Cameras / software that work with a Mac ?

[Neiman]

Hiya, I’ve looked a few bits and bobs and am unsure if camera’s / software can work with an iMac ? 

Im interested in a camera for a guide scope and also a main scope camera but I have a n iMac and no windows tablet or pc.

 

Anyone point me in the right direction ?

i did remember watching something about a software called “Alpacha” - don’t even know if that’s spelt right ?

 

cheers

Neil

[Hughsie]

Mac user here but bit the bullet and purchased a recon windows laptop.

However, this may provide a starting point for your research as to what is and isn't in the realms of possibility. https://www.macobservatory.com/mac-astronomy-software

Cheers

John

[Adam J]

42 minutes ago, Neiman said:

Hiya, I’ve looked a few bits and bobs and am unsure if camera’s / software can work with an iMac ? 

Im interested in a camera for a guide scope and also a main scope camera but I have a n iMac and no windows tablet or pc.

 

Anyone point me in the right direction ?

i did remember watching something about a software called “Alpacha” - don’t even know if that’s spelt right ?

 

cheers

Neil

Honestly just go out and get a cheap second hand windows laptop from e-bay, in the long run you going to make your life much harder trying to use a Mac for astronomy and this is not an easy hobby to start with without consciously hobbling yourself.

[Star101]

In my honest opinion - As said above...Preserve your sanity....Get a cheap windows laptop...A basic cheap laptop. Fast CPU speed is not needed for controlling cameras and mounts.

You will save yourself a lot of headaches and time.

[Adreneline]

I agree entirely with the above - AP's hard enough without doing battle with a Mac - and that's from a committed MBP user!

I bought one of these and it has been great. Works a treat and comes with Win10 Pro installed. I replaced the removable DVD with a carrier (£8.50 off eBay) to take an additional large capacity hard disk.

 

[JamesF]

Kstars/Ekos/INDI works on a Mac, as far as I'm aware.  I've never  tried it because I use Linux for controlling my astro kit.  I assume all ZWO cameras will be supported, I'm fairly sure Altair cameras are supported, perhaps even Atik and SX (I know the ASI and Altair SDKs are available for MacOS, I'm not sure about Atik and SX).

For high frame rate imaging there's oacapture, which supports as many cameras as I can make it support.

James

[JamesF]

A quick look at the latest INDI release suggests that Atik cameras should be supported and I think SX as well.

James

[Danjc]

I was in the same position having an iMac but gave up pretty quick and bought a refurbished Dell latitude E7240 8gb, i5 with a 128 gb SSD for about £200 at the time and haven’t looked back. The plus is it Is used solely for Astro so doesn’t get bogged down with crap.  

You could still use the Mac for some processing work pis, ps etc  

Edited September 8, 2019 by Danjc

[Neiman]

Lol, you all seem quite sure that the ‘Mac’ isnt The way forward lol. That’s a bloody shame as I’ve a lovely Mac that I rarely use and to be honest I’m not a great android fan. 

[Ouroboros]

12 minutes ago, Neiman said:

Lol, you all seem quite sure that the ‘Mac’ isnt The way forward lol. That’s a bloody shame as I’ve a lovely Mac that I rarely use and to be honest I’m not a great android fan. 

🙂 Ask 5 astro imagers for their view and you'll get 6 opinions. 

I'm a Mac user and I'm in the process of moving over to using it for my mount control/imaging etc. It certainly is possible. 

Four years ago I decided to move to a MacBook because I was fed up with Windows. However I decided that there wasn't sufficient astro software available at that time. So I ran Windows 7 (A nice Windows OS) as a virtual machine on my Mac using Parallels. This worked well, in fact running Windows on my Mac is more stable than running it on a Windows machine IME. 

So why change? MS have decided to stop supporting Windows 7 next year. So this year I explored ways to run my kit on the Mac OS.  I discovered things have moved on from 4 years ago.  

I am currently in the process of testing (when time and opportunity allow) the KStars/EKOS/INDI software. This is available free. It is a complete package. It can be used to run most mounts, guiders, cameras, focusers and I believe domes and other astro kit. There's a good KStars and INDI community too. I'll find some links in a minute. 

I'm using KStars to control an AZ-EQ6 mount, Lodestar2 guider and a Canon 450D SLR. My impression is that it's more stable than my Windows platform. It's been a steepish learning curve. Arguably a bit steeper than learning how to use EQMOD and all the separate bits of software I needed in Windows. But then KSTars is all included - mount interface, planetarium, guider, image software etc - so you have to come to grips with lots of features simultaneously rather than piecemeal as you do with separate apps.

I hope that helps. You can download KStars for free and it includes a simulated mount and cameras and other devices for you to play with.  

PS I'm realy impressed with the plate solving in KStars for polar alignment and mount alignment. 

[Ouroboros]

Some links:

KStars: https://edu.kde.org/kstars/

KStars forum: https://edu.kde.org/kstars/

Astronomy software for Mac:  https://www.macobservatory.com/mac-astronomy-software

INDI Forum: https://indilib.org/forum.html

What I found confusing at first is that there seemed to be lots of different bits of software required like INDI and EKOS to enable a Mac to operate Astro devices like mounts and such. But it turns out that all that comes bundled with KStars, which is a great help to the IT challenged like myself. 

 

[stash_old]

15 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

My impression is that it's more stable than my Windows platform.

Ok I accept that's your experience but Linux/Kstars/Ekos is not any more stable than Windows they  both have there problems - just look at the Indi Forum!

O/S are fine but you have to match your hardware to your requirements - so dont expect ,even the latest RPI4, to outperform an simple Win I3 16GB 64bit system - it wont. Thats fine so long as you expect it.

