Ascom 2x2 binning causes exception

chad

Hi Mike,

For your current code, it looks like normal.

And we checked this part of code, we did throw this exception.

So I think maybe we can try to catch the log of it, and then try to find out what happened.

So Please send an email to me: chad.cao(at)zwoptical.com. I will email you how to catch the log.

Thanks

Chad

mikebj

Many thanks for looking into this Chad. I've sent you an email.

Best regards,

Mike

chad

As the camera parameters increase, there are many parameters that are associated. After initializing the camera, try to set all the parameters once. This will prevent many unnecessary strange errors.

Thanks

Chad

Bernard91

Hi,
I have exactly the same issue while calling ascom from python with an ASI ZWO camera, and I'm not sure what you mean by "try to set all the parameters once". Here is the code:

from win32com.client import Dispatch
camera = Dispatch("ASCOM.ASICamera2.Camera")
camera.Connected = True
camera.BinX = 2
camera.BinY = 2
camera.StartExposure(0.010,True)

If I comment out the two lines setting the binning to 2, it works fine. If I include these two lines, I get the following exception:

pywintypes.com_error: (-2147352567, 'Une exception s’est produite.', (0, 'ASCOM.ASICamera2', 'unspecified', None, 0, -2147220479), None)

How should I set the binning ?
Thanks!

Software@ZWO

Bernard91 Hi Bernard, I will test the issue you mentioned. I need to spend some time learning how to call ASCOM. In the meantime, you can refer to the code of NINA. NINA is open-source software, and you can find its source code (https://bitbucket.org/Isbeorn/nina/src/master/). NINA calls ASCOM and can set 2 * 2 binning.

Software@ZWO

Bernard91 rab722
We have written a very simple demo, please refer to it.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dIbJnonZmYmNBrUVOh9c4D4kJ1DV3hDJ/view?usp=share_link

rab722

I am also using ASCOM and getting an exception for 2x2 binning when trying to start an exposure. I'm using C# and the same code as Bernard91.

Rick

Software@ZWO

rab722 Our developer is debugging this issue. When there is any progress, I will let you know.
Best Regards

Bernard91

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. I'm not using C# so it's not too easy for me to test your demo. But looking at the code, I see that you change the bin values but that you don't actually start an acquisition with the equivalent of the StartExposure function. In my case, the exception occured only upon starting the exposure, not when I changed the bin value. Could you start the acquisition in your demo and see whether you can reproduce the bug ?
Thanks!

Software@ZWO

Bernard91 I will improve this Demo. When I finish, I'll let you know. What language do you use to develop?
Best Regards

Bernard91

I use python. Regards.

Software@ZWO

Bernard91
I think I know why your program crashed, because I also encountered the crash. I referred to NINA and MDL and learned how to solve this problem. After you set Binning, you need to change NumX and NumY to the size after Binning. I updated the Demo.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JpLt53jCkXTasKHTmXVB_QeBLEPHdJ8V/view?usp=share_link

Best Regards

Bernard91

Thanks a lot: It works ! Here is the python code below. No exception this time.
Best Regards.

from win32com.client import Dispatch
camera = Dispatch("ASCOM.ASICamera2.Camera")
camera.Connected = True
camera.BinX = 2
camera.BinY = 2
camera.NumX = camera.NumX/camera.binX
camera.NumY = camera.NumY/camera.binY
camera.StartExposure(0.010,True)