used to create the file names/directory names when saving the captured
images – nothing else is changed when the frame type is altered.
• Filter – if you have a connected electronic filter wheel, you will be able to choose one of the
filters in the wheel for each step. SharpCap will move the wheel to that position before
capturing the frames for that step. Note that a blank entry in the filter column means that
the filter wheel will not be moved before that step.
• Number of Frames – how many frames should be captured for that particular step
• Override Exposure – if the checkbox is ticked then the default exposure (set in the Camera
Settings tab) will be changed to the specified value for this capture step. Following steps will
not be affected by this change (they will use the default exposure unless they also set an
exposure override).
• Override Gain – as for override exposure, ticking the checkbox and setting a value will set a
different gain to be used for this capture step. Certain frame types (Flat, Dark Flat, Bias) will
typically use override exposure and override gain as they are not captured with the same
exposure/gain values as light and dark frames.
• Pause Before, Pause After – ticking one or both of these options will cause the sequence to
pause before and/or after capturing the images in the step. During the pause, SharpCap will
show a prompt – you will need to click ‘OK’ to continue the sequence. You can use the pause
to set up flat frame illumination, cover the aperture for dark frames, etc. You can also adjust
camera settings during the pause, which may be helpful to properly expose flat frames.
• Test – pressing the Test button will test the step – a test carries out all the actions associated
with the step, but will only capture 1 frame, even if a larger Number of Frames is specified.

If you wish, you can configure the sequence to repeat all the capture steps in the sequence a
number of times – this can be a useful option if you are unsure how much clear sky time you will
have – instead of capturing 60 minutes with each filter, set up the capture steps for 15 minutes with
each filter and repeat four times. If the clouds roll in after two hours, you still have data from each
filter to work with.

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After Capture Complete Options

These options are steps that can be taken after the capture steps have completed. You can choose
to park the mount to the home position and (if you have a cooled camera) to warm it up at a gradual
rate.

Testing and Running your Sequence

Testing individual steps
Automating your imaging using sequencing tools is a great way to improve your imaging productivity
(or at the very least your comfort levels while the computer gets on with the imaging), but there is
also a very real risk of wasting clear sky time if your imaging sequence doesn’t work properly and
stops early because of an error.

Testing all parts of the sequence before running it for real is the best way of minimizing the chance
of problems. The SharpCap sequence planner is designed to make testing of your sequence easy.

You can test individual setup or capture steps by using the Test buttons that you will find adjacent to
many parts of the sequence planner options. Pressing one of these Test buttons will put together a
shortened sequence that has the minimum amount of content needed to check the operation of the
option you have chosen to test. Depending on the nature of the option being tested, it may be
sufficient to test during daytime (for instance testing unparking of the mount or setting camera
options), or it may require a clear view of the night sky (testing autofocus).

When you use the Test button for any of the individual steps, you will see the Sequencer progress
window appear. SharpCap runs the test by creating a shortened sequence that contains only the
steps that need testing (and any setup steps that are required in order to test them).

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The test may take anything from a few seconds to a few minutes to complete. It’s a good idea to
watch the progress of the test in the Log area of the progress window. If you see an ‘Error’ entry in
the log then the test has failed – look at the message text that follows the ‘Error’ for information
about the cause of the failure. In the screenshot shown above for instance, moving the mount to the
target coordinates was being tested and it failed because the ASCOM mount would not allow the
slow operation because the mount was not already tracking.

If the log shown in the progress window completes with no errors then the test is most likely
successful, but it is still worthwhile checking – for instance if you are testing the autofocus
procedure, check that the focus that it finds is really the best possible focus for the camera.

Testing the whole sequence

When you are happy that the individual steps are working correctly, it’s a good idea to test the
whole sequence from beginning to end. You can do this by pressing the Test Run button.

A test run is a quicker way to check all the steps in a sequence to make sure that they work without
any problems. There are two types of test run that you can choose between:

• Night time test runs - these are the closest to the real execution of the sequence. The only
changes are that exposure times are limited to 30 seconds; all captures are reduced to
capturing only a single frame and any repeats of the capture steps are ignored. All set up
and clean up steps will be executed – for example cooled down of the camera, focusing,
moving the mount to point at the target, etc.
• Day time test runs - these are designed so that they can be performed without needing clear
sky, and test as much of the sequence as possible subject to that limitation. All of the
changes mentioned above for a Night time test run are applied along with the following
extra changes to the full sequence:
o Mount movements and autofocus steps are ignored
o Sky brightness measurements will be skipped

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o Guiding and dithering settings will be ignored

As with the testing of the individual steps, watch the output shown in the Log section of the
Sequencer Progress Window during a test run to see if any problems occur. Also check the saved
capture files afterwards (particularly for a night time test run) to make sure that they are in the
correct format and contain image data of the quality that you would expect.

Running the Sequence

Running the sequence is very simple – simply press the Run button. This will start SharpCap’s
sequencing engine running the steps that you have chosen and show the Sequencer Progress
Window to allow you to follow the progress of the imaging sequence as it executes.

The Sequencer Progress Window

The Sequencer Progress Window is shown whenever a sequence is running (unless the main
sequence editor is already visible). This window gives you the ability to monitor and control the

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sequence that is in progress, pause or cancel it if necessary and to perform an Emergency Stop if the
situation requires it.

The Sequence Progress Window controls include the following :

• Stop - this will stop any sequence that is currently running. Note that the sequence may not
stop immediately (depending on the action that is currently being carried out), but it should
usually stop within a few seconds of the button impressed.
• Pause/Resume - this allows you to temporarily pause the sequence and to resume execution
again after pausing. Pausing a sequence may take longer to take effect than stopping it. For
instance if the sequence is currently capturing 60s exposure, stopping the sequence will
cancel that exposure and stop fairly quickly. Pausing the sequence will wait until that
exposure is completed before pausing.
• Run – this allows you to rerun a sequence from the start after it has finished or been
stopped due to an error or manually.
• Edit - this will show the SharpCap Sequence Editor window, allowing you to make changes to
the sequence that has been running.
• Emergency Stop – use this button if there is the risk of damage to equipment due to the
commands being carried out by a running sequence. Pressing this button will not only stop
the sequence as if the Stop button had been pressed, but will also send stop movement
commands to any connected ASCOM mount or focuser.
• Keep Progress Visible - if this box is checked then the Sequencer Progress Window will
remain visible above other applications even if SharpCap is minimised or another application
is brought to the foreground.

The Status section of the progress window shows the following information:

• The name of the current sequence - this may be a file name if a sequence has been loaded
from file or another descriptive name.
• The Current Step - this is the currently executing step in the sequence.

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• The ETA - this section shows how long before the sequence is expected to complete and also
the time at which completion is expected to occur. Note that this is just an estimate as some
steps (for instance the measurement of sky brightness) may take a variable amount of time
to complete. For some advanced sequences it may not be possible for SharpCap to calculate
how long the sequence will take to run.
• Progress Bar - this is just a visible representation of how far much of the sequence has
already been executed and how much is still to complete it.

The Log section of the progress window shows useful information for keeping track of the progress
of the sequence. The beginning and end of every sequencer step are entered in the log, along with
other information about the progress of certain steps and error information if an error occurs.

Note the information shown in the Sequencer Progress Log is also included in the main SharpCap
log. A full list of the steps to be executed in any sequence that is run is also stored in the main
SharpCap log to help with tracking down any problems that may arise.

Saving, Loading and Advanced Editing

Deep Sky Sequence Plans can be saved and reloaded later using the Save and Load buttons.
Sequence plans are saved using the .ssp (SharpCap Sequence Plan) extension.

Note that while it is possible to load a plan that was previously saved for a different camera, care
should be taken if the cameras have different capabilities as some of the settings in the saved plan
may be ignored if they cannot be applied to the new camera.

Finally, it is possible to transfer the plan to the full SharpCap Sequence Editor for further refinement
by pressing the Advanced Edit button. This will close the Sequence Planner window and open the
Sequence Editor window with a representation of the plan loaded as the current sequence. The
settings that you set up in the Sequence Planner window will be auto saved and restored the next
time returned to the Sequence Planner.

Solar System Sequence Planner

The Solar System Sequence Planner provides an easy-to-use way to plan and automatically execute a
solar system (video based) imaging session without needing to worry about the complexities of the
SharpCap Sequence Editor. It is particularly aimed at capturing images using a monochrome camera
and multiple filters, since this type of capture often has to be performed quickly. You can configure
the basic settings needed for this type of imaging including:

• Capture format and camera exposure/gain settings

• Which filters to capture with and how many frames
• Per-filter flat frames to use if required
• Auto-exposure to set the correct exposure/gain for each filter

Almost all of the actions that can be configured using the sequence planner can be tested
individually using the Test buttons. Additionally you can run the entire plan sequence in either
daytime or night-time Test Run mode. This ability to test gives you confidence that your sequence
should execute as planned when you run it for real.

If you find that you cannot achieve the results you wish using the Solar System Sequence Planner,
you may be able to achieve them using the SharpCap Sequence Editor, which has considerably more

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flexibility. You can even design the outline of a sequence in the Sequence Planner and then
customize it further in the Sequence Editor by pressing the Advanced Edit button.

Note that you must have your camera selected in order to start the sequence planning process in
SharpCap. Having the camera already selected allows SharpCap to tailor the options available to you
to match the capabilities of your camera and any other hardware. It’s also good practice to have any
ASCOM hardware (focuser, mount, filter wheel) connected while planning your imaging sequence. If
you have ASCOM hardware selected but not connected then the Sequence Planner window will
prompt you to connect it in order to enable hardware-related planning functionality such as
autofocus and filter changes.

The Sequence Planner window can be divided into four distinct areas as highlighted in the
screenshot below:

1. The Before Capturing section, in which you can specify camera parameters, options on
autoexposure, flat frames, etc.
2. The Capture List section. This section specifies all of the different captures that are to be
carried out during the imaging session. Although you can specify different frame types, in
practice only light frames make sense for Solar System captures. You may also include filter
changes, allowing LRGB or narrowband imaging to be sequenced.
3. The After Capture Complete section. This specifies actions to be taken after the images have
been captured – for instance parking the mount

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4. The Action Buttons. The buttons here can be used to save or load or run your sequence. You
can also carry out a test run and to transfer the planned sequence into the full sequence
editor for further customization.

To build your solar system capture sequence, first choose the options that you would like to enable
in the Before Capturing section, then build up the capture list with the appropriate entries for filters
to be used, etc. More detail can be found in the sections below.

Note that SharpCap will automatically save changes that you make to the sequence planner and
restore the most recent settings the next time you open the sequence planner window. You can also
save plans for future reuse.

Before Capturing Options

Each of the tabs in the Before Capturing area allows you to set up a particular aspect of your imaging
session.

Capture Setup
In this section you can choose the camera colour space that will be used for all captures as well as
the file format that saved images will be written to.

All captures during the sequence will be captured with the camera in video mode. In general, for
solar system imaging a bit depth of 8 bits is sufficient, so the RAW8 or MONO8 colour space should
be used. You may wish to use higher bit depths for solar imaging with narrowband filters if you are
trying to capture detail of both the solar disc and prominences at the same time.

In general, it is best to capture all videos to the SER format, which is well supported by common
video astronomy processing applications.

Camera Settings
In this section you can set up the how the exposure and gain will be set during the captures.

There are three ways that you can set up these parameters:

• Use the current camera settings unchanged throughout the procedure

• Allow SharpCap to automatically set the gain and exposure – this will be done to aim for a
frame rate of at least 30fps. The automatic setting can either happen once for the whole
sequence, every time a filter change occurs or at the start of every capture
• Loading a previously saved capture profile that contains the desired camera settings (note
that this approach can be used to set other camera settings beyond the
exposure/gain/offset.

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Flat Frames
In this section you can configure the use of flat frames throughout the sequence. Flat frames are
useful for this type of imaging as they correct for the shadows of any dust on the sensor. SharpCap is
able to apply flat frame correction in real time to high speed video capture.

The options available are:

• To use whatever flat frame settings are already set up and not to change the flat frame
settings during the sequence
• To specify a single flat frame to use throughout the sequence
• To specify flat frames per-filter – SharpCap will automatically change flat frames as the filters
are changed during the sequence.

Note that any flat frames to be used in this section must have been prepared and saved beforehand
– see Creating Flat Frames for more details on how to do this in SharpCap.

The Capture List

A typical capture list is shown below – it specifies the type and ordering of image captures that
SharpCap is to perform as part of the sequence. You can use the buttons on the right to Add, Delete
and re-order the steps in the capture list to adjust it to match your imaging requirements.

Each step in the capture list has the following properties which may be adjusted

• Frame Type – the frame type may be set to Light, Dark, Flat, Dark Flat, Bias or Other. The
frame type is used to create the file names/directory names when saving the captured

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images – nothing else is changed when the frame type is altered. For solar system capture,
you will normally leave this set to Light.
• Filter – if you have a connected electronic filter wheel, you will be able to choose one of the
filters in the wheel for each step. SharpCap will move the wheel to that position before
capturing the frames for that step. Note that a blank entry in the filter column means that
the filter wheel will not be moved before that step.
• Number of Frames – how many frames should be captured for that particular step
• Pause Before, Pause After – ticking one or both of these options will cause the sequence to
pause before and/or after capturing the images in the step. During the pause, SharpCap will
show a prompt – you will need to click ‘OK’ to continue the sequence. You can use the pause
manually change filters if you do not have an automatic filter wheel. You can also adjust
camera settings during the pause, which may be helpful to properly expose the target.
• Test – pressing the Test button will test the step – a test carries out all the actions associated
with the step, but will only capture 1 frame, even if a larger Number of Frames is specified.

If you wish, you can configure the sequence to repeat all the capture steps in the sequence a
number of times – by setting a large value here, you can effectively set up your system to
continuously capture your target in various filters over a long period, allowing an animation to be
made from the final processed images.

After Capture Complete Options

These options are steps that can be taken after the capture steps have completed. For solar system
sequences, the only option is to park the mount at the end of the sequence.

Testing and Running your Sequence

Testing individual steps
Automating your imaging using sequencing tools is a great way to improve your imaging productivity
(or at the very least your comfort levels while the computer gets on with the imaging), but there is
also a very real risk of wasting clear sky time if your imaging sequence doesn’t work properly and
stops early because of an error.

Testing all parts of the sequence before running it for real is the best way of minimizing the chance
of problems. The SharpCap sequence planner is designed to make testing of your sequence easy.

You can test individual setup or capture steps by using the Test buttons that you will find adjacent to
many parts of the sequence planner options. Pressing one of these Test buttons will put together a
shortened sequence that has the minimum amount of content needed to check the operation of the
option you have chosen to test. Depending on the nature of the option being tested, it may be
sufficient to test during daytime (for instance testing unparking of the mount or setting camera
options), or it may require a clear view of the target (testing autoexposure for instance).

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When you use the Test button for any of the individual steps, you will see the Sequencer progress
window appear. SharpCap runs the test by creating a shortened sequence that contains only the
steps that need testing (and any setup steps that are required in order to test them).

The test may take anything from a few seconds to a few minutes to complete. It’s a good idea to
watch the progress of the test in the Log area of the progress window. If you see an ‘Error’ entry in
the log then the test has failed – look at the message text that follows the ‘Error’ for information
about the cause of the failure.

If the log shown in the progress window completes with no errors then the test is most likely
successful, but it is still worthwhile checking – for instance if you are testing the autoexposure
procedure, check that the exposure and gain that have been selected really do expose the target
correctly and give the desired frame rate.

Testing the whole sequence

When you are happy that the individual steps are working correctly, it’s a good idea to test the
whole sequence from beginning to end. You can do this by pressing the Test Run button.

A test run is a quicker way to check all the steps in a sequence to make sure that they work without
any problems. There are two types of test run that you can choose between:

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• Night time test runs - these are the closest to the real execution of the sequence. The only
changes are that all captures are reduced to capturing only a short video of 25 frames and
any repeats of the capture steps are ignored. All set up and clean up steps will be executed –
for example setting camera colour space, output format, autoexposure, etc.
• Day time test runs - these are designed so that they can be performed without needing clear
sky, and test as much of the sequence as possible subject to that limitation. In addition to
cutting videos short to 25 frames and skipping repeats, this option will also skip any
automatic adjustment of gain and exposure settings.

As with the testing of the individual steps, watch the output shown in the Log section of the
Sequencer Progress Window during a test run to see if any problems occur. Also check the saved
capture files afterwards to make sure that they are in the correct format and contain image data of
the quality that you would expect.

Running the Sequence

Running the sequence is very simple – simply press the Run button. This will start SharpCap’s
sequencing engine running the steps that you have chosen and show the Sequencer Progress
Window to allow you to follow the progress of the imaging sequence as it executes.

The Sequencer Progress Window

The Sequencer Progress Window is shown whenever a sequence is running (unless the main
sequence editor is already visible). This window gives you the ability to monitor and control the

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sequence that is in progress, pause or cancel it if necessary and to perform an Emergency Stop if the
situation requires it.

More details can be found in the corresponding section for the Deep Sky Sequence Planner.

Saving, Loading and Advanced Editing

Deep Sky Sequence Plans can be saved and reloaded later using the Save and Load buttons.
Sequence plans are saved using the .ssv (SharpCap Sequence Video) extension.

Note that while it is possible to load a plan that was previously saved for a different camera, care
should be taken if the cameras have different capabilities as some of the settings in the saved plan
may be ignored if they cannot be applied to the new camera.

Finally, it is possible to transfer the plan to the full SharpCap Sequence Editor for further refinement
by pressing the Advanced Edit button. This will close the Sequence Planner window and open the
Sequence Editor window with a representation of the plan loaded as the current sequence. The
settings that you set up in the Sequence Planner window will be auto saved and restored the next
time returned to the Sequence Planner.

Lunar and Solar Mosaic Planners

The SharpCap Lunar and Solar Mosaic planning tools provide an easy-to-use way to automate the
capture of mosaic images of the moon and sun. After a brief alignment process, SharpCap will
calculate the optimum arrangement of mosaic panels to cover the target and after fine-tuning of
settings will proceed to perform the entire mosaic capture automatically.

The two mosaic planner tools will be available to use in the Sequencer menu providing the following
conditions are satisfied:

• A camera is open and is in live view mode

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• A GOTO mount has been configured for use in SharpCap and is connected
• The camera has square pixels and is not in an asymmetric binning mode
• Live stacking is not currently active

The GOTO mount is required to allow SharpCap to move the mount around during the mosaic
capture procedure.

The following options can be configured to customize the mosaic capture process:

• Minimum overlap between panels

• Minimum safety margin around the edge of the target to be included in captures
• Whether to capture the whole disk or the illuminated portion (Lunar only)
• How many frames to capture for each panel
• Save format for videos and colour space to use for capture
• Whether to use autoexposure to set camera exposure and gain
• Configurable backlash take-up in RA and dec for each movement
• Optionally repeat the mosaic for multiple filters

Since the two mosaic planning tools are very similar in basic operation with just a few differences,
both will be documented together rather than having separate documentation for each tool.

Before Starting a Mosaic

The mosaic tool in SharpCap does not check or adjust the focus of the image, so check that you have
good focus before beginning the mosaic process. If you intend to use the option to use multiple
filters then ensure that you have set up focus offset values in the ASCOM driver for your filter wheel
for each of your filters and tested that they work correctly before attempting a mosaic.

Mosaic Alignment
The first stage of the mosaic capture procedure is to perform alignment. Alignment lets SharpCap
work out four pieces of information that it needs in order to plan and run the mosaic:

• The size of the field of view of the camera (to work out how big each panel of the mosaic will
be, and how many are needed)
• The orientation of the camera field of view relative to the movement directions of the RA
and Dec axis (to work out the orientation of the target in the telescope’s view)
• The offset between the mount co-ordinates and the true pointing direction of the telescope
in the region of the target (to allow SharpCap to correct for any error when sending GOTO
instructions to the telescope)
• Whether the image is mirrored compared to the real view of the sky – this will be the case
for telescopes that use an odd number of mirrors between sky and camera – for instance
SCT or refractor with a diagonal.

Once SharpCap has worked out this information from the alignment procedure then the rest of the
mosaic capture process can begin.

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For a Lunar mosaic, SharpCap will show a choice of alignment methods along with an image showing
the current phase of the moon.

The possible alignment methods are:

• Guided – this method involves moving the mount to put one edge of the lunar disc onto
three points that SharpCap will highlight onscreen. This is the recommended alignment
method.
• Plate Solving – if you have already plate solved nearby then SharpCap can use that plate
solving information for alignment purposes. If you have not plate solved yet, SharpCap can
try to automate the process.
• Manual – Orient the on-screen moon image to match the view through the telescope, enter
the focal length of your telescope and click on the on-screen moon to indicate where the
camera is currently centered. This can be tricky to get right, particularly if you only see a
small area of the moon through the telescope.

Additionally, if you have recently used the mosaic tool, SharpCap will show the option to re-use a
previous set of alignment data.

For a Solar mosaic, the Plate Solving and Manual methods are not possible, so SharpCap will skip the
choice of alignment methods and proceed directly to the beginning of the Guided alignment.

Note the two tools buttons at the bottom of the left hand side of the Mosaic Tool window.

These provide a quick way to move the GOTO telescope mount to the target (either Sun or Moon, as
appropriate) and to auto expose the image on the camera. If you select the ‘Goto Sun’ button then

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you will be shown a warning about pointing the telescope at the sun – see Selecting the Sun as a
GOTO Target.

Guided Mosaic Alignment

Guided Alignment is the recommended alignment technique, and the only one available for a solar
mosaic. Guided alignment relies on using the GOTO mount movement buttons to place a selected
point on the edge of the solar or lunar disc onto three alignment points that SharpCap will highlight
onscreen.

Alignment point selection

Only four points can be chosen for the selected point on the edge of the lunar/solar disc – the top-
most, right-most, bottom-most and left-most points as seen in the camera view. For instance, the
left-most point is highlighted in the solar image below.

You need to select a suitable point from the four possibilities as the first stage of alignment.

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When aligning on the sun, any of the four alignment points can be chosen. However, when aligning
on the moon, typically only two of the points will show the edge of the lunar disc – the other two
points are likely to be in the non-illuminated portion of the moon and are unsuitable. For instance, if
the view of the moon through the telescope has the orientation shown below, you would need to
choose either the left-most or bottom-most edge for alignment.

Once a suitable side of the target disc has been chosen for alignment, press the Next button to move
on to performing the three alignment measurements.

Adding Alignment Points

SharpCap will place a crosshair over the camera image – you need to use the mount movement
controls (SharpCap shows a duplicate copy in the Mosaic Tool window) to move the mount so that
the alignment point chosen is under the crosshair. For example, an incorrect alignment for left-most
is shown on the left and a correct alignment is shown on the right

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When performing the alignment, use the mount controls shown in the Mosaic Tool window.

Select a low movement rate and use the left/right/up/down buttons to adjust. Note that the view
onscreen will almost certainly move in a different direction to the button pressed due to rotation of
the camera.

Once you have correctly aligned the selected alignment point with the crosshair, press the Add
button to record the alignment point. SharpCap will then move the crosshair to a second position on
the screen for the second alignment point – once again the selected point on the edge of the disc
must be moved to the alignment point using the mount movement buttons before adding the
second and then the third alignment points.

Things to note during the alignment procedure:

• Your mount may show backlash in movement in both the RA and Dec directions – in
particular, if you move the mount in the easterly direction (opposite to the usual tracking
motion to the west), the image may appear to drift for several seconds after the mount
stops moving. To get best alignment, allow any drift to complete before deciding if you have
aligned correctly.

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• If you have considerable backlash in the Dec direction, consider always approaching each
alignment point in a consistent direction (i.e. by using the North movement button for final
adjustment on all points).
• You can use the mouse to move the crosshair slightly to perform the final adjustments for
each alignment point, as long as most of the movement is done using the mount movement
buttons.
• If you make a mistake, you can use the Restart button to clear the alignment points and start
again with the first point. You can also use the Back button to go back to the previous stage
and select a different alignment edge point.
• You may need to move the Mosaic Tool window around onscreen to properly see some of
the alignment points.

Once all three alignment points have been added, SharpCap will attempt to calculate the required
alignment information. If this calculation is successful then SharpCap will display the summary of the
alignment information and the Next button will become enabled

If there are significant inaccuracies in the alignment process then SharpCap may discover that the
alignment calculations do not give consistent results. In that case an error may be shown ‘The
Calculated mapping was not valid, please retry’. If you see this message, take extra care when
retrying :

• Make sure that you are aligning to the correct chosen edge point for all three alignment
points
• Make sure that you are allowing any drift to complete and correcting if necessary before
adding an alignment point
• Take care to approach in declination from a consistent direction to avoid declination
backlash being included in the calculations.

Plate Solving Alignment

Plate Solving Alignment is only available for lunar mosaics, and can only be used when the sky is dark
enough to see sufficient stars for plate solving to work.

If you have already successfully plate solved near to the moon (within 10 degrees, ideally less) then
SharpCap will use this information and immediately proceed to the next stages of the mosaic
process.

If there is no plate solving information available, SharpCap will prompt you to either plate solve
manually or use the Plate Solve Nearby button which attempts to automate the process.

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Note that you will probably be unable to plate solve directly adjacent to the moon due to the
atmospheric glow that usually surrounds it on all but the clearest of nights – you will need to move
the mount a few degrees away to find darker sky to plate solve.

Manual Alignment
Manual Alignment is only available for lunar mosaics, as it relies on identifying the orientation of the
moon from the features visible on the lunar disc and the shape and orientation of the moon’s phase.
You also need to identify the point on the moon that is currently in the center of view from its
position in relation to the illuminated portion of the moon.

Important Note: The moon display shown in the Lunar Mosaic Tool is not a fully accurate image of
the moon for the current date. It shows a typical lunar image with the correct phase, but does not
include the effects of the moon’s wobble (libration) or the effects of the latitude and longitude of
the observer on the view. This means that the positions of the craters, mares and other lunar
features will not exactly match the positions seen on the real moon.

Setting Rotation
The first stage is to set the rotation of the moon to match the view through the telescope. This may
be hard when the moon is close to full, or when the telescope only shows a very small area of the
moon in the camera image.

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Move the yellow arrow in the moon rotation dial on the left to turn the moon image shown on the
right to match the orientation seen through the telescope. If you are using a telescope with an odd
number of mirrors in the light path between the moon and the camera then check the Flip
North/South checkbox, which adds a mirror flip to the image shown on the right. This would typically
be needed for SCT or refractor telescopes used with a diagonal mirror.

Once you have achieved the correct orientation, press Next to move on to the next stage

Setting the field of view

In this stage, you need to help SharpCap work out the area of the moon that is currently in view. This
is done in two steps.

• Step 1: Set the focal length of the telescope that you are using (including the effects of any
barlow lenses or reducers) and – if necessary – the pixel size of the camera.

For most cameras, SharpCap will automatically detect the pixel size (and take into account
any binning being used), so the pixel size will be pre-set and cannot be changed.

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You will notice that a red box is drawn on the moon image on the right – this shows the size
of the field of view of the camera for the currently selected focal length and pixel size. If you
adjust the focal length then the size of this box will change.

Once the focal length and pixel size are set correctly, proceed to step 2.

• Step 2: Click on the moon image to match the position red box to the current field of view of
the telescope.

Since the moon image is not an exact representation of the current view of the moon,
picking a lunar feature to do the alignment (such as a crater or sea) will give incorrect
results.

You should base the alignment on a point picked in relation to the shape of the moon’s
illuminated area, for instance by moving the telescope so that the center of view is at one
end of the terminator (near the moon’s North or South pole) and then use that point for
alignment. An example of this is shown below and should give accurate results.

