Maximizing Imaging Time! Using Sharpcap Pro's Smart Histogram

Have you ever wondered if your using the right gain or exposure time? Are you getting the right number of exposures? Well utilizing SharpCap Pro's Smart Histogram might help answer those questions and help you get the most of your night's imaging sessions!
I imaged a few deep sky targets over 2 nights using this tool to check it's accuracy and I've posted the process and the results.
Equipment I used:
William Optics GT71 - williamoptics.com/products/te...
Optolong L-Enhance - www.optolongfilter.com/en/new...
ZWO ASIAir Pro - astronomy-imaging-camera.com/...
ZWO ASI533MC Pro OSC Camera - astronomy-imaging-camera.com/...
iOptron CEM60 - www.ioptron.com/product-p/720...
Sharpcap - www.sharpcap.co.uk/
Astro Pixel Processor - www.astropixelprocessor.com/
Join me on Astroworld TV, Every Wednesday @ 9PM EST - / @astroworldtv

[@jefflucas_life]

Time index 15:00 it was nice to see the indifferences with/without SharpCap Smart Histo recommendations. As you say we never have enough time, I have looked over the smart history so many times, I am glad you demonstrated this feature; thumbs up!

[@AstrowithEric]

Thanks Jeff for your feedback!

[@daveincanada4794]

Eric, thanks for this video. I had no idea SharpCap could do this. This program is a real gem. Dave

[@bryanjames5767]

Eric, this is a great video! Thanks for sharing your knowledge of Sharpcap!

[@yomichee]

Thank you ! Keep up the great work 🙌

[@geoffmarcy677]

This is so helpful and interesting. Thanks!

[@tomdaigon8707]

Excellent and inspiring review. Even thought my Celestron EdgeHD rig is all ZWO tech (ASIair / 533 / 714mm / FW / OAG) the Smart Histogram seems a great way to take the initial guesswork out of deciding on exposure time and amount of subs. Well done!

[@the_astro_garden]

Great work Eric! I am using SharpCap Pro exclusively which really simplifies things from polar alignment to final stacking, live and post.

[@Mistr_A]

Keep up the good work Eric love your videos

[@AstrowithEric]

Thank you and appreciate the feedback!!

[@CarolinaSkyAstronomy]

Hello Eric, I have seen you on astrophotography for beginners facebook page and was happy to find you on KZbin. Great work and great video

[@AstrowithEric]

Awesome, thank you!

[@theinterstellarfeller]

Great video! Thanks.

[@AstroSoundscape]

Great vid well explained

[@DeepSpaceDad]

Good stuff, thanks. Subbed

[@AstrowithEric]

Awesome, thank you!

[@psegre]

Hey Eric, I enjoy all your videos, I just bought a Tri Bahtinov mask for my C11, I had never heard of them before seeing your video, so thanks! About the ‘smart histogram’ feature on Sharpcap, it’s inherently flawed, or really, incomplete. It gives gain/exposure recommendations based Solely on examining a patch of dark sky, i.e. Independent of the brightness of the object you actually want to photograph. Not good, at all. Basic photography 101 is that Nebula/galaxies can vary greatly in brightness and obviously that has to be factored in to avoid overexposing, which ‘smart histogram’ doesn’t do at all. I read in a Cloudy Nights forum from 2021 someone asking the Sharpcap creator Robin about this and he said he hoped to fix it in the future. I hope so, the whole gain/exposure stuff is a total mess, gain is completely nonlinear and there is no simple equivalence between what Sharpcap calls Gain, and what ZWO calls gain, a real nightmare.

[@astrodad656]

Great vid. Helpful. Oh, and...Save Ferris!

[@AstrowithEric]

Thanks very much!!

[@AmatureAstronomer]

Just subscribed.

[@jasonmcintosh2632]

Good topic for a video. I'm just getting going in this hobby and don't know all of SharpCap's features.

[@AstrowithEric]

Thanks Jason, glad it was helpful.

[@jameskyler5441]

In addition to the smart histogram the pro verison it allows plate solving polar alignment - invaluable

[@AstrowithEric]

Yes and for the price it’s one of the best pieces of software I have for astrophotography

[@HollomanUFOLanding]

Very intresting, thanks. What was the focal ratio you were using? I assume the Smart Histogram knows the focal ratio of a user's set up?

