Planetary imaging capture for macOS. Real-time frame quality analysis. SER video recording. Native on Apple Silicon.
$34.99 · One-time purchase · Requires macOS 15 or newer and an Apple Silicon Mac.
Laminar is a native macOS planetary imaging capture application built for Apple Silicon. It records high-framerate video of planets, the Moon, and the Sun through your telescope as industry-standard SER files, compatible with AutoStakkert, Registax, PIPP, and SIRIL. Designed as a macOS alternative to Windows-only capture tools like FireCapture and SharpCap, Laminar provides real-time frame quality analysis, atmospheric seeing assessment, and automatic target tracking – features that help you confirm focus and conditions while you're still at the telescope. Laminar supports cameras from ten astronomy brands — ZWO, PlayerOne, QHY, ToupTek, SVBONY, Altair Astro, OGMA, RisingCam, MallinCam, and Omegon — making it the most broadly compatible planetary capture app on macOS. Available on the Mac App Store for a one-time purchase of $34.99.
Before You Set Up
Weather & seeing conditions for planetary imaging.
Laminar detects your location at launch and fetches real-time weather data automatically—no API keys, no configuration. Two scores tell you everything: Conditions (0–100) evaluates cloud cover, humidity, and dew risk. Seeing (0–100) estimates atmospheric stability for sharp planetary detail.
At a glance, you'll know whether tonight is worth hauling equipment outside—before you commit to setup.
While You Capture
Real-time frame quality analysis.
The quality graph shows instantaneous sharpness (green), rolling average (yellow), and your session peak as you image. Use it as a live focusing aid: watch the yellow line as you adjust your focuser, and stop when it peaks.
Laminar helps you find the optimal focus position for your current seeing conditions. No more guessing. No more waiting until you stack to discover you were slightly off.
Never Lose Your Target
Automatic planet tracking keeps quality readings accurate.
Planetary targets move. SCT mirror shift during focusing, wind gusts, accidental bumps, or even the wobble from adjusting a rack-and-pinion focuser—any of these can push your planet out of a static analysis region.
Laminar automatically detects and tracks the planetary disk frame-by-frame. The Focus ROI follows the target, so your quality measurements stay accurate no matter what shifts the image.
For Moon and Sun imaging, switch to surface feature tracking—click on a crater or sunspot and Laminar locks onto that feature, monitoring focus on the detail that matters to you.
Works with targets from a small Mars disk to Saturn's rings, and from lunar craters to solar active regions.
Native macOS planetary capture with Metal GPU acceleration.
Built in Swift and SwiftUI, Laminar is a true macOS-native app — not a port, not a wrapper, not an Electron shell. Every pixel is designed for the Mac, and every performance-critical path runs on Apple Silicon hardware.
GPU-accelerated Bayer demosaicing via Metal compute shaders — 10–50x faster than CPU processing. Live camera preview, quality analysis, and SER recording all run concurrently without dropping frames. This is what native performance looks like.
SER Video Recording
SER video recording, playback, and QuickLook preview.
Everything you need for serious planetary imaging on macOS.
SER Format with Metadata
Industry-standard SER video format with embedded timestamps, observer info, and telescope metadata.
RAW8 / RAW16
Capture in 8-bit or 16-bit raw for maximum dynamic range and compatibility with all stacking software.
Dynamic ROI
Set a region of interest to increase frame rates and reduce file sizes without cropping in post.
SER Playback & QuickLook
Review captured SER files with full playback controls, quality analysis overlay, and macOS QuickLook previews.
Zoom & Pan
Pinch to zoom and pan across the full-resolution live preview for precise focus evaluation.
Multi-Camera Support
Connect and switch between multiple cameras. Laminar detects all connected ZWO, PlayerOne, QHY, ToupTek, SVBONY, and OEM partner devices.
Frame Drop Monitoring
Real-time monitoring of captured vs. dropped frames so you know your data is clean during capture.
Temperature Monitoring
Live sensor temperature readout from supported cameras, critical for thermal noise management.
Pre-Capture Checks
Laminar validates camera connection, storage space, and settings before you start recording.
One Tap, One Target
Pointed for Sun, Moon, and planets.
One-tap presets optimized for each target's size, brightness, and rotation rate.
Switching from Windows?
How Laminar compares to FireCapture and SharpCap.
The most popular planetary capture tools, side by side.
| FireCapture | SharpCap | Laminar | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform | Windows (Java, runs via Wine on Mac) | Windows only | macOS native (Apple Silicon) |
| GPU Acceleration | No | CUDA (Nvidia only) | Metal (all Apple Silicon Macs) |
| Real-time Quality Graph | No | No | Yes |
| Seeing Score | No | No | Yes |
| Auto Target Tracking | No | No | Yes |
| SER Recording | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Camera Support | ZWO, QHY, Altair, TIS | ZWO, QHY, Altair, TIS, ASCOM | ZWO, PlayerOne, QHY, ToupTek, SVBONY + OEM brands |
| Filter Wheel | Yes | Yes | Planned |
| Price | Free (donation) | Free / $20 Pro | $34.99 (one-time) |
FireCapture and SharpCap are excellent tools that have served the planetary imaging community for years. Laminar is built for Mac users who want a native experience without Wine, CrossOver, or Boot Camp.
One Ecosystem
From photon to archive.
The Mac Observatory Suite covers the entire planetary imaging workflow. Capture in Laminar, stack and sharpen in Strata, catalog in Meridian.
Swift & SwiftUI · Apple Silicon Native · Metal GPU · No Subscriptions
Compatible Cameras
10 camera brands. Native on Mac.
Laminar supports the most popular planetary imaging cameras through direct SDK integration.
Production — Fully Tested
ZWO ASI
All ARM64 SDK compatible models (SDK v1.41)
SupportedPlayerOne
All models
SupportedBeta — New in v1.1.0
QHY
QHY5III planetary series, QHY268, QHY600, QHY533, QHY294
BetaToupTek + OEM Brands
ToupTek Astro, Altair Astro, OGMA, RisingCam, MallinCam, Omegon
BetaSVBONY
SV305, SV505C, SV705C, SV605, SV905C
BetaMore vendors coming.
Have a camera you'd like supported?
Let us know.
Popular models tested
Pricing
No subscriptions. Buy once, own it forever.
Laminar
One-time purchase · No subscription · Yours forever
- Full camera capture & control
- SER recording, playback & QuickLook
- Sky Quality scores (Conditions + Seeing)
- Real-time frame quality graph
- Automatic planet tracking
- Surface tracking (Moon / Sun)
- Rotation warnings
- RAW8 / RAW16 · Dynamic ROI · Histogram
- 10 camera brands supported
Requires macOS 15+ · Apple Silicon
Download Laminar for macOS.
Start capturing planetary images tonight. No account required.
Download on the Mac App Store$34.99 · One-time purchase · Requires macOS 15+ · Apple Silicon
Common questions about planetary imaging with Laminar on macOS.