Does anyone use Nikon Camera Control Pro for astrophotography?

[MyRomeo]

I've been given a copy of nikon camera control pro 2 for use on my macbook with my D5100. Had a quick play yesterday (just in the garden, not astro) and I am very impressed with its capabilities.  

I set up my D5100 on a tripod with a Tamron 70-300 telephoto lens, popped the camera in Manual mode with AF turned on and plugged it in to the macbook. Fired up the software and had full control over the camera including exposure settings, jpeg/raw settings, bracketing, HDR, intervalometer and live view. It also offers a one press auto focus as well as AF fine tune +/- that drive the focus motor one step at a time. 

I set the lens to 300mm and framed my target, a toy monkey... I then used live view on the mac to 'zoom' to 100%, this showed only the monkeys eyes (little black dots against a white background). Pressing AF brings it to where the camera/lens thinks focus is. I could then fine tune it with the +/- buttons, it was a couple of steps out. I am thinking this technique could be superb for finely focussing on stars and as I can then control the intervalometer settings from the macbook it would make a great wide field imaging setup?

You can set where images are stored too, Card, PC or both.

Any thoughts?

[kalasinman]

Lucky you! For the rest of us it's $139. Similar features to BYN (Backyardnikon) which I'm using as a beta test ( B2b) for free. If it's like BYE (Backyardeos) it will retail under $50.

I think I'd get a beta copy of BYN and compare astro specific features.-Jack

[kalasinman]

BTW AF doesn't work with astrophotography. A Bahtinov mask and/or FWHM is required. I'd say take a look at Nikonhacker firmware upgrades to get at least the live view, and true RAW improvements. Does the Nikon package incorporate a PHD interface for guiding control?-Jack

[MyRomeo]

I think for focus i'll manually focus to near where it needs to be, switch AF back on then use the fine tune controls to achieve absolute focus. I know AF will freak out with the dim light from stars. 

I've got the nikonhacker firmware on the D5100 for lossless RAW and live view enhancements already

No sign of a PHD interface which is a real shame but my mount doesn't guide anyway, thats the next stage and my wife says thats not an appropriate expense given were expecting a child within the fortnight! 

[Lonestar70]

I think for focus i'll manually focus to near where it needs to be, switch AF back on then use the fine tune controls to achieve absolute focus. I know AF will freak out with the dim light from stars. 

That would only be possible when using the camera with a lens attached... even then, the autofocus will have problems as you say (freak out).

If you attach the camera directly to you telescope (no lens) then all AUTO FOCUS functions in the camera will not work.

Another issue is that for astro work you will need to use long exposures (other than for the moon and a couple of the planets) greater than 30 seconds which is, as far as I can recollect, the maximum exposure length the nikon intervalometer will allow.

This means you need to use 'BULB' mode on the camera with an external intervalometer plugged in to the accessories socket on the camera (The Nikon software does directly not support bulb mode longer than 30 seconds)... you can still save your frames with the Nikon software though and also make use of the liveview features for manual focussing along with a Bahtinov mask.

It is all a bit hit and miss when using Nikon camera's which is a real shame, since IMHO their optics are better than some other makes... not that this applies when using a scope as the lens.

I wish you and your good lady all the best for your forthcoming child... that will certainly impact your hobby time  

Best regards.

Sandy.

[MyRomeo]

Oh good point regarding bulb mode.. I have no idea what the software allows! I'll check that out tho.

I didn't consider using my dslr with the scope as I had no luck with that, probably as the big focal length increase has made long exposures impossible due to lack of decent alignment. I would of course love to get that working. I need to use a 2x barow to achieve focus tho which gives me a 1300mm focal length! If I can only get 8 seconds at 300mm I'm all but buggered at 1300mm!! I think I managed 1 second before which was really lame!

I could build a motorised focusser for the scope to allow remote focussing, that wouldntbe too much work.

[Lee_P]

I've used Nikon Camera Control 2 with my D700, and at first it seems good but the 30-second limit is a real killer for astrophotography. I haven't yet come across any software that does allow for longer exposure times with this particular camera though. Might be worth a thread on this Forum, come to think of it...

Digicam Control (http://digicamcontrol.com/) may work well with a D5100.

