Cool, hopefully they can provide one. Until then, perhaps I can help?

Looking at a couple of other st4-enabled drivers on github, it seems there needs to be another driver built specifically for the on-camera guiding. Here are a couple of header files for st4 guiders. The first, asi-st4, might be more useful as it also has a separate ccd driver. They both share a similar format though, in that they provide the same methods. Perhaps we need a sv305-st4.h and corresponding cpp file? I don't yet have the sv305 sdk though, so I'm not sure what those would look like beyond what's already common between the asi-st4 and arduino-st4 drivers.

I'm presently using a SVBONY305 as the guide camera (not Pro) with PHD2 and the indi_sv305_ccd driver for Ubuntu Mate 20.04 (Raspberry Pi 4b) as a guider. No issues whatsoever. I have found that 4x4 bin works best, though, especially when plate solving. And yes, I realize this is a bit off-topic for a st4 discussion, but I felt it would be useful to manage expectations for binning. My guild scope is a 60mmx240mm.

Yes. Smoothly guiding at .5-.7 rms.

I have a f3.4 scope and with 2x2 binning @ 1.5 sec, I get enough stars to plate solve.

@gingerbreadassassin
Why not use pulse guiding, its better than st4.

Reinstalled ABerry (rPi4), installed sv305 and everything works! Now, before I delve into the minutiae, what are some common settings folks here are using for guiding with the sv305 (not the Pro version) ? From comments I'll probably use PHD2, and this will be the *first* time I'm using guided capture, so I'll be spending some time in simulation to get a feel. Any recommendations are helpful - my equipment are: azeq5 mount, sv305 guider through a 60mm SVBONY guide scope, ZWO asi294MC (uncooled) through an Orion f4 Mak Cass (extended to something like 2300mm and thus narrower effective fstop). Targets will start with moon and bright planets, then I'll want to quickly seek out some darker stuff. Thanks for the great help from the forum!

MG!IFOS=> That's the same camera/guide scope/computer platform I am using (except I am using Ubuntu Mate 20.04). I had the best luck with 4x4 bin (as I have said above) with PHD2. 1 second exposure is good for deep sky, but you are going to have to back it down a bit for the Moon and maybe Jupiter as well. About 50-60% gain seems to be a good starting point. I find the guide scope focuses with that camera set at about 2.3 using the scale on the tube. That might save you a few minutes of fiddling to get an image.

@JonCarleton Thanks much for the tips, I'll try with those settings tonight and report back

My mount (iEQ 30 Pro) can record PEC, but I must use the guide port in order to do so. That's the only reason.

Hi,

I also own an iEQ30 Pro, and you don't need an ST4 camera for PEC record. Using serial pulses works nice for me.

I did many tests in "real conditions" (on Mars) these days. No more "Gain settings" issues. Pull Request on it's way...
Thanks again Sarwar.
Sorry to be so late. Clouds, clouds, clouds.... One month of clouds...

I'm waiting for an SV305 Pro sample from SVBony, in order to fix the driver.

Best regards,

Blaise

Blaise,

I've been using my SV305 (standard) as a guide camera with PHD2. It does really well with the driver, and the gain error on startup isn't an issue with guiding. Thanks again for all your work!

I thought I RTFM, but I apparently didn't read far enough:
Page 29 of the manual (pdf)

Thanks! Will give this a shot when the skies clear up.

Thanks. Glad I could help in the slightest way.

Yes the skies have been poor lately in oxfordshire as well. but did get some clear skies yesterday and the day before. And the camera did stop responding on both nights after some use. Not entirely sure. logs show time out to calls. Restarting driver/indiserver did not help - had to power cycle the camera. Not entirely sure if it is the hardware or the driver to be honest. It has been cold, but i donot suspect that was the case. Did you notice just timeouts to calls made by the driver?

The last couple of sessions I used the Windows driver for the sv305, since that supports on-camera guiding. I was having stability issues even with that until I switched the camera to 8-bit. I kept getting what seemed like overexposed frames.

I do recall however, that when using the indi driver via astroberry, I would have to reseat the usb cable to get the camera to reconnect. Restarting driver/indiserver likewise did not help. This was about a month ago though, so I may be misremembering. I'll pay special attention to it the next chance I get.