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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

FireCapture INDI connection

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Wandering about in the settings for FireCapture on Windows, I noticed an option for connecting to an INDI server. Has anyone tried this? Normally I just unplug the camera from my Pi and into the Windows computer to capture planetary video, but it might be nice to leave everything plugged in so that I can go back and forth from DSO to planetary, and leverage plate solving and such from my comfortable StellarMate OS environment.

I could just install and run FireCapture on the Pi, but I'm not sure how it would perform. I connect to the Pi with an Ethernet cable, so there's at least a chance of pretty good throughput if I don't bog the Pi down with the overhead of running the software locally. I've seen some complaints about poor performance but don't know if that's still the case with a Pi 4 and more up-to-date software. I'm running an ASI183MM over USB 3, and of course I'm capturing a small ROI when doing planets.
1 year 4 months ago #88496

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I suggest you download and install FireCapture 2.7.10 from FireCapture.de and test it out!
Astroberry installations come with FC already, and it runs well on RPi 4 4GB models. So I use KStars/Ekos/Indi initially for PA etc, then ‘disconnect’ the main camera in the appropriate Indi tab, minimise all KStars windows and then open FC. I run with 1FPS preview screen during capture to keep the CPU activity down, and look at the CPU activity and memory occupancy graphs just to be certain. I have found a bug which about half the time makes some dialogue windows seem unresponsive. Everything works, but the point of cursor focus and the object being targeted are horizontally displaced from each other [there are some screenshot example images on a thread on this subject I started in the FireCapture forum groups.io/g/firecapture/topic/94299847#2828].
Last edit: 1 year 4 months ago by Avocette.
1 year 4 months ago #88508

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I cannot get Firecapture to run on a 64 bit RPi4b. I guess the java runtime is only 32bit!
11 months 2 weeks ago #91854

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Now running FireCapture on RPi 5. Snappy! Have connected with INDI. Looks very interesting! Seems possible to Focus, Autoguide and more, but have not had time to do real testing yet.
Using Stellarmate 1.8.1 (64 bit) which I have started on same RPi5. Disconnected the camera since it must belong to FireCapture. Probably should disconnect all devices? Or should I use Ekos sor some functions like Kstars-Ekos goto and Platesolve objects?
1 month 1 week ago #99214

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Replied by Ed Lee on topic FireCapture INDI connection

You only need to disconnect your imaging camera. Mount, focuser & filter wheel can be simultaneously connected in FireCapture. Obviously if you ask both Ekos and FireCapture to perform conflicting actions it will get in a mess - ie don't use Ekos guiding and FireCapture guiding at the same time.

Personally I don't have a filter wheel or auto focuser but for guiding I can select my INDI connected mount in FireCapture, I assume the other devices work in a similar manner.

I'd be interested to know what fps you get from which camera with what resolution when using the RPi 5.
1 month 1 week ago #99218

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I'm running FireCapture 2.7.14 and KStars 3.6.9 on RPi 4 (4GB), 4 (8GB) and 5 (8GB). As Gustav says, the RPi 5 is really snappy,where there is more obvious latency in the GUI on the RPi 4s. I was also curious to see what the influence of the hardware was on the fps rates. I have an ASI585MC, ASI 533MC Pro and an ASI2600MC Pro, used mostly for different applications of course, but interesting to compare. Below are my measurements - I haven't done any for the RPi4 4GB:



I also only disconnect the main camera from KStars/Ekos/Indi when I am using FireCapture, and rely on the rest to drive the mount, focuser, and other periferals.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Alfred, Gustav Olav Lundby
1 month 1 week ago #99221
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Replied by Ed Lee on topic FireCapture INDI connection

Mmmm, interesting. So there's only a minor uplift from RPi4/8G to RPi5/8G.

I would say that there is something less than ideal going on with your ASI2600MC though. I run the same camera on a RPi4/8G and I see 120fps @ 400x400 in FireCapture and a typical download time for 6428x4176 in KStars/Ekos of around 0.6sec.

I have the camera connected through a USB3 hub which plugs into one of the RPi's USB3 ports and the flash stick storage directly in the other USB3 port of the RPi. If you have the camera and storage sharing a single USB3 port of the RPi (eg. both connected to a hub) that might go some way to explaining it. Of course, if there is some USB bandwidth problem going on, your throughput on the other cameras may be similarly hobbled but I have no comparison for those.
1 month 1 week ago #99222

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My Player One Saturn C (IMX533) has a Fast and a Slow mode, where the slow has less noise... I'm not sure but I think I saw about same speed on my fast laptop and on the RPi 5 using the Slow setting.
1 month 1 week ago #99223

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Replied by Ed Lee on topic FireCapture INDI connection

Yes, the ZWO cameras do support the FirecCapture 'High Speed' option that turns the ADC's down to 8-bit and this is what I measured as it's generally recommended for planetary imaging where we're typically not stretching the signal aggressively as we often do with DSO imaging. However the 0.6sec full res download in KStars/Ekos is at the full 16-bit so there's still a large difference there.
1 month 1 week ago #99224

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No! Not 8bit/16bit mode. I'm talking about Low Readout Noise mode; attached pic:
1 month 1 week ago #99225
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Replied by Ed Lee on topic FireCapture INDI connection

Oh right, that looks like an on camera dark frame subtraction to cancel read noise. I'm surprised they bothered on a IMX533 camera as the read noise is very low anyway. Personally I wouldn't bother with the LRN mode for planetary or DSO (where I'd be using darks during the stacking/calibration process anyway).
1 month 1 week ago #99226

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Speed comparison between RPi4 and RPi5 - Yes - that has prevented me from instantly putting an order in for a second RPi 5!

From the points about connections and the ASI2600MC speed - I have the same arrangement with a USB 3 hub and my flash drive both plugged in to the USB ports on the RPis. I haven't done any further tweaking to try to speed the ASI2600MC up. I am conscious that I sometimes have less than perfect cable performances with the USB3 cables, although these tests were all indoors.
Last edit: 1 month 1 week ago by Avocette. Reason: Something strange happened here when I tried to quote Ed Lee's post..
1 month 1 week ago #99228

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