[MyRomeo]

Ok so i've got it all hooked up now and have been playing. Some good news! Here is my workflow:

1 - Connect camera to computer via usb cable and connect remote intervalometer to camera remote/gps socket

2 - Power up camera and launch nikon camera control software

3 - set shutter speed to anything other than bulb, 1/100th for example. 

4 - activate live view in the software and manually focus on a bright star, switch to AF and use the +/- focus controls to fine tune the focus

5 - set the aperture and ISO settings desired via the camera control software

6 - switch OFF live view and set the shutter speed to Bulb (again in nikon software)

7 - using the remote intervalometer set up your exposure time, number of exposures and delay between as desired and press the start button on the intervalometer

Enjoy! The software then transfers captures to the computer as they complete. The only time the camera has been touched during this time is for initial focus and framing. Its not an ideal solution but it works pretty well! 

Now, bring on september and its darker evenings!

[Lee_P]

Thanks, this is really helpful. Having the images transfer automatically to the PC will make life a bit easier

[kalasinman]

As I don't have an EQ mount..yet..I am limited to short exposures to get round stars, then stack them. @12mm 10 seconds for clean stars and no more than around 30 subs before rotation overwhelms DSS. @ 150mm 3 sec subs. (there WILL be an EQ mount :-) ) .

The D5100 seems pretty good up to ISO 800, even with my 25c night temps. I'm on ISO 400 currently. I use the small Nikon wireless remote (E*ay $10). I don't need it yet, but I saw a hint online that if one is in bulb mode, engages liveview, that any length exposures can be made. A little hard on batteries. It works! I've got a 20' cord with a battery replacement adapter and voltage converter designed so I can run the camera from the trucks ciggy lighter.-Jack

[Lee_P]

Where did you get the cord, battery replacement adapter and voltage converter, Jack? I'd like one for my D700.

[MyRomeo]

I can see me needing a mains adaptor at some point but I do find the d5100 battery good for a few hours of imaging. Regarding bulb mode and the wireless remote, it doesn't need to be in love view and works that first press starts the exposure, second press stops the exposure so you could set a timer and expose for as long as you dare. I've pushed my d3100 to 20 minutes before in darker sites without any issues.

As for ios I find the d5100 quite usable past 800, even 3200 is usable at shorter exposures, say under 30 seconds.

On exposure vs iso... Anyone know what offers the better detail? Longer exposure of higher iso? Obviously a combination of both would be ideal!

[Lee_P]

You can try long exposures *and* high ISO, then stack to reduce the noise.

[freiform]

Regarding Bulb Mode, I built myself a shutter cable that uses a serial port's RTS level, similar to [1]. This is connected to my Laptop using a RS232-USB adapter. DigiCamControl can use this in Astro-Mode and consequently the only exposure limit is your sky or light pollution. 

[1] http://www.beskeen.com/projects/dslr_serial/DSLR%20SERIAL%20CABLE%20-%20NIKON%20TWEAK.pdf

[kalasinman]

Lee_P  Sorry I didn't notice this earlier. The cord is offered by Ioptron as a car charger cord, the battery adapter is called an EP-5A  and is searchable on E*bay, the voltage converter is a simple DC buck converter, very cheap on that auction website. BTW if you get a cheap buck converter, you'll want to adjust the output voltage to 8-9V before connecting to the camera. The output must have a small resistance across it, or it won't function. A 200 ohm or so suffices, then make your adjustment per VOM.--Jack

[kalasinman]

Lee_P Apologies, the D700 uses a different ac adapter set up than the D5100, D7000, etc. The above fix won't work. If you want to design your own, buy an EH-5B for D700, plug it to mains and check DC output, then cut the cord, use the 12v cord above and buck converter to correct VDC--Jack

[Lee_P]

Thanks for the info, but I have a working solution now: an adapter (similar to this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EH-5A-EH-5-AC-Power-Adapter-For-Nikon-D50-D70-D70s-D80-D90-D300-D300s-D700-/251616996486?pt=UK_MobilePhones_MobilePhonesCasesPouches&var=&hash=item3a958aac86) but cut in half, then soldered to a cigarette adapter. A very simple solution as it's just a single cable. No battery needed in the D700. Works a treat.