Once an alignment point has been selected, the Next button will be enabled, allowing you to
proceed to the next stage of the mosaic process.

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Adjusting Mosaic Settings

Once SharpCap has calculated alignment data (by any of the available methods), the planning of the
panels to capture in the mosaic can begin.

SharpCap will show the number of panels that are planned for the mosaic along with the
arrangement of the panels, as seen below.

Each panel to be captured is represented by a red rectangle overlaying the image of the moon or sun
on the right-hand side. The center of the panel is highlighted with a red dot. The image also shows
the following features

• A halo around the moon or sun – this represents the safety margin. SharpCap will plan to
include both the target and the safety margin area in the mosaic.
• A purple cross – this represents the expected current center of view of the camera, based on
the alignment data.
• Green co-ordinates shown for each panel – these represent the mount co-ordinates that will
be used to position the telescope for each panel
• A red brightness figure for each panel (only shown for lunar mosaics) – this represents
SharpCap’s estimate of the maximum brightness of the panel. The brightest estimated panel
will be used to auto set the camera exposure, if selected
• The red panel rectangles overlap each other – this represents the overlap between mosaic
panels to ensure no gaps in the final image.

Adjustments can be made to the following settings:

• Whole Disk – this option is available for lunar mosaics only. When checked, SharpCap will
include the whole lunar disc in the mosaic plan. When left unchecked, SharpCap will only
capture the illuminated area of the moon, leaving out the dark areas.

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• Minimum Overlap – this is the smallest overlap (measured in pixels) that SharpCap will allow
between adjacent panels. SharpCap will use a larger overlap than this, providing using a
larger overlap does not increase the number of panels needed.
• Safety Margin – this is the additional area (width measured in pixels) around the target that
will be included in the mosaic.

The number of planned panels, and their arrangement, will update whenever any of the settings are
adjusted.

Setting high values for Minimum Overlap and Safety Margin will help ensure that the mosaic is
complete and has no gaps, at the expense of needing to capture more panels. Setting lower values
will allow fewer panels, but runs the risk of missing parts of the target if the mount movement or the
alignment measurements are inaccurate. A good starting point would be to set both to about 15% of
the image height of your camera and then to adjust based on experience.

Manually excluding Panels

If you only wish to capture part of the target, you can manually exclude panels by clicking on each
panel that you wish to exclude. An excluded panel will change to a grey rectangle. This may be useful
to capture a region of the sun’s disc that has strong activity.

Excluded panels can be re-activated by clicking a second time.

Changing any of the settings (Whole Disk, Minimum Overlap, Safety Margin) will cause SharpCap to
auto-recalculate the panel layout, which will reset all panels to being included.

Checking Alignment
You can also use the four Goto XXXX Edge buttons to test the accuracy of the alignment procedure
to check that a good alignment was achieved and to help inform decisions on values for Minimum
Overlap and Safety Margin.

If the alignment is correct, then when you use one of these buttons, the mount will be moved so
that

• The pink cross indicating the mount position is in the appropriate place on the image of the
target (top, right, bottom or left)
• The view through the camera will also have the top, right, bottom or left of the target (as
appropriate) centered in view.

If there are significant errors in the camera view when using these buttons, you may wish to re-do
alignment or increase the Safety Margin to capture a wider area around the target.

Adjusting Mosaic Panel Capture Settings

The final stage before starting the mosaic run is to specify what SharpCap needs to capture for each
mosaic panel.

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The options that can be adjusted relating to the captures are:

• Number of frames to capture for each panel – typical values might be 500 to 2000 frames,
which can later be processed to produce a single image for each panel
• Colour Space to use – typically an 8-bit image will be sufficient (i.e., RAW8 or MONO8), but a
higher bit depth may be useful if you are imaging the sun with a narrowband filter and wish
to capture both prominences and surface features at the same time.
• Output file format – usually should be left set to SER, since this has the widest support and
best compatibility.

Additionally, the camera settings can be setup as follows:

• Use current camera settings – the mosaic tool will make no changes to exposure, gain, etc.
• Automatically set gain/exposure for the brightest panel – if this option is selected, SharpCap
will initially move the telescope to the area expected to be the brightest part of the mosaic.
Once that area is in view, SharpCap will auto set the camera exposure and gain to try to
achieve a well exposed image and also allow the requested frame rate to be achieved.
All the panels will then be captured using those settings for gain and exposure.
• Load a capture profile – load a previously saved capture profile to set the camera settings.
Note that the profile may override settings for colour space and output file format set
above.

Finally, a number of advanced settings can be adjusted:

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• Add an extra delay before capturing each panel – this option may be useful if your telescope
and mount take some time to settle after GOTO movements – by setting a delay you can
avoid any initial vibration or drift being included in the captured videos
• Take up RA backlash on each movement – as mentioned previously, when an EQ mount is
moved in the opposite direction to the normal tracking direction (i.e., moved in the +ve RA
direction), on completion of movement, the image may appear to drift for some time while
the RA backlash is taken up by the tracking motion.

Using this option can counteract this effect by ensuring that the final approach to each
position is in the westward direction, meaning that the backlash is taken up automatically.

• Take up Dec backlash on each movement – if your mount has significant declination backlash
then you may need to set this option to ensure that the approach to each set of co-ordinates
is in the same direction in declination (northwards if set +ve, southwards if set -ve). You
should also approach alignment points in the same direction when aligning.
• Repeat the mosaic for multiple filters – if a filter wheel is connected then SharpCap can
automatically repeat the mosaic procedure for two or more selected filters. All the panels
will be captured for the first filter before starting on capturing panels for the second filter
and so on.

Note that changing filters often requires an adjustment to focus. To enable this to happen
properly, you must have a connected ASCOM focuser and have set up focus offset values for
each filter in your filter wheel configuration so that SharpCap can correctly adjust the focus
at each filter change.

If using this option, it is a good idea to ensure that filenames include filter names by
adjusting the Filename Settings to make identification of the captures for each filter easier.

One all of the capture settings have been adjusted to suit requirements, you can press the Run
Mosaic button to start the mosaic process.

Running the Mosaic

Once the Run Mosaic button is pressed, SharpCap will begin to execute the mosaic plan. The Mosaic
Tool window will remain open and will show the current status of the mosaic graphically, while an
additional Mosaic progress window will appear showing detailed information about the steps that
SharpCap is carrying out.

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The Mosaic Tool window shows the progress as follows:

• The current pointing position of the

camera is shown with the purple
cross, which updates as the mount is
moved.
• Panels that are still the be captured
are shown with their default red
border.
• The mosaic panel that is currently
being captured is shown with an
amber border and an amber highlight.
• Panels that have already been
captured are shown with a green
border.

The progress window showing detailed steps being carried out also has Cancel and Emergency Stop
buttons that allow you to stop the mosaic capture process before it completes if required for any
reason. The Emergency Stop button will also stop any mount, rotator, focuser movement in
progress.

When the mosaic capture is complete, you will find all the captured video files stored in a single
folder for ease of processing – this folder will be located and named according to your normal
SharpCap file naming settings.

On completion, the Mosaic Tool window will return to the Mosaic Panel Capture Settings page to
allow you to quickly make any adjustments and run the mosaic again if you wish. You can also use
the Back button to return to the adjustment of Safety Margin and Minimum Overlap if required.

Processing Mosaic Images

Each captured video can be stacked using normal video stacking tools (AutoStakkert!, Registax, etc.).
However, Planetary System Stacker is a good choice for mosaic processing as it has a batch

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processing mode that will automatically work through multiple videos using the same settings for
each.

Once the individual videos have been processed to stacked image files, software is required to
‘stitch’ the images into a single larger image. Software that can do this includes:

• Microsoft ICE (Image Composite Editor) – can be hard to find a download link
• Autostitch (http://matthewalunbrown.com/autostitch/autostitch.html)
• Adobe Photoshop (use Photomerge functionality)
• Affinity Photo 2 (use ‘New Panorama’)

Further processing of the stitched image may include stretching, sharpening and colorization for a
solar mosaic.

The screenshot below shows the ‘New Panorama’ tool in Affinity Photo 2 being used to stitch a 3x3
solar mosaic.

The resulting mosaic image is about 3600 pixels square, and a reduced resolution colorized version is
shown below. The slight brightness variations across the image were the result of the temperature

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of the Quark filter having changed somewhat between capturing flat frames and capturing the
mosaic.

The SharpCap Sequence Editor

The SharpCap Sequence Editor provides a much more flexible way of configuring SharpCap’s
sequencing engine than the Deep Sky or Solar System sequence planners discussed above. Many
automated imaging tasks that cannot be set up using the two sequences planners can be configured
using the Sequence Editor. For example:

• Automating Live Stacking sessions.

• Automating imaging of multiple targets in succession.
• Automating capture of a mosaic of images.

These tasks are achieved by constructing an imaging sequence that consists of running a number of
individually relatively simple steps in order. These steps can be thought of as building blocks from

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which the sequence as a whole is constructed. A full list of the available building block steps can be
found below, but to give an idea of what is available, steps allow you to do things such as:

• Select a camera
• Change camera settings
• Capture frames as still images or a video
• Send commands to hardware – GOTO mounts, and electronic focusers and filter wheels
• Perform plate solving and autofocusing operations
• Wait for a fixed interval or until a time of day or an event (for example sunset)
• Repeat groups of other steps
• And many more – see Available Steps.

If you are familiar with computer programming, you may have spotted by now that the SharpCap
Sequencer is essentially a very simple programming language. Some things that you might expect to
find in programming languages (variables and conditional statements) have been deliberately left
out of the SharpCap sequencer to prevent it from becoming too complicated.

It’s important to be aware that the additional power and flexibility that is available through the
Sequence Editor means that it’s possible to design sequences that are essentially nonsense. For
example consider the following sequence :

This sequence can never complete successfully – the first step closes any camera that is currently
open and the second step tries to capture 10 frames. Attempting to capture the frames will always
give an error because there will be no camera open when the capture frames step starts.

When designing your own sequences, think about the order that you would do things if you are
using SharpCap manually and place the steps in the same order.

The Sequence Editor user interface

The Sequence Editor shows in a separate window to the main SharpCap window. You can display the
Sequence Editor window at any time and it will automatically show the most recent sequence that
you have worked on. You can keep the Sequence Editor window open and switch back to the main
SharpCap window to perform non-sequence related tasks without needing to close down the editor
window.

The initial view you will have of the Sequence Editor window (with no sequence loaded) will look like
this:

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The Sequence Editor Window is divided into nine major areas as highlighted below:

1. The Menu – this provides access to loading and saving sequences, standard editing
operations such as cut/copy/paste and sequence run/stop/test commands.

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2. The Available Steps area - this area shows the list of sequencer steps that can be used to
build up your own sequences. You can use the mouse to drag steps that you wish to use
from this area into the main sequence list.
3. The Sequence list – this area shows the list of steps in your sequence. Each step shown here
will be executed in order (from top to bottom) when you run the sequence.
4. The Action Buttons – these buttons provide quick access to common actions – Undo, Redo,
Test, Run, Stop, etc
5. Selected Step Properties – when you click on a step in the Sequence List, any adjustable
properties of the step will be shown and can be adjusted here.
6. Trash Can – drag steps here from the Sequence List to delete them.
7. Progress – the progress and ETA of a sequence are shown here when running a sequence
from within the editor
8. Sequence Listing – this area shows the current state of the sequence in code form. Note that
you cannot edit the sequence by making changes in this area, this is for information only
9. Sequence Log – sequence related log information is shown here when running a sequence
from within the editor

The Menus
File Menu
The file menu allows actions relating to saving and loading sequence files. The choices available are:

• New - remove all steps from the current sequence so that you can begin designing a new
sequence. Note that if you accidentally activate File->New without having saved your
previous sequence, you can use the Undo button to go back to your previous sequence.
• Open – load a previously saved sequence from a *.scs file. The current sequence will be
discarded.
• Save - save the current sequence back to file. This option is only available if the current
sequence has already been saved or was loaded from file. Saving will overwrite the previous
saved version of the sequence.
• Save As… - save the current sequence to a new *.scs file. You will be prompted to enter the
file name for the new *.scs file.

Edit Menu
The edit menu provides operations to assist with editing sequences. Note that many of these
operations have a keyboard shortcut which can also be used – the keyboard shortcuts are shown
alongside each menu item and there is no need to open the menu to use the keyboard shortcut.

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• Undo – undo the most recent change made to the sequence being edited. The addition,
removal and reordering of steps as well as the changing of step properties can all be undone
using the undo button.
• Redo - redo the most recent change that has been undone. Note that if you make other
changes to the sequence after using the undo button then redo is no longer available.
• Cut/Copy/Paste - these are standard clipboard operations that allow you to remove,
duplicate or rearrange steps in a sequence. These options are available providing that it least
one step is selected within the sequence list.
• Delete – delete the currently selected steps from the sequence being edited.

Sequence Menu
The Sequence menu provides action related to running, stopping and testing sequences and their
steps.

• Run - start running the current sequence from the beginning.

• Stop - stop any sequence that is currently running. Note that the sequence may not be able
to stop immediately.
• Test Single Step - test the execution of a single step of the sequence. Using this option runs
the currently selected step within the sequence being edited, allowing you to check that it
works properly.

The Available Steps Area

This area displays the steps that are available to build up the sequence. Since there are a large
number of available steps, they are grouped into categories such as Camera, Guiding, Focuser, etc.

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You can add steps from this area to your sequence in two ways:

1) Drag the step from the Available Steps area to the required position in your sequence.
2) Double click on the required step in the Available Steps area. This will insert it in the
sequence just after the currently selected step.

Note that you can search the available steps by typing part of the name of a step that you wish to
find into the Search Available Steps box. When you have entered text in the search box, any steps
that do not contain your search text will be hidden, as will any step categories that no longer have
any steps to show.

You can clear the search text in order to show all steps again – do this using the ‘X’ button to the
right of the search text box or by deleting the text you have entered.

The Sequence List

The sequence list shows the steps that are currently a part of your sequence. When you run the
sequence, these steps will be executed in order (top to bottom). Each step will begin after the step
above has completed.

Some steps (for instance the Repeat 2 times step shown below) can have other steps placed inside
them. The Repeat 2 times step is a parent step in this context and the steps it contains are sub-steps.
In this particular case, the result will be that the sub-steps will be run twice during the execution of
the sequence.

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You can move steps around in the sequence list to re-order them by dragging them with the mouse.
You can also drag steps into or out of parent steps, or between different parent steps.

If you click on a single step in the sequence list, any adjustable properties of that step will be shown
in the Selected Step Properties Area. You can make adjustments to the values of the properties of
the step – for instance changing how many frames will be captured, what the exposure should be set
to or how many times to repeat a particular set of sub-steps.

You can delete steps that are no longer required by dragging them to the Trash Can or by selecting
them and then choosing Delete from the Edit menu or by pressing the <Delete> key on your
keyboard.

You can also use standard Cut/Copy/Paste functionality to work with the steps in the Sequence List.
Once you have selected one or more steps, you can Cut or Copy them using the appropriate menu
items or keyboard shortcuts. Choosing to Paste after steps have been Cut or Copied will add the
steps after the currently selected step in the Sequence List.

The Action Buttons

The action buttons provide shortcuts to some of the items available in the File, Edit and Sequence
menus.

Additionally the Pause button which can be used to pause (and then resume) a running sequence.

The Emergency Stop button can be used if there is the risk of damage to equipment due to the
commands being carried out by a running sequence. Pressing this button will not only stop the
sequence as if the Stop button had been pressed, but will also send stop movement commands to
any connected Ascom mount or focuser.

Selected Step Properties Area

Many steps have adjustable properties that configure exactly what the step does – for example the
image below shows the properties of the Warm up Camera step – you choose the values for
properties such as the Warming Rate and the Time Limit for this step.

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When editing a sequence, it is best practice to have the camera that you intend to use to run the
sequence open and to have any ASCOM hardware that you intend to use connected. This allows
SharpCap to customize the ranges and options available in the various step properties for your
configuration – for instance when configuring steps to set the exposure or gain of a camera, the
correct minimum and maximum values will be enforced if the camera is connected.

Changes made to step properties can be undone using the Undo button or the Undo entry in the Edit
menu.

Note that care should be taken when setting step properties, particularly if you adjust them when
SharpCap is not connected to the device or camera that they will apply to. Incorrectly setting
properties may cause the sequence to terminate with an error when run – for instance if you mis-
spell the name of a filter, SharpCap will attempt to move the filter wheel to a filter that does not
exist (perhaps ‘Grene’), leading to an error.

Trash Can
You can delete steps that are no longer required in the sequence by dragging them from the
Sequence List to the Trash Can.

The Progress Area

The Progress area shows the current progress state of any running sequence.

• The ETA - shows how long before the sequence is expected to complete and also the time at
which completion is expected to occur. Note that this is just an estimate as some steps (for

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instance the measurement of sky brightness) may take a variable amount of time to
complete. For some advanced sequences it may not be possible for SharpCap to calculate
how long the sequence will take to run.
• Progress Bar - this is just a visible representation of how far much of the sequence has
already been executed and how much is still to complete it.

Sequence Listing
The Sequence Listing area shows the current state of the sequence in code form – in fact the text
shown is the text saved to the .SCS file when the sequence is saved. Some people who are familiar
with computer programming may find this view of the sequence helpful.

Note that it is not possible to modify the sequence by editing the text shown in this listing area.

While it is technically possible to edit a sequence by saving it to .SCS file, editing the SCS file in a text
editor and then re-loading it, this is not recommended. If any mistakes are made in editing the
sequence file, SharpCap may give an error when attempting to re-load it.

Sequence Log
The Sequence Log shows information about what the sequencer is currently doing and what steps it
has already completed when a sequence is running.

The start and completion of every step will be shown in the log, along with extra information for
some steps (for instance a count of the number of still frames captured so far).

If an error occurs when running a sequence, there will be an ‘Error’ entry in the log which will explain
the reason for the error – for instance :
21:07:02 Error : 'No camera selected.' while running step Capture 10 live view frames

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Always check the Sequence Log for useful information if you have a problem when running a
sequence. It may also be worthwhile checking the main SharpCap Log for additional information.

Working with the Sequence Editor

Following the guidelines laid out in the rest of this section will help ensure that you can design your
imaging sequences quickly and accurately with as few problems as possible.

• Don’t try to use the sequence editor until you have become familiar with using SharpCap
manually. Many of the steps available in the sequence a mirror manual actions that you can
take in the SharpCap UI and being familiar with how they work and what order they should
be used in will help when it comes to designing a sequence.
• Design your sequence with the camera that you intend to image with open in SharpCap. Also
have any Ascom hardware connected to SharpCap. SharpCap can use information from the
connected camera and ASCOM hardware to help ensure that step properties have the right
minimum and maximum values and options available.
• Think about what you would do before you start running your sequence. You could design a
sequence that you only run when the camera is already set up and the telescope is pointing
at the target – that sequence might be fairly simple and start off by capturing frames. You
could design and alternative version that will include all the setup steps – opening the
camera, setting the camera settings, slewing the mount to point at the target, etc. it may be
a good idea to start with the simpler version first and move on to the more complicated
version later.
• Use the Test button frequently when you are designing your sequence to test individual
steps and make sure that they do what you expect want to do and work correctly. If you
want to test multiple steps then you can place them within a containing parent step
temporarily – the Save the camera settings and restore them when this block finishes step
can be useful for this purpose.
• Test all the different steps in your sequence individually before running the sequence as a
whole, especially if you intend to run the sequence unattended.
• Don’t try to design a very complicated sequence straightaway – start with simple ones, make
sure that they work as you expect and reliably before adding more complicated steps to
your sequence gradually.
• Remember when designing a sequence that SharpCap will simply try to carry out the steps
that you have selected even if they make no sense. If you are using SharpCap manually then
you can’t try to capture images when there is no camera open because the capture buttons
are all disabled. There is no such protection when you are designing an imaging sequence
using the Sequence Editor – if you had a step that will try to start capturing when the camera
is closed, SharpCap will attempt to carry out that step and then your sequence will end with
an error.

Running your Sequence

You can run your sequence by using the Run button in the Action Buttons area or the Run menu item
in the Sequence menu. Progress will be shown in the Progress Area and the Sequence Log.

If you close the Sequence Editor window while a sequence is running then the Sequencer Progress
Window will be shown automatically to ensure that you still have the ability to see the progress of
the sequence and to control its execution.

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Note that the SharpCap menus and camera controls are disabled while a sequence is running – this is
to prevent inadvertent actions or changes to the controls from interfering with the proper operation
of the sequence. This also prevents you from closing SharpCap while a sequence is running. To close
SharpCap or access the menus/toolbar, you must stop any running sequence.

The Show a prompt… step does allow you to optionally re-enable the adjustment of the camera
controls while the prompt is waiting for the user to click OK. This is designed to allow manual
adjustment of controls at appropriate points in the sequence (perhaps to set up the correct
exposure for flat frame capture).

Available Steps
This section lists and describes all the available sequencer steps that can be used to build a
sequence.

Camera
Step Name Description
Open Camera '<Camera Name>' Open the named camera, closing any other camera
that was already open.
Close Camera Close any open camera.
Put Camera in Live Mode Place the currently open camera into live mode (for
video capture)
Put Camera in Still Mode Place the currently open camera into still model (for
deep sky imaging, for instance). Note that not all
cameras support still mode.
Start capturing frames Start capturing frames using the current camera
settings. Note that frames will continue to be
captured indefinitely (or until a Stop Capturing
Frames) step is executed.
Stop capturing frames Stop capturing on the selected camera.
Start capturing now and then stop when Starts capturing immediately and then stops when
<Astronomical Event> occurs the specified astronomical time of day occurs.
The specified time of day can be any one of :
Astronomical Midnight, Astronomical Dawn,
Nautical Dawn, Civil Dawn, Sunrise, Solar Noon,
Sunset, Civil Dusk, Nautical Dusk, Astronomical
Darkness. Note that depending on your latitude and
the time of year, some events may not occur. An
error will occur if the selected event does not occur
in the next 24 hours.
Capture <Frame Count> live view frames Capture the specified number of frames in live view
mode. The camera will be placed in live view mode
if it is currently in still mode.
Capture live view frames for <Duration> Capture live view frames for the specified amount
seconds of time. The camera will be placed in live view mode
if it is currently in still mode.

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Capture <Frame Count> still frames Capture the specified number of frames in still
(guiding required : <Require guiding active mode. The camera will be placed in still mode if it is
while capturing>) currently in live view mode.
If the Require guiding active option is set then
SharpCap will take the following additional steps:
• An error will occur if a guiding application is
not being monitored (see the Monitor
Guiding Application step)
• Capture will be paused if guiding is not
active
• SharpCap will attempt to restart guiding and
will resume capturing if guiding resumes
• SharpCap will discard any frame that is less
than 95% complete when guiding is lost (an
extra frame will be captured to
compensate)
Load Camera Profile '<Profile Name>' Load all of the capture settings stored in the named
capture profile.
Save Camera settings to Profile <Profile Save all of the camera settings to a capture profile
Name> with the given name
Set Output Format to <File Save Format> Set the output format for saved images/videos to
the specified format.
Set Resolution to <Value> Set the camera resolution to the specified value
Set Colour Space to <Value> Set the camera colour space to the specified value
Set Binning to <Binning Value> Set the binning of the camera to the specified value
Set Exposure to <Exposure Length>s Set the camera exposure to the specified length.
Note that exposures of less than 1s can be set – for
instance 0.030s for 30ms.
Set Gain to <Gain Value> Set the camera gain to the specified value.
Set offset to <Offset/Brightness Value> Set the offset/black level/brightness of the camera
to the specified value
Set <Control Name> to <Control Value> Set another camera control to the specified value.
Use this step to set controls that do not have a
more specific step (such as gamma, white balance
controls, etc).
Adjust <Control Name> by <Control Value Adjust the value of a camera control by the
Change> specified amount – this allows changes to be made
relative to the current value of the control. The
value change is added to the current value to give
the new value, so a negative change will reduce the
control value.
Adjust <Control Name> by <Control Adjust the value of a camera control by the
Percentage Change> percent specified percentage amount. A percentage change
of zero will do nothing, a change of +5% will
increase the value by 5% (i.e. multiply the current

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value by 1.05). Values less than zero will reduce the

value of the control.
Flat frame auto set exposure/gain Attempt to auto-set the exposure and gain of the
camera to settings that are suitable for capturing
flat frames. SharpCap will ideally try to get the
histogram range 50% and 80%, but will allow a
rough balance between pixels above 80% and below
20% as long as there are only a handful of pixels
above 95% or below 10% brightness.
Solar system auto set exposure/gain Attempt to auto-set the exposure and gain of the
camera for solar system capture. SharpCap will
initially set an exposure that should allow the
TargetFPS rate to be achieved (i.e. 10ms if a
TargetFPS of 100 is set). SharpCap will then increase
the gain until the brightest parts of the image are
somewhere between 70% and 90% of maximum
brightness. If necessary SharpCap will lower the
exposure further to achieve correct brightness.
Set exposure/gain for plate solving and Attempt to set a shorter exposure of 4s and a higher
focus while running these steps gain to compensate for the shortened exposure.
The sub-steps within this step are then run with the
camera using the shorter exposure and higher gain.
When the sub-steps have been completed, the
original exposure and gain settings are restored.
This step is a useful way of temporarily changing to
short exposure, high gain frames while focusing,
plate solving, etc.
Note that the compensation for reduced exposure
by using increased gain is only accurate if SharpCap
understands what effects changes to the gain value
of the camera have on image brightness – see What
does a gain value mean? for more information.
Wait for next live view frame In live view mode, this step will wait until the
camera next provides a new frame, and then wait a
further 0.5 seconds. This step can be helpful to
allow a new frame to arrive after moving the
mount, focuser or rotator to ensure that the next
frame to arrive from the camera will not be affected
by the movement. In still mode, this step does
nothing as all frames must be directly requested
from the camera.
Start capturing now and stop when This is a convenient shortcut that will start
<Astronomical Event> occurs capturing, then wait until the selected astronomical
event occurs, then stop capturing.
Note that if the event has already happened on that
day, it will stop capturing immediately – i.e. if the
event chosen is ‘Dawn’, but this step is run after

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dawn has happened, it will stop capture straight

away.

Cooler
Cool the camera down to <Target Cool the camera down to the specified target
Temperature>°C at up to <Cooling temperature. The rate of cooling can be limited, as
Rate>°C/minute can the tolerance (how close to the target
temperature the camera must get for the step to be
considered finished).
The camera will have its cooler turned on (if
necessary) and the cooler will also be put into
automatic (temperature controlled mode) if
necessary. If the camera does not have a cooler, or
the cooler is not temperature controlled then an
error will occur.
If the target temperature set is warmer than
ambient temperature, or if it is colder than the
coldest temperature that the camera cooler can
achieve then this step may never finish as the
camera temperature will never reach the target.
Set the target temperature to <Target Change the target temperature for the camera
Temperature>°C cooler to the specified temperature.
Turn the camera cooler off Turns off the camera cooler by one of the following
three means:
• If the camera has a cooler on/off control,
set it to off.
• If the camera has a manual cooler power
control, set the cooler power to 0%
• If the camera has a temperature controlled
cooler, set the target temperature to the
maximum value.
Note that using this step on a cooled camera may
cause the sensor temperature to rise rapidly.
Warm the camera up to <Target Warm the camera up to the specified target
Temperature>°C at up to <Warming Rate> temperature. This mirrors the cool down step in
°C/minute that warming rate and completion tolerance can be
specified.
Additionally, a time limit can be set for this step –
the step will complete when the time limit expires
even if the warming procedure is not complete.

