Laptop blindness?

[Joel Shepherd]

Dumb question: when you're out in the field with your 'scope, CCD camera of choice and a laptop to drive the process, how do you prevent your night vision from being wrecked by the laptop screen? (If it makes any difference, I'm running Nebulosity on Windows 7).

Unrelated note: tonight passed for a "good" winter night in Seattle, which meant a couple of 5-10 minute windows of semi-clear views between blankets of cloud. Caught a glimpse of Orion -- the whole constellation -- which was beautiful to see, and my first peek of the winter of Jupiter and a few of her moons. Seeing was poor but at this point seeing anything is exciting. It's been a very gray winter.

[JemC]

Hi Joel

you could try using something like this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rubylith-style-red-masking-film-preserve-night-vision-/280622107685

or this

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/misc/starsharp-red-filter-for-laptop-screens.html

hope this helps you out,

Regards

[Pete Presland]

I dont normally bother when imaging to be honest, i seem to spend so much time checking everything is working.

[baggywrinkle]

Go to a craft shop and get red celleophane or plastic sheet....cheap and easy...

[Steve Ward]

Unnecessary when imaging as Pete says , you can use Rubylith film or download BackyardRed but I've always found that you really want to be able to see the screen bright and clear when getting the framing and focusing nailed .

Focus especially wants doing in decent light , it being the most critical part of imaging .

As to losing your night-vision while imaging , don't worry as you have a camera in the end of the scope and aren't using an eyepiece .

Conversely if you are having a purely visual session then leave the laptop indoors and use a Star Atlas and a very dim red torch ...   

[laser_jock99]

Dimming or covering the screen during an imaging run is useful as you don't want any extraneous light reaching the CCD (in a dark sky site it's amazing how much light a lappy screen or monitor kicks out). So for that reason I simply slip a black cover (in my case the laptop's gel case over the screen.

At a star party you have to consider other astronomers- you'll need to dim the screen.

[PeterCPC]

+1 for Backyard Red.

Peter

[tich]

I just got myself a cheap laptop & put some red acetate on the screen permanently just to use for guiding & collecting the data, perfect for when I'm out in the field of when I'm at star parties.
Getting it all to work however is another matter lol.

[Pete Presland]

When i am planetary imaging i am normally in the obsy and the mount/scope out side, so the light is not really an issue with the dew shield as well.

I do block it when imaging DSO's with the 200PDS/DSLR, completely with a black hairdressers gown. the 200 PDS has an open end at the mirror end, so this does need blocking if it is near your laptop. this has little to do with preserving my night vision though, as i am "peeking" through the gown checking the PHD graph every couple of minutes.

[lensman57]

Dumb question: when you're out in the field with your 'scope, CCD camera of choice and a laptop to drive the process, how do you prevent your night vision from being wrecked by the laptop screen? (If it makes any difference, I'm running Nebulosity on Windows 7).

Unrelated note: tonight passed for a "good" winter night in Seattle, which meant a couple of 5-10 minute windows of semi-clear views between blankets of cloud. Caught a glimpse of Orion -- the whole constellation -- which was beautiful to see, and my first peek of the winter of Jupiter and a few of her moons. Seeing was poor but at this point seeing anything is exciting. It's been a very gray winter.

Your capture software must have a simulated night mode surely.

A.G

[Joel Shepherd]

Thanks for the suggestions. :-)  I can see the reasoning about not needing to worry about it -- in terms of night vision -- but I find looking at the screen to be really jarring nonetheless. Will look into a red mask. Also thinking I might simply try turning down the screen brightness as well (doh!). Nebulosity doesn't appear to have a "night mode" color schema, but its schema is configurable so maybe I'll tweak that a bit as well.

Looking forward to the possibility of clearer weather the next few nights ...

Thanks -- Joel.

[lensman57]

Thanks for the suggestions. :-)  I can see the reasoning about not needing to worry about it -- in terms of night vision -- but I find looking at the screen to be really jarring nonetheless. Will look into a red mask. Also thinking I might simply try turning down the screen brightness as well (doh!). Nebulosity doesn't appear to have a "night mode" color schema, but its schema is configurable so maybe I'll tweak that a bit as well.

Looking forward to the possibility of clearer weather the next few nights ...

Thanks -- Joel.

Try APT, it has native support for almost all of the Canon DSLRs and quite a lot of CCDs through Ascom platform and drivers, it can even dither. I use both the NEB3 and APT but as you said the screen brightness is really turned down.

A.G