gregg_zwo Why on earth you would like to use filter while polar alignment? What is not necessary or is detrimental, should not be used if you want best possible accuracy is rule in almost everything. Filter cuts good part of light away and affects on how stars are formed in sensor.

    Hara Because it has worked fine in previous versions of the software. I focus first with the NB filter, before doing a Polar Align. If I pulled the filter I would have to refocus after PA. I'm using wide field, fast optics, and tracking is excellent.

    • Hara replied to this.

      azskyguy
      What ever. If you want to do against laws of physics and make your optical path worse than optimal and meet difficulties, it is then your own problem.

        Hara Not a useful response. It doesn't polar align with no filter either. It's a software issue, introduced in the latest version. And it does a fine polar align using the all sky method. Doesn't sound like the filter does it? Don't blame the messenger.

        Hara Because there are telescopes in which you need to screw in the filter and then screw on the camera. Doing a polar alignment without the filter, shutting everything down, removing the camera, screwing in the filter, and finally screwing back on the camera may, and in many cases will, screw up (pun intended) polar alignment.

          wvreeven Then get either a filter wheel or drawer. Just because it may have worked before does not mean it was optimal

            It’s impossible to effectively use the ASI2600MM duo without being able to assign different gain values to guiding camera depending on the chosen filter. Is this a feature currently worked on?

              KF7DS I have a ZWO filter wheel and it introduces tilt. I have a ZWO filter drawer and that works. But I am not the only guy out there with telescopes like this and not everyone can buy either of them. As azskyguy explained, PA with a filter inserted used to work and now it doesn't and that's the issue here. ZWO should fix this instead of forcing users to buy more hardware.

                The WiFi dropouts are getting annoying, especially with the 2.3 beta. It's not that it temporarily drops out, it permanently drops out (for that session) and I have to power-cycle the ASIAir to get it back. It sucks because I can't leave the rig unattended when this happens. It seems to be getting worse with each release. I have a very robust and clean switching 13.8V 20A power supply so power is definitely not an issue. It will go for 3 or 4 hrs then all wifi drops. It could be a hardware issue but my other Airs are currently 2500 miles away so I can't test this.

                janekosa
                What scope are you using it with and how narrow are the filters? If you are using a SCT at f/10 with 3nm filters then I would expect it to never work.

                  wvreeven Thanks for the affirmation. People are skeptical but I've been a serious imager since 1998 with all kinds of great equipment and if I say PA doesn't work with the latest software it simply doesn't work. It's crazy to have to argue on a forum with people who don't have the same equipment. They are well meaning, but don't have the same equipment/software. So that's three of us that I've seen so far with the same problem. It's new hardware from ZWO, and actually I like it a lot.. but it's got some bugs.

                    azskyguy
                    Another thing that comes to mind is that with new Firmware you can use 2x2 binning on PA. While this makes things faster, it also makes stars „smaller“. Maybe too small for the star detection algorithm.
                    Did you try on 1x1 binning?
                    Another thing, did you turn on tracking before PA manually? I see it normally is off and with longer exposures star detection can fail.
                    I use the 2x2 binning and it works fine.

                    I know, just another wild guess. But there must be a reason since it still seems to work fine for most people. And it seems to be rather specific to your scope/ filtert camera/ mount/ sky combination.

                      janekosa
                      Hi Janek, yes you have highlighted one of the main disadvantages of DUO camera configurations (from ZWO or any other manufacturer): the Main camera & Guide camera must both go through the same filter. With an OAG or a separate guide scope, you can have different filters for each camera.
                      In theory it should be possible to have the guide sensor gain be dynamically programmable during a run, but I have no idea whether ZWO is working on this feature or not.
                      My only suggestion would be to over-boost the guiding gain as high as possible to allow working with your narrowest filter during a run, without being too high to cause serious problems guiding with your widest filter. Of course I realize this may not always be possible with a particular set of filters used during a run.

                        Sonixx it appears to be specific to the new 2600 MC Air cameras. And the latest software update. It worked fine before the update. Then it stopped working. I can PA using their All Sky method so that is my workaround. I'm not binning, and the mount is tracking. And as I said, it worked, and then after a software update, it didn't.

                        WiFi dropout issues are still a problem. A minor (but annoying) bug is SD card formatting doesn’t work. My SD card is formatted for exFAT but when attempting to format I get “Format Failed”. I have to pull the card and format it on my Mac.

                          hyiger its totally irrelevant what scope I use, but it’s Askar 140apo at f/7 if you’re curious.
                          Guiding works absolutely fine with the right settings. The issue is that those settings are (obviously) different for an L filter and a 5nm Oiii filter. One requires gain 60, the other requires gain 600.
                          I’m not complaining on the camera. I’m complaining on lack of software support for the camera.

                          Now I get problems as well.
                          Slew to new target and Meridian flip failed two nights in a row. I could upload the bug report for the first incedent bit for the second night I could even not reconnet to ASIAIR stating that password is wrong. Had to cold cycle the asiair then I could connct again. But the logs were gone from that night. On the last night was only in dec in parking position the next Morning. RA was at the limit.

                          Still hanging on image 'loading' with latest beta on 2600 MC Air. Logs sent. New beta was supposed to fix it.