Greetings. I started in this hobby during COVID lockdown and I’ve been accumulating equipment ever since. I have been going at this alone aside from watching videos and the occasional chat on CN. I would really like to sit in on someone’s imaging session who wouldn’t mind answering questions and helping with some specific problems I am having. I have several rigs but I can’t seem to get things up and imaging consistently. May be software may be methods but need guidance either way. Please help.
Greetings. I have been using Prism all in one software for guiding, focus , and acquisition. Also stacking and calibration. I haven’t found many people that use this software but it is what I’ve started out on and is my main software. I own PI, PHD2,Sharpcap, and several others as well as PS but I don’t have any of the AP plugins. The setup I am trying to image with now is a Orion EON 85mm with a ASI1600mm cooled. I use either my CEM40 or CEM70ec mount and have been “trying” to guide with an ASI385 on an 30mm ZWO guide scope.I am not having consistent success and would appreciate some guidance myself. I would love to see first hand how someone else acquires their data.
I’m not familiar with the prism software. You might try to make it to next cro member night weather permitting. Most likely some people shooting astro that wouldn’t mind you sitting in on their session.
Yep, like Aaron said, sitting in and seeing other people’s capture routines is a great way to learn. It is so much easier for me to just show someone than to try and explain it.
There are several ways to acquire data. That is up to you based on your preferences and what gear you use. But, the fundamentals are still the same, and the fundamentals are what matter.
Collect good data. In focused data. Well exposed data. Guide with low errors, and dither if you can. Dithering is amazing. Dithering improves your data tremendously.
How deep are you planning to image? If it’s a bright target, and you are at a dark location, you may be happy with just a few hours of integration time. I personally go pretty deep on my targets. 10hrs, 20hrs even a hundred hours of integration is pretty common these days if you want to get incredible, world-class details.
There is no shortcut or replacement for good seeing conditions, high altitude, and clear dark skies.
For example: 4 hours of integration at the Bortle-1, clear, high plains desert skies of Okie-Tex is better than 8 hours of integration at our observatory CRO. The 8 hours of integration at CRO is better than 12 hours of integration at home, in my Yukon backyard.
I won’t be able to make it this month but hopefully weather will be good next month. If anyone is doing some imaging in the mean time and would like some company let me know. I live in Lawton so give me some notice. I would love to set in on someone’s imaging session.
Honestly, no software can do “capturing” and “processing” excellently.
Nebulosity can do both… but just OK.
I need to know, are you using a Windows laptop to capture with or are you going into the ASI ecosystem?
WINDOWS LAPTOP: Capture programs; NINA, Backyard Nikon, Backyard EOS, APT, SharpCap, and a few others I am forgetting.
Guiding: PHD2…it’s free and works great.
Focusing: It’s easy to do yourself, but if you want to autofocus, if you get an ASI EAF, you can use the ASI studio capture software and it has autofocusing for free. So does NINA.
Dedicated astronomy cameras ALWAYS autofocus better than DSLR/Mirrorless cameras do.
I do not like you trying to guide with a little 30mm guide scope. That is only 120mm focal length and your imaging focal length is about 450mm. You want the guiding to be closer in focal length, this will make your stars smaller and tighter. I ONLY use the tiny guide scopes for doing wide-field imaging with camera and camera lens combos.
An affordable guide scope is the Orion ST80. It’s 80mm and has a Focal length of about 420mm.
I need to be next to you during an imaging session. I can watch you setup from the start and then check everything to see what is going wrong. Right now, I prefer the ASI ecosystem, but using a laptop still works fine and gets the job done.
Awesome. I love the feedback. I am using a primelucelab eagle4 for my software. It is onboard my scope so I connect to it via WiFi and use Remote Desktop on my laptop. I have been struggling with the 30mm guide scope. I have a ST 80 that is attached to my rasa 8 for guiding. I am thinking about a redcat51 for guiding with this setup it has a closer focal length and I could use it with my full frame Nikon. I am planning on going to CRO next month. Is there a time you would be going or setting up your equipment maybe I could coordinate?