On Off affair with NINA is off again...

[Newforestgimp]

Another evening of frustration in latest encounter with NINA, wasted another 45 mins trying to get NINA to work last night, it applied all the simulator settings to my live gear so had to manually reset those, it doesnt seem to like Live View, the option when pressed on NINA did nothing, this made focusing a real PITA. I even tried the advice given about starting guiding outside of NINA. i had set up a simple sequence 30x300 second exp (5 of which seemed to e used up during the platesolving step) But success !!! Due to not enabling guiding on NINA sequence, it made it past that stage and started the first image WOOHOO, a 300 sec exposure which when complete just hung, no clue on screen as to what it was doing so I decided to close NINA only then did she think i should see the errors messages pointing to some DSLR issue that certainly wasnt there during the platesolving and centering stage !!!

So once again I switched allegiance back to APT and in 5 mins, I've slewed, platesolved, centered and started the Lights plan running...... but I forgot to focus again DOH!!!!! 🙂 Hopefully i managed to get a few good ones even with the corner of my roof in frame.

I wont give up entirely on NINA as there's too many people using it raving about it so I fully understand its something I'm doing but then I think about adding an auto focuser and wonder if I have enough life left to spend more time faffing.

Score so far NINA 1 - 4 APT

Edited March 23, 2021 by Newforestgimp
punctuation

[kirkster501]

I think people tend to impose their workflow and ways of doing things learned on other software onto NINA and then expect it to work the same.

I agree it is quite hard to readjust.  For example, I like the way SGP put the autofocus frame in the main window - you immediately see if the focus has gone wrong by looking at the stars.  NINA does not do that (not that I know and happy to be corrected).   There are many other differences too.  

Edited March 23, 2021 by kirkster501

[Skipper Billy]

I can only speak from my personal experience but I installed NINA when SGP changed its business model with the intention of running the two side by side to see if NINA was any good.

Within a month I had deleted SGP.

NINA needs careful set up and it does things the NINA way not the APT or SGP way.

Its worth persevering with. My setup is remote (end of the garden and controlled from indoors) and I use electronic focussing etc. and NINA has performed superbly and been completely reliable.

[sloz1664]

4 minutes ago, kirkster501 said:

I think people tend to impose their workflow and ways of doing things learned on other software onto NINA and then expect it to work the same.

I agree it is quite hard to readjust.  For example, I like the way SGP put the autofocus frame in the main window - you immediately see if the focus has gone wrong by looking at the stars.  NINA does not do that not that I know and happy to be corrected).   There are many other differences too.  

I've had an on/off love affair with SGPro. I really like the interface and it's processes, what I don't like is the issues with freezing on certain processes like auto focus, plate solving and connecting to the guider. I cannot have this happen to me whilst unattended imaging sessions. I have tried NINA but there is an issue relating to my dome so that's on the back burner. I now use Voyager which is a fully automated programme. It just works, that's when when you get your head around fine tuning the dragscript programmes. I still like SGPro, once they can get the gremlins sorted and add an automated power up and fully power down proceedure.

 

Steve

[Newforestgimp]

8 minutes ago, Skipper Billy said:

I can only speak from my personal experience but I installed NINA when SGP changed its business model with the intention of running the two side by side to see if NINA was any good.

Within a month I had deleted SGP.

NINA needs careful set up and it does things the NINA way not the APT or SGP way.

Its worth persevering with. My setup is remote (end of the garden and controlled from indoors) and I use electronic focussing etc. and NINA has performed superbly and been completely reliable.

Dont get me wrong i really want it to work as i can see the potential but as it stands i am yet to capture a single image in NINA due to various issues, each time I overcome one I get another. As I say user error I'm sure but can I be bothered to update my Brain's firmware. ? Im not sure... 

[Clarkey]

I think ultimately it is all down to personal choice. I use NINA now, but have used APT and BYEOS in the past. All have their good and bad points - none of them are perfect. I think if you have found something that works for you then stick with it. I only moved to NINA for the autofocus routine that can be done during an imaging session. As I try to set up and go to bed this is quite important. However, there are faults with NINA, although for me at least more annoying than major.

[david_taurus83]

APT is better for a DSLR I find. The Liveview in NINA is rubbish compared to APT. I only switched to NINA myself as it had a V curve autofocus feature. APT also has this function in the latest preview releases so it's catching up.

[Newforestgimp]

24 minutes ago, Clarkey said:

I think ultimately it is all down to personal choice. I use NINA now, but have used APT and BYEOS in the past. All have their good and bad points - none of them are perfect. I think if you have found something that works for you then stick with it. I only moved to NINA for the autofocus routine that can be done during an imaging session. As I try to set up and go to bed this is quite important. However, there are faults with NINA, although for me at least more annoying than major.

Out of interest how many sessions did it take to get it working ? I can get the individual bits to work but when hitting PLAY on a sequence something hangs, fails, loops etc ?

[Clarkey]

I probably had issues the first couple of sessions but then it was OK. I have had problems when I have created new profiles and forgot to change or add stuff. To get it up and running you literally have to go through each setting page by page or it is easy to miss something. Also, the error messages in NINA are not always terribly helpful so working out the fault is not always straightforward.

I have never had NINA hanging - this may be a comms issue?

I there are any specific problems, I'll do my best to help. I think if you do get it working it is worthwhile.