Mount
Select Mount '<Mount Name>' Make the named mount the selected mount – this is
equivalent to changing the mount that SharpCap
uses in the Hardware Settings.

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Connect the currently selected mount Attempt to connect to the currently selected mount
if it is not already connected. This could cause an
error if the mount is not connected to the computer
or not configured correctly.
Disconnect the currently selected mount Disconnect from the currently selected mount.
Other mount related operations will not be possible
after this point until a mount is connected again.
Unpark the mount Unpark the mount if it is parked
Park the mount Park the mount to the default park position
Move the mount to (RA, Dec) <RA/Dec co- Slew the mount to the specified co-ordinates. See
ordinates> co-ordinates in the sequencer for details on the
formats that are accepted for RA/Dec co-ordinates.
Move the mount to Alt=<Altitude>, Slew to the mount to the specified altitude/azimuth
Az=<Azimuth> co-ordinates. Note that not all mounts support
AltAz co-ordinates.
Offset the mount position by RA=<Right Offset the current mount position by the specified
Ascension Offset>, Dec=<Declination offsets in RA and Declination. This may be useful for
Offset> moving a target slightly off centre in the field of
view.
Plate solve a single frame, sync the mount Re-centre the target using plate solving. This is
and re-GOTO the target co-ordinates equivalent to using the Plate Solve and Resync tool
and follows the same configuration options as that
tool.
Plate solve a single frame and sync the Perform the plate solving and sync of the mount,
mount only but no action will be taken to adjust the mount
position after the sync step. At this point, since a
sync has just happened, nearby GOTO movements
should be accurate.
Set mount tracking rate to <Tracking Rate Set the mount tracking rate. The available options
Name> are None (tracking stopped), Sidereal, Lunar, Solar,
King.
Goto the sky co-ordinates of <ImageFile> Plate solve the astronomical image found in the
<image file> and then move the mount to the co-
ordinates generated by the plate solving operation.
This should return the mount to the position of a
previous image, although a Plate solve a single
frame, sync the mount and re-GOTO the target co-
ordinates step should follow to refine the position
Save the current mount co-ordinates Store the current mount co-ordinates in the internal
storage of the SharpCap sequencing engine. The
saved co-ordinates remain available until
overwritten by another step that saves co-ordinates
or the sequence ends.
This step may be used with the Move the mount to
a set of co-ordinates that were previously saved step
to allow the mount to move away from and return
to a position without needing to specify the exact
co-ordinates of the position to return to in the
sequence.
Move the mount to a set of co-ordinates The mount will be moved to the most recent set of
that were previously saved saved co-ordinates.

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Plate solve and save co-ordinates Capture a frame from the camera and then plate
solve it. Store the co-ordinates that are found by the
plate solving in the internal storage of the SharpCap
sequencing engine.
This step could be used to store the current pointing
position of the mount before attempting a meridian
flip, then after the flip the Move the mount to a set
of co-ordinates that were previously saved step
could be used to return to the same co-ordinates
Sync the mount to a set of co-ordinates Take the saved co-ordinates and issue a sync
that were previously saved command to the mount using those co-ordinates.
Slew the mount to Solar System <Target> Move the mount to a solar system target (sun,
with offset of RA=<RA Offset> Dec=<Dec moon, 8 planets, Pluto) with an optional offset from
Offset> the center of the target specified in arc minutes in
RA and Declination.
Meridian flip the mount (experimental) This step will attempt to perform the actual
mechanical flip of the mount from being on the
west side of the pier pointing east to being on the
east side of the pier pointing west. Depending on
the capabilities of the ASCOM mount in use,
different techniques may need to be used to ensure
that the movement happens.
Once the mount has moved across the meridian,
further steps can re-point the mount at the target,
etc. to continue an imaging session.

Focuser
Select Focuser '<Focuser Name>' Make the named focuser the selected focuser – this
is equivalent to changing the focuser that SharpCap
uses in the Hardware Settings.
Connect the currently selected focuser Attempt to connect to the currently selected
focuser if it is not already connected. This could
cause an error if the focuser is not connected to the
computer or not configured correctly.
Disconnect the currently selected focuser Disconnect from the currently selected focuser.
Other focuser related operations will not be
possible after this point until a focuser is connected
again.
Move focuser to position <Focuser Move the focuser directly to the position specified.
Position> For example move the focuser to position 11950.
Move the focuser by <Focuser Offset> Move the focuser by an offset from its current
position – a negative offset will move the focuser to
smaller position values, a positive offset to larger
position values.
Autofocus between <Start Focuser Perform a multi-star FWHM based autofocus
Position> and <End Focuser Position> with between the two focuser positions specified.
<Scan Step Count> steps allowing for
backlash up to <Backlash Allowance> See the documentation on focusing in the sequence
planner for more details.

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Autofocus from offset <Start Focuser Identical to the above autofocus step except that
Position (Offset)> to <End Focuser Position the start and end points are defined relative to the
(Offset)> with <Scan Step Count> steps current focuser position rather than with absolute
allowing for backlash up to <Backlash focuser position values.
Allowance>
Refocus using the same settings as the This will run a refocus using the focus tool and
most recently used autofocus run settings of the most recently used autofocus run,
equivalent to using the Automatic Refocus option
from the focus tools.

Wheel
Select Filter Wheel '<Filter Wheel Name>' Make the named wheel the selected filter wheel –
this is equivalent to changing the filter wheel that
SharpCap uses in the Hardware Settings.
Connect the currently selected filter wheel Attempt to connect to the currently selected filter
wheel if it is not already connected. This could cause
an error if the filter wheel is not connected to the
computer or not configured correctly.
Disconnect the currently selected filter Disconnect from the currently selected filter wheel.
wheel Other filter wheel related operations will not be
possible after this point until a filter wheel is
connected again.
Move filter wheel to position <Filter Move the filter wheel to a new position (specifying
Name> the name of the filter to move to).
Move filter wheel to position <Filter Wheel Move the filter wheel to a new position (specifying
Position> the filter position number to move to – these
numbers count upwards from 1 to the number of
filters on the wheel).

Rotator
Select Rotator '<Rotator Name>' Make the named rotator the selected rotator – this
is equivalent to changing the rotator that SharpCap
uses in the Hardware Settings.
Connect the currently selected rotator Attempt to connect to the currently selected rotator
if it is not already connected. This could cause an
error if the rotator is not connected to the
computer or not configured correctly.
Disconnect the currently selected rotator Disconnect from the currently selected rotator.
Other rotator related operations will not be possible
after this point until a rotator is connected again.
Move rotator to angle <Target Angle> Commands the rotator to rotate the camera to the
given angle (absolute angle)
Turn rotator by angle <Rotation Angle> Commands the rotator to rotate the camera by the
given angle (relative angle)
Plate solve and save image orientation Captures an image from the camera, plate solves it
and saves the orientation of the image in the
internal storage of the SharpCap sequencer engine.
The rotation is then available until it is overwritten
by using this step again or the sequence ends.

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Plate solve and return image to saved Captures an image from the camera, plate solves it
orientation and then uses the rotator to adjust the rotation so
that the camera orientation returns to a position
that matches the saved orientation.

Switch
Select Switch '<Switch Device Name>' Make the named switch device the selected filter
switch device – this is equivalent to changing the
switch device that SharpCap uses in the Hardware
Settings.
Connect the currently selected Switch Attempt to connect to the currently selected switch
device device if it is not already connected. This could
cause an error if the switch device is not connected
to the computer or not configured correctly.
Disconnect the currently selected Switch Disconnect from the currently selected switch
device device. Other switch related operations will not be
possible after this point until a filter wheel is
connected again.
Set switch <Switch Name> to <Switch Set the ASCOM switch identified by <Switch Name>
Value> to the value specified. Each switch device defines its
own switch names, but this might be used, for
instance, to turn a dew heater on or enable 12V
power to a camera cooler.

Repeat
Each repeat type step can have one or many other steps placed within it as sub- steps. These sub-
steps will be run one or more times depending on the type of repeat specified by the repeat step.

Repeat <Repeat Count> times Repeat the sub- steps a fixed number of times.
Repeat until <Astronomical Event> occurs Continue repeating the sub steps until the time of
day specified by <Astronomical Event> occurs.
The specified time of day can be any one of :
Astronomical Midnight, Astronomical Dawn,
Nautical Dawn, Civil Dawn, Sunrise, Solar Noon,
Sunset, Civil Dusk, Nautical Dusk, Astronomical
Darkness. Note that depending on your latitude and
the time of year, some events may not occur. An
error will occur if the selected event does not occur
in the next 24 hours.
Note that no new runs through the sub steps will
begin after the specified time, but any sub- steps in
progress at the specified time will continue running
until the end of the list of sub- steps is reached.
Repeat for each filter in <Filter List> Repeat the sub-steps once for each of the filters
specified in the filter list.
Repeat for each Alt/Az co-ordinate in <Co- Repeat the sub steps once for each set of
ordinate list file> altitude/azimuth coordinates listed in a text file. The
text file should contain one coordinate pair per line.

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Repeat for each RA/Dec co-ordinate in Repeat the sub steps once for each set of
<Co-ordinate list file> RA/declination coordinates listed in a text file. The
text file should contain one coordinate pair per line.
See coordinates in the sequencer for more details on
the format required for these coordinate values.
Note that it is also acceptable to place a target
name at the start of each line – SharpCap will then
use this name as the observing target for or file
naming as well as using the coordinates values from
that line. The target name should be separated from
coordinates by a comma. For example:
M42, 05 35 17.3 -05 23 28

Repeat until <Time of Day> Repeat the sub steps until the specified time of day
is reached. Note that the time is only checked each
time a new loop through the sub-steps is started, so
the step may execute beyond the specified time of
day, but will not start a new loop through the sub-
steps beyond that time.
If the specified time of day has already passed for
today then the steps will be repeated until that time
of day tomorrow.
Repeat until <Astronomical Event> occurs Repeat the sub steps until the specified
Astronomical Event occurs. Note that if the
specified astronomical event does not occur in the
next 24 hours (i.e. Astronomical Darkness in the
summer in midlatitudes) then an error will occur.
Solar System Mosaic around <Target>, Carries out the sub-steps for each offset position
repeat these steps for each offset co- around the specified solar system target. Offsets
ordinate must be specified in minutes as follows:
1.2345,6.7890;2.3456,7.8901
Note that the decimal separator must be a ‘,’ and
the separator between co-ordinates must be a ‘;’. A
co-ordinate pair contains the RA offset first and the
declination offset second, separated by ‘,’. Note
that the RA offset is specified in minutes as 1/60th of
an hour of RA, whereas the declination offset is in
minutes as 1/60th of a degree of declination.
This step is designed for internal use by the
Lunar/Solar mosaic tools, so should be used with
caution.

Misc.
Connect the all currently selected Connect all the hardware that is currently selected –
hardware this is a shortcut for connecting the focuser, mount
and filter wheel individually. Note that there won’t

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be an error if there are hardware categories that do

not have a selected device.
Disconnect all currently selected hardware Disconnect all currently selected hardware. Again a
shortcut for individually disconnecting the mount,
focuser and filter wheel.
Play the <Sound to Play> sound. Play a Windows sound on the standard sound
device of the computer. You have the choice
between two different sounds – alert and error. The
sounds that play for these two options can be
configured in the ‘Change System Sounds’ section of
the Windows Control Panel.
Run '<Program to run>' with parameters Run another Windows or Command Line
'<Arguments>' and <Wait for command to application, optionally waiting for the other
exit?> program to finish before continuing.
It is best to specify the program to run by its full
path (or to select it using the Browse button).
You can also specify command line parameters to
be passed to the program being run.
It is possible to run batch files or PowerShell scripts
using this step to perform more complicated
actions.
Save the camera settings and restore them This step can have multiple sub steps added to it.
when this block finishes The camera settings in effect at the beginning of the
step are stored and then reapplied to the camera
after the sub steps have completed.
Using this step can be useful to allow alternative
camera settings used for a particular task (for
instance focusing) before returning the camera to
the original settings.
Show a countdown for <Delay> seconds This step will show a message on screen for a fixed
with message <Message Text>. number of seconds (showing the number of seconds
remaining as a countdown).
Show a notification in <Notification This step will show a notification in the SharpCap
Colour>: '<Notification Message>' notification bar, allowing you to choose the text to
be shown and the colour of the notification bar.
Show a prompt '<Message Text>' and wait Show a prompt window containing a message and
for OK to be pressed. Camera controls wait for the user to press the OK button before
enabled : <Enable Camera Controls> continuing.
Optionally, you can allow the camera controls to be
re-enabled during the period that the prompt is
shown – this allows adjustments to be made,
perhaps to get correct flat frame exposure levels.
Wait for <Delay> seconds Pause the sequence for the number of seconds
specified before continuing.

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Wait until <Time of Day> Wait until the specified time of day before
continuing. Note that the time specified is a local
time.
If the time of day specified has already passed then
SharpCap will wait until the same time tomorrow.
Wait until later than <Time of Day> Wait until later than the specified time of day
before continuing. Note that the time specified is a
local time.
If the time of day specified has already passed today
then SharpCap will not wait at all.
Wait until <Astronomical Event> happens Wait until the specified <Astronomical Event> has
(or has already happened) happened before continuing the sequence. If the
event has already happened then the sequence will
continue immediately, for instance if waiting until
sunset and the sun is already below the horizon
then there will be no delay.
See Astronomical events used by the Sequencer for a
list of events that can be selected.
Wait until next <Astronomical Event> Wait until the next occurrence of the specified
occurs <Astronomical Event>. If the event has already
happened then the sequence will wait until the next
time it happens, for instance if waiting until sunset
and the sun is already below the horizon then
SharpCap will wait until the following sunset.
See Astronomical events used by the Sequencer for a
list of events that can be selected.
Write '<Log Text>' to the SharpCap Log Add the specified text to the main SharpCap log –
this can be useful to help track the progress of your
sequence.
### Comment : <Comment Text> The step causes no actions to be carried out, but
can be added to sequences to remind the user of
how the sequence should work or limitations in
what it can do. Any text can be added to the
comment.
Hide progress on successful completion of If this step has been run at any point during a
a sequence sequence, then the Sequencer Progress Window will
be automatically closed when the sequence
finishes. Note that this does not close the main
sequence editor window if that is showing the
progress of the sequence.

Processing
Use <File Path> as a dark frame Load the specified image file and use it as a dark
frame. The file must be in a still image format that
SharpCap can read and also be valid (in terms of

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size, bit depth, etc) as a dark frame for the current

camera settings. See capturing and using dark
frames for more information.
Use <File Path> as a flat frame Load the specified image file and use it as a flat
frame. The file must be in a still image format that
SharpCap can read and also be valid (in terms of
size, bit depth, etc) as a flat frame for the current
camera settings. See capturing and using flat frames
for more information.
Start Live Stacking Start live stacking (no action is taken if live stacking
is already active). Note that it is an error to use live
stacking from the sequencer while periodic
dithering is enabled.
Stop Live Stacking Stop live stacking. This will disable live stacking and
hide the stacking UI. No images will be saved – use
the Save Current Live Stack step to save before
stopping.
Pause Live Stacking Pause live stacking if it is currently active.
Resume Live Stacking Resume live stacking if it is currently active and
paused.
Reset Live Stacking Reset live stacking (clear the current stack and start
a new one). The current stack will be saved if the
option to Auto Save on Reset has been enabled,
otherwise use the Save Current Live Stack set before
resetting.
Live Stacking Apply Auto Stretch Apply an auto-stretch to the live stack histogram.
Live Stacking Auto White Balance Apply an auto-white balance to the current live
stack.
Live Stacking Auto White Balance from star Apply an auto-white balance to the current live
colours stack, basing the balance on star colours.
Live Stacking Reset Stretch Reset the stretch on the live stack histogram to
default.
Live Stacking Reset White Balance Reset the colour balance of live stacking to default.
Save current live stack (<Save Type>) Save the current live stack in one of the following
ways:
• FITSRawStack16Bit – equivalent to Save as
16 bit Stack
• FITSRawStack32Bit – equivalent to Save as
RAW (32 bit) Stack
• PNGWithStretch – equivalent to Save with
Adjustments
• PNGAsShownOnScreen – equivalent to Save
exactly as seen
• AllFormats – save in all of the above formats

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Live Stack for <Frame Count> frames then A shortcut step that will activate live stacking (or
save as <Save Type> reset it if it is already active), then stack for the
specified number of frames, then save.
Live Stack for <Frame Count> more frames This step will resume live stacking if it is currently
then pause paused, then wait until the specified number of
extra frames have been added to the stack, then
pause live stacking again before allowing the
sequence to continue to the next step.
Save, clear and close live stacking This step will save the current live stack in all
possible formats, then clear and close live stacking.
Capture <FrameCount> dark frames to Create a master dark frame by capturing the
create and use a master dark specified number of dark frames and averaging
them. The newly created master dark frame will be
saved and also applied as the current dark frame via
the Subtract Dark control.
Capture <FrameCount> flat frames and Create a master flat frame by capturing the
bias frames to create and use a master flat specified number of flat and an equal number of
bias frames, then averaging them. The newly
created master flat frame will be saved and also
applied as the current flat frame via the Apply Flat
control.

File Naming
Arrange captured files in adjacent Placing this step in a sequence before any capturing
subfolders happens will change the file naming patterns to
group all captures from the sequence together.
Each separate capture initiated by the sequence will
be given its own subfolder – for instance

#1 – 25 light frames of M42

Arrange captured files in a single folder Placing this step in a sequence before any capturing
happens will change the file naming patterns to
place all captured files in a single folder. This is
particularly useful when a sequence will capture a
number of video files.
Set imaging target name to '<Target Object Set the target name (which affects the naming of
Name>' saved image and video files).
Prompt to enter the target name Prompt the user for the target name – the sequence
will not proceed until the target name is entered.
Set frame type to '<Type>' Sets the frame type to be captured to one of Light,
Dark, Flat, DarkFlat, Bias or Other. Note that the
frame type specified here only affects file naming.

Guiding
Monitor Guiding Application Attempt to connect to the guiding
application/device as configured in the Guiding

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Settings. An error will occur if a connection cannot

be made to the selected guiding application/device.
This step must be executed before any other
guiding/dithering related steps.
Disconnect from Guiding Application Disconnect from the currently connected guiding
application/device. No other guiding/dithering steps
should be performed after this step has executed.
Start guiding if necessary Request that the connected guiding application
start guiding. This process may involve
automatically connecting guiding hardware, starting
exposure looping, selecting a star, calibrating and
finally guiding.
If guiding is already active then no action is taken.
An error will occur if guiding cannot be started.
Wait until guiding is active This step will not allow the sequence to proceed
until the connected guiding application/device
reports a ‘Guiding’ status. Manual intervention may
be required to start guiding at this point.
Stop guiding Send a request to the guiding device/application to
stop guiding.
Pause guiding if active and restart when Temporarily stops guiding while the sub-steps of
this block finishes this step are run. This can be useful for moving the
mount or performing plate solving without guiding
interfering.
Request a single dither from Guiding Requests a single dither operation from the
Application connected guiding application. The settings
specified in the Guiding Settings will determine the
details of the dither operation.
Dither every <Dithering Interval> seconds From this point onwards in the sequence (until a
Stop Periodic Dithering step is executed), SharpCap
will execute a dither operation periodically. The
dither operation can only occur at certain points in
the sequence – between steps or between frames
of a Capture Still Frame step. Because of this, the
interval specified is the minimum possible interval
between two dither operations – the interval will
usually be longer as SharpCap waits for the next
suitable dither point after the interval has expired.
Dither every <Dithering Interval> frames As for the Dither every <Dithering Interval> seconds
step, but the interval is specified in frames rather
than as time.
Stop periodic dithering Cancel periodic dithering – it can be restarted by
running another Dither every <dithering interval>
seconds/frames step.

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Advanced
Run the sequence of steps in <Sequence to This step allows you to specify another sequence
run> file. All of the steps in the other sequence file will be
run when this step is executed.
Define a subroutine called '<Subroutine Defines a subroutine with the given name. The
Name>' subroutine consists of a series of steps placed within
the define subroutine step. The subroutine can then
be used repeatedly throughout the sequence by
calling it multiple times without needing to
duplicate the contained steps many times.
Call a previously defined subroutine called Call a previously defined subroutine to run the steps
'<Subroutine Name>' within it at this point in the sequence.
Using subroutines can help make designing and
maintaining complex sequences easier.
Import subroutines in <Sequence file to This step will read the specified sequence file and
import> load all of the subroutine definitions found within
that file. Those subroutine definitions can then be
used in the current sequence.
Note that steps in the loaded sequence file that are
not subroutine definitions or part of subroutine
definitions will be ignored.
Measure the sky background to set Perform a Smart Histogram Brain measurement to
optimum deep sky settings between set the optimum exposure/gain/black level settings
<Minimum Exposure (s)>s and <Maximum for the camera. Once the measurement is complete,
Exposure (s)>s the recommended camera parameters will be
applied before the sequence continues to the next
step.
Note that this measurement should be performed
with any filters that you intend to use in place.
The following parameters can be adjusted:
Channel to Measure – which colour channel to
measure the brightness on – set to luminosity for
mono cameras.
Avoid frame corners/edges – check this option if you
suffer from vignetting (darkening) of the image near
the corners/edges. This will stop SharpCap from
considering those areas, which would otherwise
lead to a much longer exposure recommendation.
Minimum Exposure & Maximum Exposure – the
maximum exposure will be determined by the limits
of your tracking/guiding setup – for instance if you
can get good images up to a 2 minute exposure but
suffer from trailing stars beyond that point, set a
maximum of 120s. Set the minimum exposure
based on other considerations, such as the number

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of image files that might be produced or the need

for sufficient bright stars for alignment.
Aim for Unity Gain – if checked, SharpCap will try to
pick a gain value close to unity gain. If unchecked,
SharpCap will try to find the maximum dynamic
range possible in the resulting stacked image. Note
that because of the amount of noise that is
inevitably present in deep sky images, we do not
believe that unity gain offers any real advantage
over other gain values.
% Noise increase allowed – set this to the amount of
additional noise (above the theoretical minimum)
that you are prepared to accept in your final stacked
image. Accepting a small amount of additional noise
allows reduction in the sub-exposure duration and
hence less problems with tracking/guiding.
Exceptionally long exposures may be recommended
if this is set to very low values (<5%), particularly if
you have dark skies or are using narrowband filters.
Run the python script in <Python script Run the SharpCap Python scripting code found in
file> the specified Python file. This may allow you to
achieve results that are not available via other
sequencer steps.
The sequence will not continue until the python
script finishes running.
Run a periodic task called '<Task Name>' The steps placed within this step form a periodic
every <Interval> seconds task and will be run periodically during the running
of the following parts of the sequence.
The task will be run only between other sequencer
steps in the main part of the sequence or between
exposures in a Capture Still Frames step.
The task will be run at the next suitable time after
the interval has been completed – that means that
the time between successive runs of the task will
almost always be longer than the defined interval
and will never be shorter than that interval.
Periodic dithering is implemented using this
approach.
Run a periodic task called <Task Name> As for Run a periodic task … every <Interval>
every <Frame Interval> frames seconds, but the interval is specified in terms of still
frames captured rather than in terms of time.
This may be a better choice for sequences that
capture in still mode, but care should be taken as if
the sequence only uses the camera in live mode, the
task may not execute at all.

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Stop running a periodic task called '<Task Cancel a periodic task that was previously started.
Name>' After cancellation, the task will not be run again.
Ignore any errors when running these Provides a basic form of error handling by ignoring
steps errors in one or more sub-steps that may not be
critical to the final outcome of the sequence.
If an error occurs in any of the sub-steps of this step
then SharpCap will show information about the
error in the sequencer log and then immediately
move on to the steps following the Ignore any
errors step.
Note that this means that if this step contains three
sub-steps, A, B and C, if an error occurs in A then
B&C will not be executed.
Retry up to <Maximum Retry Count> times Another way to handle errors in a sequence. In this
if there are any errors running these steps case, SharpCap will attempt to run the sub-steps of
this step. If there is an error running the sub-steps
then SharpCap will retry the sub-steps up to the
specified number of times (restarting from the
beginning of the sub-step list each time).
If all of the retries have been run and there is still an
error then the error will either stop the sequence or
will be dealt with by a higher level block (another
retry block containing this block, or an ignore errors
block containing this block).
As for the Ignore any errors… block, once an error is
encountered in one of the sub-steps, SharpCap will
immediately go back to run the sub-steps again
from the start, rather than trying to continue to the
end of the sub-steps list after the error.
Setup steps to run just before the Any steps within this block will be run when as the
sequence finishes, even if an error has sequence finishes, regardless of whether it finishes
occurred successfully or with an error. Note that these steps
will not be run if the sequences is stopped using the
Emergency Stop button.
Set solar system GOTO backlash allowance Setup a backlash allowance to be used for the steps
to <RA backlash takeup> and <Dec that GOTO a solar system target with an offset. By
backlash takeup> setting an appropriate backlash allowance, it is
possible to ensure that the mount arrives at the
correct co-ordinates and is immediately steady on
the target, rather than having (for instance) drift in
the RA direction while any RA backlash is taken up.
Stop running these steps after <Time This step provides a way to limit the amount of time
Limit> minutes the sequencer will spend performing certain tasks.
SharpCap will run the sub-steps of this step until the
time limit has elapsed, and then at the end of the
next step to finish (or at the end of the next still
frame when capturing still frames), SharpCap will

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stop running the sub-steps and continue the

sequence with the steps following the Stop running
these steps after … step.
Stop running these steps at <Time of Day> As for the Stop running these steps after <Time
Limit> minutes step, but instead of specifying an
elapsed time, you specify a time of day to stop
running the sub-steps.
If the time of day specified has already passed, then
SharpCap will run the sub-steps until that time of
day tomorrow.
Stop running these steps when <Distance> As for the Stop running these steps after <Time
degrees from the meridian Limit> minutes step, but stop when the currently
connected mount reaches the set distance from the
meridian.
If a positive distance is set then the sub-steps will be
stopped when the mount is that number of degrees
short of the meridian.
If a negative distance is set then SharpCap will allow
the sub-steps to continue until the mount is past
the meridian by the set number of degrees. This
should only be used for mounts capable of tracking
past the meridian.
Stop running these steps when less than As for the Stop running these steps after <Time
<Distance> degrees above the horizon Limit> minutes step, but stop when the currently
connected mount drops below the specified altitude
above the horizon.

Stop running these steps when As for the Stop running these steps after <Time
<Astronomical Event> happens (or has Limit> minutes step, but stop when the specified
already happened) Astronomical Event either happens or is already
satisfied.

Unlock SharpCap camera controls while Normally the SharpCap camera controls are locked
running these steps while the sequencer is running to avoid the
possibility of manual changes to the controls
interfering with the sequence in progress.
This step can be used to unlock the controls while
the sequence runs this step and any sub-steps,
giving the opportunity to make manual
adjustments, although care must be taken not to
make adjustments that would prevent the rest of
the sequence from operating correctly.

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Display
Auto stretch the display. Adjust the display stretch parameters to
automatically stretch the image for best visibility of
faint detail.
Reset the display stretch. Reset the display stretch parameters to their default
(unstretched) settings.
Set the display Zoom level Change the zoom level of SharpCap’s image display.
Note that if you have two-monitor view enabled,
this will affect the zoom level on the primary
monitor (the one with SharpCap’s menus/controls)
only.
Turn on deep sky annotation Turn on the deep sky annotation function. Note that
a separate step may be required to ensure that
plate solving information is available or no
annotation information will be visible.
Turn off deep sky annotation Turn off the deep sky annotation function.

