What is SharpCap?
SharpCap is an easy-to-use but powerful Astronomy camera capture tool. It can be used with dedicated astronomy cameras, webcams and USB frame grabbers.
A wide range of features makes SharpCap suitable for many types of astro-imaging including Planetary, Lunar, Solar, Deep Sky and EAA (Electronically Assisted Astronomy). A clear and logical UI makes the program easy for beginners to use. Comprehensive documentation will also help those who are just getting started.
Main Features
SharpCap is an easy-to-use but powerful Astronomy camera capture tool. It can be used with dedicated astronomy cameras, webcams and USB frame grabbers.
A wide range of features makes SharpCap suitable for many types of astro-imaging including Planetary, Lunar, Solar, Deep Sky and EAA (Electronically Assisted Astronomy). A clear and logical UI makes the program easy for beginners to use. Comprehensive documentation will also help those who are just getting started.
Main Features
SharpCap is an easy-to-use but powerful Astronomy camera capture tool. It can be used with dedicated astronomy cameras, webcams and USB frame grabbers.
A wide range of features makes SharpCap suitable for many types of astro-imaging including Planetary, Lunar, Solar, Deep Sky and EAA (Electronically Assisted Astronomy). A clear and logical UI makes the program easy for beginners to use. Comprehensive documentation will also help those who are just getting started.
Main Features
SharpCap is an easy-to-use but powerful Astronomy camera capture tool. It can be used with dedicated astronomy cameras, webcams and USB frame grabbers.
A wide range of features makes SharpCap suitable for many types of astro-imaging including Planetary, Lunar, Solar, Deep Sky and EAA (Electronically Assisted Astronomy). A clear and logical UI makes the program easy for beginners to use. Comprehensive documentation will also help those who are just getting started.
Main Features
SharpCap is an easy-to-use but powerful Astronomy camera capture tool. It can be used with dedicated astronomy cameras, webcams and USB frame grabbers.
A wide range of features makes SharpCap suitable for many types of astro-imaging including Planetary, Lunar, Solar, Deep Sky and EAA (Electronically Assisted Astronomy). A clear and logical UI makes the program easy for beginners to use. Comprehensive documentation will also help those who are just getting started.
Main Features
SharpCap is an easy-to-use but powerful Astronomy camera capture tool. It can be used with dedicated astronomy cameras, webcams and USB frame grabbers.
A wide range of features makes SharpCap suitable for many types of astro-imaging including Planetary, Lunar, Solar, Deep Sky and EAA (Electronically Assisted Astronomy). A clear and logical UI makes the program easy for beginners to use. Comprehensive documentation will also help those who are just getting started.
| Intuitive and Easy to Use |
Simple and logical application layout using standard, familiar Windows UI elements |
| Video and Still Capture |
Capture video to AVI and SER format; capture stills to PNG and FITS |
| Planetary, Solar and Lunar Imaging |
Support for high-speed cameras including USB3 speeds for lucky imaging |
| Deep Sky Imaging |
Exposure time only limited by camera capabilities |
| Image Processing |
Apply dark frame subtraction and flat frame correction. Flat frames can be applied at high speed. |
| Live Stacking |
See live deep sky images build on screen, each frame aligned and derotated before adding to the stack |
| Polar Alignment |
Polar align using your guidescope – the easiest to use polar alignment tool available! |
| Full Control of Camera |
Full set of camera controls available alongside the capture area |
| High Quality Histogram |
Ensure proper exposure settings – use selection box to show histogram of a limited area |
| Save and Restore Camera Settings | Save as many capture profiles as you like, name them, manage them and configure them to load automatically when camera opened |
| Flexible File Naming |
Every capture file gets a unique name, you can configure how they are organised by target, date, time, etc. |
| Capture Settings Saved |
Camera settings used saved alongside every capture file – no forgetting what settings you used. |
| Quick Capture |
Pre-defined video lengths by frame count and time to get capturing quickly |
| Flexible Capture |
Run captures of custom lengths, run sequences of captures at regular intervals |
| Focus Aids |
Assistance in measuring quality of focus for planets, stars and surface images. Six focus score algorithms. |
| ASCOM Focuser Support |
Control your ASCOM focuser from within SharpCap, create graphs of focus quality versus focuser position. |
| ASCOM Filterwheel Support | Control filter wheels from within SharpCap for LRGB capturing |
| ASCOM Mount Support |
Adjust the position of your mount from within SharpCap, including spiral search to find objects just out of view. |
| Plate Solving |
Plate solve using AstroTortilla to sync your ASCOM mount to the automatically. |
| Zoomable Preview |
Zoom the preview in to see fine detail, zoom out to see entire frame from high resolution cameras. |
| Reticule | Movable, resizable reticule for alignment, centering, collimation, etc. |
| Scripting Language | SharpCap doesn’t quite do what you want? Add your own functionality using Python scripting. |
Supported Cameras
Supported Astronomy Cameras
 Basler cameras
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 Altair Astro Cameras |
 ZWO cameras
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 Celestron / Imaging Source Cameras |
 Point Grey (now FLIR) Cameras
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 Webcams and Frame Grabbers
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Cameras with ASCOM Drivers
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- Basler cameras that use the Basler Pylon drivers, including unique LX mode
- ZWOptical cameras
- QHY cameras
- Altair Astro cameras
- Celestron/Imaging Source cameras
- iNova cameras
- Point Grey (now FLIR) cameras
- Ximea cameras (Experimental)
- StarlightXpress Cameras
- Most cameras with an ASCOM driver
Supported Webcams
- Almost all webcams
- Special support for adjusting parameters of the SPC900 webcam in the settings panel
- LX modified SPC900 cameras (serial or parallel)
Using SharpCap
There are some great video tutorials on using SharpCap for Astrophotography over on the Tutorials board at the astronomyshed.co.uk forum (Note that you need to be a forum member to access the Tutorials). You can find more SharpCap video tutorials on Youtube. If you prefer written documentation, you can find it here.
Getting SharpCap
Head on over to the Downloads page.
Feature Requests
Got an idea for a new feature? Let me know by posting here. You can also see features suggested by others and join the discussion.