ASI1600MC-Cool 12bit bin2

donboy

With the suppled USB3.0 cable I am able to obtain frames in 12bit unbinned mode. But when I switch to bin2 or 3 or 4 the frames are still as if unbinned. I do not have this issue in 8bit mode. Win 7 and SharpCap 2.9.2709.0

Don

david staup

Sharpcap has 2 binning modes, hardware and software. On my ASI224 it is software binning, I'd guess it's the same for the 1600.

David

Sam@ZWO

you just cannot notice the change by eye because they are 16bit images

donboy

Win 7 & SharpCap 2.9.2709.0

With Hardware Binning set to Off in Raw 16 going from bin 1 thru bin 4 all I saw was image scale changes, there was no change in the image brightness. Attached are three .fits images with Hardware binning Off in Raw16 bin1, bin2 & bin3 all at the same exposure setting. In RGB24 or Raw8 doing the same binning changes did make a big difference in image brightness and required greatly reduced exposure as one increased binning. But when I set Hardware Binning to On in Raw16 then binning settings made a big differences in the preview images and required reduction in exposure with increased binning settings. It appears that Raw16 with Hardware Binning Off yields a binning average routine with reduced noise and no signal gain and with Hardware Binning On it appears as a summing binning routine with noise constant and signal gain. This is the opposite of RGB24 and very confusing what bit mode is what. What are the 12bit modes and what should I expect to see in the Preview image and what happens with png image size and fits image size?

Screen Shot 2016-07-19 at 11.49.28 PM.png

Don

Sam@ZWO

there is no brightness change

but SNR changes, the noise drop to half after binning

which means if you increase the brightness by 4X but the noise level is the same

we use add algorithm for 8bit mode and use avarange algorithm for 16bit mode

that's why 8bit looks brighter

donboy

In SharpCap for Color Space RGB24 it makes a difference if Hardware Binning is On or Off.

For Color Space Raw16 it makes a difference if Hardware Binning is On or Off.

So my question is this. What are the differences in the Preview Image for the four conditions for Bin 2x2?

RGB24 Bin2 Hardware Binning On

RGB24 Bin2 Hardware Binning Off

Raw16 Bin2 Hardware Binning On

Raw16 Bin2 HardwareBinning Off

Don

Sam@ZWO

RGB24 Bin2 Hardware Binning On

Raw16 Bin2 Hardware Binning On

sensor will use 10bit ADC and hardware bin2 output

the brightness of image increase 4X, noise increase 2X

SNR increase by 2X

RGB24 Bin2 Hardware Binning Off

sensor will use 12bit ADC, our software will use the high 8bits of 12bit ADC

binning on the 4 pixels together

brightness of image increase 4X, noise increase 2X

SNR increase by 2X

Raw16 Bin2 HardwareBinning Off

sensor will use 12bit ADC, the low 4 bits are 0 in RAW16 format

binning on the 4 pixels together, you will get a 14bit data

we save them in high 14bits of RAW16 format

brightness won't change, but noise decrease by 2X

SNR increase by 2X

donboy

RGB24 Bin2 Hardware Binning On

Raw16 Bin2 Hardware Binning On

sensor will use 10bit ADC and hardware bin2 output

the brightness of image increase 4X, noise increase 2X

SNR increase by 2X

Sam you say that RGB24 or Raw16 Bin2 Hardware Binning On are the same, yet the captured png in Raw16 Bin2 Hardware Binning On is 3 times larger than the png in RGB24 Bin2 Hardware Binning On.

Raw16 Bin2 HardwareBinning Off

sensor will use 12bit ADC, the low 4 bits are 0 in RAW16 format

binning on the 4 pixels together, you will get a 14bit data

we save them in high 14bits of RAW16 format

brightness won't change, but noise decrease by 2X

SNR increase by 2X

I don't understand how one gets 14bit data in Raw16 Bin2 Hardware Binning Off when using the 12 bits of 16 bits.

Don

Sam@ZWO

donboy wrote:

Sam you say that RGB24 or Raw16 Bin2 Hardware Binning On are the same, yet the captured png in Raw16 Bin2 Hardware Binning On is 3 times larger than the png in RGB24 Bin2 Hardware Binning On.

this is because RAW16 will save all the 10bit ADC data but RGB24 only save the High 8bit Value from ADC

donboy wrote:

I don't understand how one gets 14bit data in Raw16 Bin2 Hardware Binning Off when using the 12 bits of 16 bits.

you will get 14bit data if you sum up 4 12bits data

Sam@ZWO

I recommend you use software binning is there is no speed issue