[@MrGuitar50]

Great video Eric! I have a couple questions. If you had not used SC and instead used your experience to create the settings how different would the results have been? I tried using SH a few weeks ago with my ZWO294 color and HyperStar and it gave me an extremely low exposure time (like fractions of a second) but 100s of subframes. When I plugged the values in the resulting histogram looked horrible. Was shooting Andromeda. I live in Bortle 7 Detroit suburb. The resulting pic was not too bad but it took forever to process in DSS. I’d like to join your Wednesday night sessions to learn more. Thx!!

[@larrypatterson3957]

Nice results! Too bad about the audio, I was enjoying your commentary. I will keep watching for more.

[@AmatureAstronomer]

Never have enough time to do the things you want to do, once you find them... "Time In A Bottle" lyrics written By: Jim Croce.

[@bruceosterberg7387]

Yes a great program, and an invaluable training video. Your gain settings will help a lot, but did you cahange your offset for each recommended time and gain figures. Thanks Eric Bruce Osterberg

[@AstrowithEric]

Bruce Osterberg thanks for the feedback! No I use the ASIAIR and there is no setting for offset and one isn’t given by SharpCap either

[@Dennis-tf2cs]

If I'm doing an initial Sensor Analysis on a new camera using Sharpcap Pro v4.08395, do I need to set anything besides the temp? I'm doing this on a new ZWO183MC Pro at -10C using my led panel as the light source. Not sure what to set for the Colour Space setting, it only offers RAW 8 and 16, the sensor on the 183 is 12bit.

[@aluginbill6182]

Eric, When I run this smart histogram its asking me to either measure the red, blue or green channel in the top right. In your video it doesnt show those options for you to select. Im using the asi 533mc camera. I assume its because I have an updated version of sharpcap? I get different values for exposure times selecting say the red vs green. red says 136 seconds, green 59 seconds? I use Nina and there isnt a way to separate my camera into channels per sey? What exposure time should I use? Im shooting M16

[@weasele1]

what would i put down for exposure if i am just stacking 3 second frames or an hour. mu mount i not that great

[@BSVGenius]

Hi, great video. Have been struggling with it. Is the optimal black level the offset? Thanks.

[@AstrowithEric]

Jake I think so, not 100% on that.

[@kevinphillips9940]

May I ask a qestion. After it has made its caclation, for gain and exposure and number for frames, would you then click Apply so the settings will be transfer to the main sharpcap page ready for capturing the object? Great video thanks bud. I live in london.

[@AstrowithEric]

Hi Kevin, if you use SharpCap for acquisition and image capture you should be able to apply the settings. Not 100% sure about that. I note the information and move that to my ASIAir to test the process.

[@SonsofChivalry]

So do these values give an optimal signal to noise ratio, where any additional integration time is redundant? Or does it just give a “good” result with minimal exposure time, but increased integration time (up to a point) would still yield cleaner images?

[@M31glow]

Correct, it gives you the optimal time and you are correct, any additional time is not worth obtaining. Here is one caveat, if you are going for some super faint detail that is part of the object you are imaging then you will need more time on the object. You have probably seen some post on Astrobin where someone did a 24-hour integration of an object and found some wispy cloud formation that no one else has found ... that's when you need more integration. If you are looking to create a very good "standard" image of an object go with the recommended exposure and no more. It's hard to wrap your head around taking short integrations and not processing hours of images but that's what the math predicts.

[@raylyndaschilke8686]

When you change your times to match the histogram do you now need to capture new darks at those settings or can master darks saved be applied even if they were at a different gain and time? I suspect new darks would be in order. Thanks great video.

[@jameskyler5441]

New darks are needed

[@AstrowithEric]

Yes you’ll need new darks to match your lights.

[@kevinphillips9940]

@@AstrowithEric hi Eric great video. Learnt a lot. Qestion once smart histogram calculate the values, do you simply click Apply then it will automatically plug in the settings for you or you git to do it manually. Cheers kevin

[@Loopy01]

Can smart histogram be used to determine DSLR ISO/exposure settings as well, or is it only for astro cameras?

[@AstrowithEric]

I think since Canon and Nikon are supported via ASCOM you can use it for this as well but I would ask Robin (SC creator) on the Sharpcap forum to confirm

[@sjweemie]

Nice video thank you. But one question. The lights from the crab nebula are gain 392. Your smart histogram said 101. Did you do a new analysis the night you imaged the crab nebula?

[@AstrowithEric]

Yes I did it on the night prior , and the sky brightness and conditions gave me that higher gain value. Probably should have mentioned that lol

[@sjweemie]

@@AstrowithEric then it makes al sense haha. I'm going to practice with the smart hist. Still trail and error for me to get the proper setting gain/exp. Great video👍