Astronomical events used by the Sequencer

The sequencer has several steps which reference the time of an astronomical event. Those events
can be one of:

• Astronomical Midnight – the time of day when the sun reaches its lowest altitude
• Astronomical Dawn – the time when the sun rises above an altitude of -18 degrees
• Nautical Dawn – the time when the sun rises above an altitude of -12 degrees
• Civil Dawn – the time when the sun rises above an altitude of -6 degrees
• Sunrise – the time when the sun rises above the horizon (altitude of zero degrees)
• Solar Noon – the time of day when the sun reaches its maximum altitude above the horizon
• Sunset – the time when the sun drops down to the horizon (altitude of zero degrees)
• Civil Dusk – the time when the sun drops below an altitude of -6 degrees
• Nautical Dusk – the time when the sun drops below an altitude of -12 degrees
• Astronomical Darkness – the time when the sun drops below an altitude of -18 degrees
• Moonrise – the time when the first part of the moon rises above the horizon
• Moonset – the time when the last part of the moon drops below the horizon

Not all of the events will occur in all locations on every day – for instance north of the arctic circle,
the sun does not set near the summer solstice, so there will be no time for sunset or any of the
dusk/dawn events within the next 24 hours.

The Astronomical Darkness and Astronomical Dawn timings are particularly significant, as the sky is
generally considered to be fully dark when the sun is at least 18 degrees below the horizon – thus
full darkness occurs from Astronomical Darkness to Astronomical Dawn each night.

Events are calculated to an accuracy of 1 minute, so should not be relied upon if precise timing is
required.

All of these that reference the horizon assume a perfectly flat horizon. Additionally, SharpCap needs
to know the location of the observer to calculate the timings of any of the events – this can be

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retrieved from a connected ASCOM telescope mount driver that provides location of from the
location set in the Polar Alignment Settings.

Co-ordinates in the Sequencer

The coordinates should be in RA/Dec notation and a wide variety of forms are accepted, for instance
any of the following forms will be accepted as the co-ordinates of the Orion Nebula

05 35 17.3 -05 23 28 05 32 49.8 -05 25 21

RA 5h 35m 17s | Dec -5° 23′ 28″ 5h 35m 17s -5° 23′ 28″
5h35m17.39s/Dec-5°23'28.24" RA= 5h 35.4m, Dec= -05° 27´
RA: 05h 35m 24.0s Dec: -05°27'00" 5h RA, -5° DEC
RA 05h 35.4m |Dec. -05° 27″ RA 05h 35.4m, dec. –05º 27’
{RA=05:35:16,Dec=-05:23:28} 5.58805 -5.391
(05:35:20.556, -05:18:32.593) (83.84, -5.309)
In all cases, RA co-ordinates are assumed to be in hours (not degrees) if the value is less than 24.

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Telescope Hardware Control

SharpCap can control a wide variety of computer connected astronomical hardware - focusers, filter
wheels, GOTO mounts, rotators and switch devices. Most devices need to be accessed via their
ASCOM driver. You will need to install the ASCOM Platform, an appropriate ASCOM driver (probably
supplied by the device manufacturer) and configure SharpCap to use your device. See the Hardware
Settings for more details.

Once the correct drivers are installed and configured, you will see your devices listed in the Scope
Controls section of the Camera Control panel:

Depending on the choices you have made in the Hardware Settings, the devices may start in the
disconnected state (as shown on the left). If the devices are disconnected then simply check each
Connected checkbox to connect that device and make its functionality available. The Connect All
Hardware button in the toolbar can also be used to quickly connect (or disconnect) all selected
hardware.

GOTO Mount Control

SharpCap can connect to and control most ASCOM mounts, although the amount of functionality
will depend on the capabilities of the ASCOM driver (unfortunately, if the mount does not support
the ASCOM MoveAxis functionality SharpCap will offer limited functionality).

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If you do not have a GOTO mount that you can connect to your computer, you may still be able to
gain limited mount control via SharpCap if

• Your camera and mount both have ST4 (guiding) ports

• SharpCap supports ST4 control for your camera (Altair, PlayerOne, QHY, SVBony and ZWO
cameras)
• You connect the camera and mount ST4 ports using an ST4 cable
• You select ‘On Camera ST4’ for the mount in the SharpCap Hardware Settings.

This will give you the ability to nudge the mount at the guiding rate using the direction buttons and
also use Dither only Guiding.

Co-ordinate Readout
On the left-hand side of the control, the current Azimuth, Altitude, Right Ascension, Declination and
Local Hour Angle are shown – these are updated from the mount on a regular basis, so should
update if the mount is moved using another application such as a planetarium program.

The Local Hour Angle will range from -12:00:00 (when the mount is pointing just east of due north),
through to 00:00:00 (when the mount is at the meridian) and then up to +12:00:00 (approaching due
north from the west). A negative Local Hour Angle means that your mount is heading towards the
meridian and (for equatorial mounts) may need to flip orientation to continue imaging past the
meridian. For instance a Local Hour Angle of -00:25:00 means that your mount will reach the
meridian in 25 minutes.

Movement Buttons
The centre section of the control is home to the movement buttons which allow the mount to be
moved from within SharpCap. The up, down, left and right buttons will move the mount in the given
direction while they are pressed.

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If the mount is an equatorial mount, Up/Down will move the mount in Declination and Left/Right will
move the mount in RA. The mount will be moved at a speed that can be selected using the Rate
drop down in the top-right of the control. This lists the movement rates that the mount makes
available (this drop down shows slower movement rates in multiples of Sidereal rate – i.e. 1x, 2x, 8x
– and faster rates in degrees per second). The STOP button between the direction buttons will stop
any current movement of the mount but is not normally needed as movement is stopped when the
direction buttons are released.

You can also move the telescope using the following keyboard shortcuts :

<CTRL>+J, <CTRL>+NUMPAD 4 Move mount left

<CTRL>+L, <CTRL>+NUMPAD 6 Move mount right
<CTRL>+I, <CTRL>+NUMPAD 2 Move mount up
<CTRL>+K, <CTRL>+NUMPAD 8 Move mount down
Note that the direction that the mount moves in response to the movement buttons and keyboard
shortcuts can be reversed (if necessary) by adjusting the Hardware Settings.

The Spiral Search button (top left of the button group) moves the mount in a growing square spiral
around the starting point while it is held down. This is useful when trying to locate an object such as
a planet that may be just out of frame. Note that like the movement buttons, the speed of
movement of the Spiral Search is governed by the Rate dropdown. If the Spiral Search button is
released the spiral movement will stop. Pressing it again will begin a new spiral around the current
location – it will not resume the previous spiral pattern.

Plate Solving
The Plate Solve button (bottom left of the button group, ) will perform a plate solve on the
current image, re-synchronize the mount’s location to the plate solve result and will the GOTO the
original target co-ordinates. This button has an identical effect to using the Plate Solve and Resync
tool from the Tools menu.

This procedure has the effect of putting the target into the centre of the field of view even if it is off-
centre or out of view entirely.

The Plate Solve button only becomes enabled if a compatible plate solver is installed and configured
in the SharpCap settings. See Plate Solving Settings for more details. Note that when plate solving is
launched from this button, it will restrict its search to sky locations within 15 degrees of the current
location as reported by your ASCOM mount. This dramatically improves the speed of plate solving,
but does mean that if the current mount location is highly inaccurate, plate solving will fail.

Other Controls
The Park checkbox can be used to park or un-park your mount.

Finally, the Tracking button (bottom right) can be used to turn sidereal rate tracking of the mount on
or off. If tracking is turned off, stars and other objects will appear to drift across the field of view. To
the right of the Tracking button is a drop down that shows (and allows you to change) the current
tracking rate. You can select sidereal, solar or lunar tracking rates. The ‘?’ icon shows when the
selected tracking rate is a custom rate.

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As with all ASCOM hardware in SharpCap it is possible to temporarily disconnect from the device by
unchecking the Connected checkbox and the ASCOM driver configuration can be shown by pressing
the Setup button.

Focuser Control

The focuser can be moved by using the In and Out buttons. Between each pair of buttons (coarse
and fine) are the step size adjustment controls which allow the amount of movement per button
press to be adjusted. The current position of the focuser is shown and it is also possible to directly
type a new position value into this control (after typing a new value press <Tab> or <Enter> to move
the focuser to the typed value). The Reverse checkbox swaps the meaning of the In and Out buttons
- handy if the focuser moves in when pressing Out.

If your focuser has a temperature sensor then SharpCap will show the current temperature value
below the focuser name.

If your focuser has a temperature compensation function, then the T. Comp checkbox will be
available – check that box to turn on the temperature compensation function or uncheck to disable
it. The temperature compensation function is provided by the ASCOM driver for the focuser, so must
be configured via the ASCOM driver setup window or via other software provided by the focuser
manufacturer.

Although you can use the focuser adjustment control shown above to manually change the focus
position from within SharpCap, much of the power of using an electronic focuser in SharpCap comes
from the integration with the focus assistance tools.

Filter Wheel Control

Filter Wheels are simple to control in SharpCap – the buttons show a list of filters available and all
that is necessary is to select the desired filter by pressing the appropriate button. It is best to avoid
trying to change the filter again while the wheel is still moving. The names of the filters shown by
SharpCap can usually be configured in the ASCOM driver configuration dialog for the filter wheel.

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If you use a filter wheel in SharpCap then you should adjust the Filename Settings to make sure that
SharpCap puts the filter name into the filename of captured images and video files.

As with all ASCOM hardware in SharpCap it is possible to temporarily disconnect from the device by
unchecking the Connected checkbox and the ASCOM driver configuration can be shown by pressing
the Setup button.

As for focuser control, while it is convenient to change the filter from within SharpCap, much of the
power of using an electronic filter wheel comes from the integration with other parts of SharpCap –
for instance configuring the filter name to be used in file names (see Filename Settings) or using the
Sequencer, Deep Sky Sequence Planner or Solar System Sequence Planner to automate an imaging
session.

Filter Offsets
If you have both a filter wheel and an electronic focuser then you should, if possible, setup filter
offset values for each filter inside the setup window for your filter wheel. These values represent
how far the focuser needs to move when changing from one filter to another to maintain good
focus.

Manual Filter Wheels

Note that SharpCap also contains the option to configure and show controls for a manually operated
filter wheel. When using a manually operated wheel you can select the currently chosen filter in
SharpCap, allowing the filter name to be used in custom filename templates.

Filter offsets can also be set up for a manual filter wheel, allowing you to take advantage of
SharpCap automatically adjusting the focuser when changing filters. For instance, with the filter
offsets setup as shown below, SharpCap would move the focuser +250 steps when moving from the
clear filter to the red filter, +222 when moving from red to green, -364 when moving from green to
blue, etc.

The correct filter offset values can be calculated by noting down the position of best focus for each
filter in your filter when in a single test session. Pick one filter to be the ‘baseline’ and give that filter
a value of zero. Assign values to all the other filters that are the difference between their best filter
position and the best filter position of the baseline filter.

Note that for SharpCap to adjust the focuser when changing filters, both the focuser and the filter
wheel must be connected and the option to Use Focus Offset information must have been enabled in
the Hardware Settings.

Rotator Control
SharpCap can allow you to control a mechanical rotator device, allowing you to rotate the camera
relative to the focuser of the telescope. Rotator devices can be used for two main purposes:

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• Rotating the camera to give the best field of view for imaging a target – particularly helpful
for cameras with rectangular sensors.
• Rotating the camera to counteract the field rotation that is observed when using an Alt-Az
mount.

SharpCap only allows control of the rotator device for the first purpose – that of reframing the
image. Using a rotator for the second purpose usually requires configuration in the rotator software
so that it can monitor the mount movement and compensate accordingly.

The rotator can be moved by using the Anticlockwise and Clockwise buttons. Between each pair of
buttons (coarse and fine) are the step size adjustment controls which allow the amount of
movement per button press to be adjusted (this is measured in degrees). The current angle of the
rotator is shown and it is also possible to directly type a new angle value into this control (after
typing a new value press <Tab> or <Enter> to move the rotator to the typed orientation). The
Reverse checkbox swaps the meaning of the Anticlockwise and Clockwise buttons - handy if the
rotator moves in the opposite direction to the expected one.

The rotator can also be controlled automatically via the Goto Image function, which can return the
camera to match the position and orientation of a previous image. Additionally, various sequencer
steps can use the rotator to perform tasks such as saving and restoring camera orientation after the
telescope moves from one side of the meridian to the other.

Switch Device Control

The final category of hardware device that SharpCap can control is an ASCOM Switch Device. Switch
devices, as their name suggests, provide the ability to switch on or off power outputs from a device
and potentially switch on or off, or control, other device features. For instance, when using the
Pegasus Astro Ultimate Power Box, SharpCap shows the following options:

The controls here allow:

• Four separate power outputs (1 to 4) to be turned on or off

• Six separate USB ports to be enabled or disabled
• Three dew control channels (A, B and C) to be adjusted

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• An Auto-dew control mode to be turned on or off

• The Voltage, Current and Power readouts to be shown

The actual controls available will vary depending on the details of the switch device being used, but
the examples shown here give an idea of some of the things that might be available.

Examples of things that can be done via the controls on a ASCOM switch device include:

• Disabling then re-enabling a USB port to try to fix a problem with a glitched piece of
hardware
• Turn on and off power to various devices as required to limit power usage if running on
battery power
• Adjust power to dew heaters as the temperature and humidity change during an observing
session

The ASCOM switch device can also be controlled via various sequencer steps as part of a larger
automated imaging session.

Remote Hardware Control

SharpCap (from version 4.1) is capable of detecting and using hardware on other computers on the
local network using one of the following two approaches

• ASCOM Alpaca (including ASCOM Remote)

• Indigo

SharpCap will attempt to auto-detect available remote hardware at startup. If you add new
hardware, or start a remote hardware server after starting SharpCap, use the Rescan for remote
hardware menu option in the File menu to get SharpCap to re-check for new hardware.

Remote Cameras
Detected remote cameras (of both ASCOM Remote and Indigo types) will appear in the Cameras
menu, in the ASCOM Cameras section, typically at the bottom of the list.

The network address of the machine on which the camera was found will appear after the camera
(in the example above, 192.168.0.107) along with a device number in brackets.

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These cameras can be opened and used just as other cameras can. Some things that you might need
to be aware of:

• Remote cameras will always be slower than local cameras, and should only be used for slow
imaging such as Deep Sky or EAA
• Remote cameras may not have all the functionality available that they would have locally.

Other Remote Hardware

Other remote hardware (Telescope mount drivers, focusers, rotators, etc) can be found with local
ASCOM devices in the Select Hardware dropdown for each device category. For instance, in the
screenshot below an LX200 mount is available remotely.

Note that as for remote cameras, other remote hardware may not allow the full range of capabilities
that are available when the hardware is connected to the PC on which SharpCap is running. In
particular, telescope mount drivers connected via Indigo will not have access to the Move Axis
commands that are required to allow the direction movement buttons in SharpCap (and other
features) to work.

Using ASCOM Alpaca Hardware

ASCOM Alpaca (https://ascom-standards.org/About/Overview.htm) is a standard for remote control
of astronomy hardware that is supported by SharpCap (from version 4.1). Various pieces of software
can provide access to hardware via the Alpaca standard – the most obvious one is ASCOM Remote
(https://github.com/ASCOMInitiative/ASCOMRemote/releases) which can be run on a Windows PC
to make ASCOM devices on that PC available for use remotely.

SharpCap will automatically detect ASCOM Alpaca servers running on your local network, providing
they use the default discovery port number (32227).

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SharpCap cannot currently connect to servers running on computers located over the internet or
servers using a non-default discovery port.

Using Indigo Hardware

Indigo (https://www.indigo-astronomy.org/) is a system for running astronomy hardware and
software across multiple computers and operating systems.

SharpCap can connect to Indigo hardware via Indigo’s built in ‘ASCOM Alpaca bridge agent’. In order
for SharpCap to use Indigo hardware, you must

• Enable the ASCOM Alpaca bridge agent in the Available Drivers section of the INDIGO
Control Panel
• Check the Discovery Configuration setting for the Alpaca Agent has the Discovery Port set to
32227

Once these setup steps are complete and the Indigo Server is running, SharpCap should
automatically detect the devices that are enabled on the Indigo Server.

NOTE: Unfortunately Indigo versions up to and including 2.0-246 contain a minor bug that prevents
SharpCap from properly detecting Indigo hardware. Please update your Indigo installation to a
newer version than 2.0-246 if you wish to use Indigo hardware in SharpCap.

How SharpCap handles Hardware Errors

Sooner or later, a piece of hardware that SharpCap is using could stop working properly – for
instance:

• If the hardware is controlled by WIFI or Bluetooth, the wireless connection could drop out
• If the hardware is controlled by a cable, the cable could be pulled loose by mount movement
• Power to the device could be interrupted due to a low battery or a PSU problem
• The device firmware might encounter an error and stop responding
• The software managing the device on the PC (ASCOM driver, etc) may encounter an error

If one of these conditions occurs, SharpCap will most likely start to encounter errors when trying to
communicate with the device.

SharpCap automatically try to deal with these errors without interrupting your imaging session in the
following as described below

Errors in Status Requests

SharpCap regularly asks connected hardware devices for their current status – for instance this
involves asking a Telescope Mount to report the current co-ordinates and tracking rate, or asking a
focuser or rotator to report the current position.

If an error occurs while making one of these regular status update requests, SharpCap will record the
problem in the log, but otherwise ignore the error. If the error clears on the next request for an
update then SharpCap will continue to work with the affected device with no noticeable problems.

If, however, the error persists and occurs on every status update request, SharpCap may decide to
give up on asking for status updates for that device. This will also be recorded in the SharpCap log,
and will result in the status (position, etc) of the device no longer updating in the SharpCap display.

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Errors in Action Requests

A more serious problem occurs when there is an error in response to SharpCap requesting the
hardware device to actually do something. Examples of this include

• Requesting a telescope mount to GOTO a target or slew one or more axis

• Requesting a focuser or rotator to move to a new position
• Requesting a filter wheel to change position

SharpCap will retry these actions rather than just fail immediately if requesting an action causes an
error.

The retries proceed as follows:

• After initial failure, wait 0.5s then retry

• If first retry fails, wait an additional 0.5s, attempt to disconnect then reconnect the
hardware, then retry a second time

The first retry may be sufficient to deal with temporary communications glitches between the
computer and the hardware device, while the second disconnect/reconnect/retry may help reset the
state of the ASCOM driver or other control software into a working condition.

Note that SharpCap will not attempt to retry if the error received indicates that

• The device does not support the action being requested

• The device has been disconnected

Further details of the progress of any retries for device actions can be found in the SharpCap log.

Avoiding Hardware Errors

The simple rules to keeping hardware working reliably are:

• Avoid wireless connections (Bluetooth, WIFI, etc). Use wired connections where at all
possible
• Secure wires (power and data cables) with cable ties/Velcro rather than letting them drop
free
• Move the mount (and focuser/rotator if used) through the full range of positions to check
that cables do not get pulled in different positions

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Image Processing in SharpCap

SharpCap has a number of controls in the Preprocessing group that allow immediate processing of
images as they are captured. These controls are intended for two main purposes:

1. Correction of images when capturing video for Lunar/Solar/Planetary imaging. The following
controls would tend to be used:
o Flat correction via Apply Flat to correct for dust spots
o Planet/Disk Stabilization for planetary imaging
o Flip (after dark/flat) for image re-orientation
o Mask over-exposed Pixels for imaging Solar prominences
The processing options selected are applied to captured frames from the camera in real time
and the saved video files contain the processed data.

2. Processing of images when Live Stacking. The following controls would tend to be used:
o Dark subtraction via Subtract Dark to correct for hot pixels and thermal noise
o Flat correction via Apply Flat to correct for dust spots and vignetting
o Background Subtraction to remove light pollution and light pollution gradients
o Satellite Trail Removal to suppress streaks from satellite trails
o Banding Suppression to reduce horizontal banding from CMOS cameras
o Flip (after dark/flat) for image re-orientation

The processing options selected are applied to the captured frames before they are
incorporated into the stack. However, if the option to Save Raw Frames is enabled in Live
Stacking, the saved raw frame files do not include the effects of image processing.

It is, of course, possible to use the various image processing controls for other purposes in SharpCap,
but please note the following:

The effect of enabling controls in the Preprocessing group affects the images saved to disk by
SharpCap in both still and video files with the sole exception of saved raw frames when Live
Stacking.

Adjustments made to the image data by these controls typically cannot be fully undone by later
processing.

Image Processing Controls

The controls in the Preprocessing group appear as shown below. Note that additional controls
appear when certain controls (for example Banding Suppression or Remove Satellite Trails) are
enabled to allow those actions to be fine-tuned.

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Note that most of these image processing controls are SharpCap Pro features.

Subtract Dark
Subtracts the selected dark frame image from each frame captured by SharpCap, allowing artefacts
such as amp glow and dark noise to be reduced. Recently used dark frames are listed in the drop
down list along with the special options None, Hot Pixel Removal Only and Hot and Cold Pixel
Removal. To select a dark frame from a file, use the Browse button and choose the desired file.

Selecting None from the drop down list disables dark frame subtraction. You can remove recently
used files from the drop down list by pressing the ‘X’ button to the left of the file name. Note that
the ‘X’ buttons adjacent to the first three special options have no effect.
Selected dark frames must match either the current capture area in use, or must match the full
sensor area of the camera if the camera is being used in ROI mode. They must also match the
current camera settings such as Colour Space and Read Mode. If you use the camera in ROI mode
and select a dark frame that is the full size of the camera sensor, SharpCap will automatically use the
correct area of the dark frame based on your ROI settings.
See Capturing and Using Dark Frames for more details.
[Note: the dark frame is subtracted before any other processing of the frame (such as live stacking or
any FX effects) and the subtraction of a dark frame affects the saved file.]

Hot/Cold Pixel Removal

For some recent CMOS cameras, both thermal noise and ‘pattern’ noise such as amp glow can be
negligible. When using these cameras, dark subtraction may not be necessary, especially when using
relatively short exposure times of only a few 10s of seconds. However, hot and cold pixels can still be
an issue as they can lead to issues when stacking, so SharpCap now has options to deal with hot/cold
pixels without needing full dark subtraction.

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The Subtract Dark control has the following additional options are available:
• Hot Pixel Removal Only – this option does not use a dark frame, instead it attempts to
remove hot pixels from the camera image by finding pixels that are significantly brighter
than any of their neighbours.
• Hot and Cold Pixel Removal Only – this option attempts to remove hot pixels as described
above and also attempts to find and remove cold pixels using a similar approach – looking
for pixels that are significantly dimmer than any of their neighbours.
When either of these two options are selected, an additional Hot Pixel Sensitivity slider control
appears which allows the sensitivity of hot and cold pixel detection to be adjusted. Setting higher
values will increase sensitivity and means that more pixels will be detected as hot or cold. It is
usually a good idea to look at individual frames with a high magnification and a strong Display
Stretch applied when adjusting this sensitivity.

Note that Hot/Cold pixel removal is only truly effective for monochrome cameras or for colour
cameras operating in RAW modes. Attempting to use this feature on a colour camera operating in
RGB mode will lead to poor results.

Apply Flat
Applying a flat frame corrects each frame for brightness variations caused by vignetting or dust
spots. The flat frame correction code has been highly optimized so that on a fast PC it can run on
every frame even when high speed imaging using a USB3 camera.
As for dark subtraction, recently used flat frames can be selected from the drop down list, or the
special option None can be selected to turn off flat frame correction. Newly created flat frames can
be selected by using the Browse… button to select the image file containing the flat frame.

Selected flat frames must match either the current capture area in use, or must match the full
sensor area of the camera if the camera is being used in ROI mode. If you use the camera in ROI
mode and select a flat frame that is the full size of the camera sensor, SharpCap will automatically
use the correct area of the flat frame based on your ROI settings. Flat frames should ideally be in a
bit depth of 16 bits, even if the camera is being used in an 8 bit mode.
See Capturing and Using Flat Frames for more details.
[Note: the flat frame correction is applied after dark subtraction but before any other processing of
the frame (such as live stacking or any FX effects) and the application of a flat frame affects the
saved file.]

Banding Suppression
Some cameras, particularly CMOS cameras, show varying horizontal bands in dark areas of the image
(these may only be noticeable after the image levels are stretched to show faint objects). The image
below shows a sample of this type of banding:

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SharpCap’s banding suppression function can help remove this type of banding in each frame from
the camera before it is saved or processed.
The Banding Suppression control sets the strength of the banding reduction effect.

The Banding Threshold control specifies a brightness level above which the banding suppression is
not applied – ensuring the adjustments are only made to the darkest parts of the frame where the
banding is most visible.
The best way to adjust these controls is as follows:
• Set the camera up to take dark frames

• Use the display stretch if necessary to make the banding more visible
• Initially turn up the Banding Threshold to maximum
• Turn up the Banding Suppression control gradually until you are happy with the amount that
the banding has been reduced
• Now turn down the Banding Threshold control gradually – at some point the banding will re-
appear because the threshold will have been set too low. Turn the threshold back up a little
to make the banding disappear again and you are done.
The Banding Threshold has no effect if Banding Suppression is set to zero.
If you use these controls then you should use the same settings for them for both dark and light
frame capture.

Planet/Disk Stabilization
Enabling this option when imaging a planet or a full solar/lunar disk will offset each frame image to
place the planet/disk in the centre of the frame.
If this option is enabled when imaging other types of target, particularly ones that fill the entire
camera frame, the results may be unpredictable.
Stabilizing the planet/disk to the centre of each frame affects both the image as shown on screen
and the image data saved to any image or video files.

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Because the image is being moved, areas that are outside the recording area of the camera may be
brought into view – they will show in as black with a thin red line highlighting where the edge of the
actual camera image is.
This feature may be most useful for the focusing stage – by keeping the planet in a constant location,
judging the point of best focus either by eye or using SharpCap’s focus tools will be easier.
Planet/Disk Stabilization is only available for cameras that are running in live view mode. If your
camera is running in Still Mode, this control will not be available.

Background Subtraction
Enabling this option will remove a background level from each frame. This will help remove the
background brightness caused by light pollution (sky glow), and in particular help remove any colour
cast to the background of the image due to light pollution.

This option is designed to be used where there is a significant amount of light pollution to be
removed. If you have very dark skies or are using narrow band filters, you may find that this option
brightens the background of your image slightly, since it tries to adjust the background level of each
colour channel to the 5% point on the histogram, rather than to absolute blackness.
This option is compatible with dark and flat frame correction, and should ideally be used with both
(or at least dark frame correction). Dark frames remove the unwanted brightness caused by the
camera itself, this option removes the unwanted brightness caused by light pollution.
The adjustment made to the image brightness may be different for the different colour channels in
colour images (this allows correction for a coloured sky glow). The correction however does not vary
with position in the image, so gradients in sky glow will not be removed.
Enabling this option will affect both the image shown on screen and the image data saved to file
when capturing.
There are various options for Background Subtraction, which change the details of how the
background to be removed is calculated:
• Simple Offset – will apply the same, auto-detected correction to all pixels in the image. This
may affect the colours of bright stars as (for example) an orange/red sky glow will lead to
the largest reduction being applied to the red channel, possibly making bright stars take on a
blue/green hue.
• Blended Offset - will cause SharpCap to avoid making such large adjustments to the
brightness of pixels that are close to full brightness – this will reduce or eliminate any shift in
star colours caused by the background subtraction option. This option should be preferred in
most cases over ‘Simple Offset’.
• Linear Gradient Removal – rather than use a single, constant, background value across the
entire frame, in Linear Gradient Removal mode, SharpCap will look detect and remove

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gradients in background brightness across the frame. The brightness adjustments are
applied in a manner similar to Blended Offset to avoid colour changes to bright stars.
This option can detect horizontal, vertical and diagonal gradients. It should be used with
caution in cases where nebulosity covers all or most of the frame, as it may mistakenly
detect brightness patterns in the nebulosity as a background gradient.

