WDM Driver and Guiding with the ASI120MM

james1ca

Is there any way to run the ASI120MM at its native resolution of 1280 x 960 using ZWO's WDM driver? I think when I select the recommended 640x480 RGB8 setting I'm getting an effective pixel size of 3.75 microns x 2 or 7.5 microns (BIN2) which is really too large for my short focus guide scope.

Note, I can't run the ASI120MM using the native camera interface in PhD 2.5 because I get frequent horizontal sync offsets in the image which cause the guiding to be incorrect. Also, I can't use the ASCOM driver because I have another ZWO camera that is using that interface for imaging under Sequence Generator Pro.

Sam@ZWO

all resolution should be listed, I attached a snapshot

there are 2 640*480 resolution, one of them is binning

but the supported resolution can be edited by visiting "video input pin"

and actually PHD2 can use ASI ASCOM driver too

different app can use different cameras through same ASI ASCOM driver

one app can only use only 1 camera through ASI ASCOM driver right now

firstc8

I am using a 224mc as guide scope now and Ascom driver. But if Sharpcap detects the same camera, even if another camera is selected, PHD2 would not take frames with 224mc. I had to close Sharpcap for PHD to start guiding.

I am now using another imaging software.

james1ca

Sam, so you are saying that I can select any resolution that is displayed in the list after I select a camera within the WDM driver interface? Thus, if I select 1280 x 960 RGB8 with an ASI120MM there will be no binning and the camera pixel size in PhD will be able to be set to 3.75 microns? I'm pretty sure I tried that combination one night and PhD immediately crashed.

Furthermore, given that there are two entries for 640 x 480 RGB8 is the first for BIN2 (effective pixel size 7.5 microns) and the second just a subframe at 640 x 480 but with a pixel size of 3.75 microns?

I'm going to give this a try and see if it appears to work. However, I can't check the actual images because it is overcast tonight so I have no stars that I can use to check the guiding or actual frame size output by the camera.

As for using two different apps where each is connected to one of two different ZWO cameras, well, I've NOT gotten that to work reliably in any configuration with ASCOM (ASCOM or with native driver support in PhD). However, I'm still working to see whether I can use the WDM interface in PhD to improve my success in using both an ASI120MM (in PhD) and an ASI174MM with ASCOM in Sequence Generator Pro.