Test 633: Atik 16ic - subframes don't work

[Andrew Hood]

The first time I've tried this camera with PHD2. The "Use subframes" option was enabled.
Subframes work in PHD1.

Since it is a USB1 camera full frame downloads take forever so I gave up and switched to my SSAG - a much less versatile guide cam.

[Andy Galasso]

Andrew,

Could you elaborate on what you mean by "subframes don't work"? For example: did you get full frames, did phd2 hang, did you get an error message, or something else? Are you using Windows or Mac? What version of PHD2 are you using -- the latest beta or perhaps one of the development snapshots?

Also, it is always helpful to post a debug log (PHD2_DebugLog_<date-time>.txt in the PHD2 folder in your Documents folder.

Thanks,

Andy Galasso

[Andrew Hood]

Andy,

1) I got full frames. With full frames it takes too long to download to make the 16ic work as a guide cam. It takes something like 5-10 secs per frame.
2) PHD2 ran.
3) This was on my WinXP notebook. I prefer not to take the Win7 x64 laptop outside but can if that would make a difference.
4) PHD2 2.1.3a - r663 (my typo in the subject - I've fixed it).
5) I'll try attaching the debug log. I switched cameras part way through after I found subframes weren't working.

Would it make a difference if I'd restarted PHD2 after defining the 16ic? It picked up the SSAG straight away.

Andrew

[Andy Galasso]

Andrew,

I looked at your debug log and unfortunately did not see any clues there. Also, I compared the PHD1 and PHD2 code and can't see anything obvious for why subframes would work in PHD1 and not in PHD2 -- the code for the Atik 16 camera is very nearly identical.

The next thing to do would be to put together a special build that adds more detailed logging to see why you are not getting subframes. I will contact you off-list to see if you want to pursue this.

Regarding your question about restarting PHD: no, that should not make any difference. Going forward, it may be more convenient for you to create two equipment profiles: one for the Atik and one for the SSAG. Each profile has its own settings--things like pixel size, dark frames, calibration data, etc. When you switch cameras, you would just select the corresponding equipment profile, connect your equipment, and go.

Andy

[Andy Galasso]

In case anyone was following this conversation, Andrew and I figured out that the issue was that PHD2 is using full frames during calibration where PHD1 uses subframes. Subframes in PHD2 are working "as designed", just differently from PHD1.

There is a new enhancement request in the issue tracker (241) to enable use of subframes during calibration to better support cameras with slower download times.

Andy Galasso

[Andy Galasso]

Hi All,

I just committed a small change to how we do subframes that should address this issue.

Some background: in PHD1 subframes are displayed as soon as a star is selected. Subframes stay enabled until the user disables them in the brain.

Up until now in PHD2, subframes were only displayed when guiding. This made PHD2 effectively unusable for slow cameras because calibration was using full frames.

Now, in PHD2 r673 and later, PHD2 will display sub-frames as soon as a star is selected just as PHD1 does. If you are looping and have selected a star and are getting subframes, but would like to switch back to full frames to find another star, just click anywhere outside the subframe, and PHD2 will switch back to full frames. (We still need to update the help doc with this information.)

Andy Galasso

[Andrew Hood]

As I told Andy off-list, this makes my Atik16ic usable again.
Thanks for the sensible fix.

Andrew