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Bizibilder

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Posts posted by Bizibilder

  1. Progress!!  I thought I would try my old astro-mofdified 1000D to see what would happen.  So I set it up and recharged its batteries (not used it for 4-5 years!) and uninstalled EOS utilities again, rebooted and re-installed.  Connected the camera (1000D) which I knew to be working off the computer and Hey Presto!!  full camera control via EOS utility.  Now all I have to do is collect all the settings/attributes of the 1000D and see where they differ from the 1100D.  Hopefully this is progress.

  2. I've now tried loading new firmware (v1.06) and the laptop now sees "EOS camera" but I still can't connect to it with either EOS utility (which has been uninstalled/reinstalled) or APT.  So a small change but not yet the complete solution.  I can't "boot" the camera (even taking the battery out for an hour) as I think there may be an inaccessible small "memory" battery within the camera that it is impossible to get at?  Some sites seem to say there is one and some say the 1100D doesn't have one!

    Still stumped.

  3. I think I may have made a booboo!  I've tried using a piece of software called freeshuttercount to get a shutter count of my Canon 1100D camera body.  Now I find that I cannot connect the body of the camera to my laptop.  The EQ6 connects, as do my ZWO imaging camera, Canon point and shoot camera and an old webcam - its just the 1100D that the computer won't recognise.  I have been having a look on the net and have tried reloading the drivers but Windows 10 says "you already have the best drivers installed".  The Canon site does not provide a driver to download as "the camera should be automatically detected".  When plugged in (with a known to be good USB cable) I cannot see any "portable devices" in device manager even though I get the ususal "beeps" when I connect and switch on.  Canon utilities keeps telling me to "connect an EOS camera".  I think that is all the diagnostics I can think of.

    Anyone got any ideas as to how next to proceed as I'm out of ideas!

    Thanks, Bizibilder

  4. In "white light" viewing or imaging all wavelengths of light are observed.  The only filter used is to reduce the amount of that light to a safe level.  In my case I use a Baader ND5.0 solar filter, a Herschel wedge has the same effect but using a prism (and often additional filters).  In my images above you should note that even though the images are taken with a normal colour DSLR camera the orange colour is entirely false!  The true "colour" of the image is seen in the image with the Long/Lat grid superimposed.

    • Thanks 1
  5. Todays Sun taken with some really poor seeing - the image was really boiling all over the place!  ED120APO, Canon 1100D  - took 150 frames and stacked 36 in Registax5 after cropping them in PIPP.  Used Photoshop to process including false colourisation.  Long & Lat grid from "Tilting Sun" freeware.  This looks like the first "real" spot of the new Solar cycle - although there have been a few tiddlers over the last few weeks. There has not been much in the way of spot activity since August 2018!!!

    573672033_9June2020JPEG.jpg.0a0fef4c1fa3bf870fec4c16b0000e1a.jpg

     

    1556448389_9June2020AnnotatedJPEG.jpg.61142aff1fe3d42828d01d041705101b.jpg

     

    1420791360_9June2020LongandLat.jpg.b9163ce908ae26ec51c55505f40d9653.jpg

     

     

    • Like 13
  6. Glad to see you are getting sorted.  However I am concerned about you "spending money on an Ha filter"?  Are you expecting to take Ha photo's of the Sun?  If you are then this is NOT the kit you need.  The regular Ha filters are for deep sky pictures of nebulae etc and are totally unsuitable for imaging the Sun.  If you want to do Solar Ha imaging you will need a specialist Ha telescope or eyepiece system like a "Quark".  Either of these these are extremely expensive bits of kit!  Prices start at about £1000 and rapidly go up from there!  Be warned Ha solar astrophotography is very expensive.

  7. You need to keep trying!  Solar is not that easy at the moment due to there being no spots to help you - they make things much easier!!  However all is not lost.  Firstly, rather than trying to get an avi go for single shots.  With your set-up the whole disk should be visible.  Load canon utilities if you havn't already done so (this allows control of the camera from your computer (or use APT if you prefer!).  Open live view and find the Sun then cut the exposure time down until the solar disc is very dim in live view - if in doubt use the lowest exposures you can (I think it is 1/3200 and 1/4000sec? - I use an 1100D too but can't remember!). Then try focussing on the edge of the disc.  When you are happy take a picture and have a look at it full size on the screen.  If it is in focus you should see a slightly mottled solar surface and maybe one or two tiny black "pores" if there are any on view.  Have a good play changing the focus slightly between shots.  Eventually you will get it right.

