FireCapture: How to get 12bit video.

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coles44
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FireCapture: How to get 12bit video.

Post by coles44 »

I just moved over from FlyCapture to FireCapture for my solar imaging on the Grasshopper 3 (1920x1200 POE M). FireCapture has either a 8 bit or 16 bit setting. How do I get 12 bit video (recommended by a friend)? Or does 16 bit default to 12 bit in the final SER file? Also the 8 bit histogram looks great, but the 16 bit histogram is just several blocks. What is that about?

I am a relative newbie, so any advise would be appreciated.

Eric


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Re: FireCapture: How to get 12bit video.

Post by marktownley »

Hi Eric,

You need to be in 16 bit mode in forecapture and have file type set to fits. You will see when you stack in AS3 it then recognises as a 12 bit file.

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Re: FireCapture: How to get 12bit video.

Post by PDB »

have file type set to fits.
Mark, won't that slow down capturing too much?? Then you end up with a huge amount of files for 1 capture (lots of overhead).
I would just leave the file type SER and recording 16 bit. What I don't know is how PG passes the information thru the SDK. If they pass the 12 bit in a 16 bit number without shifting, AS!3 might think you have 16 bit and the image will be dark. But you can force to 12 bit in the interface if needed.

For ZWO it is different, the values are shifted left by the "missing" bits so it looks like a 16 bit number.

So depends a bit on the camera and supplier SDK

Paul


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Re: FireCapture: How to get 12bit video.

Post by marktownley »

I've found in SER that AS3 then see's the file in as a 16 bit image when in reality it is a lower bit image padded out with zero bits. I've not experienced any slow down with Fits compared to SER and my laptop is far from anything powerful.


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Re: FireCapture: How to get 12bit video.

Post by PDB »

You can tell AS!3 that the 16bit is really something else via this choice
bits.jpg
bits.jpg (25.03 KiB) Viewed 4211 times
(from my IT background rather have 1 file with 30000 frames, than 30000 files in 1 directory ;) )

Paul


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Re: FireCapture: How to get 12bit video.

Post by marktownley »

I know what you're saying Paul ;) I'll have a play round with it next clear skies.


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Re: FireCapture: How to get 12bit video.

Post by marktownley »

Hi Paul.

I tried this morning recording as a 16 bit ser file; AS3 shows it as a 16 bit file, and if I select back down to 14 bit then it just clips the image. Recording in FITs it is a true 14 bit rendition of the raw file the camera ADC outputs.

Mark


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Re: FireCapture: How to get 12bit video.

Post by PDB »

Mark,

is there a way you can compare the both files on the image data? I have no experience with PGR cams but it looks odd to me that there are differences.
I know from Torsten he just writes down the values coming from the cams in the SER files and that should be no different to for Fits.

I could do some analysis on the files but then I would need a FITS an SER file with just one fully exposed frame (completely white, full well) to have a look at the data. To keep it small, it can be a small ROI

Paul


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