• Non-Linear Gradient Removal (Experimental) – this option attempts to fit a second order
polynomial curve to the background brightness of the image to allow removal of gradients
that do not vary linearly across the image.
In cases where the background is correctly detected, this approach will remove it more
effectively than the Linear Gradient Removal. However, this approach has more freedom to
produce different shapes of background (6 free parameters per colour channel rather than
3), so there is increased scope for this option incorrectly picking up other patterns in the
brightness of the image such as variations in nebulosity. As such, it should be used with
caution.
• Low Frequency Wave (Experimental) – this option attempts to fit a combination of linear
gradient and sine and cosine waves (with a wavelength equal to the image dimensions) to
the background brightness pattern of the image. The same cautions as for Non-Linear
Gradient Removal (Experimental) apply – this option has 11 free parameters so may give a
better fit to background gradients but may also incorrectly attempt to fit to other brightness
patterns in the image.
DO NOT capture calibration frames (flat, dark, bias, dark flat, etc) when this option is enabled. This
option should only be used when capturing light frames.

Remove Satellite Trails

The increase in the number of artificial satellites in recent years has caused significant issues for
both amateur and professional astronomers, as the satellites can often be in a high enough orbit to
still catch and reflect sunlight even when it is dark on the ground. These satellites frequently leave
bright trails across long exposure images, meaning either that the image with the satellite trails
needs to be discarded or that the trails needs to be hidden or edited out in some way.

SharpCap’s Satellite Trail Removal feature attempts to automate the detection and removal of
satellite trails from camera images without needing human intervention except in the setup phase.
When correctly configured and enabled, SharpCap will detect bright streaks in the image that are
caused by satellite trails and replace those parts of the image with data from nearby pixels
unaffected by a satellite trail.

When correctly set up, this can detect most satellite trails and reduce the brightness of detected
trails by 90% or more. It is worth noting that the calculations required for satellite trail detection and
removal are extensive, and this feature can take several seconds to process each frame (particularly
for high resolutions or slower CPUs). Only use this feature while capturing longer exposure images.
SharpCap will automatically disable this feature during sequencer based autofocus procedures, but
you should consider disabling it manually when the exposure time is reduced for any reason
(focusing, plate solving, etc).

Configuring Satellite Trail Removal

Satellite trail removal has two active modes (in addition to being Off), which can be selected using
the dropdown list:

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• Test (Highlight Trails) – this mode is for use when configuring the trail removal settings and
should not be used when capturing or live stacking. When this mode is enabled, detected
trails will be highlighted in the image, making them more obvious. This helps you tell
whether the current settings are correctly detecting any satellite trails in the image.
• Remove – this mode is the mode for actually removing satellite trails. In this mode, any trails
that are detected are wiped out with pixel data taken from nearby areas of the image. This
mode should be used when capturing or live stacking.

In either of the two active modes, additional options appear below the main Remove Satellite Trails
option, giving control over the sensitivity of trail detection and other aspects of the removal. The
effects of these controls and the best way to adjust them are discussed below.

• Trail Detection Sensitivity – this controls how sensitive the satellite trail detection scanning
is. Higher values will help detect fainter trails but will lead to increased calculation times and
may also lead to false positives (trails detected over other image features) in some cases.
• Minimum Trail Length – this is measured in pixels and specifies the shorted fragment of
satellite trail that will be detected. Lower values will help detect slower moving satellites
that might only have a short trail segment in each image. Lower values will also help detect
trails that have just entered or just left the frame. On the flip side, low values will increase
the likelihood of false positives, particularly if combined with high Trail Detection Sensitivity.
• Trail Width – this affects both detection and removal of the trail. Set lower values of this
control to detect narrow satellite trails and higher values to detect wider trails. The area of
image that is replaced when a trail is detected is also controlled by this parameter, so higher
values can help if the Remove mode is not removing the trail entirely.

The best technique to use to adjust the settings is as follows:

1. Review previously captured images or capture new images and find frames containing
satellite trails. Note that it is important that these are individual frames from the camera,
not stacked images.
2. Open the SharpCap Test Camera 1 (Deep Sky) and use the Browse… button on the Image
control in the Testing Controls group to select one of the images with satellite trails that you
identified in stage 1.
3. Use the Display Stretch control to stretch the display and make the satellite trail clearly
visible
4. If desired, set the Exposure/Gain Shift control to -3, which will give 1s exposures for faster
feedback without affecting image brightness
5. Set the Remove Satellite Trails control to Test (Highlight Trails)
6. Adjust the Trail Detection Sensitivity and Minimum Trail Length to ensure that the satellite
trail(s) in the image are detected and over-drawn with white. Do not set the sensitivity
higher than necessary to minimize the chance of false positives.
7. Ensure that no other white lines are being drawn on the image (false positives)

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8. Set the Remove Satellite Trails control to Remove and check that the trails are being
removed from the image. Adjust Trail Width if needed
9. Repeat for other images with satellite trails in them.

Note that the settings will need re-adjustment if you change telescope or camera, and may need re-
adjustment for different camera settings (exposure lengths, binning, etc).

Typical results
The following four images show (from left to right):

• A satellite trail in a strongly stretched deep sky image

• The satellite trail being detected by the Test (Highlight Trails) mode
• The satellite trail being removed by the Remove mode
• A closeup of the removed trail, showing that some trace is still visible, but much reduced

While traces of the trail are still visible after the removal procedure, they are much reduced and they
will vanish quickly when processed images are stacked.

Flip (after dark/flat)

This control provides an alternative to camera provided Flip controls with the following advantages:

• Available for all cameras rather than just a selection

• Does not require separate dark or flat frames to be used for each Flip orientation because
the flip is applied after the dark and flat processing.

This control should be used in preference to camera-provided Flip controls in the Camera Controls or
Image Controls groups. Those camera-provided options may be removed in a future version of
SharpCap.

The options available for the Flip (after dark/flat) control are:

• None – no flip applied

• Horiz – flip horizontally – that is left becomes right and right becomes left
• Vert – flip vertically – that is top becomes bottom and bottom becomes top
• Both – flip both horizontally and vertically, which is equivalent to a 180 degree rotation of
the image

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Mask over-exposed Pixels

This option is designed primarily for use when capturing images of solar prominences using narrow
band solar filters. When the camera is set up to properly expose prominences, the disc of the sun
will be over-exposed and bright white, which can be distracting. Enabling this option will set over-
exposed pixels in the image to black, which will effectively mask out the disc of the sun.

The effect of turning on this option are shown below. It is particularly useful when live broadcasting
solar imaging sessions, since the same effect can be applied in processing when stacking captured
videos.

Image Processing Ordering

SharpCap performs image processing in the following order (processing options that are disabled are
obviously not run).

• Hot/Cold pixel removal

• Row noise suppression
• Dark Subtraction
• Flat frame correction
• Image stabilization
• Satellite trail removal
• Flip (after dark/flat)
• Mask overexposed pixels

Capturing and Using Dark Frames

Introduction to Dark Frames

Images taken with digital cameras can suffer from noise caused by the camera sensor and
electronics. Dark frames can be used to counteract some of the effect of this noise on image quality.
A dark frame is taken with the camera lens (or telescope) covered to ensure there is no light, but
otherwise with exactly the same camera settings as used for capturing light frames. This means any
signal in the dark frame is due to noise, not due to light. In particular, the dark frame may contain
signal due to:

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• Thermal Noise – this results when electrons in the imaging sensor are collected as a result of
heat rather than as a result of detecting incoming photons. The effects increase with longer
exposure, but can be decreased by cooling the camera sensor
• Pattern Noise (sometimes called ‘amp glow’) – this results from a number of potential
causes but typically manifests as a glow in one or more areas of the sensor that becomes
apparent in long exposure, low light, images
• Hot, Cold, Warm and Cool Pixels – these are individual pixels in the image which produce
abnormal values, particularly for longer exposures. Hot pixels may produce maximum or
near maximum output value without any significant light input, warm pixels produce higher
than typical output value, cool and cold similar in the opposite direction.

Subtracting the pixel data of the dark frame away from the pixel data of each light frame can remove
or reduce the effects of these types of noise in the light frame data.

The dark frame must be captured under identical conditions (such as exposure, gain, resolution,
temperature) as the image frames for the noise to cancel correctly.

It is good practice to capture many dark frames and average them together, rather than just
capturing a single dark frame. In fact, ideally, you should capture as many dark frames as light
frames!

For best results, the dark frames should also be captured with the camera sensor at the same
temperature as when capturing light frames. Many cameras have a temperature sensor (the value
will be displayed in the SharpCap camera controls) to help you judge this. Some cameras have a
Peltier thermoelectric cooler attached (a fridge on the back of the camera) to combat noise
generated by heat from long exposures, this also usually allows the temperature of the camera
sensor to be controlled, which is ideal for dark frame capture.

Capturing Dark Frames in SharpCap

This subsection explains the process for capturing and saving a dark frame. The process is started
from the main menu via Capture > Capture Dark. The telescope or camera must be covered to
exclude any light before commencing the dark frame capture. The process produces a single ‘master
dark’ frame that contains the image data averaged from multiple individually captured dark images.
This ‘master dark’ frame can then be used in the Subtract Dark control in SharpCap or as a master
dark frame in other processing software.

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While the Capture Dark Frame window is open, do not use any SharpCap functions. Additionally,
while the darks are being captured (after pressing the Start button), do not adjust any camera
controls. Once the window closes, the dark frame capture process has completed.

The options that can be specified when capturing dark frames are as follows:

• Number of frames to average – This tells SharpCap how many dark frames to capture and
average together. Actually, SharpCap will normally capture one extra frame in addition to
the number specified here and will discard the first frame – this helps avoid problems if the
telescope/camera has only been covered part way through the first frame
• Where to save the file – SharpCap can save the resulting dark frame to either the Dark
Library or the normal capture folder.
• Use new dark when capture complete – when this box is checked, SharpCap will
automatically select the newly created dark frame at the end of the Capture Dark process
• Keep individual dark frame image files – when this box is checked, the individual dark frame
files will be kept for later manual processing or re-use. When the box is not checked the
individual image files will be stored in a temporary folder and deleted when the Capture
Dark process is complete.

The following camera settings should not be used when capturing a dark frame:

• Flat frame correction, Background subtraction or any other option in the Preprocessing
group
• Any ‘Auto’ control values – i.e. auto gain, auto exposure, auto colour balance

Other camera settings should be set to the same value as when capturing light frames. This is
particularly critical for settings that affect the image brightness, including:

• Exposure, Gain, Offset/Black Level/Brightness

• Colour balance controls
• Gamma/Contrast and other image adjustment controls
• Flip controls provided by the camera in the Camera Controls or Image Controls groups

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Ideally, the temperature of the camera sensor should be the same when capturing darks as when
capturing light frames. With a cooled camera, this is easy to achieve. With an un-cooled camera, it is
often best to capture dark frames immediately before or after capturing light frames so that air
temperature and other conditions are as similar as possible.

The dark frame will be saved in a file format that is chosen as follows:

• The selected Output Format is used if it is a still image format and it supports 16 bit images.
If not then…
• The Preferred Still Format is used if it is a still image format and it supports 16 bit images. If
not then…
• The FITS file format is used.

Note: If you decide to run your camera in ROI mode, SharpCap can use either a dark frame taken for
a matching ROI (the size and position must be the same) or a dark frame taken at the full resolution
of the camera. If a full resolution dark frame is used, SharpCap will automatically select the correct
sub-area of the dark frame.

The SharpCap Dark Library

When capturing darks and selecting to save the resulting files to the Dark Library, SharpCap will
organise the captured files inside a folder called ‘darks’ inside the main capture folder.

The saved files will be further organised into folders by camera name, colour space and capture
resolution, exposure length, gain and other camera settings.

For instance, using an Altair GP130M camera, when capturing 10 frames for to make a dark frame, a
folder structure is created. The folder structure represents the camera settings in the Camera
Control Panel.

In the folder gain_200 the dark frame set is stored, along with a capture settings file that records the
full camera settings used during the capture:

This arrangement of dark frames makes it easier to find the appropriate frame to use at a later date,
particularly as the Browse… button for the Subtract Dark control will automatically chose the most

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appropriate folder within the dark library to select a dark frame from, based on the current camera
settings.

Capturing and Using Flat Frames

Introduction to Flat Frames

Flat frames are used to correct images for unwanted brightness variations across the frame. This
brightness variation might be caused by the optical configuration of a lens or telescope meaning that
less light reaches the edges and corners of the frame, making them darker (known as vignetting), or
by the presence of dust or dirt specks on the sensor, sensor glass or filters. Dust specks cause dark
patches on the image which may be simple spots (as seen in the image below) or small dark donut
shapes when using telescopes with a central obstruction.

Dust spots and vignetting need to be corrected before images are stacked as the differing alignment
of frames during stacking will spread them out in an unknown manner, making them impossible to
fully correct after stacking.

In order to correct for these types of defects in the image, a flat frame is captured – that is an image
of a perfectly uniformly illuminated surface, meaning that the only variations in brightness of the flat
frame are due to the effects of vignetting and/or dust. The image below shows a flat frame taken
with the same (rather dirty) camera sensor used above – the dust specks are clearly visible in the flat
frame.

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It is actually good practice to capture many flat frames and then to average them to produce a
‘master flat’ which will have less noise that any individual flat frame. The flat frame image shown
above is actually a master flat created from 30 individual flat frames and is noticeably less noisy than
the light frames shown.

Flat frame correction itself involves brightening the captured image in areas where the flat frame is
dimmer than average to correct for the reduction in light reaching the camera sensor in that area.
Taking the image and flat frame shown above, the corrected image can be seen below – it is basically
impossible to see the effects of the dust spots in the corrected image.

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Note: Flat frame correction can also help remove the effects of optical interference patterns from
images, such as the ‘Newton’s Rings’ which may cause issues in solar imaging.

Creating Flat Frames

Select Capture Flat from the Capture menu. This will automatically enable the histogram and show
the Capture Flat Frame window.

The steps required for creating the flat frame can now be followed

Setup Flat Field Illumination

This involves arranging for the objective or primary mirror of the telescope or camera to be
illuminated evenly, ensuring that the only variations in brightness of the captured image will be due
to dust specks, vignetting etc.

This is perhaps the trickiest part of using flat frames. Many discussions of different ways to achieve
this can be found online, but to give a brief summary, some options are

• Covering the end of the telescope with a white t-shirt and using any light source
• Pointing the telescope at clear blue sky
• Pointing the telescope at uniform, overcast sky
• Using an electroluminescent panel

Note that you should ensure that orientation and arrangement of the imaging system is not changed
between capturing flat frames and capturing the actual target images – this means that you should
not

• Rotate the camera

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• Remove and re-insert the camera

• Add/remove or change filters, reducers, barlows, etc
• Adjust focus more than absolutely necessary (small tweaks are OK)

Setup Camera Settings

Ensure that the camera is set to the correct settings at this stage. If you intend to image at
1600x1200, bin 1, RAW12 then set the camera to those settings before capturing flat frames. There
is no need to use the same exposure or gain for flat frames (in fact this would not normally work).
Since flat frames should have as little noise as possible, it is usually a good idea to set a low gain
value.

Adjust Exposure to get correct Histogram Shape

Correct exposure is critical for creating good flat frames. The text under in the Histogram Status area
of the Capture Flat Frame window will provide guidance on how to achieve this.

An ideal flat frame histogram would have a peak at about the 50-60% level and have all the
histogram between the 20% and 80% levels. This is shown below for monochrome and colour
cameras

Note the use of the Logarithmic histogram style in both cases which makes it easier to see the extent
of the histogram. Also note that for the colour camera the difference in brightness between the blue
and red pixels means that it proved impossible to keep all the histogram for both of those colours in
the 20-80% range, but the white channel histogram is well confined to the 45-60% region.

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Choose Options
The Capture Flat Frame window allows you to customize the flat frame creation procedure by
changing the following options

• Number of Frames to Average - SharpCap will capture this number of frames and then create
a master flat frame by averaging the captured frames. The higher the number chosen here,
the less noise will be apparent in the final master flat frame, which ensure help final image
quality.
• Create Monochrome Flat Frame – Selected by default and only relevant for colour cameras,
this option will make the created flat frame monochrome even on a colour camera.
Monochrome flat frames will only affect the brightness of the image when used. When
unselected, a colour flat frame will be created which will have the effect of altering the
white-balance of captured images when used.
• Black Level Offset Corrections – Allows a choice of how to correct for the ‘black level’ value
of the camera – that is the pixel value given to pixels that have received no light not being
zero. The possible options are:
o None – this option is not usually recommended, but may be sufficient for use for
removal or reduction of dust spot shadows for Lunar/Solar/Planetary imaging where
the images will not be stretched.
o Capture and subtract bias frames - If selected, SharpCap will set the camera
exposure to minimum after capturing the flat frames and then capture an equal
number of bias frames. The master flat frame will then be made up of the average of
all the bias frames subtracted from the average of all the flat frames. Selecting this
option should give good flat correction across a wide range of image brightness,
particularly when the exposures used for flat frame capture are short (less than
about 1s).
This option produces flat frames that can be used without needing dark frames to
be used for Lunar/Solar/Planetary imaging purposes, and should be used when
creating flat frames for those purposes.
o Capture and subtract dark flat frames – If this option is selected, SharpCap will
capture dark flat frames (at the same exposure length as the flat frames) after
completing the capture of flat frames. This option can give the best flat correction
results (particularly with long exposure flat frames of 1s or more). When using this
option, you must either cover the telescope when prompted to allow dark flat
frames to be captured or specify a filter to use that blocks light to the camera.
• Apply new flat when capture complete – this option, which is enabled by default, causes
SharpCap to automatically start using the new flat frame when the capture and averaging of
the flat frames is complete. When unticked, the new flat frame will only be saved.
• Keep individual flat frame image files - when this box is checked, the individual dark frame
files will be kept for later manual processing or re-use. When the box is not checked the
individual image files will be stored in a temporary folder and deleted when the Capture Flat
process is complete.

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Start Capturing Flat Frames

Press the Start button to begin capturing flat frames (and bias frames if that option is selected). If
the Apply New Flat when capture complete option is checked then the newly created master flat
frame will be automatically selected when it is ready.

You can also choose to use the Start in 10 seconds button – this will delay for 10 seconds before
beginning to capture the flat frame. This can be useful if you find it hard to get the flat illumination
set up and also reach the computer mouse/keyboard at the same time (for instance if you take flats
by holding an electroluminescent panel by hand).

Note: The following camera settings should not be used when capturing a flat frame:

• Background subtraction, banding suppression, Planet/Disk stabilization or any other option

in the Preprocessing group except for Subtract Dark
• Any ‘Auto’ control values – i.e. auto gain, auto exposure, auto colour balance

Using Flat Frame Correction

Flat frames can be selected by using the Apply Flat control in the Pre-processing group.

Press the Browse button to select a flat frame that has already been saved to disk or use the drop
down to select a recently used flat frame. To disable flat frame correction, select None from the drop
down.

Note: If you decide to run your camera in ROI mode, SharpCap can use either a flat frame taken for a
matching ROI (the size and position must be the same) or a flat frame taken at the full resolution of
the camera. If a full resolution dark frame is used, SharpCap will automatically select the correct sub-
area of the flat frame.

Note: If your camera has ‘Flip’ controls in the Camera Controls or Image Controls groups, flat frames
must be captured in the same flip settings as light and flat frames. Prefer to use the Flip (after
dark/flat) control to using the Flip control provided by the camera.

Note: Flat frames created by other software can be used by SharpCap providing they are saved in a
compatible format (PNG, FITS, TIFF)

Applying flat frame correction will affect both the image shown on screen and the image data saved
to any capture file, so there is no need to apply flat frame correction in later processing if you have
used flat frame correction in SharpCap.

Flat frame correction in SharpCap is possible even with high speed cameras – with the LifeCam
Cinema running at 1280x720x30fps, applying a flat frame only increases the CPU usage by 1% –
SharpCap uses the special video processing instructions in modern CPUs to apply flat frames
incredibly efficiently. With a fast CPU you can apply a flat frame to a USB3 camera running at
1920x1080x150fps!

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Getting good Flat Frame Correction

Getting good flat frame correction can require some care and attention. If you are taking deep sky
images and intend to stretch the final image as part of the processing procedure (either using
SharpCap’s life stacking or an external stacking/processing application) then you will need to take
much greater care than if you are using flat correction to remove dust shadows from
lunar/solar/planetary images. The stretching of the image that is an almost invariable part of deep
sky imaging will make any inaccuracies in the flat frame correction much more noticeable.

For deep sky imaging, the following procedure for capturing and using flat frames is recommended:

• When capturing flat frames either use the option to subtract bias frames or the option to
subtract dark flat frames.
• When capturing light frames, always use dark frame subtraction and ensure that the dark
frames are captured at the same camera settings and temperature as the light frames.

Note: failure to use a dark frame when capturing the light frames will tend to result in the flat frames
over correcting (previously dark areas become brighter than average). Failure to use either the
subtract bias option or dark flat frames will tend to result in flat frames that under correct.

For lunar/solar/planetary imaging, the following procedure is recommended instead:

• When capturing flat frames use the option to subtract bias frames. Using a dark flat frame
should not be necessary
• When capturing light frames, do not use a dark frame - SharpCap will use the offset
information in the flat frame to account for the pedestal offset in the image.
• Take the light and flat frames with (as much as possible) the same camera settings. In
particular, do not change the offset/black level/brightness control or the colour balance
controls, and avoid changing the gain if you can.

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Configuring SharpCap
SharpCap configuration is carried out in the Settings dialog, which can be accessed from the File
menu. The different settings are grouped into various tabs, each of which is discussed in the sections
below.

General Settings
The General tab contains a variety of settings that are divided into four groups – Startup, Shutdown,
Display, Misc.

Startup Settings
Show tips when SharpCap starts
This option is checked by default. The Tip of the Day appears when SharpCap is started but can be
disabled for future start-ups here or when SharpCap starts.

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Automatically connect to camera when SharpCap starts

When set, SharpCap will automatically reconnect to the last used camera at start-up. If set, this
setting can be overridden by holding down the Control key when starting SharpCap, which will skip
opening a camera at start-up. This setting is enabled by default.

Automatically restore last used camera settings when opening a camera

When set, SharpCap will save the current settings of each camera when you close the camera (or
close SharpCap) and restore those settings the next time the camera is opened. The saved settings
are stored in a hidden capture profile called ‘_autosave’ (this profile may be visible in older versions
of SharpCap used on the same PC). If you do not wish to reload the previous settings then hold down
the <CTRL> key while the camera is opening. This setting is checked by default.

Confirm Shutdown
By adjusting this setting, you can configure whether you are asked for confirmation when you try to
close SharpCap. The options are

• Never – SharpCap will always close immediately and not ask for confirmation
• When Capturing or Live Stacking – SharpCap will ask for confirmation when actively
capturing images or live stacking.
• When a camera is open – SharpCap will ask for confirmation if a camera is selected
• Always – SharpCap will always ask for confirmation of shutdown.

Note that you cannot close SharpCap while a sequence from the Sequence Planner or Sequence
Editor is running – you must stop the sequence first and then close SharpCap.

Display Settings
Always show SharpCap in English, even if a translation is available
SharpCap now has partial translations to other languages (currently French, German, Japanese,
Chinese). These translations will be activated automatically if one of the supported languages is set

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as the Windows Display Language. If you wish SharpCap to display in English even if your language
has a translation, select this option.

Display in night vision colours

Selecting this option causes SharpCap to display in a dark colour scheme which is better for night-
time use. You can also switch between the two colour-schemes by pressing the <F12> key. This
option is unchecked by default.

Normal vision (day) colours Night vision colours

Use night vision to preserve dark adaptation of the eyes during a capture session if intending to
observe visually, or if you just prefer a dark background.

Reduce the brightness of the notification bar

When this option is checked, the notification bar will be displayed with a more muted brightness,
which can be helpful to keep dark adaption when using SharpCap at night. Best used with the Night
Vision Colours option.

Use Graphics Card acceleration to improve display performance

When this option is checked, SharpCap will attempt to use your graphics card (GPU) to perform
some of the work of displaying images and the rest of the SharpCap user interface. Sometimes, this
approach can encounter problems if your graphics card is not powerful enough or the graphics card
drivers have a bug. In those situations, using the graphics card acceleration may cause SharpCap to
crash or hang.

Unchecking this option will stop SharpCap from using graphics card acceleration and move the work
to the CPU – it may result in higher CPU usage, especially when running high resolution cameras at
high frame rates.

Under some circumstances, SharpCap can detect a hang or crash caused by problems with graphics
card acceleration. If that happens, SharpCap will automatically disable this option the next time the
program is started. If you find this option unexpectedly disabled, this may have happened. In that
case, it may be worth updating your graphics card drivers before re-enabling the option.

When updating graphics card drivers, it is usually best to go to the website of the manufacturer of
the graphics card chip (i.e. Nvidia, AMD or Intel) as you will find the newest drivers there. The drivers
you find on the web sites of the graphics card or computer manufacturer (i.e. Asus, Dell, MSI,
Gigabyte, etc) can often be significantly older.

Prevent Screen and Computer from powering down when using SharpCap
If you enable this option, SharpCap will attempt to prevent the computer and the monitor from
going to sleep while SharpCap is running.

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Always hide scrollbars on second monitor display image

When selected, SharpCap will never display scrollbars on the image displayed on the second monitor
in two monitor view (even if the zoom level is set so that the whole image is not visible on the
second monitor). This can be useful for outreach sessions to ensure that the only thing visible on the
second monitor is the camera image.

Increase contrast of slider position indicators

When using SharpCap with Night Vision Colours, or when using the normal colour scheme but using
a computer in bright sunlight for solar imaging, it can sometimes be hard to see the position of the
sliders used to adjust values throughout SharpCap.

By checking this box, SharpCap will add an extra highlight to the slider position indicator, making it
easier to spot in difficult conditions. The higher contrast version is shown on the right below.

Auto Stretch Intensity

This setting controls how aggressive the Auto Stretch functionality in the Mini Histogram and Live
Stacking is. Setting this option to a larger value with result in the Auto Stretch buttons brightening the
darker regions of the image more strongly. You can adjust this option until the Auto Stretch buttons
give results that suit your tastes.

Saved target names

This option is a pre-configured list of object names. Objects can be added to the list or removed
from the list and the list re-ordered.

To add a new object, for example M42 or Whirlpool Galaxy, type the name anywhere into the Saved
target names list. Click Apply to save the amended list. The amended list will be available the next
time SharpCap is started.

The list also appears in the Tool Bar near the top of the screen under Object Name. Objects added in
Saved target names will also appear in the Tool Bar dropdown list.

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Examples:
• Object Name undefined (the default) : captures saved in folder: YYYY-MM-DD\Capture
• Object Name defined : captures saved in folder: YYYY-MM-DD\Object
• Moon selected as Object Name : captures saved in folder: YYYY-MM-DD\Moon

Saving Settings
The Saving settings allow you to adjust options related to use of file formats for saved images and
videos and saving capture information.