Too many people went out and bought RPI4 for Indi/Kstars thinking it was the bee's knee's - its not. 

Start by looking on the Indi Forum and see if your kit/set up is easily supported and has minimum issues (no system has none).  Ask questions people are generally helpful!

I use both Windows and Linux(indi/Kstars/Ekos/CCDciel) and quite honestly for a normal user I would endorse buying second hand powerful Windoze PC ,as other's here have stated ,and just make it dedicated for Astro Work with no permanent Internet connection to stop the dreaded updates fiasco.

The alternative is to buy Stellarmate but think hard on what performance your require else you might get frustrated but it does depend on your kit.

A simple Mount,Focuser,Cmos Guider and DSLR set up runs fine on RPI/Kstars/Ekos but want very high USB3 frame rates or multiple camera's you may run into problems - remember there is no inbuilt fast disc interface in RPI's and you are only as fast as your slowest component!

 

[Neiman]

27 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

Some links:

KStars: https://edu.kde.org/kstars/

KStars forum: https://edu.kde.org/kstars/

Astronomy software for Mac:  https://www.macobservatory.com/mac-astronomy-software

INDI Forum: https://indilib.org/forum.html

What I found confusing at first is that there seemed to be lots of different bits of software required like INDI and EKOS to enable a Mac to operate Astro devices like mounts and such. But it turns out that all that comes bundled with KStars, which is a great help to the IT challenged like myself. 

 

Thanks, I’ll check out some of those links. 

[Ouroboros]

28 minutes ago, stash_old said:

Ok I accept that's your experience but Linux/Kstars/Ekos is not any more stable than Windows they  both have there problems - just look at the Indi Forum!

O/S are fine but you have to match your hardware to your requirements - so dont expect ,even the latest RPI4, to outperform an simple Win I3 16GB 64bit system - it wont. Thats fine so long as you expect it.

Too many people went out and bought RPI4 for Indi/Kstars thinking it was the bee's knee's - its not. 

Start by looking on the Indi Forum and see if your kit/set up is easily supported and has minimum issues (no system has none).  Ask questions people are generally helpful!

I use both Windows and Linux(indi/Kstars/Ekos/CCDciel) and quite honestly for a normal user I would endorse buying second hand powerful Windoze PC ,as other's here have stated ,and just make it dedicated for Astro Work with no permanent Internet connection to stop the dreaded updates fiasco.

The alternative is to buy Stellarmate but think hard on what performance your require else you might get frustrated but it does depend on your kit.

A simple Mount,Focuser,Cmos Guider and DSLR set up runs fine on RPI/Kstars/Ekos but want very high USB3 frame rates or multiple camera's you may run into problems - remember there is no inbuilt fast disc interface in RPI's and you are only as fast as your slowest component!

 

OK OK! I'm not going to argue with you. You are obviously a far more sophisticated and knowledgeable user than I am. I am not trying to "sell" KStars. I'm merely reporting my experience on this journey, and so far within the modest limits of what I do it's been a relatively good experience.

I have considered buying a dedicated Windows laptop, or simply moving up to the latest Windows OS on my Mac. Now please don't take this as a Windows bashing exercise, I'm not an Apple bore, but I really didn't want to have to climb another learning curve with a new Windows OS. I went off Windows some years ago. And my MacBook suits me for what I need a computer for. 

Anyway, you don't have to use KStars for everything, or indeed at all to use a Mac. As I understand it I could use it to control the mount, for example, whilst using PHD2 (which works on a Mac) for guiding and a supplier's or an alternative imaging application  for use with a CCD or CMOS camera. There appear to be lots of options.  But I'm willing to accept that a Mac may not be the best option for the most sophisticated astro imager, if that is the received view. 

 

 

Edited September 8, 2019 by Ouroboros

[JamesF]

25 minutes ago, stash_old said:

O/S are fine but you have to match your hardware to your requirements - so dont expect ,even the latest RPI4, to outperform an simple Win I3 16GB 64bit system - it wont. Thats fine so long as you expect it.

Too many people went out and bought RPI4 for Indi/Kstars thinking it was the bee's knee's - its not.

There's no need to use an RPi though.  Everything should work directly on the Mac (at least as well as it would work anywhere else using Kstars etc.).  I'd certainly agree there are certain hardware limitations with the RPi that make it unsuitable for every use case.

James

[JamesF]

5 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

Anyway, you don't have to use KStars for everything. As I understand it I could use it to control the mount, whilst using PHD2 for guiding and a supplier's or alternative imaging software for a CCD or CMOS camera.

I was actually doing just this the other night.  I wanted to do some testing on my oalive application (which will also run on a Mac when I finish the work I'm doing on it at the moment).  I don't have any frame alignment code plugged in yet, so I was using Kstars and Ekos to find targets and guide, then oalive to grab images and stack them.

James

[stash_old]

Actually there is another MacOS route - using Free CCDciel it runs on more OS's (windows,Linux and Mac os)  but can interface with Ascom , Indi  and Indigo in any combination https://www.ap-i.net/ccdciel/en/documentation/start

However like all great ideas there is a negative side - CCDciel is in Beta but it is as stable as Kstars/Ekos and is written by the author of CDC Skycharts. Maybe worth a try on Mac OS.

Indigo is more a Mac OS oriented software,IMHO, in the sense that http://cloudmakers.eu seem to produce a good amount of Mac OS (and IOS I believe)  software - cant verify it as I dont use Apple for Astro. But you can use Linux to front end the Cloudmakers Mac software - if want too and Cloudmakers software is NOT free.

I dont care about Windows bashing - they deserve it in many cases.