I agree that being able to raise the gain to 300 is definitely an improvement over putting the limit at 100. However, the camera is able to support gains above 300 and especially when using narrowband filters and imaging faint objects under dark skies, it can be quite tempting to want to use gains up to 500 or even 600. I've made some measurements and at least for my sample of the 2600MM, it seems that the read noise drops to 0.8e- at gain 500. That's significantly below the 1.15e- I get at gain 300 (I've measured 3.3e- at gain 0, so the measurements seem valid). I think the defaults for low (0), medium (100) and high (300) definitely make sense in Asiair. However, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to pull the slider up to 600. There are objects (one of which I'm currently imaging) where on average only 1-2 photons hit a pixel every minute, so having a full well of only 50e- (at gain 600) isn't a big deal even when taking 10 minute exposures. After all, that's exactly how the gain setting works for my ASI290MM Mini. I also don't think the ASI2600MM as a mono camera can be categorized as a "beginner" camera. As much as I appreciate your focus on beginners, locking more advanced users out of a feature of a quite expensive camera in a way that wouldn't actually complicate anything for beginners seems rather absurd. I really hope you'll make it possible to use the full gain setting range in a future release.
ZWO 2600 Gain Limit
Why not make an "Advanced" type menu to be turned on by a checkbox where you could have some different (advanced tuning settings)? It would be the best of both worlds, not confusing the newbies and giving the geeks the tools to play with? Or put it under "Experimental Features"?
Speaking about this gain limit - occasionally I would see the gain slider going higher than 100. I can't say when or how but I remember it happened. I think I started noticing it after I got the 6200MM and sometimes I was moving my AA between the two rigs (6200 MM and 2600MC) It might have been an interface glitch and no effect on camera gain but I can't know for sure because I can't replicate it.
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enaiman Speaking about this gain limit - occasionally I would see the gain slider going higher than 100.
This happens when you swap cameras in ASIAIR, and the previous camera allows higher gans than the new camera that is swapped in. I think it is just a UI bug, and it does not really allow the higher gains. I see it often enough since I often swap in an auxiliary "finder" camera/scope for plate solving an OTA whose camera has an FOV that is too small for ASIAIR.
Chen
enaiman in principle, I'd like the idea of hiding advanced features behind a setting. However, this can easily make the whole app development a lot more complex. I think for the purpose of gain setting, this is completely unnecessary. Having the Low, Medium, High buttons is more than adequate for beginners, but the slider should have the ability to go beyond the "High" setting if you know what you're doing.
Whatever stands behind that button press is the hardest part.I am a "newbie" to astrophotography but not to using telescopes or photography. I am about to purchase next week the ASI2600mc and ASIAIR Plus. I definitely think the full gain capacity of the camera should be able to be utilized in the ASIAIR plus. Please don't limit this important setting!!! Why in the world would ZWO do this? Makes no sense at all...
@Tech@ZWO#51333
I am a "newbie" to astrophotography but not to using telescopes or photography. I am about to purchase next week the ASI2600mc and ASIAIR Plus. I definitely think the full gain capacity of the camera should be able to be utilized in the ASIAIR plus. Please don't limit this important setting!!! Why in the world would ZWO do this? Makes no sense at all...
@Tech@ZWO#59893 I want to know if the same enhancement already applied to the ASCOM driver?
It is because we have been asking for extending the gain to higher value (e.g. 300) for the ASCOM. There are many use cases such as Focusing, EAA and Comet imaging near sunrise/sunset.
@Tech@ZWO I want to know if the same enhancement already applied to the ASCOM driver?
It is because we have been asking for extending the gain to higher value (e.g. 300) for the ASCOM. There are many use cases such as Focusing, EAA and Comet imaging near sunrise/sunset.