Atik 314l plus, what am i doing wrong.

[MARS1960]

First time CCD user and i'm pulling my hair out.

I spent all day getting EQMOD working, finally sorted it for remote imaging from my warm lounge.

Plugged in CCD and installed Artemis.

Every time i take a snapshot, holding the cam or putting it in the scope i just get a blank orangey/white screen, what am i doing wrong?

Any help greatly appreciated as i have clear skies tomo.

[Cornelius Varley]

Not focussing the telescope ?

[vlaiv]

Provided that camera works correctly - matter of focus?

If you are holding the cam with sensor exposed - there will be a lot of unfocused light coming from all directions, unless you are in very dark room with few or no small light sources (like led indicators on devices around you and no regular lighting). In second case you will still get uniformly lit sensor but it will probably not saturate.

If you are getting the same when you put it on your scope - and it is daylight - you have focus issues, still too long exposure that saturates sensor and everything is blurry due to focus.

If this happens at night with scope pointed towards stars, and your exposure is reasonably short (like anything under half an hour in normal LP) - it is either camera or capture software (or maybe usb link of something that is causing problems with download).

[MARS1960]

1 minute ago, Cornelius Varley said:

Not focussing the telescope ?

Hi Peter, i have put it on loop in Artemis and moved focuser all way in and out and while watching screen, i have tried it without the cam in the scope too.

[Davey-T]

1 minute ago, MARS1960 said:

Hi Peter, i have put it on loop in Artemis and moved focuser all way in and out and while watching screen, i have tried it without the cam in the scope too.

Is this at night ?

Dave

[MARS1960]

1 minute ago, Davey-T said:

Is this at night ?

Dave

Its real time David, maybe not dark enough yet? i can try on Mars in another half hour.

[Scott]

try and measure from the front lens to the imaging sensor to make sure you are very close to focus. You may need an extension tube to achieve focus.

 

[Ibbo!]

What exposure time are you using?

[Davey-T]

Just now, MARS1960 said:

Its real time David, maybe not dark enough yet? i can try on Mars in another half hour.

What exposure setting are you using ?

Dave

[Helen]

Check if it reacts to putting the cap on or putting your hand over the front - should go black! (May be a short delay due to download)

Helen

[Scott]

also. ccds are extremely sensitive to light. anything but fully dark skies runs the risk of oversaturation 

[Stu Wilson]

I had similar issues but with a QHY8L camera. It was extension tube issue. Needed to be about 50mm further out of the tube to achieve focus. Luckily my focuser has an inbuilt extension so once I learned of this it was easy to focus.

After that I had lots of other learning curves but alot of people on here and in a certain factory in Hong Kong helped tremendously.

Clear skies 

And hope you resolve asap

[Thalestris24]

I believe SW ED80's need an extension tube to achieve focus unless you have a field flattener reducer fitted. In that case you need to ensure spacing is right. Also, I think the focus point for a 314l is probably quite critical. It's a small, sensitive sensor too.

Louise

[Davey-T]

Are you using a filter wheel ?

Dave

[MARS1960]

40 minutes ago, Scott said:

try and measure from the front lens to the imaging sensor to make sure you are very close to focus. You may need an extension tube to achieve focus.

 

Thanks Scott and everyone else.

It was a focus issue, i needed about 4 inches more back focus.

The SW focuser is rubbish anyway so it's a toss up as to which one to buy now, decisions decisions, one with a long back focus would be favourite i guess.

[MARS1960]

31 minutes ago, Thalestris24 said:

I believe SW ED80's need an extension tube to achieve focus unless you have a field flattener reducer fitted. In that case you need to ensure spacing is right. Also, I think the focus point for a 314l is probably quite critical. It's a small, sensitive sensor too.

Louise

Thanks Louise, yep, just found that out with a plethora of bits and pieces, it needs lots and lots of back focus .

[MARS1960]

34 minutes ago, Stu Wilson said:

I had similar issues but with a QHY8L camera. It was extension tube issue. Needed to be about 50mm further out of the tube to achieve focus. Luckily my focuser has an inbuilt extension so once I learned of this it was easy to focus.

After that I had lots of other learning curves but alot of people on here and in a certain factory in Hong Kong helped tremendously.

Clear skies 

And hope you resolve asap

What focuser do you use Stu?

[Davey-T]

If the focuser is crap it's better to have it right in as far as possible and have a longer extension, Revelation do an 80mm one

Dave

[Thalestris24]

4 minutes ago, MARS1960 said:

Thanks Louise, yep, just found that out with a plethora of bits and pieces, it needs lots and lots of back focus .

You are essentially making up for not having a star diagonal, which adds about 40mm or so - hence you need an extension tube. I don't have a SW ED80 but the focuser itself should be ok with an Atik though you might consider fitting an autofocuser.

Louise

[Craney]

Good luck with the clear skies......

With Artemis, just remember to 'tick' the auto-save check box before setting an imaging sequence and retiring to a warm arm chair...

I did over 5 hours of subs....( not intended.... I feel asleep after the first hour !! ).....  only to return to the PC and find none of the images saved.....DOH !!!!!

[Thalestris24]

APT is better imho

Louise

[MARS1960]

Just now, Craney said:

Good luck with the clear skies......

With Artemis, just remember to 'tick' the auto-save check box before setting an imaging sequence and retiring to a warm arm chair...

I did over 5 hours of subs....( not intended.... I feel asleep after the first hour !! ).....  only to return to the PC and find none of the images saved.....DOH !!!!!

Thanks mate, that really is frustrating

[MARS1960]

1 minute ago, Thalestris24 said:

APT is better imho

Louise

I have that downloaded but every time i click on the shortcut it just says loading, forever :(.

[Thalestris24]

2 minutes ago, MARS1960 said:

I have that downloaded but every time i click on the shortcut it just says loading, forever :(.

From here? https://ideiki.com/astro/Download.aspx
Shouldn't be any problem

Louise

[MARS1960]

2 minutes ago, Thalestris24 said:

From here? https://ideiki.com/astro/Download.aspx
Shouldn't be any problem

Louise

Sorted it thanks Louise, i ran it as admin and it loads ok, i;ll try get head round it tonight, looks a whole lot better than Artemis.