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  #181  
Old 20-10-2016, 08:42 AM
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Another great thing .

I've seen pictures of people doing out reach on the street. They have a mini projector pointing to the ground - either on a road or a white sheet. So the live image is about 1or2 sq metres.

It's looks awesome. Saw one of M42. Another of the moon where kids could literally walk on the moon !!

That's outreach

Edit: link to pics
http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/43.../#entry7477753

Last edited by ChrisV; 21-10-2016 at 07:39 AM.
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  #182  
Old 20-10-2016, 05:10 PM
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awe, that's grrrreat!
and they're cheap as, these mini projectors.
since it's dark anyway, the low lumen capacity is meaningless, as well.

I use a projector at home for watching movies.
Sometimes, I project the image onto the ceiling while in bed.
Made me think of severely immobilized persons and how they can benefit from this.
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  #183  
Old 27-10-2016, 04:45 PM
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I've taken up on Howie's approach of using modified DSLRs (450D, 550D) for near-live viewing. He uses EOS utilities to capture and astrotoaster to do live stacking. You can pre-load flats and darks if needed (I"ve been doing this on my SCT when using focal reducers as the vignetting is significant).

Here's two shots on my refractor from earlier this month. 60sec exposures stacked 4 - 6 times in astrotoaster. These are the live saved shots, no post-processing (other than squeezing into jpgs). You generally see the image after the 1st exposure, anything extra is bonus noise reduction. I thought you would have to, but you don't need to push the ISO too hard - these were iso1600.

Lagoon/Trifid and dumbell
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  #184  
Old 27-10-2016, 04:59 PM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
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Gorgeous images there Chris
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  #185  
Old 27-10-2016, 05:12 PM
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I've run into some difficulties with my LN300 camera. I thought I had under control its tendency to convert dim colour images into b&w. But the material I had on its controls I now find I can't stop this from happening. Bit frustrating really. Makes me feel like I'm back at square one.

I've found that the good folks at Revolution Imager have the instructions for their Mk1 cameras on their web site. I've been reading over it and have found more ways to improve image quality with the LN300, giving me more ways on figuring out how to tame the colour again with this camera.

I guess too that much of the frustration I feel comes from not using it enough so despite the notes I have, I forget some of the background material too. I'll take the poor seeing conditions we currently have to experiment some more. Not a good look at an outreach night if I'm struggling with the camera,

Alex.
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  #186  
Old 27-10-2016, 06:11 PM
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Alex
Thanks. And I seem to remember that it will go b/w if it's in night mode . Needs to be day mode. Hope that works.
Chris
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  #187  
Old 27-10-2016, 07:00 PM
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I recently bought a Revolution R2, still struggling with all the settings. I managed to get a reasonable daytime view of the Moon a few days back, which boosted my confidence somewhat. Now it's cloudy for the next few days.
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  #188  
Old 27-10-2016, 08:48 PM
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Chris
Nice work. Those large sensors certainly provide a different perspective.

I have had a rush of blood and bought one of Steve Massey's G-Star Ex3 digitals. If the clouds ever go away I'll post some pics.

I haven't delved into the electronics but I suspect it might be similar to your ZWO.


Malcom
I have a Rev 1 with the ICX811 chip. If you want to contact me off-list I'm happy to talk about the settings I use.

Cheers
Robert (eskimo20@bigpond.net.au)
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  #189  
Old 27-10-2016, 09:55 PM
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Chris, believe it or not, the day and night modes have very little to do with the default of dim images going from colour to black and white. Yes, the mode needs to be in "day" to have colour, but in this case the colour reverts to black and white, and I can't remember the setting that needed adjusting. Ken James had mentioned this too in his discussions about the LN300. Silly thing on my part is that I thought I had noted it in my set of notes on the camera,
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  #190  
Old 28-10-2016, 06:47 AM
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Robert
That'll be interesting. So another 224 based camera with the ZWO and Altair. I'd like to see some darks to what the amp glow is like on it. And see what their software is like . great to see an Aussiecmakers into it !
Chris
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  #191  
Old 28-10-2016, 06:50 AM
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Alex
Damn. I thought that would be it . There was always talk about this problem but i thought it was mainly on the ntsc version. Is there a factory reset.
At least you make notes. I never do - and regret it later.
Chris
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  #192  
Old 28-10-2016, 06:53 AM
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Mal, good on ya for picking up the R2. Totally different camera from the R1 as the R1 and all the LN300 variants have been discontinued. Real bummer as the LN300 a very effective camera, though tricky camera for astro as it wasn't a purpose made item.

The R2 has similar features, and it has been modified more for purpose than the LN300. I'm curious to know how you go with it.

Chris, yes, it has a factory reset. That's the problem - I hit the reset button, and because of the changes I had done to it previously to get it working, along with my own stuff ups that I hadn't been diligent enough to keep a record of all the changes, the reset has wiped EVERYTHING I had changed, . I'm really having to reinvent the wheel now! All is not lost as I do remember that it was just a couple settings that needed adjusting, but they are obscure settings - that's the trick. Without those settings, the LN300 is just a stubborn beastie. I came to those settings after reading numerous posts on the LN300, which along with the experience I had with the camera, made it clear what I had to alter. But something got lost in translation and my notes were not extensive enough... Oh well...