    Once you have got focus and an image that you can see some slight surface detail then centre the Sun in the field of view and fire off about 60-100 (or more) shots - Canon utilities will let you do this if you hold the "take picture button" down.  I usually listen to the camera clicking away and count about 10 shots at a time.  If you don't stop after about 10 the computer won't be able to download the images quickly enough to continue.

    Check you images and hopefully you will have a decent set you can then process.  First you will need PIPP (freeware) which will centre and crop your images.  Then stacking software.  For full disc DSLR images I use registax5 HERE  (This is not the latest version but is by far the best for DSLR solar image stacking).  Use a big align box (512) and put it over the edge of the disc.  Hopefully you will get a stack - this can be tricky with no spots!  If there are spots pick one and use a box of 256 centered on the spot).

    Once you have your stack you can use something like ImPPG (freeware) to sharpen the image (use Lucy-Richardson deconvolution).  

    This thread https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/153712-simple-white-light-solar-imaging/?hl=+simple%20+white%20+light%20+solar  gives you more detail of the technique.

    Below is a single frame from a recent imaging session:

    001.thumb.JPG.457a0da2e40b2d5f935e21488c4fd6ff.JPG 

    Which should give you some idea of what to expect.

    Below is the final image from a stack of 40 from 150 taken

    195139779_4April2020SunJPEG.jpg.4bf107a4098a9d24cb82160b640bdfcf.jpg

     

    Hope this helps you get going - it is a steep learning curve!

     

    • Like 1
  8. It depends on the set-up you have.  For example the EQ6 could connect to the battery with one of these: Power cable via one of these wired directly to the battery: socket .  You will need similar connections for the other devices You can buy multiple socket type connectors..  If you search the DIY section of the forum you will find some very good "power supply boxes"  - some very sophisticated indeed!  Whilst mentioning cigarette type sockets these are simple to set up and use but are prone to connection problems especially if they get wet - It depends on your skill levels but you can make up your own wiring with much better connectors and put the whole lot in a waterproof container to prevent dew problems.

  9. I bought mine from these people:  Tayna batteries and a charger like one of these:  Charger conditioner.  Both seem to have gone up in price since I bought mine 🙁 !  However they are a good buy.  The charger/conditioner allows you to simply leave the battery and charger plugged in all the time (when not using it) and it keeps the battery in god "health".  I always brought the battery indoors (the garage - always above freezing as it is attached to the house) between sessions.  I used my own set-up for 4-5 years before getting a mains supply installed in my observatory.  In the end I sold both battery and charger for about half what I paid for them so overall not too bad!

  10. Its the Amps that will tell you what you need to know (obviously you also need to operate at the correct voltage - most gear is 12v) - if something uses 3A then in 1 hour it will use 3Ah (Three amp-hours).  Your EQ6 uses a max of 4A when in fast slew and much less when tracking and your camera uses, say 5A.  these two therefore will consume a maximum of 4 + 5 = 9 Ah.  You have a 14Ah battery so that will last about 1.5 hours when it will be flat! - not such a good idea!  I always work on never letting the total use consume more than half the available battery power.  

    When I did use a battery set-up I had a 105 Ah leisure battery (the sort used for caravans and boats) and this ran my own EQ6, camera(s) and laptop easily for 5-6 hours.

    By the way for a laptop try using an "in car" charger to run it from your battery - they work well.  Don't bother with inverters etc as they are not 100% efficient and therefore just add to the wasted energy from your battery.

    Hope that helps and gets you going.

  11. Trevor - nice image!  Good to see another ED120 user.

    Peter - Your image is well out of focus as you say - the "craters" are dust bunnies - i.e. dust somewhere within the optics, each tiny piece showing as a smudge as it is out of focus.

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