QHY5L-II testing?

[Demonperformer]

Has anyone else been involved in testing this new qhy camera?

The reason I ask is that I have found it to be a nightmare, with no instructions for the camera or the specific capture program that you have to use (not that they told me this!), and getting any sort of information out of them as to how things are supposed to work seems to be like pulling teeth. My first time taking part in a test, so maybe being unforthcoming is standard procedure, but strikes me as being a little counter-productive.

Maybe if there are others on here, we can form a sort of 'self-help' group?

[lennylovit]

Tich is testing one pm him and have a chat

Lenny

[sloz1664]

Hi DP,

Have you been on the QHYCCD forums to investigate similar problems. I must admit I tried using the QHY5LII guiding with PHD but it froze. Didn't try again.

Hopefully I will have a go at Jupiter in the next couple of weeks to see what it can do. Have you tried using the camera in sharpcap. If it works there is

a decent tutorial on using the software in Astronomyshed.

cheers

Steve

[ogruner]

Hi

I've just bought one of these and it has not worked on anything except SharpCap, so now I know the camera actually works. I like it and am keen for it to work on the software I normally use.

Have your (@demonperformer) early difficulties been resolved?

btw, I'm about to post my probs on the QHYCCD site anyway, but I just spotted this thread...

Oliver

[Demonperformer]

Oliver

TBH, I lost all interest when I could not get it to work and decided to wait until QHY produced an intelligent instruction sheet. In addition, the weather has not really encouraged me to do a lot.

Now I know it can work on Sharpcap, I might have another go - in August, when the long-range forecast is predicting about 7 hours without cloud, assuming they occur after dark.

[lennylovit]

got my qhy5l-ii to work on PHD as ascom late cam , not tested guiding only just finished making finder adapter

[tich]

That finder adapter looks great Lenny..... :icon_salut:

I've only done planetary with mine using EZPlanetary & there's a tutorial about a different camera but still using EZP allthough it is an older version it should get you started. Review of the new

The settings for the QHY5L-II should be set at this;

Also the smaller the video size the faster the framerate so you get more to stack. The only downside is that it tends to break up the files at 1.75GB files so I limit it to 1200 frames. But I still manage to get better results than what I've ever managed with the SPC

I still haven't got my set up tracking yet due to the weather but I have got it working with PHD. I did however had to get a second hand laptop as the one I was using had a sempron processor & just wasn't up to it. One second hand Dell D630 later & all is well, it has the bonus of a larger hard drive too which is handy as it can soon fill up after an imaging session.

[SnakeyJ]

I've read that the QHY5L-II is supported in Firecap 22 beta 37 - and did see some screenshots somewhere (prob qhyccd forums or CN). Slightly bleeding edge in development terms, but have chosen the mono version against the ZWO ASI120MM due to guide port and price. Some excellent planetary images posted so will confirm order on payday.

Buying mainly for planetary, but sure driver support in phd will get there very soon.

[lennylovit]

thank Tich, looks ok hope it works ok ,still got the nosepice on but no ir filter

[tich]

thank Tich, looks ok hope it works ok ,still got the nosepice on but no ir filter

If it's just being used for guiding then it should be ok without a filter, planetary on the other hand it would probably benefit with one. I'm not sure if the glass on mine is an IR filter or not although I have unscrewed the lens from a skywatcher 2X Barlow & screwed a filter in its place. Plus it acts as an extension tube when used with another Barlow so ideal for planetary imaging.

[lennylovit]

still got option of useing spc900 for guiding , one lx mod (yesyes style) and one normal spc900 with a Modern Astronomy adaptor ,

[tich]

I've still got my SPC & I'm not sure what to do with it at the minute.

[lennylovit]

lx mod it and use as a guider

[tich]

Might look into doing that as it could prove to be a handy to have another guider. Just a pity I lost my job as they had all the tools there for making up the boards etc needed.

[Leebert]

Like the look of the finder/guider adapter there Lennylovit. Was that a home build on a lathe?

I went for a QHY5IIL colour as a tester but have struggled to get a decent image out of it so far. I've seen better out of my SPC900. I have tried capturing both in colour and raw & debayering later. Capturing in raw increased the framerate quite a fair bit. I have also found the camera to be noisy and it defintely prefers a lower gain (less than 15%). It really needs dark frames too. Ironically, the best images I have obtained so far are Ha solar where a mono camera would be more suitable. I think it's just a case of getting settings right but I haven't got there yet. At least I know what the camera is capable of now that I have seen your image Tich - that and the video is fantastic.

I have only used the camera with the EZ Planetary software. I've not managed to get it to consistantly and reliably work with either Sharpcap or PHD.

[lennylovit]

with PHD set cam as ascom late cam works ok

yes home made out of the old backend of s/w finder and home made adaptor

[tich]

I went for a QHY5IIL colour as a tester but have struggled to get a decent image out of it so far. I've seen better out of my SPC900. I have tried capturing both in colour and raw & debayering later. Capturing in raw increased the framerate quite a fair bit. I have also found the camera to be noisy and it defintely prefers a lower gain (less than 15%). It really needs dark frames too. Ironically, the best images I have obtained so far are Ha solar where a mono camera would be more suitable. I think it's just a case of getting settings right but I haven't got there yet. At least I know what the camera is capable of now that I have seen your image Tich - that and the video is fantastic.

I have only used the camera with the EZ Planetary software. I've not managed to get it to consistantly and reliably work with either Sharpcap or PHD.

Thanks Leebert glad you like the image & video.

Thats funny you should say that as I weren't getting anything as good with my SPC although I did find when imaging Saturn the image was looking quite noisy & seemed to work better with sharpcap with the WDM drivers installed. Whereas Jupiter was capturing fine with EZP with very little noise showing on the screen. The weather hasn't helped I must confess plus I did have some hardware issues that have been sorted out now. With PHD as Lenny says you need to select ascom late camera as if you select the QHY5 it don't like it & tends to freeze up, I've yet to get my set up guiding but who knows when that will happen.

[Leebert]

I think you have hit the nail on the head there.

By this time last year, I had imaged or viewed all the planets bar Mercury. All the imaging was done with an SPC 900 and, if I remember correctly, there was quite a few clear nights in close succession.

This year, I would say I have had less than five imaging sessions with the QHY5II. Seems like I simply need more practice - weather permitting of course!

[nmoushon]

I finally got my QHY5-II (mono not color) working for guiding. I had to IM one of their tech people to figure out how to get it to work. He even had to remote access into my laptop to get all the drivers and my USB to work together. But I agree that the fact that there is NO manual and little to nothing on their forum almost made me return mine. Once I figure out how to get my mount to cooperate I can give it a better testing but so far it looks great. The picture coming through it looks good and I'm getting a decent amount of stars to show up with only 1 or 1.5 sec exposures. Thats through my 9x50 too in pretty heavy LP skies.