Deflavio

Well, I did some quick tests and my relatively small DSLR (Nikon 5600) was balancing ok but the dovetail was close to the limit... To be fair I haven't tried yet to do EEA using a DSRL but I just asked about that myself in another topic here below and it seems people are doing that. This may require a bit more thinking since you may need to use a different combination of software and, if I got it right, if you go for short expositions and continuous live imaging, the shutter will also keep going all the time. Not sure that is something I want for my sessions and how good is for the life of the camera. I'm thinking to try maybe something slightly different for a DSLR but to avoid to go off-topic I think it is better to keep the relevant discussion about DSLR on the page/topic above. Alternatively, if you are not interested in just EEA but in more classical imaging (i.e. with off-line post processing) with Alt AZ and DSLR you can have a look also at this great post. You can see many great images there and there so many possibilities...

No, I’m using SharpCap. DSS is more for offline stacking and post processing... here all data is dark frame subtracted, stacked and histogram adjusted always live while observing. After a bit of stacking, when I’m happy with what I see, I save the image, stop stacking and move to the next target. As I said previously, this was the first time for me under a real dark sky and I’m very pleased with the result. I live in London, UK, light pollution is pretty bad but I can still do quite a lot of observations (when it is not cloudy!!!), many galaxies and other deep sky objects. It just takes longer to average a bit more data and also more fiddling around to find the right histogram settings, but that’s part of the fun.... Again, I would not worry about field rotation, if you stay with short exposures you are free from it.

Well in theory if SharpCap can scan a folder for images to stack that should be not too bad... Over the weekend I was testing both digicamcontrol and APT. They both seems capable of controlling nicely my DSLR. One nice feature I found in digicamcontrol is the possibility to average in realtime multiple frame of the live view. No stacking just frame average... but that may be enough for quick focusing, goto and framing. If needed I can always shoot a test frame to refine focus or maybe even platesolving (not sure)..and when ready I can setup a batch to get 50/70 frames to stack. I haven't test the full thing yet so I'm not sure everything will work but it seems promising. I guess similar things can be done using Astrotoaster.

Yeah, that's why I'm already planning to go somewhere dark nearby again for a weekend at the end of May... dark skies are really addicting!

The stacking software is taking care of it by realigning each frame and rotating them if needed. You can see the effect of this on the borders of the first image, Omega Centauri. Over the full 4 minutes of the observation a bit of rotation is noticeable on the borders but with just 5/10 seconds expositions, or a bit more if you want, you can ignore any rotation issue within each frame. Field rotation is an issue for much longer expositions with alt az. Also, one thing I really like of EAA and in general short expositions is that they are more forgiving. Even if your tracking is not great, as long as you have not star trailing in your single frame, you can still stack without ruining your data and see the object... Well, at least until your target is still reasonably inside the field of view ?. You should definitely try. It is really fun and you can see so much more!

@SIDO Well, I'm very happy with my 224, just really tempted by the field I could get with a DSLR I have sitting at home. My choice today will be to get either a 294 or 183mono but I like to explore with what I have and experiment around, that's also part of the fun for me. @Martin Meredith Uhm, yes an ASCOM driver for Canon is interesting and would make things simpler... but eh my camera is a Nikon ?. I was reading around and found on the SharpCap manual that, in theory, everyone could just use the "virtual cameras/ virtual folder monitor camera" option to scan a folder and still be able to use darks and flats and keep using the main live stacking functions. https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/3.2/#Virtual Cameras ... Now, I can see few software like DigicamControl http://digicamcontrol.com and probably Astrophotography tool https://ideiki.com/astro/ (and I'm sure others) to set up scripts or batches for running and saving multiple shoots from DSLR and that should work. ... and if I save in Mono FITS I may even get to use Jocular! ....but now I see a problem why a DSRL may be not really ideal for fast EAA imaging... clack clack, clack clack, clack clack, clack clack, clack clack,... unless I can take 5-10 seconds exposures (or more) directly from the live-view mode the sound of the shutter, running all the time, will probably drive me crazy and it may be not that good also for the life of the camera.? Or maybe, is it feasible? Only few shots to goto/plate solving and then run ~50 shoots for stacking? I need to try and see...

