SharpCap 2.9 Now Available

• Polar Alignment – select Tools -> Polar Align and read the on-screen instructions

Live Stacking:

• Save to 16 bit fits by default (32 bit option in drop down)
• Many options now persisted
• Pause button added to temporarily stop adding new frames
• Better file naming
• Add digital gain and other new star detection tweaks.
• Stretching changed to a simple gamma stretch with white/black levels
• Histogram stretch settings automatically saved/restored
• Negative pixel values supported in the stack which improves dark frame subtraction effectiveness
• Fix dark subtraction in live stacking when using RAW capture mode

Focus Score:

• History Chart completely re-written – more detail, more interactive, can now pan & zoom
• Add new focus score measurement based on image contrast range
• Add new focus score measurement based multi star FWHM
• Add new Fourier Transform Focus Score
• Add smoothed trace to bar chart
• Add mean value to bar chart when using an ASCOM focuser
• Add new graph of score vs position when using an ASCOM focuser
• Remember size/position of selection area
• Bahtinov mask focus score now has standard history chart like other score methods

Cameras & Hardware:

• QHY Cameras – Updated SDK – Support QHY5III cameras
• ZWO Cameras – Updated SDK – Fix bugs and support new models
• Altair Cameras – Updated SDK – Fix bugs and support new models
• Celestron Cameras – Updated SDK – Fix bugs and support new models
• Test Cameras – Improved planetary test camera
• RAW Mode – Option to force debayer pattern in raw modes for cameras that lie about their pattern
• Hardware – Mount control via ST4 support added on ZWO, QHY, Altair cameras (Experimental)
• Hardware – Focuser Control – You can type a value in the focuser position box

UI:

• Fix remembering size of docked controls and other UI bugs
• Add hot keys for Quick Capture (Alt-Q), Live Stack (Alt-L), Snapshot (Alt-A)
• Control Panel – Groups can be re-ordered with drag and drop. Order saved per camera, can be reset from Options menu
• Old style UI controls and the options to enable them removed
• Auto option added to the Zoom drop down that will fit the frame in the available space
• Reticules – add more outer rings on the circular reticule – helpful for collimation
• Show countdown of frames being written to disk at end of capture
• Histogram – do not show jagged histograms in 10/12 bit modes
• Histogram – option to choose between Logarithmic and Linear vertical scale
• Histogram – Exclude the value for the blackest level to avoid a big spike at that point in linear mode
• Histogram – Fix vanishing histogram bug

Misc:

• Scripting – many improvements and bug fixes to enable more use of Python scripting
• File Naming – creates sequentially numbered files instead of multiple files called 0001 in different directories
• File Naming – more informative name for single frame captures.
• Dark Subtraction – Fixes to dark subtraction applied incorrectly in RAW mode
• Dark Subtraction – Fix colour order wrong in dark stacks on colour cameras
• Dark Subtraction – Fix dark creation in 16 bit mode (was half intensity)

Bug Fixes:

• Bug fix – polar alignment with non-English numeric settings
• Bug fix – incorrect bayer pattern saved to SER file when using horiz/vert flip on ZWO cameras
• Bug fix – ensure only a single frame is captured when taking a snapshot on high speed cameras
• Bug fix – focuser in/out buttons were not working
• Bug fix – fix issue where memory could become exhausted if the UI became bogged down
• Bug fix – changing colour space could sometimes cause a crash
• Bug fix – capture time limit display incorrect
• Bug fix – number of frames captured during dark capture and other limited frame captures was incorrect
• Many other minor bug fixes