Getting to grips with NINA

[Quatermass]

I had my first imaging session with NINA the other night having used APT for a long time which I love and highly recommend. The reason for the change is because my equipment is now becoming more and more automated and I thought NINA was better suited to this kind of set up. I really enjoyed using NINA for the first time and found its many features very helpful. It did seem a bit daunting at first though mostly getting used to a new interface and learning where everything is so tried to keep things simple and managed to get a reasonable image out of my first session on the seagull nebula in H-Alpha.

I have yet to try out a full set of sequences and trust it to just get on with it so if any one has some helpful tips on things to watch out for that would be most helpful. My set up is a Sky watcher 130pds on an Sky watcher eq5 pro mount. Camera is the Altair Astro Hypercam 294c fan cooled camera and guiding is with a zwo asi 120mc guide camera and a SV165 Mini Guider Scope 30mm/120mm F4 all this is controlled from the main pc inside my shed extension with cables running to my roll off roof observatory. The picture below is my 200p on the mount before I got the 130pds which is much better suited to the mounts weight carrying capacity and a superb bit of kit in my opinion next on my list will be a focuser so I dont have to keep running back and forth to focus my images for which NINAs auto focus features will be put to the test. Clear skies QM 😉

[scotty38]

Nice image.

Are you using the advanced sequencer? If not then I'd recommend doing so to add tons of flexibility to your sequences, especially if automation is your aim.

[Ratlet]

Nina sequences are great.  Only downside is that it does exactly what you tell it to.  Make sure to go through the sequence and check you've told it to do everything or you'll end up like me and not check the 'slew to target' box.

[tomato]

Here is someone else who thinks NINA's sequencer is great. I don't like the idea of setting up a sequence to run from a cold start, I'll always cool the cameras, unpark, slew to target, platesolve, recentre and initially focus manually, by which time the cloud has usually arrived. However, I'm quite happy to let NINA run on well into the early hours if the weather is being co-operative. In 3 years of use I can count the number of unexplained interruptions I have experienced on one hand.

+1 for checking you have all the command ducks in a row, as has already been said, just like any computer code it always does exactly what you tell it to do, nothing more or less. Most of my glitches arise from the dome automation (which is not controlled by NINA) and the scope automation not staying 100% in sync, but I'm slowly getting there.

[Ratlet]

https://www.youtube.com/c/patriotastro/videos does some good videos on sequencer.  Cuiv the lazy geek is also good.  Have a look at the ones where he talks about local palte solving if you haven't already.  It speeds everything up massively.  Oh, and get the sky atlas and sky survey ran locally too, again just get's everything moving nice and quickly.

 

[scotty38]

You should build templates and use those for your imaging runs then you should have little. if any, issues weather excepting of course.

I have templates built for LRGB, SHO and also HaLRGB so depending which target I select in the Framing tab I just send that to the template that I already loaded. The templates already have a target included  (hence the RGB etc designation) so I can just "Update" the target and it's ready to go.

Minor point is that I save my sequences for each target anyway so just loading a sequence and updating its target is what I actually do in practice. I reset the sequence of course.....

[geeklee]

8 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

You should build templates and use those for your imaging runs then you should have little. if any, issues

Thanks for this tip @scotty38 Although I've used NINA a fair bit I've - through weather and opportunity - still not quite "dug into it" and just crack on usually.  It shows how simple the software is to do a lot of things easily.  Despite using the dragscript/sequencer in Voyager, I've still not had a play with the advanced sequencer in NINA.

While I have your ear (or anyone elses!) If I frame up a mosaic and then "Add target to sequence" + "Simple sequencer", is there a way to save that in its entirety.  I came a cropper once thinking I'd saved it and only had one "target" (I.e. one pane)!  Also when I have a mosaic in the simple sequencer, can I copy and paste all my sequence settings to each target (pane).  Thanks in advance  

[scotty38]

I'm not sure what you can and cannot do in the simple sequencer as it's ages since I used it.

What I do know is that whatever you have in there can be sent to the advanced sequencer which, of course, can then be saved.

It would be interesting to see how your "simple" mosaic turns out once exported. Another thing I do know is that if you send multiple targets (panels) to the advanced sequencer for a mosaic it will create them as true individual targets. That i itself is not a bad thing but if you want to round robin the exposures per panel as it were and also cut down on duplicating commands such as autofocus, centre after drift, restore guiding etc etc etc then you need to move those targets in to one imaging group and manage it as a whole. Much easier to do than try and explain though and also makes much more sense once you have your head round the logic too.