Alex.
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  #193  
Old 03-11-2016, 06:33 AM
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LN300 Instructions and Parameters

Hi folks,

For those of you with one of the LN300 cameras obtained directly from China, you will be more than familiar with how terrible the instructions are, and how difficult it is to control for our Astro purposes.

Some people have a handle on controlling it, but the information they pass on is often lacking somewhere or another, making for incomplete help. Making things even more complicated is the range of parameters that need to be altered depending on the object being videoed, and keeping tabs on all the changes.

I've fallen into this trap all too often, the latest being the camera's tendency to default a colour image to black and white with low illumination objects. A real pain in the bum.

Thankfully the good people of Revolution Imager have posted a set of camera instructions and parameters for this camera which they used as their first stock camera. The instructions talk ONLY about those settings which affect astro, which is really what we want - all the other settings do not affect astro imaging, such as Privacy, Motion detection, etc. AND at the end of the camera menu guide is a set of parameter settings which are most effective for different objects, such as the Moon, Planets, and bright & dim DSO's. The instructions include both camera menu versions:

LN300 Instructions and Paremeters from Revolution Imager

Colour control

This aspect of the LN300 is the trickiest, and is controlled not just with setting the camera to "Day" mode, but also through Gamma, Gain and Brightness settings. And of course dependent on the object brightness. And then too exposure time also is a factor if not long enough or too long. BUGGER! Just when you thought it was now safe to go back in the water...

NOTE: Light pollution is a big factor in image quality, colour and contrast. With some familiarity of the camera, this becomes less of a problem.

~x.X.x~

Armed with the Revolution Imager instructions and the notes I had made over time, the other night I had another shot with my LN300 with my little DVD player monitor coupled to my eq platform mounted 8" f/4 dobbie, which is why I don't have screenshots to share (photo below is from several months ago). But...

OMG! What a difference this made! Finally not only was the colour stable, but I also had the finest control over the entire camera, and was getting the most outstanding image on my kids' DVD player 47 Tuc and M42 were ablaze on the screen, with wonderful colour, and the most lovely of subtle variations in 'smokiness' in M42. HOORAY! Now to tackle some galaxies. I'll also have another go at the Horse Head nebula, as I know this camera can pick it out from my home here in Sydney. I will try to get screenshots of these as I go,
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  #194  
Old 04-11-2016, 06:38 AM
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Sent a pm to Mike Salway re setting up a forum for EAA ... no rules re exposure times and number stacked ... just simple single rule ... if you use an elec device to view an image processed however you like out in-field at the time of observing with absolutely no tweaking of the image done after you pack up the observing session ... its EAA.
I feel that those who hate waiting for half an hour while 20 x 120 sec frames stack and reckon its imaging not EAA ... just don't read the posts by those who do! And those who do like that quality dont bother reading the posts by those who like 30 x 5sec shots or 5 x15sec. Waiting to hear a reply from Mike.
BTW ... link below to my latest HD vid of desktop showing live single 15 and 30 sec EAA using DSLR and AstroToaster at dark site. I tend to not watch forums much so if you have questions, I think by watching and pausing and digesting the info in the video you'll see the EOS settings, and the AstroToaster settings, and the advice re focal ratio so it will work for you. And if you need more info Google is your friend!
https://youtu.be/85CYhrOU6WU
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  #195  
Old 04-11-2016, 07:45 AM
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Thanks Howard. Great idea !
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  #196  
Old 04-11-2016, 10:32 AM
eskimo20 (Robert)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisV View Post
Robert
That'll be interesting. So another 224 based camera with the ZWO and Altair. I'd like to see some darks to what the amp glow is like on it. And see what their software is like . great to see an Aussiecmakers into it !
Chris
Chris

The Ex3 looks like a rebadged Altair Hypercam. The sofware is also very similar to Altair (you can download that on the Altair webpage).

Been cloudy for weeks here so I haven't had much of a chance to test it.
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  #197  
Old 04-11-2016, 04:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Howard View Post
if you use an elec device to view an image processed however you like out in-field at the time of observing with absolutely no tweaking of the image done after you pack up the observing session ... its EAA.
I like this definition.

Nice views too. Not only can you do video astronomy, you can also set up a go-to
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  #198  
Old 02-12-2016, 11:41 PM
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M42

First chance I've had between bad weather and work over the past 4-6 weeks. Got two hours last night before the clouds came in - but before that it was all good.
Attached is M42 which is the first thing I EAAed late last year.

On an 80mm refractor F5.9, no filter/reducer/guiding.
Modded 550D, 5x 120s subs, captured with EOS Utilities, processed live in Astrotoaster.
No post-processing.
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  #199  
Old 03-12-2016, 03:43 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Howard View Post
BTW ... link below to my latest HD vid of desktop showing live single 15 and 30 sec EAA using DSLR and AstroToaster at dark site.
...
https://youtu.be/85CYhrOU6WU
Excellent video and a real encouragement to try this in the field

Best
JA
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  #200  
Old 06-02-2017, 08:56 PM
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New ASI071 camera

Recently got an ZWO ASI071-MC cool. Here's the first go with it, on an 80mm refractor with UHC filter.
M42 2x 60sec
Eta Carina 2x 30sec.
Taken with Sharpcap, and processed live - histogram stretching while stacking (big wow, a stack of two).
No darks or flats.
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Last edited by ChrisV; 10-02-2017 at 09:47 AM.
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