Chris Guidry replied to the topic 'Manual Focusing' in the forum. 6 years ago

I am also interested in using the Ekos Focus module without a motorized focuser. I am a hobbyist at this point, and at the hobby level, I can't afford any of the automated focusers I've found.

I was thinking that you might be able to pull this off with a "human-in-the-loop" focuser driver (not unlike the Focuser Simulator). Imagine if you could start the autofocus procedure, but when Ekos wants to focus in or out, the driver prompts you with a window that says "Focus in by about 10%". You as the human focuser would do that with your telescope as best you can, then click a "Continue" button. That would feed back through Indi that the focuser had moved, and then it would loop on to the next frame, update the V curve, and so on.

I don't know if this is feasible, or what units you would use to express to the human-in-the-loop for how much to focus, but it would be a great boon to amateurs like me who are working with lower-end equipment.

Another thought occurs to me, is this something the Focus module already supports? If you setup Ekos without a Focuser, then continuously click "Capture", will the focus detection algorithms process the images?

Read More...