SteveNickolls

Hi, just a thought have you obtained the wrong hand controller there are a number of options out there? Our sponsors website has a range of hand controllers-https://www.firstlightoptics.com/search/for/Hand+controllers/ You could also drop a line to Celestron US (I've not found Celestron UK ll that helpful tbh in the past). Let's hope you get the matter sorted out quickly. Cheers, Steve

Users of the Eagle Core might be interested in recent developments at PLL HQ-they have moved to a new, larger location 😊 - Cheers, Steve

From a simple measuring off the screen and calculation the total pass band width measured at 50% transmittance looks around 36 nm with the Hb/OIII 24 nm and Ha 12nm. Others might have access to exact figures. Cheers, Steve

iPolar for me, a very quick and accurate process. Definitely recommend. Cheers, Steve

Hi Rémi, Thanks for our reply. I've had a look on the Internet regarding 'PTP Mode' and here's a few links that might shed light on your issue. It might refer to Picture Transport Protocol allowing the transfer of images from DSLR's to computers- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picture_Transfer_Protocol And- https://www.howtogeek.com/192732/android-usb-connections-explained-mtp-ptp-and-usb-mass-storage/ Now I have no idea what this listing of your Canon 450D as PTP Mode means in the Eagle Core App, whether that is what should be reported or not. When I use my DSLR's they come up as the Canon model not as PTP mode. I have read of problems with PTP where an SD card did not have enough space and in line with PLL's recommendation in the user manual to reformat the SD card before use it seems an easy thing to first try. Let me know how you get on. Cheers, Steve

Good morning Rémi, Yes as you mention the Canon 450D is one of the DSLR's the Eagle Core works with, it was included in the v2.6 upgrade on 12.7.2019. I haven't tried the Eagle Core with the Canon 450D however. There are a number of approaches you can try to get the camera working with the device but generally I would comment that using either my Canon 600D and modified 700D DSLR's the Eagle App is very sensitive to everything being done in the right order. Do it incorrectly and you can't image. Inability to set exposures or exposure time is a common result where the routine is changed. If you have another supported DSLR you might wish to also try it on the Eagle Core as a form of trouble shooting.. There are some pre-requisites with the Eagle Core device, the paper manual I have stresses, "For a correct use, DSLR camera has to be connected to one of the EAGLE CORE USB ports, set in Manual mode (or Bulb if your DSLR camera has this mode), used with a free memory card (we suggest to format the memory card before use with the EAGLE CORE) and without auto noise removal (auto dark) or mirror lock up." I would add I now leave the camera's 'Live View' on during imaging as turning it off seems to affect the Eagle App process. When connecting up my equipment I have noticed that you have to be careful to have all the cables to the various pieces of equipment connected before powering on the Eagle Core. I might add here that maybe the USB cable to the DSLR is swapped for another one just in case the cable is faulty or is making poor connection with the camera's USB port. You could also try another of the Eagle Core's USB ports too. I then switch on power to the Eagle Core which in turn powers on all peripherals (in my case the mount and power to the DSLR) but note at this time the DSLR is not turned on at the camera. After the Eagle Core initialises with its bleep I then access the Eagle App on my tablet and quickly turn on the power switch on the DSLR. On the Eagle App on your pc/mobile/tablet you will see the screen with the two main divisions of 'Guiding' and 'Acquisition'. Enter the menu using the hamburger icon and synchronise time then return to the main screen and (if you are not guiding) the 'Acquisition' option. You should find that you can access to the right hand side of 'Length of exposures' the various settings such as bulb etc. and you can either choose a pre-determined exposure length or use the slider below this (to the left of 'Exposures (s)) or manually input the time you want to expose to. You similarly can alter the ISO using the drop down menu. You might want to check that you have the DSLR's own preferences to saving the exposures as both a JPEG's and RAW files since this is what the Eagle App uses to display. The last image taken being the JPEG of your last exposure. I hope this gives you something to work on Rémi and that you get the Eagle App working properly. If you are still having issues I strongly advise contacting PLL, I have found Fillipo a very receptive guy willing to assist. I would suggest writing down the sequence you do things to help him diagnose any issue. Do let us know how you get on. 😀 Cheers, Steve P.S. We have a thread on SGL for the Eagle core if you are interested-

