DSLR and Autoguiding Work Flow Help Please

[Dhellis59]

Hi All,

Some of you will really have fun with this!  So, I have very quickly transitioned between visual to video and now to DSLR with auto guiding (hopefully).  Actually, I will continue doing all three, but I realized as I most recently received a Canon Rebel XSI as a birthday gift (used but new to me). [ I actually shamelessly bribed my oldest son]...I'm somewhat out of my depth.

But anyways, as I have spent the last week watching YouTube and even reading half of the XSI manual, I have to admit, that I am a little intimidated with the imaging and auto-guiding thing.  Having the 'unusual' manly trait of not asking anyone directly but frantically researching and lurking in multiple forums...HELP!

Okay, so up to this point, I fumbled and stumbled my way through.  But when I set everything up in my home office last night, and then spent countless minutes just trying to get an image on screen let alone take a picture of something, anything!  I realized I have significantly increased the number of steps I take to do whatever it is we do in this hobby. 

So I listed them out.  Here ya go:

Video Astronomy Workflow

1. Carry Skywatcher EQ3 Mount, Telescope, Equipment Case/Table, and observing chair out of garage and set in pre designated observing location.

2. Check leveling of mount with bubble level.

3. Connect power cords from mount and computer to drop cord.

4. Connect EQ3 to Computer via Hand Controller.

5. Power up computer and load EQAscom program and connect to EQ3 via the PC Direct under the Utility menu.

6. Remove telescope from mount and set aside in secure location.

7. Undock EQ3 via EQAscom and goto the Polar Alignment Submenu.

8. Perform Polar Alignment via EQAscom and start tracking in Sidereal.

9. Reattach the telescope and ensure it is aligned with Polaris using the Green Laser Pointer (GLP).

10. Load Cartes De Ciel (CDC) in the computer and connect to the EQ3 via EQAscom.

11. Also insert the Mallincam Skyraider AGc (AGc) into the back of the Vixen Flip Mirror (VFM) and the 12mm Crosshair Reticule eyepiece in the top of the VFM.

12. Load the Mallincam Sky software and set it up for 1 second exposures.

13. Slew to three stars on each side of the Meridian and line them up first with the GLP, then the 12mm Reticule EP, and then with the AGc.  Sync the EQ3 with CDC with each star.

14. Slew to a bright star near my first imaging target and get a good focus using my Bahktinov Mask.

15. I note the difference in focus between the 12mm Reticule EP and the AGc, which is usually about a 1/16 of an inch less depending on how closely I set the AGc in the VFM.

16. Slew to my first imaging target and began capturing images on screen.

17. I also do some slight on screen processing such as adjusting the exposure, histogram, gamma, gain, contrast, and saturation.

18. I also take darks before and after my captures depending on climate changes from day to day.

19. I sometimes video record my captures, but mostly take multiple captures and save them to file once I am satisfied with my on screen images.

Autoguiding Workflow:  (Stepping into uncharted territory at this point.)

20. Remove the GLP and replace it with the Orion 50mm Guidescope.

21. Remove the AGc from the rear of the VFM and insert it into the 50mm Guidescope.

22. Connect the AGc to the EQ3 via the ST4 cable.

23. Remove the VFM and screw off the 2” extension and screw it into the 1.25 adapter for the 2” Focuser of the C80ed.

24. Screw the T ring and C Adapter onto my DSLR XSI (XSI) and insert it into the 2” extension attached to the 1.25 adapter and attach it to the 2” extension of the C80ed.

25. Load the PHD2 autoguiding program in the computer.

26. Connect PHD2 to the AGc and EQ3 via the Camera Menu in PHD2.

27. Take Darks in PHD2.

28. Select bright star near first imaging target and begin tracking?????

DSLR Imaging Workflow:  (Okay, totally loss from this point on.)

29. Connect XSI to computer via USB cable.

30. Turn XSI on and select Manual (M) setting on dial.

31. When Canon EOS automatically loads on computer select Bulb Setting.

32. Select Live View and additional focus, exposure type (raw and JPEG), ???? settings????

33. Select Exposure length and number in Bulb submenu.

34. Commence image captures.

35. Inspect image captures in Image Professional Software that automatically pops up/Preview and adjust settings accordingly.

36. Repeat until captured images of all targets for the night.

37. Shutdown, Pack up, and Put Away.

Post Processing...What is that?  Let's save that one for another topic.

Please jump in where you think you can add some value, ease my efforts, eliminate redundancy, or just plain commiserate with me.

Sorry for the long post, but I really do need help.

Thanks and clear skies,

Darryl

[D4N]

Wow that's a complicated workflow, I'm not sure I understand what all your steps are for but it may be to d with the vagaries of your setup. For example why do you remove the scope to polar align?

Mine looks something like this;

1. Carry out mount with scope and cameras attached.

2. Check mount is level and roughly align to north.

3. Connect power supplies and USB cables.

4. Polar align.

5. Slew to a bright star near my imaging target, sync.

6. Open camera capture software and use bahnitov mask to focus. Remove bahnitov mask. Guildcam is on an OAG and par focal so no need to adjust that.

