High quality vs. fast readout + the sky x follow-up
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Bill. The two QSI camera entries in the ASCOM Camera Chooser drop-down menu, QSI Camera and QSI Camera (2) are otherwise identical in properties, they are provided to allow users who might have two QSI series 600 cameras installed on their system as in OTA 1 main and OTA 2 main, or OTA main and OTA guide, etc. The physical camera(s) are assigned to QSI Camera and QSI camera (2) further in to the ASCOM Chooser menu by unique serial numbers selectors that are only presented when the cameras are connected to the host PC and recognised by Windows so you won¡¯t see that option when experimenting on a system either without a physical QSI camera connected or two QSI series 600 cameras connected. Selecting QSI Camera or QSI Camera (2) when you have only a single QSI camera connected will make no difference to the operation of the controlling application (TheSky, MaxIm, N.I.N.A, etc). If you have ASCOM platform 7 installed it includes a 64 bit Application to 32 bit Device driver hub/converter built in called ¡°JustAHub¡±. It¡¯s still under development and experimental and it doesn¡¯t support all cameras and ASCOM properties and methods but you might find it will work for your QSI camera and TheSky 64 so worth a try. Under the ASCOM Camera Chooser menu in TheSky 64 select the JustAHub Camera and after a short delay the JustAHub camera server should launch in a new window where you select QSI Camera in the setup menu and connect to it, after that go back to TheSky 64 and test to see if you can access the fast and high-quality download options. As mentioned, ASCOM JustAHub is still a work-in-progress so don¡¯t expect too much at this time. Other options to speed up TheSky 64 with the current QSI X2 plug-in might include using a high bin setting while building the T-Point model. I used to use 10 second exposures at bin 4x4 with my QSI 683 and PMX using the high-quality download mode with no loss of accuracy for model building and for focusing you can use a suitable sub-frame to reduce download times. With the QSI 500 and 600 series cameras both now obsolete and under no further development it¡¯s unlikely anyone at Atik/QSI will invest the time to write a 64 bit x2 plug-in for TheSky 64, although the necessary SDK and information is still available to allow anyone else to take on that work if they wanted but whether the effort is worthwhile is debatable for these old cameras and dwindling user-base. William. |
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Bill.
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Forget about the ASCOM ¡°JustAHub¡± option I mentioned, at this time it doesn¡¯t support cameras with internal filter wheels so no good for the QSI series 500/600 cameras.
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You might like to open a topic on the Groups.IO ASCOM Devlopers forum to find out what progress has been made with JustAHub to support cameras with integrated internal filter wheels.
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Will. |
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"QSI 500 and 600 series cameras both now obsolete and under no further development".
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To be expected I suppose. Much of this has been driven by two developments. The arrival of advanced CMOS cameras. But also the not so welcome higher and higher versions of Windows which very often involve manufacturers having to rewrite camera (and other auxiliaries) drivers. So far I have managed to stick with my QSI 683, Starlight Xpress AO unit and Lodestar guide camera, which still work seamlessly with my little net top Observatory XP computer! And still take very pleasing images. Attached my latest of the little Arp 297 group and other very faint distant galaxies. Probably my last deep sky image for this season (except possibly some narrow band work), at my latitude no more full darkness until August. But I suspect once my QSI etc. kit finally dies, I'll probably have to replace my little computer as well. Such is life. Cheers, Peter Approx. 55 deg N, 2 deg W (Northumberland, UK) On 02/05/2025 10:23, WILL B via groups.io wrote:
Bill. |
WILL B
