Meade DSI colour focus problem

[zakkhogan]

I recently bought a meade DSI camera of ebay.

Its the basic colour version, but im having trouble focusing it,

Ive been using the celestron neximage previously and was expecting it to operate in the same fashion,

i really cant focus it, has anybody got any experience with it cos im really struggling , any help will be really really appriciated

craig

[ncjunk]

I had two issues with mine -

1. couldnt focus - was missing the diagonal off of the st80 i was using. when i put the diagonal in it worked.

2. meade software - I couldnt use it, just too convoluted. phd works with the dsi so i used that on the moon to test to see if i could focus.

use something very bright for testing and moon is hard to miss with a small ccd

whats your setup?

[zakkhogan]

Im using a cpc800 and a windows 7 laptop

[zakkhogan]

I tried to focus on saturn the first night but couldnt quite get it focused and then last night i had it aimed at a street light to practices but again i couldnt do it,

As you say the meade software isnt very user friendly, and i dont know how to adjust the exposure setting manually as the manual say to just use the "auto exposure"

Is there any free software thats compatible with the DSI?

[ncjunk]

I tried to focus on saturn the first night but couldnt quite get it focused and then last night i had it aimed at a street light to practices but again i couldnt do it,

As you say the meade software isnt very user friendly, and i dont know how to adjust the exposure setting manually as the manual say to just use the "auto exposure"

Is there any free software thats compatible with the DSI?

PHD guiding software, it has a simple interface so you select dsi then length of exposure and it'll keep taking pics. dont worry about the telescope bit or guiding bit. you can use it just to test your camera.

www.stark-labs.com/phdguiding.html

what telescope is it on? forget that...should have read your last post properly

i wonder if you have enough back focus? if you havent got the diagonal viewing mirror in then stick that in first then the meade and see if you can focus.

test during the day as its easier

[zakkhogan]

Thanks Neil, Got the software downloaded now, i have the diagonal in, will test this afternoon , thanks for your help

Craig

[Cornelius Varley]

Meade have a series of intructional videos that you might find helpful http://www.meade.com/educational/dsi_videos/index.html. "Magic eye" and "Making an eyepiece parfocal" are the ones to watch.

Peter

[zakkhogan]

Thanks for the link, extremely helpful and just to prove it, here's a picture of a street light

[ncjunk]

I take it you got it all sorted from that pic?

its much easier in daylight, i had a nightmare with my first setup trying to do it all at night!

[zakkhogan]

Kinda got it all sorted,

managed to get that pic, but went out last night but couldnt get the brightness\exposure correct for imaging saturn, which made it hard to get a good focus

[zakkhogan]

here is an image i took last night with the dsi,

the auto exposure kept the image too bright as pictured, i tried to manually expose it but i couldnt figure it out?

[petek314]

I don't know whether you are using Meades envisage software but you might have to uncheck the Auto contrast box and move the bottom histogram slider over to the right. For Saturn I also reduce the exposure times a few clicks to the automatic exposure setting. Good luck, Pete

[zakkhogan]

Hi Pete,

im am indeed using Meades envisage, auto contrast is on, as for the exposure i have no idea what its was set to, but i will look out for it next time im out,

Many Thanks