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File Formats
Start cameras with ‘Auto’ output format
This option is checked by default. This option will set the Output Format control into Auto mode
when a camera is opened. When the Output Format is in Auto mode a compatible video format will
be chosen automatically for exposure times of less than 5s and a compatible still file format for
exposure times of more than 5s. If possible, the preferred formats will be used (providing they are
compatible with the camera settings in use).

Preferred File Formats

The preferred file formats specify which formats will be used when Auto Output Format is enabled
and also which format will be used for saving images when there is no direct prompt for the save
format. See Capture Formats Explained for information on the advantages and disadvantages of
different file formats.

Preferred Video Format

The preferred video format can be chosen from SER, AVI, ADV and WMV. The default is SER. This
determines the auto selected format for video captures in the camera section of the Camera Control
Panel.

Preferred Still Format

The preferred still image format can be chosen from PNG, FITS, JPG and TIFF. The default is PNG.
This determines the auto selected format for still images in the camera section of the Camera
Control Panel.

Note that this format is also used in places where SharpCap does not prompt you for a file type
when saving (for instance saving RAW frames from Live Stacking, or saving a newly created dark or
flat frame).

Saving Capture Information

Save capture settings file alongside each capture
When this option is checked, SharpCap will save a text file containing all the camera settings
alongside the capture file each time a new capture is started. This file is useful to check the settings
used for particular images at a later date. This option is enabled by default.

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22_06_22.avi & 22_06_22.CameraSettings.txt

The text file to the right contains capture

settings from the Camera Control Panel – useful
for reference in future observing sessions or
analysis during a post-processing session.

The name of the text file reflects the time of

creation.

The captured data (video or still) and the

CameraSettings.txt file will have the same
timestamp in their filenames.

Save image histogram data in CSV alongside each capture

When this option is checked, SharpCap will save the data from the image histogram in CSV format
alongside the capture file and the capture settings file. The histogram data will be taken from a
frame early in the capture (usually the first captured frame).

Save FITS headers in TIFF Description Metadata (AstroTIFF)

When this option is checked, SharpCap will write equivalent data to the headers saved into a FITS file
into the ‘Description’ metadata field when saving to TIFF files. This complies with the AstroTIFF
metadata standard (see https://astro-tiff.sourceforge.io/). Some other Astronomy related
applications may read this data automatically, or it can be viewed using a normal image metadata
viewer.

File Format Options

Save 10/12/14 bit images in FITS files without stretching to 16-bit
This option is off by default and should only be enabled for special use cases where post-processing
software has issues with pre-stretched images. If in doubt, do not turn this option on, and always
test that you get the correct results with sample images before using this option for an imaging
session.

By default, SharpCap will stretch 10,12 and 14-bit images up to use the full 16-bit range (0 to 65535)
when saving those images to file (FITS, TIFF, PNG or SER formats). This is desirable because without
applying this stretch the saved images would appear very dark and would all require brightening
before the image could be seen properly. However, some image processing software (particularly
photometry software) cannot process such pre-stretched images correctly. If you encounter this
situation then you can turn this option on to make SharpCap save unstretched FITS files.

Compress TIFF files

This option is unchecked by default in new installs of SharpCap, meaning that SharpCap will not try
to compress TIFF files. While using compression gives smaller file sizes, some image processing

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applications cannot read compressed TIFF files. Test with your image processing software if you
decide to enable this option.

Save 32-bit FITS files from Live Stacking as Floating Point

By default, when saving from Live Stacking as a raw 32-bit stack, SharpCap will save to FITS format
using 32-bit integer data. Some image processing software cannot correctly read 32-bit integer FITS
data and may give incorrect images or an error when viewing those files. By selecting this option,
SharpCap will save 32-bit data into FITS in floating point form, which gives compatibility with
additional applications such as GIMP.

Allow RAW8 to be saved to WMV video

By default, SharpCap will not allow RAW camera data to be saved to compressed image or video file
formats, as the compression artefacts will cause irreversible damage to the colour information
encoded in the RAW image data.

When this option is selected, SharpCap will allow RAW8 images to be saved to WMV. To avoid the
issues with compression destroying the colour information, SharpCap will debayer each frame to
RGB colour just before saving it to WMV.

This option may be useful for all-sky cameras, where small output video size is desired, but running
the camera in RAW mode to enable hot pixel removal for long exposures is also helpful.

Do not use Greek letters in file/folder names

Some image processing software (PixInsight, Deep Sky Stacker, FitsLiberator, etc) have a bug that
gives errors when trying to open FITS files that have non-ASCII characters in the file or folder names.
It would normally be very rare to encounter this issue, except that various stars in the SharpCap star
catalog have names with Greek letters (for instance Betelgeuse is ‘α Ori’).

When this option is enabled, SharpCap will replace Greek letters such as ‘α’ in generated filenames
with the word version (i.e. ‘alpha’), helping avoid triggering the bug in the various pieces of
processing software.

Bayer patterns written to RAW FITS file headers

SharpCap writes the BAYERPAT and COLORTYP headers to FITS files when using a colour camera in
RAW mode to inform processing software about the particular bayer pattern used by the image.
Some processing software can read this information and automatically use it to correctly debayer
loaded images. Unfortunately, not all processing software agrees about what the correct values for
these headers are due to confusion about whether FITS image data starts at the top left or bottom
left of the image.

Since there is no single ‘correct’ answer of what data to write for these headers, SharpCap has this
option to allow you to choose the values that will work with your preferred processing software.

Note that the correct option for AstroPixelProcessor depends on the version in use – newer versions
require Normal, while older versions require Inverted. This is because newer versions of APP read
the ROWORDER keyword that SharpCap adds to the file to clarify the starting point of the FITS image
data.

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FITS TELESCOP and OBSERVER header values

These two fields allow the values written to the ‘TELESCOP’ and ‘OBSERVER’ headers of FITS files to
be customized.

Hardware Settings
This is the hardware screen for a default SharpCap installation. The selected Mount, Focuser, Filter
Wheel, Rotator and Switch all show as None.

If you have a computer controlled mount, focuser, filter wheel, rotator or switch device then you can
use this tab to configure SharpCap to communicate with it. In most cases, you will configure
SharpCap to talk to ASCOM compliant hardware, however there are some hardware devices that can
be controlled directly via SharpCap:
• ZWO EFW Filter Wheels
• QHY Filter Wheels connected via a round plug (not USB) on the camera
• Atik and Moravian Filter Wheels built into the camera
• Mount movement via ST4 cable on selected cameras when accessed directly from SharpCap
(Altair, Player One, QHY, SVBony, ZWO). Not available when the camera is accessed via an
ASCOM or DirectShow driver.

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• A Manual Filter Wheel. This does not actually need an electronic filter wheel, but shows in
the SharpCap UI with a configurable selection of filter options. Select a filter in SharpCap
when you manually chose that filter to allow SharpCap to include filter names in saved file
names without an electronic filter wheel.
For SharpCap to detect ASCOM hardware you must have both the Ascom Platform and the Ascom
Driver for your particular hardware installed. If you find that the drop downs are empty (or almost
empty), check that the ASCOM Platform is installed and up-to-date (SharpCap may not work with
older versions of the ASCOM Platform).
SharpCap can also detect and use hardware on other computers via the ASCOM Alpaca (ASCOM
Remote) protocol. This can include accessing hardware on an Indigo server via Indigo’s ASCOM
Alpaca Bridge Agent. See Remote Hardware Control for more information.
For each category of hardware, you can choose the device that you want to be able to use from the
drop down. You can also configure that device by pressing the Properties button to the right of the
drop down list. The window that shows when you press Properties is generally provided by the
device’s ASCOM driver (written by the device manufacturer). In some cases this window may appear
hidden behind SharpCap – check for new icons appearing in the taskbar if you do not see the device
properties window appear.

Automatic Connection when opening a camera

By checking or unchecking the Connect Hardware automatically when opening a camera option you
can control whether SharpCap will automatically try to establish a connection to your hardware or
not. This is a matter of personal preference – if your focuser/mount/filter wheel are always available
then enabling automatic connection can save the requirement to manually connect each time. If
your hardware is sometimes not connected or powered off then you may get error messages when
opening a camera if the automatic option is enabled – these may become annoying.

If you do not have the automatic connection option enabled then you will need to connect each
device manually after opening a camera by checking the individual Connected check box for the
device or by using the Connect all Hardware button in the toolbar.

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Configuring a GOTO Mount

Select your mount driver from the list in the drop down. If you have not used the mount yet (or if
you have changed how it is connected to the computer), you may need to press the Properties
button to configure the mount. In many cases you will need to specify a COM Port that the mount is
connected to. Sometimes the COM Port number can change unexpectedly after reboots, Windows
Updates or hardware changes to the PC, so this is worth checking if your mount stops working.

Along with ASCOM drivers you will also see On Camera ST4 listed as an option – if you select this
option and are using a camera with a supported ST4 guiding port (Altair, Player One, QHY, SVBony,
ZWO) then SharpCap will send guiding commands via the ST4 port when the mount movement
buttons are used. In this case you will have limited functionality (no display of current position, etc),
but will be able to nudge the mount’s location from within SharpCap as long as you have connected
the ST4 port of the camera to that of the mount.

Once you have configured a mount, you will be able to use it from within the SharpCap Scope
Controls area when you have a camera open.

You can also configure the following options for your mount:

• Reverse movement buttons – by checking one or both of the checkboxes you can reverse the
direction the mount will move when using the movement arrow buttons in the Scope
Controls area. The use of these options is a matter of personal preference.
• Mount Settling Time – this option specifies how long SharpCap will wait after the ASCOM
driver reports that movement of the mount (for instance a GOTO movement) has completed
before considering that the mount is settled and ready to use to take images. This value is
used in SharpCap sequencer operations involving GOTO movements, Live Stacking
recentering and plate solve and resync actions.

Notes on Mount Co-ordinate Systems

In order for plate solving, recentring and GOTO operations to complete correctly and accurately, it’s
vital to ensure that your ASCOM mount co-ordinate system setting is setup correctly.

The direction of the Earth’s axis and the shape of its orbit vary over time. Although the changes are
small and slow, over a period of years they become large enough to be noticeable. This means that
the RA and Dec co-ordinates of a distant object (let’s pick the star Rigel as an example) slowly
change. To deal with this problem, the co-ordinates for astronomical objects are usually listed as
being for a particular date – J2000 is a common reference date, which means that the co-ordinates

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are those that would have been measured at the start of the year 2000. Astronomy software can
convert these values for the year 2000 into the correct values for the current time (often called
JNOW co-ordinates) as it knows how the Earth’s orbit changes over time.

For Rigel, the J2000 co-ordinates are : RA = 05h 14m 32s, Dec = −08° 12′ 06″

The JNOW co-ordinates (May 2021) are : RA = 05h 15m 31s Dec= −08° 10′ 44″

From this, you can see that failing to account for this can lead to a position offset of about 1 minute
of RA and about 1.5 minutes of arc in Dec. If your mount co-ordinate system is set up incorrectly
then this sort of error can occur in every GOTO, plate solving and re-centring operation.

SharpCap will take care of the differences between the JNOW and J2000 co-ordinates provided that
your ASCOM mount driver correctly reports the co-ordinate system it uses. In theory, an ASCOM
driver can report one of five co-ordinate systems: B1950, J2000, J2050, JNOW and Unknown/Other.
In practice, B1950 and J2050 are unlikely to be used and are not handled. The other three options
are handled as follows:

• JNOW – SharpCap assumes that the ASCOM driver accepts and reports RA/Dec co-ordinates
valid for the current date. The ASCOM driver must not make internal corrections to the co-
ordinates based on the date if it reports this co-ordinate system.
• Unknown/Other – SharpCap assumes that an ASCOM driver which reports Unknown/Other
is really working in JNOW co-ordinates. This is the default setting for EQMOD for instance,
which works in JNOW co-ordinates.
• J2000 – SharpCap assumes that an ASCOM driver which reports J2000 is telling the truth –
that is that the ASCOM driver will internally convert the J2000 co-ordinates to/from JNOW
as necessary, and that a GOTO to a J2000 position will point the really telescope at the
targets JNOW co-ordinates. If an ASCOM driver reports J2000 and does not perform this
conversion then a position error will occur in GOTO, plate solving and recentring operations.

The plate solving tools supported by SharpCap always report their results in J2000 co-ordinates.
SharpCap will convert these values to JNOW co-ordinates if the mount that you are using has been
identified as needing JNOW co-ordinates.

SharpCap expects all co-ordinates in object catalogues and co-ordinates entered by the user as part
of GOTO movements to be in J2000 form, and will convert those co-ordinates to JNOW before
sending them to the mount if required.

If you are using other applications to interact with your ASCOM mount (for instance a planetarium
application such as Cartes du Ciel or SkytechX), you should ensure that you configure it to send the
correct co-ordinates to the mount when performing GOTO operations. Again, if your planetarium
application sends J2000 co-ordinates to a mount working in JNOW or vice-versa, the GOTO position
will be slightly wrong, as will subsequent results of the Plate Solve and Resync tool.

Configuring a Focuser
Select your focuser driver from the list in the drop down. If you have not used the focuser yet (or if
you have changed how it is connected to the computer), you may need to press the Properties
button to configure the focuser. In many cases you will need to specify a COM Port that the focuser
is connected to. Sometimes the COM Port number can change unexpectedly after reboots, Windows
Updates or hardware changes to the PC, so this is worth checking if your focuser stops working.

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Once you have configured a focuser, you will be able to use it from within the SharpCap Scope
Controls area when you have a camera open.

You can specify a Focuser Settling Time, which tells SharpCap how long it should wait after the
focuser reports movement to have stopped before assuming that the camera is steady. This value is
used when performing focus scans and autofocus operations to ensure that focus data is not
collected while vibration from focuser movement is still present.

Focuser Backlash Handling

SharpCap can also handle backlash compensation for your focuser (your ASCOM driver may also
offer this option). Setting up backlash compensation either in SharpCap or in your ASCOM driver will
improve focusing reliability. There are four possible options for backlash compensation in SharpCap:

• None – No backlash compensation is in place. SharpCap may carry out additional movement
steps in some focus related operations to try to limit the effects of backlash
• Handled by ASCOM Driver – select this option if you have setup backlash compensation in
the ASCOM driver for your focuser. By setting this option, SharpCap knows that backlash is
being dealt with by the ASCOM driver. You can also set this option if your focuser has zero
backlash.
• Handled by SharpCap – select this option to have SharpCap handle the backlash
compensation.
You must also set the amount of backlash that Sharpcap needs to compensate for (as
measured using the procedure described below). SharpCap will adjust movement amounts
when the focuser switches between moving in the positive and negative directions.
In this setting, the focuser value displayed in SharpCap may differ from that displayed by
other software due to the backlash compensation.
• Overshoot – select this option to have SharpCap always approach focuser positions from a
single direction, avoiding backlash problems.
When SharpCap needs to move the focuser in the opposite direction it will go past the target
by the overshoot amount and then return in the selected approach direction. The overshoot

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amount needs to be set to a value that is larger than the amount of backlash suffered by the
focuser, but there is no need for the value to be exact.

Measuring Focuser Backlash

To calculate the backlash compensation value, turn off any existing backlash compensation and
measure the position of best focus twice – once with the focuser moving outwards and once with it
moving inwards (with no other changes to your setup). In each measurement be sure to start the
focus check well away from the point of best focus to ensure that you are not in the backlash zone
when you get to best focus.

Suppose that the two positions of best focus turn out to be 21150 (moving outward) and 21020
(moving inward) – take the difference between those two values (130) and that is the amount of
backlash compensation you should set. Either set this value in your ASCOM driver (and check the
Handled by ASCOM Driver option) or check the Handled by SharpCap option and enter the difference
between your two measurements in the Amount box.

Note that if SharpCap is handling backlash compensation then the direction of last movement and
backlash state of the focuser are remembered even if you close and re-open SharpCap (as long as
the focuser position is not changed by another application while SharpCap is not connect to it).

Note also that if SharpCap is handling backlash compensation then the focuser position value shown
in SharpCap takes account of the backlash adjustment when moving in a negative direction – that
means that the value shown in SharpCap may differ from the value shown in any UI belonging to the
focuser ASCOM driver.

Configuring a Filter Wheel

Select your filter wheel driver from the list in the drop down. If you have not used the filter wheel
yet (or if you have changed how it is connected to the computer), you may need to press the
Properties button to configure the filter wheel. In many cases you will need to specify a COM Port
that the filter wheel is connected to. Sometimes the COM Port number can change unexpectedly
after reboots, Windows Updates or hardware changes to the PC, so this is worth checking if your
filter wheel stops working.

ZWO EFW filter wheels can be detected directly by SharpCap and can be used without an ASCOM
driver.

If you have a QHY filter wheel that connects to the camera via a round plug (not via USB), do not
select the ASCOM driver here – SharpCap will automatically detect and activate your wheel when
you open your QHY camera.

Once you have configured a filter wheel, you will be able to use it from within the SharpCap Scope
Controls area when you have a camera open.

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Focus Offset for Filter Changes

Some filter wheel ASCOM drivers allow you to store a focus offset value for each filter – this value
indicates the amount that the focuser must be moved when selecting this filter to keep good focus
(adjusting for the optical depth of the filter). If you check the Use Focus Offset information to adjust
focus on filter change option then SharpCap will use this information to adjust focuser position when
filter changes are made (provided you also have connected SharpCap to an ASCOM focuser).

As an example, if you move from the red filter (perhaps that has a focus offset value of 12) to the
green filter (which for example has a focus offset value of 17), SharpCap will change the focuser
position by +5 (17 – 12 = 5) as a result of the filter change. If you then move back to the red filter,
SharpCap will move the focuser by -5. For this functionality to work correctly, it is important to have
backlash compensation properly configured.

Filter for Dark Captures

If you have an opaque (dark) filter installed in your filter wheel then you can tell SharpCap the name
used for this filter, which will allow SharpCap to use that filter automatically in certain operations
such as:

• Capturing dark frames using the Deep Sky Sequence Planner

• Creating dark frames using the Capture Dark tool
• Creating dark flat frames using the Capture Flat tool

Configuring a Rotator
Select your Rotator driver from the list in the drop down. If you have not used the rotator yet (or if
you have changed how it is connected to the computer), you may need to press the Properties
button to configure the ASCOM driver for the rotator.

Once you have configured a rotator, you can use it in the SharpCap Scope Controls are when you
have a camera open.

Configuring an ASCOM Switch Device

Select your Switch Device driver from the list in the drop down. If you have not used the switch
device yet (or if you have changed how it is connected to the computer), you may need to press the
Properties button to configure the ASCOM driver for the switch device.

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Once you have configured a switch device, you can use it in the SharpCap Scope Controls are when
you have a camera open.

Simulated Hardware
The ASCOM platform comes with a range of simulated hardware drivers that can be used for testing
and experimentation.
• Telescope Simulator for .NET
• ASCOM Simulator Focuser Driver
• Filter Wheel Simulator [.NET]
• Rotator Simulator .NET
• ASCOM Switch V2 Simulator Driver
These can be very useful for learning how to use your hardware with SharpCap in advance of an
observing session. Additionally, you might find the following useful
• EQMOD ASCOM Simulator – another telescope simulator that behaves just like the EQMOD
ASCOM driver for Skywatcher Telescopes
• ASCOM Sky Simulator (https://sourceforge.net/projects/sky-simulator/) – this provides a
simulated camera that can be linked to the simulated focuser and mount provided by
ASCOM – as you move the mount the image produced by the camera will update to reflect
the part of the ‘sky’ that you are ‘observing’.

Sharing Hardware access with other Applications

There are situations in which you might want to have two or more applications access the same
piece of hardware – in particular, you might want to connect SharpCap, a planetarium application
like Stellarium and PHD2 Guiding to your ASCOM GOTO mount all at the same time.

Some ASCOM drivers handle this automatically and connecting 2 or more applications to the same
device will just work. An example of this is the EQMOD ASCOM driver for SkyWatcher GOTO mounts.

With other ASCOM drivers, you may experience errors when you try to connect the second
application to the device. These problems can usually be solved by following the guidance below.

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There are typically two common causes for failure to connect a second application to an ASCOM
device:

• Problems caused by running some applications in Run as Administrator mode

• Problems caused by the first application taking full control of the hardware (i.e. COM port),
meaning that the second application cannot access the device

Solving Run as Administrator issues

Most problems related to Run as Administrator arise when the first application to connect to the
hardware is being run As Administrator. This causes the separate application that controls the
hardware to be in As Administrator mode too. Windows then prevents any non-As Administrator
applications from communicating with the As Administrator ones, blocking sharing unless everything
is run As Administrator.

The possible cures (in order from best to worst) are:

• Do not run any applications As Administrator. It should not be necessary for any Astronomy
application. Sometimes applications need to have administrator rights to change Windows
settings or for particular actions, but that should not apply to the whole application, just to
those actions. Contact the application vendor for an updated version that does not need to
be run As Administrator.
• Initially connect to the hardware using an application that is not running As Administrator.
This should prevent problems as from that point onwards, both administrator and non-
administrator applications should be able to connect.
• (If all else fails) Run all applications that need to connect to the hardware in As Administrator
mode.

Solving Hardware Sharing issues

The second category of issues, hardware sharing issues, often show up as errors when trying to
connect with messages such as ‘Access Denied’ or ‘Port in use’. These can usually be solved by using
the ASCOM Device Hub software, which is installed as part of the ASCOM platform.

To use the ASCOM Device Hub software, adjust the settings in each piece of software so that they
are set up to use the Device Hub Telescope or Device Hub Focuser as appropriate (this method does
not apply for filter wheels, rotators or switch devices). In one of the applications, adjust the
Properties of the Device Hub ASCOM driver to select your real hardware device (use the Choose
button in the appropriate Setup window as shown below).

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The Device Hub then acts as an intermediary – all the applications talk to the Device Hub, which
passes on commands to the real hardware. The Device Hub takes care of sharing the hardware
between the different applications.

Camera Settings
The camera settings contain a small number of options that control how SharpCap works with
particular cameras and other related options.

Try to reconnect to cameras that briefly disconnect from USB

Sometimes, a poor USB connection, dodgy cable, cable movement or a camera glitch can cause a
USB camera to disconnect from the computer and then immediately reconnect. SharpCap can now
detect this for many types of cameras, and if this option is selected, SharpCap will automatically
attempt to reconnect to the camera and continue rather than report an error due to the camera
being lost.

This functionality is currently supported for the following brands of camera (when used via their
direct integration into SharpCap rather than via an ASCOM driver):

• Altair
• Player One
• QHY (if only one QHY camera is connected to the computer)

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• SVBony
• ZWO

Timestamp Font Scaling

This setting adjusts the size of the font used to place a timestamp onto the image when the
Timestamp Frames option is enabled. Larger sizes may be useful for high resolution cameras, since
otherwise the text can appear very small if the images are viewed at a size to fit on screen.

ZWO Camera Settings

• Start ZWO Cameras at low speed for increased stability – ZWO cameras usually start with the
Turbo USB setting set to Auto. In extreme USB conditions with long cable runs, etc, this may
not give enough communication to the camera to even turn the Turbo USB to manual and
reduce the value. Selecting this option will start the camera with the Turbo USB setting at
minimum, which may help. Only enable if the camera is detected but fails to open
successfully.
• Ignore small pixel mode on ASI294MM – The ASI294MM has options to use the sensor in 11
and 47 megapixel modes. SharpCap shows these as alternate Read Mode settings for the
camera, which helps ensure that sensor analysis data for the different modes are handled
correctly. However, the trade-off for this is the inability to set custom ROIs on this camera.
Enabling this option will cause SharpCap to ignore the 47 megapixel mode entirely on this
camera, allowing the camera to run in 11 megapixel mode with custom ROI enabled.

ASCOM Camera Settings

• Double frame timeout on ASCOM cameras to allow for DSLR dark capture – Normally
SharpCap will wait about 30 seconds beyond the set exposure value for a frame to be
captured before giving up waiting and marking the frame as dropped. When certain DSLR
cameras are used in long exposure mode, they take a light frame of the given exposure
followed by a dark frame of the same exposure, then perform on-camera dark subtraction.
To allow time for this process to complete, enable this option, which allows SharpCap to
wait up to twice the set exposure (plus an additional 30 seconds) for the frame.

QHY Camera Settings

• Resend cooler power to camera at camera startup – Some QHY cameras seem to turn off the
cooler when the camera is started or the mode is changed. If this happens, enabling this
option causes SharpCap to re-send the cooler power to the camera when restarting the
camera, which may cure the issue. Note that SharpCap will change the cooler power setting
twice (once to a different value, then back to the desired value) to force the camera to
respond.

Filename Settings
This tab allows fine control over how captured images and videos are named and organised. When
adjusting the various options and settings on this page, you can see the effect of your choices by
looking at the Sample Filenames that are automatically updated in response to any changes that you
make.

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Capture Folder Setup

Save captured files to
This allows the top-level capture folder to be selected. All captured files will be saved into this folder
or subfolders created within this folder.

The capture folder in a default installation will be on the logged-in user’s desktop and is called
SharpCap Captures. Note that SharpCap will check that the top-level capture folder exists and that it
is not full each time SharpCap starts. If the top-level capture folder is found to be missing, full or
read-only then the folder will be reset to the default of Desktop\SharpCap Captures.

The Browse… button allows other capture folders to be selected or created.

Speed Test
This button will carry out a hardware performance test of disk write speed. Running this test will
discover if the camera’s capture rates are being degraded by disk write speeds.

Organise captured files into subfolders

If this is unchecked, all captures will be saved in the top-level capture folder. When checked,
captured files will be saved into subfolders according to the rules selected below.

Options and combinations for folder and file names are available. Sensible defaults are offered in
the initial, default installation. Examples of using the options are given below.

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Date and then Target Name

Below is an example of a saved file organised by date then target name. File names are derived from
the creation time of the capture and are in the format HH_MM_SS. Note the higher-level directory
is named after the date and the inner directory named after the target.

Target Name and then Date

Below is an example of a saved file organised by target name then date as seen in the Notification
Bar (green = success). Note the higher-level directory is named after the target and the inner
directory named after the date.

Date and Time Options

Use UTC times in files and folder names
When this option is checked, all dates and times used for filename generation will be UTC times.
When it is unchecked, local times will be used.

Below is an example of a saved file using the UTC time format.

The letter designates time zone, Z = United Kingdom.

Create WinJUPOS Compatible File Names

Below is an example of a saved file using a WinJUPOS compatible name – a combination of date and
time. This uses mid-point time in the capture for the WinJUPOS name. Using this option will make
loading video files into WinJUPOS for de-rotation easier.

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Use sortable date format (YYYY-MM-DD)

When checked, the date format YYYY-MM-DD will be used for all dates, making it easy to sort file
and folder names in Windows Explorer. When unchecked, the date formatting rules appropriate to
the PC’s regional settings will be used. This option is checked by default.

Other Filename Options

Sequences (Multiple Still Images)
This section provides extra options for filenames generated as part of a sequence of files (for
instance when capturing frames to PNG or FITS format a file will be created for each captured
frame). Do not confuse this setting with the SharpCap Sequencer or Sequence Planner. These options
apply when multiple still image files are created by any means within SharpCap – for instance when
pressing the Snapshot button multiple times.

• Include time in filenames – will put the current time (the time at which the frame was
captured) in the filename for each captured frame.
• Create subfolder for each sequence – is enabled by default. When enabled, each new
sequence of files will be stored in a separate subfolder. When disabled, many sequences
may be saved in the same folder, depending on higher level folder naming choices.