7. Slew to target.

8. Frame target.

9. Open PHD2 and start guiding.

10. Once guiding has settled start imaging.

11. Dither a bit.

12. Eat Jaffa cakes.

13. Use binos to look at the stars.

14. Fit lens cap and take darks as required.

15. Point at zenith and use iPad on top to take flats as required.

16. Pack up.

In your 32 there is no need to take jpegs, just take raw.

Hope that helps.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Xiga]

D4N

I was just experimenting with using my iPad to take flats last night in the living room (lights off obviously!).

However, i had the scope pointing directly down and the iPad was about 60cm away. I stretched an old white t-shirt over the end and used a Torch app on max brightness. I used AV mode, but had to use an AEB of +2 to get an image that had the histogram about 2/3rds over to the right. The Flat came out grey, rather than white, if that matters.

However, I prefer the sound of your method of putting it directly over the end of the scope. Few questions for you if that's ok:

1. Do your flats come out white or grey? What should they be, and does it actually matter?

2. How do you diffuse the light? If you put somethign between the iPad and end of the scope (e.g a white t-shirt) does the close proximity of the light show up the texture of the material in any way?

3. Are there any specific settings or apps you use on the iPad?

My test flats, when viewed on computer, didn't show any obvious vignetting. I really thought it would, i hardly think my Canon 60D is anything special! In fact, the colour was pretty evenly distributed throughout. Does this mean i didn't do it correctly, and the light needs to be closer(brighter)?

There's a possibility i could be doing my first imaging run tomorrow night at a dark sky location, so i'm trying to finish all my homework before then!

Cheers!

[beamer3.6m]

I would not worry about the flats and darks etc at this stage.

1st - Set up

2nd - polar align - as best you can

3rd - drift align to nail number 2

4th - guide with PHD

5th - Use Astrotorilla or other platesolver to save hours (literally) of finding object, aligning object etc etc.

6th - Use BYEOS to capture the images

7th - have a cup of tea whilst the images are captured

8th - give yourself a little cheer when the initial light frames are achieved

9th onwards - think about darks etc etc

[D4N]

My flats are grey, if they are white then they are over exposed.

I use a white T-shirt over the dew shield as a diffuser, the focus is still set at infinity so it has no chance of focusing on something right next to the objective.

I just use a torch app wi the brightness on full then adjust the exposure down to get e histogram somewhere between 1/3 and 2/3 exposed.

It is entirely possible at your scope already delivers an even illumination over the sensor I know mine does. However the flats also help with dust bunnies.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[KY Cygni]

this is dead useful its first light for my new AP rig this weekend keep em coming

[Dhellis59]

Thanks Guys.  Your feedback is exactly what I was hoping for.  I realized that my list was too much.  I was describing both what I have done in the past and what I think or thought I had to do going forward.  the Autoguiding and DSLR are both new to me.

I tried plate solving in the past with the Mallincam, but I did not have a program that worked with Astrotortilla.  Now that I have the DSLR I can use APT or a similar program which will work with AT.

Now all I need is some clear skies!

[Ouroboros]

The trouble with a workflow list is that it can be as short or as long as you like depending on how much detail you include.

If I'm setting up absolutely from scratch I normally start while it's still light. I work out of a warm room (a shed) to which I need to get power via a 50m cable. I need to set up a table and chair. I need to take out laptop, notebook, bins, iPad, DSLR, power supply, telescope, mount .... all requiring several trips up and down the garden. I can set up in an hour but I usually take my time. There's no hurry, I'm retired. I enjoy the preparation. I very often have everything set up late afternoon, early evening, have something to eat, change into warm clothes and then get out there as Polaris is just visible.

[Ouroboros]

Regarding polar alignment I notice a lot of people use software for this. I don't. I look up the hour angle of Polaris, set the RA using the mount's setting circle and align the mount to Polaris through the polar scope. I don't know which is the quicker or more accurate method. It doesn't seem to be a particularly lengthy part of the process anyway.

The more tricky bit is framing and focusing the target. I'm often chasing that round and round for ages before I'm happy. I try and do that before it gets really dark so I'm not wasting sky time. Connecting and getting the DSLR to work with Backyard EOS is trivially easy though.

Guiding is usually fairly easy. I have a seperate finder guider, with camera attached, focuser up, that just I get out of a box and attach it ready to go once the wires are plugged in. Despite recent woes described elsewhere on SGL, guiding is usually just a matter of firing up PHD2, and letting it callibrate, which normally takes several minutes .... and away we go.

After it's all snapping away it's tea and biscuits and strolling round the gardens with bins seeing what I can see.

[ollypenrice]

One word. Observatory!

lly

[Dhellis59]

One day...I'll have an observatory in my backyard!

[Ouroboros]

Oh, if only!