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ASI676MC and FireCapture

ZWO ASI676MC Torsten Edelmann FireCapture AstroSharp Ltd SharpCap Planetary Camera Troubleshooting
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Doversole83 avatar
Doversole83 avatar
Hi,

I just acquired a Zwo ASI676MC for the Planetary season.
It is recognised by Sharpcap and working fine but FireCapture (2.7.14) doesnt seem to recognise it. I have installed the ZWO driver, ASI Studio and the latest ASCOM platform.
Any experience with this new camera please? It could be something obvious as I have never done any planetary images and thus never used FireCapture…

Thanks and clear skies!
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andrea tasselli avatar
andrea tasselli avatar
It will take time to catch up with new cameras so nothing wrong with you. You can get in touch with the developer to ask if they plan to add the camera to their supported ones one day.
Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar
I'm not sure why but I have had a lot of trouble with FireCapture and have long since switched to SharpCap as is it does everything I need to do with no issues.
Stllrr avatar
Stllrr avatar
I had this issue…I emailed the developer Torsten and this how I did it and got it working. 

If this is a very new model it could be that the SDK lib file FC uses here is too old so it doesn't recognize the camera. You could try replacing ASICamera2.dll in the FC program folder with the related file from the very latest SDK version from the ZWO website. 
Otherwise you'd need to wait until the next FC release which might take some time… Regards, Torsten
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Doversole83 avatar
Doversole83 avatar
I'm not sure why but I have had a lot of trouble with FireCapture and have long since switched to SharpCap as is it does everything I need to do with no issues.

Thanks.
Do you know whether SharpCap would allow you to guide on the planet as FC does?
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Stllrr avatar
Stllrr avatar
I'm not sure why but I have had a lot of trouble with FireCapture and have long since switched to SharpCap as is it does everything I need to do with no issues.

Thanks.
Do you know whether SharpCap would allow you to guide on the planet as FC does?

Yeah, it's a lot better in that aspect. Firecapture doesn't get much updates if any...I've had Sharpcap for awhile but was always intimidated by the interface.  I've been having problems making solar animations with firecapture and the applied flat frame so I've been forcing myself to use sharpcap and it's been pretty good so far. You can polar align and then you can use "go to" features under the tools section. It also has a focus assistant for planetary that also works with an EAF if you use one. Lots of useful and cool stuff to figure out in sharpcap.

Edit: depending on your focal length you might not be able to perform PA with the 676.
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Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar
It's a very capable program with some really nice features. Also, as mentioned, it's very usable for deep sky imaging too. It has a very reliable plate solver with slew and center, a very easy polar alignment tool and the ability to live stack, among other things. You will need to get the paid version to get access to everything but I have found it to be very much worth it, it's very cheap anyway. For guys who don't need all the automation that a program like NINA offers, SC is a good choice.
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Phil Cambre avatar
Phil Cambre avatar
Hello,

you should try this : https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/922843-firecapture-support-for-asi678mm/?p=13460421

You can also try to install directshow drivers and find the file to copy to firecapture folder : https://www.zwoastro.com/software/
Doversole83 avatar
Doversole83 avatar
*** RESOLVED ***

I received the following response from Torsten:

​​​​​​Please replace ASICamera2.dll in the FC program folder with this version: https://www.firecapture.de/download.php?file=ASICamera2.dll Let me know in case it doesn't work Regards, Torsten

This solution is working fine for the ASI676MC.
Great support from Torsten.

Last problem. Can somebody please clear the clouds in England?