Extras
• Append Filter Name – will add the name of the current filter to the file name. For this option
to be effective, you must have selected a filter wheel in the Hardware Tab and ensured that
it is connected correctly.
• Include Frame Type in directory name – enabling this option will create sub-directories
named after the frame type being captured (e.g. Light, Dark, Flat) to help keep those files
separated from each other.

Sample Filenames
This section shows sample filenames that would be generated based on your choices for file and
folder naming above. The first sample shows how a filename will be generated for a single file
capture (where multiple frames are saved into a single video file in AVI or SER format). The second
sample shows how filenames will be generated for a sequence of files capture (where each saved
frame is stored in a separate image file in a format such as PNG, FITS or TIFF).

If Filename Templates are in use then these samples show the filenames that would be generated by
the Single File and Sequence templates.

Filename Templates
All capture file names in SharpCap are generated through a system of filename templates. When you
adjust the various check boxes and options for file naming, SharpCap automatically generates
filename templates that represent your choices. These templates are then used later to generate the

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actual file names. In fact, as you change the various options in for file and folder naming you can see
the Filename Templates shown in the lower portion of the tab updating to represent your choices.

Sometimes you may find that you cannot obtain the file naming that you wish to achieve using the
various file and folder naming options available. In this case you can choose to Edit Filename
Templates Manually rather than have the templates created automatically based on your file/folder
naming selections.

Editing the filename templates manually requires some care, but provides ultimate control over how
your saved files are named. Each filename template consists of text containing one or more tags. A
tag consists of a tag name surrounded by curly braces ( ‘{‘ and ‘}’ ). Tags are replaced by values when
a filename is needed, so the tag ‘{Date}’ is replaced by the current date and ‘{Time}’ is replaced by
the current time. The available tags are:

{DateTime} The date and time that the capture was started
{Date} The date that the capture was started
{Time} The time that the capture was started
{TargetName} The name of the target object entered (or ‘Capture’ if no name
entered)
{Camera} The name of the camera being used
{Filter} The name of the currently selected filter
{Extension} The extension of the file (i.e. AVI or PNG). There is no need to put
‘.{Extension}’ at the end of a template.
{Index} Sequence captures only. The index of the current frame in the
sequence.
{FrameDate} Sequence captures only. The date on which the current frame was
captured
{FrameTime} Sequence captures only. The time at which the current frame was
captured
{BitDepth}
{StackedFrames} Live Stacking only. The total number of stacked frames so far
{TotalExposure} Live Stacking only. The total exposure of stacked frames so far
{AutoSave} Live Stacking only. Is the current save an autosave?
{Exposure} Sequence captures only. The exposure of the current frame.
{Gain} Sequence captures only. The gain of the current frame.
{BlackLevel} Sequence captures only. The black level (offset/brightness) of the
current frame.

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{FrameType} The type of frame (i.e. light/dark/flat) as selected from the toolbar
dropdown.
{SubExposure} Live stacking only. This is the exposure time of the individual frames
that are being stacked.
{BlackLevel} The camera offset/brightness/black level of the current frame.

Some Tags can have an optional format string to change the way they are used in the filename:

Format Applies To Meaning Example

:S Date, DateTime, FrameDate Use a sortable format for {DateTime:S}
dates
:Z Any time or date tag Use UTC times and dates {FrameTime:Z}
:J DateTime, FrameTime Use WinJupos compatible {DateTime:J}
format
:U On any time/datetime tag Use UTC times, but no trailing {FrameTime:U}
Z is added to the time
:Y On any date/datetime tag Use yesterday’s date if {Date:Y}
between local midnight and
local noon (i.e. dates will not
change at midnight)
:2-7 On Index tag The number of digits to use {Index:6}
for the index

When you make changes to the filename templates you will see typical filenames updated in the
Sample Filenames area described above, helping you understand how your filename templates
would work.

It is important to take care when customizing filename templates as you may accidentally set up
templates that have undesirable results (for instance writing over previous capture files!). SharpCap
attempts to detect when this might happen and will display a warning in red text explaining the
problem. You cannot save or apply the new Filename Templates while there is an active warning
about overwritten files.

Memory Settings
The Memory Settings tab allows you to configure how much memory SharpCap can use. In the 64-bit
version of SharpCap, there are only two memory limit options that can be adjusted:

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• High Speed Frame Cache – this memory is used to store frames captured from the camera
before they are written to disk. If you are using a high speed USB3 camera and have a
trouble with dropped frames when capturing because your disk drive or SSD cannot keep up
then a large high speed frame cache will help.
• Live Stacking and Display – this memory is used to support live stacking operations and also
to support the transformation and processing of images prior to display on screen. If you are
Live Stacking with a high resolution camera then having a large amount of memory allocated
to this category will help avoid out-of-memory errors.

By default, 1Gb of memory is allocated to each category, for a total of 2Gb. If you have a SharpCap
Pro license then you can increase the amount of memory allocated to each category, up to a total of
50% of your physical memory or physical memory less 6Gb (whichever is larger). If you wish to
increase the amount of memory assigned to one category, you may need to reduce the amount
assigned to the other category first to keep the total at or below this limit.

If you change the settings on the Memory tab then you should restart SharpCap to ensure that they
take effect correctly.

32-bit SharpCap Memory Options

On 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows, the 32-bit version of SharpCap can also access additional
memory to improve performance and help handle the large amounts of memory needed to perform
certain functions like running Live Stacking on very high resolution cameras.

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If you only have 4Gb or less of memory, or you are using a 32-bit version of Windows then your only
option here is to remain on the Classic option for memory management.

If you have more than 4Gb of memory and are using a 64-bit version of Windows then Paged will be
the default option for memory management (although you can switch back to Classic if you prefer).

Choosing Paged memory allows SharpCap to access more memory in total. Paged memory is divided
into two categories:

• High Speed Frame Cache – this memory is used to store frames captured from the camera
before they are written to disk. If you are using a high speed USB3 camera and have a
trouble with dropped frames when capturing because your disk drive or SSD cannot keep up
then a large high speed frame cache will help.
• Live Stacking and Display – this memory is used to support live stacking operations and also
to support the transformation and processing of images prior to display on screen. If you are
Live Stacking with a high resolution camera then having a large amount of memory allocated
to this category will help avoid out-of-memory errors.

By default, 1Gb of memory is allocated to each category, for a total of 2Gb. If you have a SharpCap
Pro license then you can increase the amount of memory allocated to each category, up to a total of
50% of your physical memory or physical memory less 6Gb (whichever is larger). If you wish to
increase the amount of memory assigned to one category, you may need to reduce the amount
assigned to the other category first to keep the total at or below this limit.

Plate Solving Settings

Plate Solving is a technique to work out the location in the sky of a particular image by recognizing
the pattern of stars it contains against an index of known stars. If this technique is applied to an
image just captured from your telescope then the calculated location will be the point in the sky that
your telescope is pointing at.

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Supported Plate Solving Engines and Detection

SharpCap can integrate with a number of plate-solving tools:

Plate Solver Download Auto Detected? Notes

All Sky Plate Solver Link Yes Based on astrometry.net
Ansvr Link Yes Based on astrometry.net
Astap Link Yes
Astap (CLI Version) Link No
AstroTortilla Link Yes Based on astrometry.net
Plate Solve 2 Link No Too slow for all-sky solving
Plate Solve 3 via Link No

In order to plate solve images you must first install and configure one of these tools. Remember that
you must also install plate solving index files – please see documentation for the plate solving tool
which will guide you on how to install index files and which index files to install.

SharpCap will automatically detect the installation of most the plate solving tools mentioned above
if they have been installed into their default locations and show a summary of the detection status.

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SharpCap will also check for common problems with the installation of each application (for instance
missing index files) and flag any problems detected.

Selecting a Plate Solving Engine

You can select which plate solving engine SharpCap should use – either Astap or an installed
Astrometry.net engine (Astrotortilla/ASPS/Ansvr)

If you wish to select which of Astrotortilla/ASPS/Ansvr is used (and you have more than one
installed), use the Manual configuration of the location of the solve-field script as described above.

Manual Configuration of Plate Solver location

Note that if you have installed Astap, Astrotortilla, Ansvr or ASPS to a custom location, you will need
to configure the location of the plate solving application by selecting the Enter Manually option and
then browsing to the location of the application. For Astap, select the location of Astap.exe or
Astap_cli.exe; for Astrotortilla, Ansvr or ASPS, select the location of the solve-field script.

If you have installed PlateSolve2 or PlateSolve3, you will need to tell SharpCap the path to the
executable file.

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Configuring Plate Solving

You can choose the actions that SharpCap will take after plate solving and also configure the focal
length of your telescope (which may speed up plate solving operations)

The options for actions after solving from Telescope Controls / Solve and Resync are

• Sync Mount and Re-centre target – this option will send an ASCOM Sync command to the
mount based on the plate solving results and then perform a re-GOTO to the original mount
co-ordinates. The net result should be that the original target is placed in view.
• Sync Mount only – this option will simply send an ASCOM Sync command to the mount
based on the plate solving results.
• Offset the mounts position to centre the target – this option will perform an GOTO to a
calculated position (based on the plate solving results and the original mount co-ordinates)
to try to place the target in view. This option is recommended if you use a complex
synchronization/pointing model in your ASCOM mount as it avoids sending Sync commands.
Note that results may be inaccurate very close to the celestial poles.
• Do Nothing – this option will take no action after plate solving.

If you specify the focal length of your telescope then SharpCap will use the focal length to try to
speed up plate solving operations.

The following additional option is available:

• Always send 8-bit images to the plate solving application – when selected, SharpCap will
turn any high bit depth image to an 8 bit image before sending it to the plate solving
application. This can help in some cases when plate solving fails and a very large number of
stars are being detected.

Note: If the focal length is specified incorrectly then plate solving will almost certainly fail. If you
encounter problems with unexpected failures, disable the use of focal length and re-test.

Note: Some ASCOM mounts do not allow you to set the focal length – if the ASCOM option is
selected by the mount does not provide a focal length measurement then SharpCap will proceed as
if the ‘Do Not Use’ option was selected.

Note: If SharpCap cannot determine the pixel size of your telescope then the focal length setting will
be ignored.

Configuring Astrotortilla/Ansvr/ASPS
Further options to configure and fine tune the Astrometry.net based plate solving engines are
available as follows:

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The Star Noise Detection Threshold can be configured by adjusting the numeric value of the ‘—
sigma’ parameter. Higher values will tend to detect fewer stars, lower values will mean that more
stars are detected. If too few stars are detected (less than 20-3) then plate solving is more likely to
fail. If too many stars are detected (more than 200) then plate solving may take a very long time to
complete. You may need to adjust this parameter depending on the camera/telescope combination
in use.

When Automatically down sample large images when solving is enabled, images that are wider than
2000 pixels will automatically be down sampled (binned) to make them smaller before attempting to
plate solve them. This option tends to dramatically improve the speed and reliability of plate solving
large images with large numbers of stars visible in them.

Configuring Astap
You can specify additional options to add to the command line when running Astap.

Do not pass the following options via the additional options, as SharpCap will add them
automatically to the command line : -f, -ra, -spd, -r, -log

If you pass either -fov or -z, you will override the automatic values that SharpCap selects, which may
cause issues.

Testing Plate Solving

You can test the selected plate solving application by pressing the Test Selected Plate Solver button.

Pressing this button will cause SharpCap to send a known image (of stars near the north celestial
pole) to the plate solving application. SharpCap will check that the plate solving succeeds and that
the correct result is produced. This test checks that SharpCap has correctly detected the plate
solving application and that the application and its index files are installed correctly. It also checks
that any configuration (such as the sigma option or additional options for Astap) are giving
reasonable results.

The Test Selected Plate Solver button DOES NOT check that the current camera is giving a suitable
image for good plate solving results.

To test that the current camera settings give good results, use the Plate Solve Only or Plate Solve and
Resync tools from the Tools menu. These will send an image from the camera to the configured plate
solving application. The following hints will help get good plate solving results if you have issues:

• Turn off Display Stretch if you have it enabled so that you can see how many stars are visible
in the unstretched image

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• Set an exposure of 2 to 4 seconds and a high gain - this should make a decent number of
stars appear. Set a higher exposure/gain if you still see very few stars (i.e. small field of view
with a long focal length telescope and/or small camera sensor).
• Check that the plate solving index files that you have installed are suitable for the field of
view of your camera. You can check the field-of-view by using the Astronomy Tools website.
• Watch the notifications shown as the plate solving attempt runs. If you have failures then
look out for the number of stars that are being detected by the plate solving application
• If the number of stars is below 100 and you are having problems, increase exposure and/or
gain, or reduce the sigma setting if applicable
• If the number of stars is above 200 and you are having problems, reduce sigma if applicable,
decrease exposure or gain, or try the Always send 8-bit images to the plate solving
application option.

Polar Alignment Settings

SharpCap’s Polar Alignment routine can become more accurate and easier to use if SharpCap knows
your latitude and longitude. By default, SharpCap estimates your longitude from your computer’s
time zone settings and estimates your latitude to be 45 degrees North or South. This is sufficient for
Polar Alignment to work, but setting your correct latitude will allow SharpCap to correct for
atmospheric refraction giving a more accurate result. Setting your correct longitude will ensure that
up/down/left/right movement instructions are accurate.

You can choose to leave the observing location as the default setting (Estimate automatically from
time zone) or choose either of the two accurate location options – using the location from your
ASCOM mount or specifying a location manually. If you choose an accurate location option then you
can enable the option to correct for atmospheric refraction.

The location provided does not need to be perfectly accurate – latitude and longitude correct to the
nearest degree are accurate enough.

Finally, you can use the ‘Geolocate’ button to find your current location automatically if you are
connected to the internet. This will send your IP address to an internet server which will respond
with your approximate location. This approach may not work for all internet providers and will
probably not work well if you are connected to the internet via a mobile device.

Important Note: If you are not using a GOTO mount, or if your GOTO mount does not report
latitude/longitude, SharpCap will use the location defined here to calculate object positions in the
sky, rising and settings times, etc. Setting your location may enhance functionality in other parts of
the software.

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Guiding Settings
SharpCap can work with the popular freeware guiding application PHD2 and also the MGEN3
Autoguider to monitor and control guiding and dithering while live stacking or running a capture
sequence using the Sequencer Tool or Sequence Planner. SharpCap can also send dithering
commands to your ASCOM GOTO mount without needing a guiding application.

Using PHD2
In order to enable integration between SharpCap and PHD2, ensure the following:

• PHD2 is a recent version and running on the same computer as SharpCap

• the Enable Server menu item must be selected in PHD2

Using the MGEN3 Autoguider

In order to use your Lacerta MGEN3 autoguider, you must install the MGEN3 Windows drivers (scroll
down and choose the Windows drivers from the top row of the driver table). You must also connect
your MGEN3 device to your PC using a USB cable.

Using Dither Only Guiding

Dither only guiding provides a way to include dithering in your live stacking and imaging sequences
without needing to actually have a guiding application/device active. Dither only guiding is
considered by SharpCap to always be active (guiding), but will never send guiding corrections to your
mount. Dither only guiding will however send a small, random, movement command to the mount
whenever dithering is needed.

When using an ASCOM mount, Dither Only Guiding will use the Pulse Guiding functionality of ASCOM
to send movement requests to the mount. This is available on most (but not all) ASCOM mounts.
You may also be able to adjust the rate at which the mount moves in response to the pulse guiding
requests in your ASCOM mount setup.

If you do not have a GOTO mount, or your mount does not support pulse guiding, you may still be
able to use this option if

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• Your camera and mount both have ST4 (guiding) ports

1. SharpCap supports ST4 control for your camera (Altair, PlayerOne, QHY, SVBony and
ZWO cameras)
2. You connect the camera and mount ST4 ports using an ST4 cable
3. You select ‘On Camera ST4’ for the mount in the SharpCap Hardware Settings.

Dithering
SharpCap Pro users can also enable dithering using one of the supported guiding options while live
stacking or using the Sequencer/Sequence Planner. In order to enable dithering, tick the
Automatically Dither checkbox in Live Stacking or select dithering in the Sequencer/Sequence
Planner. You can set options here to control details of each dither operation.

Max Dither Step – this specifies the maximum distance that any dither movement can be, measured
in guide camera pixels (i.e. pixels in PHD2, not in SharpCap). Note that MGEN does not take any
notice of this setting, and that if Dither Only Guiding is selected then this setting is interpreted as the
size of the dither movement step in arc-seconds.

Settle Threshold – when the movement between two guide camera frames drops below this number
of pixels then the dither is considered to have ‘settled’ – i.e. the mount movement is complete and
images taken should no longer be blurred by movement. Only applies to PHD2 guiding.

Minimum Settle Time – a dither will not be considered to be settled until this amount of time has
elapsed after the end of the movement, even if the Settle Threshold is met before this time has
elapsed. Only applies to PHD2 guiding.

Maximum Settle Time – a dither will always be considered to be settled after this amount of time has
elapsed, even if the settle threshold has not been met. Only applies to PHD2 guiding.

Dither in RA only – restrict dithering to the Right Ascension axis only. Only applies to PHD2 guiding.

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Logging Settings

Troubleshooting

SharpCap writes a significant amount of information to its log by default, particularly if any problems
occur, but sometimes extra information is required to track down an issue.

By selecting one or more of the options here, you can configure SharpCap to log additional
information to help diagnose an issue. When one or more of these options are turned on, SharpCap
will write significantly more information to its log. Turning these options on may result in SharpCap
running more slowly or becoming less responsive due to the extra information being logged, so it is
not recommended that you turn this option on unless you are trying to track down a problem or are
asked to by SharpCap support.

If you turn on one or more of these options, you will be prompted to confirm whether to keep them
turned on each time you start SharpCap.

The categories of additional logging that you can enable are :

• General – any information that does not fall into the categories below.
• Camera Hardware Communications – details of any communications between SharpCap and
the hardware/manufacturer provided software of a camera in use.
• Wheel Hardware Communications – details of any communications between SharpCap and
the ASCOM driver of a filter wheel in use.
• Mount Hardware Communications – details of any communications between SharpCap and
the ASCOM driver of a mount in use.
• Focuser Hardware Communications – details of any communications between SharpCap and
the ASCOM driver of a focuser in use.
• Rotator Hardware Communications – details of any communications between SharpCap and
the ASCOM driver of a rotator in use

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• Switch Hardware Communications – detail of any communications between SharpCap and

the ASCOM driver of a switch device in use
• Camera Control Values and Capture Profiles – log information about changes to camera
controls (but not other camera related information)
• Live Stacking – log additional information related to live stacking progress and errors to the
main SharpCap log
• Guiding – log additional information relating to communication between SharpCap and a
guiding application/device.
• Image Processing – log additional information about timings and outcome of image
processing operations, including details of the number of hot/cold pixels that are being
corrected
• Deep Sky Image Annotation – log additional info about object positions and related
calculations when using image annotation
• Application Performance – log additional information about the times taken to process
frames in SharpCap, showing the time delay at each stage as the frame passes from camera
to display
• Plate Solving – log additional information about plate solving, including saving any images
sent to the plate solving application. Unlike other options, this option causes information to
be logged in subfolders of a PlateSolveImages folder created inside the main SharpCap
Captures folder. Each subfolder will contain an image file (i.e. Image.fits or Image.png) and a
log file names info.txt. The info.txt file contains full details of the plate solving application
being used, the plate solving settings and parameters passed to the plate solving engine as
well as the output that the plate solving engine produced.

GPS Logging
Log all QHY GPS data to file
SharpCap supports QHY cameras with built in GPS. When the GPS is activated on such cameras, the
default behaviour is to store the GPS data (time, date, location) in FITS headers or in the capture
settings file. However sometimes it is desirable to keep a more detailed record of the GPS
information – enabling this option will create such a log file in CSV format in the root capture
directory each time a GPS enabled camera is used.

This option is disabled by default and you should restart SharpCap after changing this option to be
sure that it takes effect.

The format of each line of the log file is

<PC Clock Time>, <GPS Status>, <Frame Number>, <Frame Start Time from GPS>, <Frame End Time
from GPS>, <Latitude>, <Longitude>, <RawLatitude>, <RawLongitude>

The RawLatitude and RawLongitude are the un-decoded values received from the camera. Contact
QHY for the steps necessary to decode these values if you wish to decode them separately.

Start-up Scripts
This tab allows a list of Python scripts, to be run at SharpCap start-up, to be configured. Such scripts
can be used to add additional features or customizations to SharpCap every time it is started. Use
the Add, Remove, Move Up and Move Down buttons to manage the list of start-up scripts.

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For example, the following Script will create a button on the toolbar that selects the first camera
when pressed. The code can be created and saved by following the information in Scripting.
def selectFirstCamera():
SharpCap.SelectedCamera=SharpCap.Cameras[0]
SharpCap.AddCustomButton("Test", None, "Select the first camera",
selectFirstCamera)

Save the script somewhere (call it SelectFirstCamera.py for example), say on the desktop and
configure File > SharpCap Settings > Startup Scripts accordingly.

Deselect the camera, restart SharpCap and the button Test should be added
to the right-hand end of the Tool Bar, together with the camera having
been selected.

This technique is good to use for the start-up script as it allows creation of custom toolbar buttons
and have them load every time SharpCap is started.

The Test button can be removed via File > SharpCap Settings > Startup Scripts, highlighting the script
SelectFirstCamera.py, selecting Remove and restarting SharpCap.

Saving, Restoring and Resetting the SharpCap Settings

In the bottom left of the Settings window you will find three buttons that allow you to reset, export
and import SharpCap settings. These allow you to easily set SharpCap back to defaults or to copy
SharpCap settings from one computer to another one.

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Reset Settings
Use the Reset Settings button to reset some or all of SharpCap’s settings. You will see a window
allowing you to choose which data should be reset.

You need to choose one or more of the options before pressing the Reset button.

• Reset all SharpCap saved settings – this will reset all options in the various pages of the
SharpCap Settings Window, as well as various options found in other parts of the product.
• Wipe settings from previous SharpCap Versions – this will clear all settings from older
SharpCap versions. When used in SharpCap 4.1, it will clear all settings from 4.0, 3.2, 3.1, etc.
It is often a good idea to use this with Reset all SharpCap saved settings, as otherwise once
the current settings are reset, the next time you run SharpCap it will think you have just
upgraded from 4.0 and copy the settings used by 4.0 to 4.1.
• Wipe settings for alternate instances – if you have used the /instance command line
parameter to set up alternate configurations for SharpCap, choosing this option will wipe
that data.
• Wipe SharpCap Pro license key – will delete the current SharpCap Pro license key
• Delete all capture profiles – delete any saved capture profiles including the information used
to auto-restore camera settings when a camera is re-opened.
• Delete sensor analysis measurement results – wipes any sensor analysis data files that you
have created by running the Sensor Analysis tool on your cameras
• Delete sequencer and sequence planner autosave files – deletes the files that are used to
auto-restore sequence planner and sequencer configuration.
• Delete custom annotation catalogs – deletes any custom annotation catalogs that you have
added.

Some of these items may be disabled (greyed out and not selectable) if there is no data of that type
that could be deleted.

When you have selected the data you would like to delete, press the Reset button, which will cause
a confirmation message to be shown.

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If you have selected certain items of data (for instance all SharpCap saved settings or all Capture
Profiles), SharpCap will exit after the wipe has been completed. Re-run SharpCap to start using the
re-set settings.

Note that this functionality may not operate correctly if two or more copies of SharpCap are running
when it is used.

Export Settings
Use the Export Settings button to save all SharpCap settings from the current computer to a file. You
will need to choose a folder location and name for the file – for instance
Desktop\SavedSettings.SharpCapSettings.zip (SharpCap will add the .SharpCapSettings.zip part). You
can then transfer this file to another computer and import it using the Import Settings button.

The following data is saved when exporting settings:

• Settings shown in the Settings Window and other parts of the software
• Capture Profiles
• Sensor data created using the Sensor Analysis tool
• Custom annotation catalogs
• Autosave information for the sequencer and sequencer planner tools

The following data is not included:

• The SharpCap Pro license – this must be transferred separately

• Settings from older SharpCap versions
• Settings from alternate SharpCap configurations created using the /instance command line
parameter (but you can export each of those separately if you wish)

When the save process is completed, SharpCap will confirm that it was successful and launch a
Windows Explorer window to show the newly created exported settings file.

Since the saved data file is just a .zip file, you can open it and look at the data inside if you wish.

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Import Settings
If you have previously exported your settings, then you can use the Import Settings button to import
them – either on a different PC, or on the same PC to reset the settings back to previous values.

When you have pressed the Import Settings button, you will need to locate the settings file
(*.SharpCapSettings.zip) to load. Once the file is selected, SharpCap will prompt you for confirmation
of the import.

Importing settings will overwrite:

• Settings shown in the Settings Window and other parts of the software
• Capture Profiles
• Sensor data created using the Sensor Analysis tool
• Custom annotation catalogs
• Autosave information for the sequencer and sequencer planner tools

SharpCap will close when the import is complete and you will need to re-run SharpCap to use the
new settings.

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Advanced Topics
Command Line Arguments
SharpCap can be launched with a selection of command line arguments to customize its behaviour
and deal with unusual situations:

/language Run SharpCap in a language other than the default Windows

language. Specify the language code for a language that SharpCap
supports, for example ‘fr’, ‘zh-CN’, ‘de’, ‘jp’.
Example :
/language fr
/camera Open the specified camera when starting SharpCap. If the camera
name contains spaces, enclose the camera name in double quotes.
Example:
/camera "ASCOM Camera Driver for DSLR"
/softwarerendering Force SharpCap to use software rendering rather than an
accelerated graphics card driver for certain parts of the UI. Use this
option if you are running SharpCap via remote access software and
parts of the SharpCap window are blank.
/nohighdpi If this option is specified then SharpCap will not enable high DPI
awareness mode. If you use SharpCap on a high DPI monitor and
sizes of windows, text or other items is incorrect, it may be worth
trying this option. Text may appear blurry on high DPI monitors with
this option, but correct sizes of items should be restored.
/runscript Run the specified python script file after SharpCap finishes loading.
See Scripting for more details.
Example:
/runscript d:\files\test.py
/runsequence Run the specified SharpCap sequence file after SharpCap finishes
loading. See the SharpCap Sequence Editor for more details. Note
that this needs to be an SCS file from the sequence editor, not an
SSP or SSV file from the Deep Sky or Solar System Sequence
Planners.
Example:
/runsequence d:\files\allskycamera.scs
/dump Create a crash dump minidump file on the desktop if SharpCap
encounters a fatal error. Use this option if SharpCap crashes and
does not offer the opportunity to submit a bug report.
The minidump file will be saved on the desktop and called
SharpCap.dmp. Please send minidump files to technical support via
the forums.
Note that this option is not supported by the 64-bit version of
SharpCap.

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/instance Run SharpCap with an alternative configuration. Specify a

configuration instance number in the range 2-9.
Example:
/instance 2
When you first use an instance number, all your SharpCap settings
will be copied from the default configuration. From that point
onwards, settings changes made in the default instance will not
affect the new instance (and settings changes in the new instance
will not affect the default instance).
This approach allows you to set up two or more configurations for
SharpCap, perhaps if you have multiple sets of imaging equipment
attached to the same computer.
Note that the following items are shared between instances :
• SharpCap Pro licenses
• Capture Profiles, including the ‘auto save’ profiles used to
restore previous camera settings automatically
• Auto-saved sequence editor and sequence planner
configuration
/translate Use this option to start translating SharpCap to a new language.
See this thread on the forums for details of how to create a new
translation of SharpCap. Please consider contributing your
translation to the official version of SharpCap so that it can benefit
other SharpCap users.
/resetsettings Reset all SharpCap settings during startup. This may help if
SharpCap crashes on startup, particularly if it begins doing this after
one or more settings have been adjusted.
/debuglaunch Provides debugging information about the very early phases of
SharpCap startup. If SharpCap crashes before showing the main
window then running with this option may produce extra
information allowing you to report the issue on the forums.