Hi Rémi, thanks for your post. It's a little late tonight here to begin thinking what may be the trouble with your DSLR and the Eagle Core but tomorrow I will try and get back to you. I know that when first using the Eagle Core you need to follow the manual quite strictly, as an example making sure your camera's SD card is reformatted etc. I will look through the manual and we can try to find the solution to the issue you are experiencing. You could also contact PLL but it might be best that we go through the set up process first. Best regards, Steve

Something to look forward to this afternoon-thanks indeed for the 'heads up'. Cheers, Steve

Building one is more than half the fun and will occupy you in these Coronavirus plagued times. 🌛 Good Luck whichever way you decide to go. Cheers, Steve CLOSED-Barn Door Tracker Project.docx

Hi, PM sent. Cheers, Steve

Hi JEM_svca, thanks for your post> Is this something you want to PM me about or maybe post elsewhere on SGL as there will be a lot of wiser heads able to discuss the matter with? Cheers, Steve

Hi JEM_svca, pleased you liked the video it does open up a whole perspective on imaging time, of course the darker the location the longer you can exposure for but there is a diminishing return even at a dark site. The advent of higher QE% CMOS sensors has quite shook up the orthodoxy but in a good way. I don't know of any publication that goes with the video but there are more videos- Now on the matter of calculating the optimum sub exposure length if you have SharpCap Pro the sensor analysis ability will do all this for your sensor and imaging location. There is also this online tool-http://tools.sharpcap.co.uk/ which at present is the way I calculate my optimum sub exposure levels. This tool is synonymous with what is discussed in the original video. It is a subject I've looked quite into and Craig Stark made comment on this and other related matters on cloudy nights forum http://www.stark-labs.com/craig/articles/articles.html and I copied them- Signal to Noise Craig Stark CN Forum.docx I hope you find them useful. In practice I've found the real world results from following the various methods lead to the same end, which is reassuring and gives confidence on the subject. His present Internet site has this page- https://www.stark-labs.com/downloads/index.html from which there's this video (I've not watched it)- I hope at least some of this is helpful to you, I'll certainly look forward to watching the last video. Enjoy watching and reading! Cheers, Steve

Hi JEM_svca, yes thanks it was great to get outside once more and try out the guiding. It was a leap of faith moment in how the Eagle app would perform controlling guiding but I have to be led by the results. Now it does lack most of the nuances of PHD2 but there's enough under the bonnet to actually guide by. Unfortunately there's no means of recording the guiding graph as a record to review the session as with PHD2. I do sometimes wonder if as a species imagers are inclined to being too fastidious and capable of drifting into OCD. 🤔 Even when I have used PHD2 I got an error after calibration but that didn't subsequently affect performance as far as I could tell. I understand that while PHD2 calibrates the RA and DEC axes provided the outward movement in each direction is ok during calibration it doesn't matter if the return leg is poor, it will still guide. Using quite short FL optics (500 mm) and relatively lightweight set up helps in not putting pressure on the mount mechanics that would be the case with longer FL optics or a heavy payload. It's good to know that you can get 12 minutes of guiding with guiding in RA alone, that's the benefit a dark location bestows. As I image in a light polluted area my usual set up is tailored around fast optics (f/2) and fairly short FL's (50-135mm) and employ a 12nm Ha filter which while cutting out most extraneous light pollution does increase the exposure times required. However this can be trimmed to around 5 minutes as explained in the video below without discernibly affecting overall quality- There is a tool here that can be used to determine the skyfog of your imaging location to then calculate the optimum sensor exposure level-https://tools.sharpcap.co.uk/ I'm exploring guiding with slower optics such as my StarTravel refractor 500 mm FL and f/4.9 which will be of value when wanting to capture smaller targets such as galaxies with my unmodified Canon 600D. Hope you get some clear, dark skies to image under. Cheers, Steve

