HiloDon

Hi James, I think it’s how the software reads the data. Other software like Nebulosity has the same options. I’m no expert on this, but I think the firmware establishes the read pattern and the software must match it. The color Lodestar as far as I know is CYGM. The SX RGB cams like the Ultrastar were RGGB. Then for some reason SX changed the firmware to something different. It doesn’t affect the image other than the color is messed up and you can see the bayer mask grid. Don

Hi Bill, Version 3.4 was primarily developed to be compatible with some of the higher res SX cameras like the 674, 694 and 814. For some reason they would only work in Bin X2. Simon added the extra color space options because SX uses different ones for different cameras. Not sure why, but I just purchased a SX674C Pro and it uses a GRGB color space. SX will send you new firmware to change it to RGGB if you would prefer that. Other than that, I am not aware of other changes. I think the Starlight Vision is just a name change, but I think it’s only a Windows version. Hope this helps to clear things up. Don

Hi Rob, I was a bit late reading this, but as soon as I saw your M100, I looked for the SN. I think you got it! We had something similar happen to my friend and me a couple of years back at the VIS. We captured the Leo Trio and there was a new SN in M66. This was a couple of days before the discovery. My friend did submit it after the fact and they acknowledged the submittal. It helped to establish the approximate start date of the SN. We didn’t discover it, but we did have the earliest capture of it. Don

Hey, Doc. Welcome back! Great video. I agree that the Lodestar and Paul’s software were inspirational in EAA/VA. The late great Nytecam opened up a whole new world to me and many others. Things have change and advanced some over the past couple of years, but the reliable Lodestar with SLL still gives a lot of pleasure in viewing the night skies. I really liked your Eyes Galaxies. Hope to see you around a lot more. Don

You are correct, James. There was a lot of heated discussion on this in another forum. Here is a good description from a reliable source that explains the difference. One thing to also note is that binning a CCD color cam will lose the color, whereas the CMOS color is retained albeit less effective. https://www.atik-cameras.com/news/binnning-the-differences-between-cmos-and-ccd/ Don

Hi All, Just to keep things simple, I think Grant’s suggestion appears to be a good next step. I think the label of just Video stuck because it was the initiator of what Carl calls fast imaging. For a while when this started, all you had were fast video cams. Then along came Paul Shears, Nytecam, and Martin who developed a simpler one USB cable system that uses an SX Lodestar with Paul’s brilliant Lodestar Live, now Starlight Live. Not really video, but gives similar results. I believe CN actually went from calling the forum something like Video & Electronically Assited Astronomy to just EAA. Video still plays a role in live viewing, and it has a clearer meaning to many. So, I like Grant’s proposal. Whether it helps to bring more posters, only time will tell, but it sure couldn’t hurt. Don

Thanks, Stash. One of the things I have noticed in this hobby is the lack of beta testing by the seller before the product is marketed. Seems to be a common thing, especially with new cameras for EAA. I enjoy the testing part of new astronomy equipment. I try to be objective and identify the value and usefulness of a product, so others don't waste their money. There have been some ideas generated about Freestar that could make it work. Nytecam has suggested an aperture mask that should, in theory reduce the SA significantly. It's an easy thing to make, so I will try that next. It won't be as fast, but it will have the wider FOV. I'll report back. Don

I do my focusing at five seconds. It was just as bad. The overly large stars are due to out of focus light from spherical aberration. Exposure won't change that.

I think this article explains things in simple terms. The problem as stated by some earlier is an uncorrected spherical mirror. It will cause spherical aberration equally across the entire field, even center stars. That's why the Hyperstar lens is needed. https://starizona.com/acb/basics/equip_optics101_spherical.aspx

Had some clear skies last night and did a comparison of the Freestar and Hyperstar on my Evo 6 and Lodestar X2c. All settings were the same. M8 was the target. If I tried to get better focus on the bright stars, the smaller dim stars would go out of focus. I'm hoping someone can explain what's going on optically, but it's not good without Hyperstar. First one is Freestar, then Hyperstar.

I tried to get some comparison last night with the C6. Skies looked pretty good, so I aligned and set up the Freestar with the Lodestar. Went to the Rosette Nebula. Tried to get focused, but some of the brighter star were showing severe aberrations. Kept playing with the focus and the inevitable happened. Clouds moved in and it started to rain. Gave up at about 11:00pm. The initial view was not promising. Much of what some of you said seems to be true. I will try again, hopefully this week some time. Don