Very interesting topic! Any new update or more tests? I was thinking to combine a Televue ploss 32mm with an asi224 but not sure about the distance... (also we should probably move this topic out of the reports section and in discussions)

I know DSLRs are more for “official” AP imaging and I should probably stick with my trusty ASI224 or maybe think about a 294 or similar sensors but....as probably many, I have a DSLR sitting at home not doing much. Can I do EAA with it? Today is quite easy to have 24Mp in relativity cheap bodies so why not to use it somehow? Small pixels..I know, but maybe going for wide field and bright objects with fast lenses it may still work and give something interesting. Anyone tried? Any experience? What I really like of EAA is the ability to do everything while observing and without the need to come back for long processing sessions. I have searched around a bit but I can’t find a stacking software like Sharpcap for DSLR doing live viewing as well as stacking. I think I could somehow save each frame in a folder and then stack them with DSS (if I got the name right) but can I then control remotely the camera, exposition and have live preview when slewing around? Just interested to know if anyone know more about this or more in general discuss about DSLR and EAA. Flavio

Thanks, yes it was really nice to do EAA on the southern sky and enjoy the country side during the day. I already miss that. @RobertI yes all of the images are at the native focal length. I had with me a cheap 0.5X reducer but after experimenting a bit I didn't like much the final image (still a bit of distortions at the edge of the frame). Since I was not really struggling with time in getting images I decided to stick to the long focal length. True my histograms were very much on the left side on sharpcap but just within the "green" area...I didn't want to push my luck with long expositions on the basic tripod. One thing that really surprised me and I don't yet fully understand is how fast it was to get to a final image compared to my observations from London. I have never done EAA on a real dark site so I can't compare but I think the dark sky + the UV-IR filter (needed to remove some red halos around some stars) helped to keep a real black background...and maybe without any background to fight everything shows up faster, is that right? E.g. The Eta carina nebula really shocked me. Essentially, it was already there in the live preview as soon as I slewed to it. Ahh, now I want a dark sky again!! Just realised I didn't mention my software setup. Here it is Synscan App Pro for WIN10 SharpCap pro 3.1 . (Live stacking, Plate solving and to refine GoTo) Cartes du Ciel to pilot the mount. Everything is running on a win10 laptop and it seems fairly stable... Flavio

...and nebulae Eta Carina nebula 46 x 5.3 s, gain 353, Astronomik UV+IR L3 filter, dark frames subtracted but again using the 10s dark frame. Tarantula nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud: 45 x 5.3 s, gain 353, Astronomik UV+IR L3 filter, dark frames subtracted (using the 10s dark frame). Considering that this is a nebula from "another galaxy" that's a big nebula!

and galaxies... Centaurus A 45 x 5.5 s, gain 352, dark frames subtracted (the right one this time!). Histogram slightly adjusted. Antennae Galaxies 51 x 10 s, gain 352, dark frame subtracted. Slightly cropped and histogram adjusted to enhanced the tails of the galaxies... if you believe it, they are there... ?

Hi everyone, I have been experimenting with EAA for the last year or so. Living near London, I still find incredible that I can get galaxies or nebulae on my laptop in few seconds using just a small telescope and EVEN without worrying too much about accurate tracking! If I only think at my "observations" when I was a child on the wobbly 114/900... ? Anyway, last month I was lucky to travel around New Zealand while visiting my wife family. I always wanted to look at the southern sky so I decided to put together a very minimal setup that I could fit in my backpack/luggage without leaving out too many clothes! The setup is the following: ZWO ASI 224MC, SW AZ-GTI mount, SW Evostar 72ED K&F Concept 62'' Compact photographic tripod (...just to recreate that wobbly feeling of my youth) and this is how it looks when assembled: Here below a quick report of some sessions while traveling through Hawke's bay (great vineyards...) and Coromandel (beautiful beaches and nature!)... I have to say I was really impressed by how dark was the sky. I could see by eye the dark patches of dust within the milky way and satellites were swarming everywhere. It was great! Also, I was shocked at how quickly images were forming on the screen. Just few averages were enough to clearly see many details... Used to the London sky, that is a surprise for me. Please note, I'm still learning my way to EAA and the following images have some obvious/silly errors... but I still like them. Starting from clusters... Omega Centauri : 46x5.5s Gain 352, dark frames subtracted. Is it just my focus bad or the ED72 has a bit of blurring in the red? NGC 3532 12x5.3s Gain 353, Astronomik UV+IR L3 filter, dark frame subtracted but wrong frame (I left a 10s frame from a previous session !!!) The Pearl, NCG 3766, 25x5.3s Gain 353, Astronomik UV+IR L3 filter, dark frames subtracted but again 10s dark frame, doh!