Here's the content of the notes accompanying the update, it lists all the various firmware changes back to May 2017, I see there's a pdf manual too, wonder if it is updated in any meaningful way? The manual which I've dated 3.3.2020, bit of a beast at over 65MB- EAGLE-CORE-user-manual_3_3_2020.pdf I'll have a look today at what changes are in there and post up. The pdf manual with the v2.7 release looks the same as that with v2.6. 🤔 And the firmware revisions- Last version 2.7 02/03/2020 1) Added support of SESTO SENSO 2 and ESATTO focusers Version 2.6 12/07/2019 1) Added support of Celestron equatorial mounts with NexStar+ handpad 2) Added support to Canon EOS 450D and Nikon D90 cameras Version 2.5 26/03/2019 1) Added support of computerized mounts 2) Added support to Canon EOS R and Nikon Z6/Z7 mirrorless cameras Version 2.4 01/02/2019 1) Added Auto Dithering feature 2) Added support to Canon EOS 1100D 3) Improved sequences control Last version 2.2 06/09/2018 1) Added support to guide cameras ASI120MM-S, ASI120MC-S, ASI178MM, ASI290MM, ASI290MC 2) Added support to Canon EOS 500D, 650D, 800D, 80D and 5D Mark IV Version 2.1 15/05/2018 1) Added support to Canon EOS 5D Mark II Update version 2.0 17/04/2018 1) Added support to SESTO SENSO robotic focusing motor 2) Added support to Nikon D5300 camera Update version 1.0.20 01/12/2017: 1) Added support to Canon EOS 450D, 1300D, 750D, 70D and Nikon D800E cameras Update version 1.0.15 24/07/2017: 1) Added support to Canon EOS 60D and 60Da 2) Added support to Canon EOS 5D Mark III 3) Added + and - button to decrease/increase Y scale of guide graph 4) ÒguidingÓ button is now disabled during Calibration Update version 1.0.10 31/05/2017: 1) Fixed an even that could pause autoguide 2) Fixed guide star selection with a tap on the screen 3) Increased system speed Update version 1.0.9 24/05/2017: 1) Fixed the exposition times for the QHY5L-II camera 2) Now the image resolution of the QHY5L-II camera is correctly set 3) Added option black/white for the guide camera 4) "matrix width" and "matrix height" values are now correctly visualized 5) Added the parameter "Guiding rate" in "Advanced settings" 6) Added support to Nikon D750 camera

Thanks for the heads up on this kunene, I'll take a look later and see what the firmware update includes. 👍 Cheers, Steve

Hi Bishtek, I'm pleased the links were of value. When you have to image under light pollution you have this imposed ceiling of skyfog as the limiting factor in all the work. However not all is lost as developments in filters, camera's with higher quantum efficiencies and fast optics can bring reasonable results within your grasp on modest equipment. As you are off to university you might find opportunity to image especially if the local conditions are better than at home. There may well be an astronomy club at the university or a local town or a nearby dark site. It's amazing to realise the advances made in the past 3-4 years in the hobby so who knows what position you will be in after your studies to buy equipment not conceived of yet? Best of luck with your studies. Cheers, Steve

It’s been quite a while since I purchased my Eagle Core and accessories back in the end of July last year but last night conditions and finally having got rid of a persistent cold was finally able to try out the device to control guiding on my Celestron CG-5 mount. After polar alignment using my iPolar device, star alignment, pointing towards the target to be imaged (M45) and connecting to the Eagle Core’s wi-fi hot spot the Eagle App identified my ASI120MM-S guide camera automatically and I then entered the diameter and focal length of the guide scope (an ZWO Mini guide scope) in the Advanced section of the App. I adjusted the gain to around 22 and had the App automatically detect a guide star which it did and then proceeded to perform the calibration steps. This was achieved without any issue and I then started the guiding process and watched the progress of the guiding instructions on the graph in the App for a few minutes. Then I repeated the process of selecting a guide star, calibration and actual guiding several times and felt confident that the process was robust and working. I then proceeded to take a series of 41 images each of 180 seconds duration at ISO 400 with my 500 mm focal length SkyWatcher Startravel achromat refractor while guiding for a little over the following two hours. The final image was stacked with x50 flat and bias frames and x10 dark frames in Deep Sky Stacker and processed using StarTools. In between tranches of 10 exposures I rechecked the guiding graph and was very pleased at the small amount of guiding changes taking place. Unfortunately the App does not seem to retain a record of the session for reference. I did earlier today enquire with PLL over the units on the guiding graph and was informed they are in arc seconds. Despite my mount having an issue with DEC backlash I was very happy with the Eagle Core guiding performance and look forward to many more imaging sessions. Cheers, Steve

