Issues with focusing in Planetary mode

starwalker

After recent firmware update I have issues with focusing on planets. For example, previously I used to see Jupiter bands in 4x after reducing the brightness, now after locating the planet, in 2x and 4x mode Seestar is not able to focus on Jupiter at all, moreover, thereafter Seestar seems to stick and cant recognize the planet, if you move it to other direction and and try to return back. Turning off/on helps to locate the Jupiter again only, then the story with autofocus repeats. I've tried manual focusing, however it doesnt helps either, I still cant see any details, as I used before, only bright round spot. Meanwhile, autofocusing in stargazing mode works fine, as before.

I've seen similar reports from other users in fb, wonder whether ZWO is working on this bug and if there is any way to fix it until next firmware update?

Support@Seestar

starwalker Can you post the relevant video or pictures for me to see?

starwalker

Pls find attached

img-2499.mp4

2MB

Support@Seestar

starwalker Based on your image, I don't think it would be possible to get it in focus from 2× or 4× down I think there are not enough stars to identify, so it would cause the Goto to fail. This one is overexposed for Jupiter, I think you should manually offset some of the exposure time and gain might help.

peteATR

I also have the same issue since last update. Not properly AF on Jupiter, Saturn etc.

marvindj

I had the same experience last night with jupiter. I hit autofocus and it never seemed to recover and I had the same image as shown. Whether this is a result of the 3.68 firmware, I can't say. Not critical for me since I don't really use Planetary, but I can see why those who do are concerned.

My4All

...same for me as 'starwalker' describes including necessity to power-off

starwalker

Support@Seestar
There seems to be misunderstanding. It's planetary mode, so stars are irrelevant here. The problem is not in overexposure, but in focus only, if you check 2nd part of video above, you can notice that I tried to reduce brightness almost fully till -93, but it doesnt help. Manual focusing doesnt help either. In attachment you can see how Jupiter used to look like in x4 bss autofocus, before the issues appeared after recent firmware update.

Support@Seestar

starwalker I know I chose the Scenery mode, but for some reason I couldn't turn on the solar system mode, I just briefly explained it, I hope you can understand. If you have a severe overexposure, you can see if you can manually adjust the exposure (turn it down, try slowly) and lower the gain (around 5) to see if you can get better results. Because sometimes autofocus doesn't work very well on Jupiter.

9NbaoGiN

Same problem trying to focus on Jupiter since the last firmware update. Seestar tells me “autofocus failed” after every attempt to autofocus. Also unable to manually focus due to VERY slow response to manual controls.

Daemon42

That's not actually the manual exposure mode in planet mode. Manual exposure mode shows two sliders, one for shutter speed, and one for gain. For Jupiter in particular turn the gain down to 5 (no more, no less) and then tweak the shutter speed until you can see banding on Jupiter. You simply cannot get the exposure right using the default exposure mode even with the slider all the way to the left.

As for AF it's hard for the S50 (especially if in the city) to ever see the planet as anything other than a big fuzzy blob, until it changes the focus which will cause the blob to leave the focal plane, the exposure actually drops a little, and you get these sorta crisp lens flares which it thinks are sharper than the object it's trying to focus on, and it gets stuck with the focus far far from where it should be.
That's why.. the stars are relevant. It's easier just to shift the scope a little off the target, set the exposure for the stars, let it AF on the stars (which it will see as crisp little points) and then move it back to the planet and set the exposure as needed.

starwalker

Thanks for advices, guys. The problem is that I do know, how Seestar can show the planets by default and that's not the way it looked before, something is really wrong with newest firmware. And it's not just me, you can find plenty of the same reviews from others.

Support@Seestar

starwalker I can tell you categorically that it's not a firmware issue, autofocus is hardly a good situation when shooting Jupiter, but I understand our team is already working on optimising it.

itsluisf

I’m new to Seestar so am still figuring out the app but I’m having similar problems capturing Jupiter. My Seestar S50 is experiencing the same behavior. This is the best I could get at 1x. At 2x and 4x I wasn’t able to focus and then it wouldn’t work again at 1x unless I turned it off and back on. Question: what’s the difference between planetary and star modes? It sounds like different options are available in each but sounds like you can use star mode to capture planets? Hopefully not a dumb question. Any insights are appreciated! Lastly, is there a FAQ somewhere that has these sorts of insights? Many thanks!

Support@Seestar

itsluisf Autofocus will generally not work well when photographing Jupiter, and it is best to focus with manual focus. It is possible to photograph planets in stargazing mode, but this can lead to overexposure of the planet. We are in the process of optimising the autofocus for shooting planets like Jupiter in Solar System mode.

starnet59

itsluisf The S50 is not really suitable for planetary observations. If you push it, you can see the bands of Jupiter (maybe) and the rings of Saturn (sort of) but that's it. In stargazing mode the planets are overblown, but you can however see the moons of both Jupiter and Saturn and watch them move over one night, or on consecutive clear nights. Uranus, Neptune and even Pluto are valid targets too, but they look like any other star. Mercury is really hard to see because of proximity to the Sun and Venus is way too bright.

Apart from the occasional comet, there are loads of other solar system targets that could be interesting, literally hundreds of asteroids and they move fast enough to leave short trails even in one hour exposures. Unfortunately, SkyAtlas misplaces these targets and they are almost never where they are reported to be. You have to use a real tool like Stellarium to find the coordinates of these things and then the silly GoTo RA/Dec feature masquerading as My Favorites and hiding into the Search dialog to catch them. This is a bug I reported a long time ago that ZWO decided it was not worth fixing. Another reason to dislike SkyAtlas.

HimmelueberBerlin

Same problem here. Autofocus makes it worse. Furthermore, if I tap on one of the buttons for manual focusing, the rectangle for autofocusing becomes active and Seestar does an autofocus to the left where the buttons are located.

Support@Seestar

HimmelueberBerlin We do not recommend using the autofocus feature for capturing Jupiter. Achieving good photos of Jupiter with Seestar is a challenge, but we will be optimizing the autofocus functionality in future updates.

Brille

I also have a lot difficulties to focus Jupiter with the actual firmware.

Support@Seestar

Brille Trying to get good pictures of Jupiter with Seestar is a challenge.

krisscross78

Support@Seestar how about for some default start settings (Gain, Exposure time) for the planets? And your hint, use the autofocus near the Planet on a bright not to bright Star.
It helps me.

Support@Seestar

starnet59
Dear friend,
Our team has been continuously following up on the issue. Please don’t be too upset, as we are constantly working on improvements, but as you know, it takes time.
We are not ignoring your requests, and we’ve been working hard to make improvements. We truly appreciate you choosing our product and bringing up the issue. As for SkyAtlas, we are still actively updating it.