First night out with NINA ;-)

[kirkster501]

12 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

This software looks superb, and I see no reason to pay for SGP or such like, with packages like this and other open source software available for free....great thread... 👍😀

It is indeed Superb.  As is SGP to be fair.  But it will surpass SGP before long, if it hasn't already.  There is a slightly different mindset to drive NINA compared to SGP.

A few things I don't like:

1.  When I want to interrupt a sequence for some reason, it seems to want to park the mount and warm the camera up.  I may not want to do that.  I need to investigate since I'm sure it is me that is wrong and not the SW.

2.  The Framing Tool with big chip cameras.  The box represents the FoV on the background, it can be well big unless you download a *really* big and wide FoV (and that takes ages from NASA sky survey).  I wish the FoV box had a "X" to represent the centre of the camera's FoV.  You could then position it on the object more easily to get it in the centre.

3.  The different options seem to be scattered all over the place.,  Sure, leave them there but would also be good to have them on a preferences menu bar too.

[John78]

NINA is absolutely brilliant, its more than just an AP control app, its like an AP control OS although it uses all the tools you know and love under the hood it pulls them all together in one window in one umbrella in a logical fashion - for free, and as pointed out the autofocusing routines in particular are spot on and more featured than in any other tool I've used. 

In my opinion its totally left SGP in the dust, even without knowing its going to subs business model.

 

The other nice thing it does is uses the astrometry API to solve your images if plate-solving fails, takes a few minutes while it gets solved but it works every time.

ASTAP however as mentioned in this thread, is potentially even more brilliant than NINA, I don't know how it does what it does - but it plate solves anything, pointing anywhere, blindly, largely out of focus, in a fraction of a second.  The amount of hair I've lost and imaging time to boot because ASPS or Astrotortilla decide they're going to take minutes to solve or just refuse to solve at all and require masses of debugging only to end up back with the settings you had in the first place, its like they're afraid of the dark - they always work nicely during the day!

ASTAP also has analysis built in to show you issues with your image train like tilt.

 

These two programs are really exciting for the world of AP.

[iwols]

does anyone know if nina saves the image from ccd to folder without altering the image

[Skipper Billy]

16 minutes ago, iwols said:

does anyone know if nina saves the image from ccd to folder without altering the image

The drop down box in the attached image shows where you can choose how NINA saves files - you can choose from TIFF, FIT or XISF as a native format for Pixi users!!

 

[iwols]

7 hours ago, Skipper Billy said:

The drop down box in the attached image shows where you can choose how NINA saves files - you can choose from TIFF, FIT or XISF as a native format for Pixi users!!

 

thanks billy what i mean is does the autostretcher setting or black clipping setting alter the image it saves to the image folder or just the image it shows you in nina ,cheers

[Skipper Billy]

25 minutes ago, iwols said:

thanks billy what i mean is does the autostretcher setting or black clipping setting alter the image it saves to the image folder or just the image it shows you in nina ,cheers

No - it doesnt make any changes to the image - its purely a screen stretch.

[Jonk]

On 27/09/2020 at 20:14, kirkster501 said:

On 27/09/2020 at 18:18, Jonk said:

First problem for me... Sharpsky focusers won’t stay connected. They instantly disconnect.

Another problem, pulling the usb cable from the camera and no pop up to say disconnected. Even after waiting a while.

Have to stick with SGP for now...

Have you raised this on the Discord section?

I never see a "disconnected" in SGP either. 

I didn't post in the Discord forum, instead I emailed the SharpSky developer, and he agreed that the 64Bit version of Nina does not connect to the SharpSky driver, which he's confused about, as it should.

The SharpSky driver is 32bit and 64bit compatible and complies with the ASCOM verfication checks.

He's going to take it up with Nina so there may be a new SharpSky driver or Nina build to address this on the way.

[mallorcasaint]

I have been using N.I.N.A. for a while now and have really enjoyed getting to grips with the software. Having used several programmes including CCDCiel and SGP I'll say it is the best and easiest I've used. I love how it is easy to set up, frame and squence a target. Using Carte du Ciel, I choose and select my target then go back to NINA get the coordinates in the Framing section then Slew to the target, plate solve in ASTAP then when I'm happy, transfer the target to the Sequencer, set up the sequence, ensuring that Plate Solve and Centre target is selected, and run.  It's a stable platform  and although there a re a couple of options I would like to see added, It's a joy to use. I think the next update will improve the Sequencer. I haven't really used the AutoFocus function much but intend to when I've got my rig set up properly.