Hi, here's the video- And the online ShsrpCap tool- http://tools.sharpcap.co.uk/ Finally Samir Kharusi's article- http://www.samirkharusi.net/sub-exposures.html Look forward to seeing your future images. 🙂 Cheers, Steve

Hi, thanks for posting. Yes it is frustrating imaging where light pollution dominates whatever you do to such an extent. As rotatux says a filter will help somewhat. You are also constrained by tbe alt-az mount field rotation and the build of your mount as to what duration of exposures you can achieve. The question of optimal exposure time is discussed in a video by Robin Glover (SharpCap) which I will send you a link when I'm on my main pc. You can work out the optimum exposure time if you know a few things, the SQM-L of your imaging location, the read noise of your camera, the f-ratio you want to image at and using Sharpcaps online tool (I will send you the link). It might offer you a means of optimising what you can image with using what you have and what might help you in the future. As regards ISO a higher ISO just brightens the image you see (on live view), it does not collect anymore incoming light or make the sensor more sensitive. It is important to get the image away from the left hand side of the histogram on your cameras live view but overdoing ISO will merely move tbe histogram more to tbe right giving you less room to later stretch tbe stacked images. I tend to use an ISO of 400. I would advise testing different ISOs to see if you actually see much difference in the exposure time allowed and resulting image. Perhaps the best you can do is to take plenty of short 30 second images to improve the SNR of the stack as best you can within all tbe limitations you have. In the end light pollution is placing a very restrictive glass ceiling on your imaging. I have a link to an article about short exposure imaging that may prove interesting to you which again I will send to you. Cheers, Steve

Thanks noah4x4 for this advice and information. As part of this hobby I keep an astronomy log and this includes plans and ideas for the future. While I need to actually enjoy using tbe Eagle Core and get to understand its uses more there are plans for the future. One will be to make the leap to an astro camera and the means to operate it with as few wires as possible; your advice will be most useful then. 😁 I do hope soon, weather permitting to post on using the Eagle Core for guiding both my CG-5 and Star Adventurer mounts. Cheers, Steve

Thanks so much noah4x4 for going step by step through the process of the build, I will also take a look at the wireless set up posted on the EEVA forum. Certainly the price of a higher specification Eagle is beyond my resources and I would look to assembling a DIY solution at that time so I'm really pleased for all your advice and direction. 👍 Can I enquire which NUC you finally settled on for the build, it would be useful to know the ballpark level of cpu and RAM required for smooth operation? Co-incidentally I have been looking at NUC's recently as potential replacement for my main pc and am astonished how little mains power they use and how capable the units are. I've built numerous pc's in the past but took my eye off developments several years ago only to be recently wowed and particularly by M2 SSD's and NVMe. I have been looking at SharpCap Pro for some time now for when I do move a step forward an purchase a proper astro-camera and it seems that over time the solutions are merging in terms of what they can do and what devices are controlled. I have noted Sharpcap is not yet advanced to accommodate DSLR's as it can other types of cameras which personally is a pity in so many ways but it also denies getting more used to the software ahead of when the transition to a dedicated astro-camera occurs. I hear what you say about best compatibility between software and astro-camera's and I think any future build is best done within a quick time frame after researching compatibility and user reviews. Tech always moves forward but you need a system that integrates well and will perform for several years into the future. Cheers, Steve

I'm afraid not, I bought one of these with the Eagle Core- https://www.365astronomy.com/primaluce-lab-eagle-compatible-power-cable-for-canon-eos-550d-600d-650d-700d.html I see the price has increased since I got mine last year. 365 Astronomy have a very wide range of these DSLR power cables, Flo have some also. I'm not sure if it's something one could piece together as the part includes a voltage regulator to convert the 12V output to 8V input for the DSLR. That's a very tidy, non intrusive and balanced control system you have there noah4x4 you will be very pleased to have designed and built it. Have you thought about making available a guide to choosing parts and assembly (my apologies if this is something you have already done on SGL)? Cheers, Steve