Keyboard and other Shortcuts

The following keyboard shortcuts can be used to control SharpCap

<CTRL> while opening SharpCap Do not open a camera at start-up, do not run
start-up scripts or sequences
<SHIFT> while opening SharpCap Show SharpCap log immediately
<CTRL> while opening a camera Do not load any saved default capture profile
for the camera, also do not restore previously
used camera settings
<SHIFT> while adjusting histogram stretch Move the histogram stretch level 10 times
levels more slowly than mouse movement for fine
control
<CTRL> when using the Auto Stretch buttons Apply a stronger than normal auto stretch
<SHIFT> when using the Auto Stretch buttons Apply a weaker than normal auto stretch

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<CTRL> + Mouse Wheel over image Zoom in/out

Mouse Wheel over image Scroll up/down
<SHIFT> + Mouse Wheel over Image Scroll left/right
<CTRL> + <PLUS KEY> Zoom In
<CTRL> + <MINUS KEY> Zoom Out
<CTRL> + 1 Zoom to 100%
<CTRL> + 0 Set Zoom to Auto (fit image to available space)
F1 Reduce Exposure
F2 Increase Exposure
F3 Reduce Gain
F4 Increase Gain
F5 Reduce Black Level/Offset/Brightness
F6 Increase Black Level/Offset/Brightness
F7 Move focuser in negative direction
F8 Move focuser in positive direction
F9 Adjust Exposure/Gain shift by -1 for shorter
exposures, higher gain
F10 Adjust Exposure/Gain shift by +1 for longer
exposures, lower gain
<ALT+F11> Show Scripting Console
F11 Toggle full screen mode
F12 Toggle night mode
<CTRL>+F12 Toggle two monitor mode
<ALT>+S Start Capture
<ALT>+Q Quick Capture (most recently used length)
<ALT>+T or <ESCAPE> while Capturing Stop Capture
<ALT>+A Snapshot single frame
<ALT>+L Activate Live Stacking
<ALT>+F4 Exit SharpCap
<CTRL>+J, <CTRL>+NUMPAD 4 Move mount left
<CTRL>+L, <CTRL>+NUMPAD 6 Move mount right
<CTRL>+I, <CTRL>+NUMPAD 2 Move mount up
<CTRL>+K, <CTRL>+NUMPAD 8 Move mount down
<ESCAPE> (while capturing) Stop Capture
<CTRL>+<SHIFT>+C Connect or disconnect all hardware
<CTRL>+<SHIFT>+H Show Histogram
<CTRL>+<SHIFT>+L Enable Live Stacking
<CTRL>+<SHIFT>+R Run an automatic refocus
<CTRL>+<SHIFT>+A Activate Deep Sky Image Annotation
<CTRL>+<SHIFT>+F1 to F12 Change to filters 1 to 12

Note that the mount movement keys are equivalent to the left/right/up/down direction buttons in
the Mount Control – the mount will continue moving while the key is held down.

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Scripting
SharpCap has a scripting language built in that allows simple programs to be written that can
perform just about any action that can be performed when controlling SharpCap with the keyboard
and mouse. The scripting language is based on a language called IronPython which is a Microsoft
port of the Python Programming Language to the .NET framework.

Note that Python Scripting is a SharpCap Pro feature.

The Scripting Console

The Scripting console can be shown by selecting Show Console from the scripting menu. The
scripting console is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). This allows for the creation,
execution and debugging of code using the IronPython programming language and its integration
into SharpCap.

Typing help() and <ENTER> into the IronPython Console window gives the following basic help
output:

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Some examples are displayed. One of these is code to list the cameras available to SharpCap.
#List the cameras available
print SharpCap.Cameras

Lines beginning with # are comment lines, meaning they are ignored by the computer.

Code can be typed directly into the console or pasted into the IronPython Pad in the lower part of
the console window. If code is typed into the upper part of the window, it will be run when the
<Enter> key is pressed. Longer sections of code should be typed into the lower editor area where
they are not run until the ‘Run’ button is pressed.

Controlling SharpCap is handled using the SharpCap object which is automatically loaded into each
script session. Some simple commands would be...
SharpCap.SelectedCamera = None # Close the camera that is currently active
SharpCap.SelectedCamera = SharpCap.Cameras[0] # Open the first camera in the
Cameras menu and start previewing it

Once a camera is running, adjust its properties like this

SharpCap.SelectedCamera.Controls.Exposure.Value = 1000 # Set the exposure to
1000ms (1s)

In the IronPython Pad, type in the code print SharpCap.Cameras and press the Run button.

The following output appears in the IronPython Console.

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Click the floppy disk icon and save the file as cameras.py for use in the Run Script menu item below.

Exploring the API

The editor automatically shows the possible methods and properties for an object upon typing the '.'
– this helps explore the available API.

In the IronPython Console, type the following two lines (the case of the text matters and the ‘.’
matters):

import System
from System.

As soon as the ‘.’ is typed, a list appears allowing selection. This trick can be applied to many parts of
the SharpCap API to allow discovery of the methods available and what parameters they require.

You can also explore the methods and properties available on any object by using the help command
- for instance
help(SharpCap)
help(SharpCap.SelectedCamera)

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Note: The API available for use in scripts in SharpCap is subject to change in future versions. While
every effort will be made to retain compatibility with existing scripts, this is not always possible –
sometimes scripts may need modification to continue working correctly in an updated version of
SharpCap.

Run a Script
The Run Script menu item opens a File Explorer window to allow selection of a previously created
Python script.

Scripts (programs) can also be created from within Windows using any text editor. The scripts must
be saved with a .py extension.

From the Menu select Scripting > Run Script.

Browse to the file something.py and click the Open button. The script should execute.

Example

1. From the Menu select Scripting > Show Console.

2. Drag the Iron Python Console to one side using the mouse.

3. From the Menu select Scripting > Run Script.

4. Navigate to the file cameras.py, created in the previous section, and select it.

5. The script executes and the result (the available cameras) is shown in the IronPython
Console.

The above example has no practical use but serves to demonstrate how to use SharpCap
functionality.

Note: A number of methods available on the SharpCap scripting API return a Task object – these
methods run asynchronously (i.e. they start a process and return before the process has finished).
Often, there will be an alternative method that does not involve the asynchronous behaviour, and

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that alternative should be preferred when writing scripts. For example (from the ‘help’ for
SharpCap.SelectedCamera):
| RunCapture(...)
| RunCapture(self: Camera)
|
| RunCaptureAsync(...)
| RunCaptureAsync(self: Camera, cancellationToken: CancellationToken) -> Task

Where possible, use the non-async version of the method – for instance RunCapture rather than
RunCaptureAsync. If you need to use an Async method from Python scripting, you can use .Wait() or
.Result to wait for completion or access the result (return value) of the asynchronous method.

Scripting Tutorial
Create a Script
This section shows how to:
• Create a simple script using the IronPython Console.
• Save the script.
• Run the script from within the console.
• Run the saved script directly from the Run Script menu option.

Upon selecting Show Console, an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is displayed. This
allows for the creation, execution and debugging of code using the IronPython programming
language.

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The code below will capture a single PNG image and save it to a file. The destination d:\capture.png
will need to be changed to somewhere convenient on the computer being used.
SharpCap.SelectedCamera.CaptureSingleFrameTo("d:\capture.png")

Complete the following steps to test the scripting functionality:

1. Start SharpCap and from the Menu select Cameras > Test Camera 1 (Deep Sky).

The M42 image should be shown in the Capture Display Area.

2. In the Camera Control Panel, change the Output Format to be PNG files…

3. From the Menu select Scripting > Show Console.

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The IronPython Console will open.

4. Copy the following code:

SharpCap.SelectedCamera.CaptureSingleFrameTo("d:\capture.png")

and paste it with CTRL (or type directly) into the IronPython Pad (bottom part of the
IronPython Console). Edit the destination (underlined in red) to be something appropriate
on the PC in use.

5. Press the Run icon (or F5).

6. Check the destination which, all being well, should now contain 2 new files called
capture.png and capture.png.CameraSettings.txt.

7. Edit the code to change the capture file name to be capture2.png.

8. Click on the floppy disk icon and a file explorer window opens.

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Save the file as capture2.py (the .py extension is important).

9. Close the IronPython Console.

[Note: Of course, the point of scripting is to automate the use of SharpCap, and all of the above
steps could be automated by a more complex script – for example:
SharpCap.SelectedCamera = SharpCap.Cameras.Find( lambda x:x.DeviceName == "Test
Camera 1 (Deep Sky)")
SharpCap.SelectedCamera.Controls.OutputFormat.Value = "PNG Files (*.png)"
SharpCap.SelectedCamera.CaptureSingleFrameTo("d:\capture.png")

SharpCap Scripting Object Model Reference

The major objects available to control the application are:

SharpCap The main application object, all other objects are

accessed via this object.
SharpCap.Cameras A collection of available cameras (as shown in the
Cameras menu)
SharpCap.SelectedCamera The camera that is currently open (or 'None' if no
camera open)
SharpCap.SelectedCamera.Controls The controls available on the currently open camera.
Many common controls can be access directly, but
others will need a check of each item in the array to
find the control needed.
SharpCap.Focusers A collection of (ASCOM) focusers detected by SharpCap.
SharpCap.Focusers.SelectedFocuser can be used to
connect to a specific focuser and then access it via the
SelectedCamera.Controls collection.
SharpCap.Mounts, Collections of ASCOM mounts, filter wheels, rotators
SharpCap.Wheels, and switch devices, work in the same way as Focusers.
SharpCap.Rotators,
SharpCap.SwitchDevices
SharpCap.Transforms A collection of frame transforms that can be applied to
the preview window by setting the
SharpCap.Transforms.SelectedTransform property
(buggy at the moment)
SharpCap.MainWindow The main application window of SharpCap. Take care
changing properties or calling methods on this as it may
break things.
SharpCap.Reticules Collection of reticule overlays that may be selected for
drawing on the screen (like the transforms, also
currently buggy)

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SharpCap.Settings Selected application settings, alter with care and call

'Save()' after any changes to make them take effect
SharpCap.Sequencer Access the sequencer, allowing sequences to be run
from Python scripts
SharpCap.DisplayStretch Access the display stretch settings
SharpCap.LiveStacking Access key information and actions related to live
stacking
SharpCap.ZoomPercent Adjust the display zoom level

In general, the most used objects will be SharpCap.SelectCamera and

SharpCap.SelectCamera.Controls.

The Camera Object

The most important methods and properties on the SelectedCamera object are (informational
properties will work on other non-selected cameras):

CanCapture, CanStillCapture Indicate whether the camera can capture video and still
frames, respectively

CanPause Can the camera pause a video capture without stopping it?

CaptureConfig Settings controlling the type of capture to be performed,

including frame limit, etc

PrepareToCapture() Must be called to set up a video capture before calling

RunCapture()

RunCapture() Begins a prepared video capture. The capture will run until
any limit is reached or StopCapture() is called. The output
file(s) will be named according to the selected naming
scheme.

CancelCapture() Cancel a capture that has been prepared (instead of running

it using RunCapture).

CaptureSingleFrame() Capture a single frame snapshot (the output file will be

named according to the selected naming scheme

CaptureSingleFrameTo(string Capture a single frame and save it to the specified output file
filePath) name. The path will need to be a full path and the extension
specified should match that selected in
SharpCap.SelectedCameras.Controls.OutputFormat.Value

Name The name of the camera used in the application UI

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VideoDeviceId In internal identifier for the camera (may be empty or rather

geeky)

StartPreview(), Start and Stop previewing frames on the camera respectively

StopPreview()
RestartPreview() Stop then re-start previewing frames on the camera

GetStatus(boolean allStats) Returns an object describing the status of the camera

including frames captured, average frame rate, etc.

IsOpen, IsPreviewing, Informational properties, as named

CanCountFrames, Capturing
CapturedFrameCount The number of frames processed by the camera (including
preview frames) since the last time preview was started or
capture was started or stopped.

ApplySelectedTransform() Reserved, internal use only

The following controls may be available directly on the Controls object for the SelectedCamera:
Binning, ColourSpace, Exposure, FilterWheel, Focus, Gain, OutputFormat, Resolution

Other controls are likely to be available within the Controls collection and must be searched for by
name, for example:
cooler = SharpCap.SelectedCamera.Controls.FindByName("Cooler")

Note that the available controls vary from camera to camera, and only ColourSpace, Exposure,
Resolution and OutputFormat are always available.

The Control Object

The following properties are available on each Control:

Available True if the control is actually available to read or write values.

ReadOnly True if the control can only be read from (for instance a sensor
temperature readout)

AutoAvailable True if the control can be set into Auto mode

Auto Switch the control between Auto and Manual mode

Name The name of the control as displayed in the UI

Id An enumeration of common property types, currently including: Other,

Exposure, FrameRate, Pan, Tilt, Resolution, ColourSpace, OutputFormat,
Focus, FilterWheel, Binning, Gain

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Minimum, Maximum Retrieve the minimum and maximum values of numeric controls

Step Integer controls may have a step value defined - they can only be
changed in multiples of this value. This is very rarely encountered.

Value The value of the control, which can be retrieved and (if not ReadOnly)
changed.

Type The type of value that the control has.

Integer Numeric, whole number values

Double Numeric, whole or decimal values

Boolean On/Off value (checkbox)

Command A single action, launched by a button in the UI

MultipleChoice A list of options, shown as a drop down control in

the UI

Custom Any other type of control.

AvailableValues In the case of a MultipleChoice control, a list of the choices available.

Direct Access to ASCOM Hardware

For each type of ASCOM hardware, SharpCap provides direct access to the ASCOM driver object,
allowing scripting code to talk directly to the hardware if required.
SharpCap.Mounts.SelectedMount.AscomMount
SharpCap.Focusers.SelectedFocuser.AscomFocuser
SharpCap.Wheels.SelectedWheel.AscomWheel
SharpCap.Rotators.SelectedRotator.AscomRotator
SharpCap.SwitchDevices.SelectedSwitchDevice.AscomSwitchDevice
Note that these properties will not be valid in the following situations:

• The hardware settings for that type of hardware are set to None
• The hardware settings for that type of hardware are set to a non-ASCOM device – i.e. a
mount controlled via ST4, a manual or directly controlled ZWO filter wheel, etc.
• The ASCOM hardware is not connected.

Care needs to be taken when using these properties to directly talk to the ASCOM hardware as this
communication happens ‘behind SharpCap’s back’ – the SharpCap UI may not update correctly to
reflect changes made in this way, or in some cases errors may occur if changes are made to the
hardware that SharpCap is not expecting.

Scripting Samples
Examples of scripting tasks are shown below.

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Periodic Capture and Timestamp Image

The code below will capture a single PNG image approximately every 15 seconds and write a
timestamp into the image itself before saving it. It would be simple to modify the code to save each
timestamped image under a different filename or to remove the timestamping step.

The code relies on a camera already being selected and previewing and that the camera can output
to PNG files (i.e. will not work if the camera is in a 12/16-bit mode).
import time
clr.AddReference("System.Drawing")
import System.Drawing

SharpCap.SelectedCamera.Controls.OutputFormat.Value = 'PNG files (*.png)'

if (SharpCap.SelectedCamera.Controls.Exposure.AutoAvailable):
SharpCap.SelectedCamera.Controls.Exposure.Automatic = True

while True:
SharpCap.SelectedCamera.CaptureSingleFrameTo("d:\capture.png")
time.sleep(1)
bm = System.Drawing.Bitmap("d:\capture.png")
g = System.Drawing.Graphics.FromImage(bm)
f = System.Drawing.Font("Arial", 12)
g.DrawString(System.DateTime.Now.ToString(), f, System.Drawing.Brushes.Red,
System.Drawing.Point(0,0))
g.Dispose()
f.Dispose()
bm.Save("d:\\timestamped.png")
bm.Dispose()
# do more with png file here
time.sleep(15)

Controlling the Selection Rectangle

Before starting this example, select either a suitable Focus Score method or the Image Histogram to
enable the Selection Area generated by the program to be shown. The Selection Area needs to be
turned off via its Tool Bar icon

From Scripting > Show Console, type the following code into the IronPython Console. Do not copy
and paste as this negates the purpose of the exercise. At certain places, when ‘.’ is typed a
dropdown will appear showing possible methods and properties. Select the appropriate text.
import clr
clr.AddReference("System.Drawing")
from System.Drawing import Rectangle
SharpCap.Transforms.AreaSelection = True # turn on selection area
SharpCap.Transforms.SelectionRect = Rectangle(100,200,300,400) # adjust selection
rectangle, parameters are (x, y, width, height)

The typed in code should look like this. When run, nothing will appear to happen except an
additional >>> will appear in the console. No errors messages is a good sign.

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This enables use of the .NET type System.Drawing.Rectangle which is required to specify the
selection area - the first 3 lines, which allow access to the .NET type, are the important ones here as
they can be used for other .NET types too.

Example Task to Script

Consider the following non-trivial task.

• Control a USB filter wheel containing LRGB filters

• Capture 10x5 minute exposures using L filter
• Switch to R filter
• Capture 10x5 minute exposures using R filter
• Switch to G filter
• Capture 10x5 minute exposures using G filter
• Switch to B filter
• Capture 10x5 minute exposures using B filter

Total capture time = 3h 20m but no intervention is needed if the capture is managed by a script.

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Trouble Shooting
Bugs & Crashes
Before reporting a bug or other issue make sure the latest version of SharpCap is being used as the
bug could have been fixed already. Note that the Check For Updates option in the Help menu will
only find newer versions that have been approved for auto-update. If no auto-updates are found,
check on https://downloads.sharpcap.co.uk for newer versions that are not yet available on auto-
update.
Additionally, search the forums for other users reporting the same issue as there may already be a
workaround available.
Forums for reporting Bugs and Crashes and other discussions of SharpCap can be found at
http://forums.sharpcap.co.uk .

How to Report a Bug

If discovering a bug in SharpCap that doesn't involve SharpCap crashing, post the following details in
a new thread in the Bug Reports forum:

• A thread subject briefly describing the problem.

• A description of what was trying to be done.
• A list of the steps needed to make the bug happen.
• The contents of the SharpCap log collected after the problem has occurred.

Since the log text can be rather long, post it as an attachment rather than including it in the body of
the post.

While SharpCap is running, the log text can be obtained via File > Help > Show Log. Logs are also
saved in the folder %LOCALAPPDATA%\SharpCap\logs, which you can access easily by pressing the
Locate on Disk button on the log window.

Alternatively, access the folder C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Local\SharpCap\logs to find the log

file after SharpCap has been closed.

How to Report a Crash

Submitting a Crash Report
If SharpCap crashes, it is most likely a message will be displayed requesting a bug report to be
submitted, like the one shown below:

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If connected to the internet, press the Send and Quit button and the bug report will automatically be
uploaded to the SharpCap bug archive. Optionally, add a description of what was taking place when
the crash happened.

If not connected to the internet, press the down arrow next to Send and Quit which shows extra
options including sending the bug report by email and saving it as a file which can be shared on the
forums.

• Upload to Web – the default action when pressing Send and Quit, report is uploaded to
SharpCap’s bug report server on the internet.
• Send via Email – when connected to internet (you must also have an email application set up
on your PC).
• Send report manually – the generated report will be saved as a zip file ready for manual
submission to the forums.

The bug report contains a description of the problem causing SharpCap to crash and the contents of
the SharpCap log, both of which help track down the problem causing the crash.

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SharpCap Exits without a crash report prompt

On rare occasions SharpCap may crash without showing the error report message. If this happens,
tracking down the bug requires SharpCap to be re-run from a command prompt with a /dump option
added to the command line like this:

"c:\Program Files (x86)\SharpCap 4.1\SharpCap.exe" /dump

Once SharpCap has been run this way, try to make the crash happen again. If the crash happens, a
file called SharpCap.dmp will be created on the desktop. Unfortunately this technique only works on
the 32-bit version of SharpCap.

If you successfully create a crash dump file, post on the forums including a link to the SharpCap.dmp
file and a description of what was being done when the crash occurred. Dump files can be large, so
provide a link to the upload – Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft’s One Drive are useful
technologies here, there may be others.

How to Report SharpCap Freezing or Hanging

Sometimes SharpCap might stop responding to the keyboard and mouse and the screen might stop
updating. If this happens, Windows may show the SharpCap window as Not Responding.

If this happens, the first thing to check is if you have just attempted some action with a piece of
ASCOM hardware (i.e. Mount, Focuser, Filter Wheel, Rotator, etc). If you have just tried to move a
filter wheel position or show the settings on an ASCOM driver, SharpCap could be waiting for the
ASCOM driver to respond. Look for an ASCOM setup window that may be hidden behind SharpCap if
you have tried to access the settings, or wait for the hardware to respond.

If SharpCap stays unresponsive for more than about 30 seconds, a window will appear prompting
you to report the situation.

If you choose to report the problem then you will be prompted to describe what you were trying to
do when the problem occurred – this information is essential to helping understand the cause of the
issue. Once you have entered this information, you will be prompted to send the report as described
in Submitting a Crash Report.

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The SharpCap Log

SharpCap, in the background, is constantly logging events relating to the program. You can display
this log using the ‘Show Log’ menu item in the ‘Help’ menu.

Click the Copy to Clipboard button to copy the contents of the log. By opening Notepad (or other
text editor) the contents of the log can be pasted and a file saved. The information on how to send
the log file can be found at http://forums.sharpcap.co.uk/ .

All SharpCap logs are saved to disk, which means that it is possible to locate the log files from a
previous run of SharpCap if necessary. Log files are stored in the folder
%LOCALAPPDATA%\SharpCap\logs

which is a shortcut to the full name of the folder :

C:\Users\<your windows user name>\AppData\Local\SharpCap\logs

The easiest way to access the log folder is to press the Locate on Disk button in the log window – this
will open the log folder in Windows Explorer.

Log files are named based on the time that SharpCap started, in the form
Log_YYYY-MM-DDTHH_MM_SS-XXXXX.log

with YYYY, MM, DD, HH, MM, SS representing the date and time that SharpCap was started and
XXXXX being a separate number.

The log files saved by SharpCap are simply plain text files, and can be opened with Windows
Notepad (or another text editor).

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USB Issues
Modern, high-speed astronomy cameras like those from Altair, QHY and ZWO are wonderful, but
they do tend to push the USB system of your computer or laptop right to the limit. Sometimes they
push it a bit beyond the limit and everything goes wrong, leading to strange bugs, crashes or
application freezes. This post gives some guidelines and tips for avoiding USB problems or curing
them if they do happen.

Step 0 - Check the settings

Some cameras have USB speed parameters, which you might need to adjust to let them use more
(or less) of the available USB bandwidth in order to get satisfactory operation.

Step 1 - Back to basics

If you are having unexplained issues with a camera or other hardware the first step is to go back to
the simplest setup possible. Remove any hubs, extension cables and other hardware and just
connect the camera to the PC using the manufacturer provided cable. If the camera works fine like
this, then other problems you are seeing are very likely caused by USB cabling issues (see later
section on USB Cabling tips). If you are still having problems, move to step 2

Step 2 - Update
Make sure you have installed the latest version of the manufacturer's drivers for your device and the
latest version of SharpCap or other imaging applications. This is particularly important for recently
released cameras which may not be supported in older versions

Step 3 - Check the cable

It's very rare, but now and then you get a faulty cable with a camera, or perhaps the cable might
have been damaged in some way. Swap the cable for another one of the same design and similar
length just in case. If you have a USB3 camera, check that you have a USB3 cable (they tend to have
blue plastic inside the plugs).

Step 4 - Try a different port

To get best results, your camera and your computer's USB system have to work together at very high
speed. Some cameras just don't get on with particular USB ports for reasons that are not clear. If
your PC or laptop has more USB ports, try switching between them and see if you get better results
in a different port. It may sound weird, but it's worked for a number of people because different
ports on the same PC may have different types of USB controllers running them - the one's on the
right might not work so well but the ones on the left might be fine.

Step 5 - Check USB controller drivers are up to date

If you have a USB3 camera and the camera is detected but you never get an image, out of date USB
controller drivers could be an issue. Go into 'Device Manager' and look for 'USB 3.0 eXtensible Host
Controller' entries. If you see a version of 0.97, try to find an update for that device to 1.0 which has
been known to fix this problem.

Step 6 - Try a different PC

By testing on another computer you hope to work out if the camera itself is working correctly - if it
works fine on another computer then the chances of it being faulty are very slim.

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USB Cabling Tips

If your device works correctly when you go 'back to basics' with a single USB cable, but fails with
more complex cabling, then read through the tips in this section.

Absolute Maximum Cable Length

The maximum allowable cable length between USB devices is 5m. This means the cable length from
PC to device or from PC to hub or from hub to device. You can build longer lengths by using hubs (or
active repeater cables, which are basically a cable with a built in hub). So, you could have

PC -> 4m -> Hub -> 4m -> Camera

to get a total of 8m and it would have a reasonable chance of working, but

PC -> 8m -> Camera

will not work at all.

High Quality Cables will *NOT* allow you to exceed the 5m maximum length
The limitation isn't to do with signal loss along the cable, it's to do with signal timing and the speed
the signals move down the cable. Cheap and nasty cables however may reduce the maximum length
that works!

Practical Maximum Cable Length is *NOT* 5m

Experience has shown that while a 5m cable run will work pretty well for something with a low data
rate - like a keyboard, mouse, mount or focuser, it doesn't always work reliably with a high speed
USB camera. I have found that cables over 4m start to have problems for USB2 cameras and over
3.5m can give issues for USB3 cameras.

If possible, give everything its own port

By far the most reliable way to get multiple USB devices working is to take each and every device
back to the PC separately with no hubs involved. If your PC or laptop doesn't have ports for this then
the second best option is to use a hub for low data rate devices (mount, focuser, filter wheel, etc)
and to bring the camera(s) back to the PC on separate ports.

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Useful Software
• AutoStakkert!, for alignment and stacking of image sequences.
• DeepSkyStacker, pre-process deep sky pictures.
• FITS Liberator, image processing for FITS files.
• GIMP, image manipulation, 16/32-bit in v2.10 to be released 2017.
• PIPP, pre-process planetary images (plus solar & lunar).
• Planetary System Stacker, for alignment and stacking of solar system videos.
• Registax, image stacking and wavelet filters.
• SER Player, video player for SER files.

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Glossary
ASCOM provides a standard interface to a range of astronomy equipment including mounts,
focusers and imaging devices and runs on the Microsoft Windows platform. Further information can
be found at the ASCOM Standards website.

FITS file format is an open standard adopted by the astronomical community for data storage.
Detailed information can be found at https://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_documentation.html .

PLATE-SOLVING A software tool to calculate where in the sky an image is from the pattern of stars in
the image. All Sky Plate Solver is an example of this type of software and can automatically detect
the celestial coordinates of captured FITS and JPEG files.

UTC Universal Coordinated Time – the global standard for measuring time in a time-zone
independent way. In practice UTC times are the same as GMT times. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UTC_time_offsets for a description of UTC Time Offsets.

WinJUPOS A software tool to help improve images of Jupiter and other planets by digitally
correcting for the effects of planetary rotation. See http://jupos.privat.t-online.de/index.htm for
information to assist with the processing of image captures of Jupiter.

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