SharpCap Sensor Analysis - How to!

Update May 21!
I am slowly in the process of demonetizing all my videos, I was never in it for the money or the glory. I just like to help people. This way you can rest assured i'm not making a video only to trigger an algorithm or as click bait. I have been a bit disillusioned with it all lately, and hopefully this will help.
Instead if you wish to support me you can buy me a coffee or beer instead :) entirely your choice though!
www.buymeacoffee.com/astrostace
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This video shows you what i consider the first essential step when you get a new astro camera - carrying out a sharpcap sensor analysis!
Doing a sensor analysis gives you useful information about your camera sensor such as:
-unity gain
-noise levels
-full well depth
It also also allows you to use the very useful smart histogram tool in SharpCap Pro
the smart histogram tool at the end of the video should be run when your equipment is set up and pointing at a relatively dark piece of sky .
the camera in the video is the new Altair astro hypercam 269c pro Tec (full review coming soon).
order the Altair hypercam 269C Pro Tec here 👇
www.altairastro.com/altair-hy...
Disclosure: Bear in mind that the link in this post is an affiliate link and if you go through it to make a purchase I will earn a few pennies (at no cost to you) which in turn helps to support my astro gadget habit and keep all the reviews coming :D

[@rogersnee7856]

Many thanks for this, AstroStace. I'm an old duffer but really appreciate your clarity and style. I've has ZWO ASI 1600MMC and 290MMC for nearly 4 and 2 years, respectively. I've always dodged sensor analysis, although I use Sharpcap Pro for most of that time for image acquisition and PA. You've converted this old fool into finally getting his act together. Thanks again.

[@geoffmarcy677]

Amazing. All these years I've been running experiments to determine read noise, e/ADU, etc. How marvelous to have this automated. Thank you!

[@PeterK6502]

I was unaware of the availability of that function. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

[@RaysAstrophotography]

Love this sensor analysis! I heard this first from Mitch! You did explain it well! Definitely need to add to my workflow! Awesome video Stace!

[@rtpman1953]

I heard about this feature in Sharp Cap pro while working in NINA. I had Sharpcap a few years back but this is really interesting. You did a great job in the demo and explanations. Thanks

[@philleng480]

Thanks Stacey. Great resource. Professional job.

[@gazza9839]

Cheers Stacey, nice project for the cloudy evenings !

[@redabdab]

Outstanding! I’ve often wondered what that was all about. I’m going to do all my cameras now because that brain thingy looks super useful! Thanks Stace!

[@markstanford2315]

Fascinating, sensor analysis in Sharpcap. I have not used it because i use ASIAIR in the field. I will perform this experiment at home, thanks for the tutorial. Great help as usual.

[@tonyboutle1315]

Hi Stace just acquired a zwo asi 533 pro so this is very useful to me. Having a go tonight- so I’ll let you know how I got on. Great and clear explanation as always. 👍

[@spacebarnsproductions7883]

Hi Stace, just watched this again (I now have an astro camera - Altair 327C woo!) and - having watched this vid - I've now been able to perform a decent sensor analysis. Still haven't used the camera yet...time, weather etc but now feel more confident. Thanks.

[@rickpaul9858]

Thanks. I’ve never seen a KZbinr mentioning this feature before!

[@AllanStaib]

Great video thanks! I've just watched a video by Robin Glover, the creator of SharpCap, on the optimum gain for CMOS imaging. In it, he says that unity gain is not the optimum gain setting. Rather for cameras with 2 stage gain processing, he suggests the optimum is the point just after the "read noise cliff" on the read noise vs. gain chart. For my ZWO ASI294MC Pro camera, that equates to a gain of 120. I'm going to run the sensor analysis in your excellent video and see what unity gain comes out but I suspect that will be much higher. Thanks again for posting these videos.

[@Mel-127]

Got in from work at midnight thinking if there are apps for quick camera settings. Just incase my camera makes it out the box this year. Up pops Stacey with an explanation on the subject, saving me searching.

[@larry5488]

Hi Stacy, good video. I used this with my Altair Astro Hypercam183C and the results were very useful.

[@beatriceheinze2294]

Cool video, Stace! I didn't knew you can to the sensor analysis like that. Actually, I have never done it before. I have to check if I can do this with SharpCap 3.1, because I don't have the Pro version. Thank you for another helpful video, Stacey! :-)

[@justinbeo9641]

Nice video!Thank's for this!

[@moosicritic]

Great video. I did this process with the camera plugged into a USB2 port (not paying attention), which took a very long time. Then I switched to a USB3 port and it went very quickly. Obvious really, but might explain why some people have complained about it taking hours to complete.

[@markbmc9712]

Great video! 😊 Thank you

[@poruatokin]

very helpful video, thanks!!