I understand what you are saying kunene about the price of the PLL accessories. With my Eagle Core I purchased from the cheapest suppliers their proprietary cables to power my CG-5 mount, the cable to power my Canon DSLR's, the 5A 12V mains unit and a 140 mm dovetail and small clamp. The unit came with a cigarette lighter connection to a power tank but I haven't used that to date. There's no denying the design of the items and quality and I had to wonder if it was being made in the EU rather than China that had made prices so high and seemingly anti-competitive, just a thought. One of the strengths of the PLL PLUS system of accessories is their wide range of matching parts. You can buy the cable connectors though kunene if you are ok at assembling to your own cables, I can't comment if their price is high or not, here's a few UK links- https://www.365astronomy.com/primaluce-lab-eagle-type-connector-for-power-in-and-5a-or-8a-power-out-ports.html https://www.365astronomy.com/primaluce-lab-eagle-type-connector-for-3a-power-out-ports.html https://www.365astronomy.com/primaluce-lab-eagle-type-connector-for-power-in-and-5a-or-8a-power-out-ports.html Money presently being tight I have held off buying a pair of their 105 mm tube rings and instead been able to employ an extra SkyWatcher tube ring and some perseverance to connect the Eagle Core securely above my telescope (where there's a will there's a way). I'm experimenting on how to position the guide camera, I may likely just connect the guide scope foot to the 1/4" screw on the top of the Eagle Core. The black tape and plastic are my poor man's way of giving some dew protection to the exposed upper holes in the Eagle core casing while allowing air circulation. 😀 In practice I have found the Eagle Core powers my mount and DSLR without any problems. I use a Lynx Astro 4 port dew controller and two Astrozap dew bands that I already owned but separately power this from the mains power reel as it is placed under the mount. If I hadn't been so mean I could have purchased the 10A 12.8V PLL power supply but it would have meant paying out for PLL dew bands and which frankly would have exceeded my budget. These accessories are all transferable of course should you decide to upgrade to a higher model of Eagle in their range. Cheers, Steve

Thanks kunene for your posts 👍 it can't do any harm us contacting PLL and suggesting improvements to make the device more useful and desirable given the growing competition out there. It's hard not being a programmer judging what is possible given the limited resources (cpu and memories) of the Eagle Core. I certainly like the idea of being able to add external memory, now could that be used to empower additional capabilities for the Eagle OS? Allowing support for CMOS cameras would go against the ethos of the Eagle Core being for DSLR's and as you rightly mention they have a cadre of more capable mini pc's able to do just that and provide for the functionality required by astro-camera users. Will look out for the v2.7 update, there's not a day that goes by without me checking for a firmware update on thei site. I'd like to think some small ideas put to them will be added to the feature set. Yes, if the latest ASiair Pro had come out some months earlier I might well have gone that route but the Eagle Core has its own distinct advantages, its weakness is perhaps its small percentage penetration of the market compared to ZWO which has a large presence due to its extensive camera range. Having said that Chinese firms are suffering loos of manufacturing capability and sales due to the coronavirus and the controls in place, that won't resolve for some time. One important element PLL could do would be to rewrite the manual for the device, it is not without spelling mistooks and needs a thorough review with one up to date manual being available to download. That doesn't take any system memory or cpu capacity on the part of the device just experience, time and patience to write it up. Here's looking forward to v2.7. Cheers, steve

Hi noah4x4, with the higher priced Eagle versions it does seem there are big savings should you be willing and able to self build. I guess it becomes more difficult if you can't or daren't try and build an alternative. As I mention above the Eagle range has a lot going for it beyond the mini pc concept but how much one values this is down to each imager to weigh up in their mind. We tend to be folks who like to tinker so there's an appeal of building stuff cheaper and learning much in the process. I dont think any product is so simple to be the equivalent of plug and play. Cheers, Steve