[scotty38]

@geeklee I should add that I'm happy to share any of my sequences if only to show you how I have things set up if it helps any. It's also worth noting there are a million and one ways to skin the cats though so anything I have isn't necessarily the best, and definitely not the only, way.....

Edited January 4, 2023 by scotty38

[Quatermass]

Thanks for the info everyone I have not tried the advanced sequencer yet still getting my head around the interface and trying out a simple sequence to test everything out. I have noticed that when it changes to the next sequence it sometimes fails to plate solve then increased the settle time for the scope which cured that. And I have been watching the lazy geek vids to give me some more ideas about using it. Tonight's session apart from the clouds is going very well I have got it slewing to the target plate solving centring the target and guiding starting all works well which is great. Not sure how to get it all to stop if the clouds roll in and it loses the guiding though?

[teoria_del_big_bang]

5 hours ago, scotty38 said:

@geeklee I should add that I'm happy to share any of my sequences if only to show you how I have things set up if it helps any. It's also worth noting there are a million and one ways to skin the cats though so anything I have isn't necessarily the best, and definitely not the only, way.....

I am also wanting to use the advanced sequencer but not yet got my head round it and so many times end up using the simple sequencer just to get some imaging in before the clouds roll in.
I would really love to see some of your templates and sequences if that is not asking too much 🙂 

Steve

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Great image by the way @Quatermass 🙂 

Steve

[CedricTheBrave]

Patriot Astro has some very good templates on his website as well

download them and adjust as necessary

[teoria_del_big_bang]

5 minutes ago, CedricTheBrave said:

Patriot Astro has some very good templates on his website as well

download them and adjust as necessary

Thanks for that, they are a great help 🙂 

God knows when the skies up here  will clear though to put them to use . ☁️🌩️

Steve

[scotty38]

1 hour ago, Quatermass said:

 Not sure how to get it all to stop if the clouds roll in and it loses the guiding though?

It may not be available in the simple sequencer but "centre after drift" will get you back on track after clouds have messed things up.

[scotty38]

1 hour ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

I am also wanting to use the advanced sequencer but not yet got my head round it and so many times end up using the simple sequencer just to get some imaging in before the clouds roll in.
I would really love to see some of your templates and sequences if that is not asking too much 🙂 

Steve

No worries here's an example. Of course it references plugins and kit you may not have but any questions shout up.

Oh just thought, one thing that might look odd is the safe and unsafe loops at the end. They are there because my shutter isn't automated yet so once the sequence has finished I drop to those so I still get pinged if it starts raining before I get up.

M31.json

Edited January 4, 2023 by scotty38

[Quatermass]

I was impressed with the Manual rotator function when I found it as I dont have a rotator and often go out there and rotate my camera manually to frame it up in Stellarium after doing a plate solve in APT but with this function it tells you exactly how much your out which is pretty awesome. I will use this to mark on my camera exactly what my rotation is as I have a bit of white tape around it with marking in degrees to roughly show me where the camera is at. So far I am loving the functionality of NINA next up will be the advanced sequencer when the clouds decide to play nice again.

 

All this was covered in the excellent tutorial on Patriot Astros channel. https://youtu.be/rwpOO7CsD7U

 

 

 

[scotty38]

Also if you're not quite sure where you're at the Framing Assistant also has an option to platesolve and determine your current rotation.

[CedricTheBrave]

1 hour ago, scotty38 said:

Also if you're not quite sure where you're at the Framing Assistant also has an option to platesolve and determine your current rotation.

Framing assistant is great. so many functions that are just very useful

[Quatermass]

After using NINA to frame my final image of the seagull nebula this is what I came up with super happy with NINA especially now I have upgraded my camera but will also use APT when I'm using my Canon again.

[tich]

I've been using NINA a while now & love it, like you say a bit daunting at first I were the same after using other capture software for so long but after some time & figuring it out I can't see me ever going back. I can't see me ever using the advanced sequencer as my observatory will never be fully automated so I'll be shoving the dome round as & when needed lol. 

[scotty38]

3 hours ago, tich said:

I've been using NINA a while now & love it, like you say a bit daunting at first I were the same after using other capture software for so long but after some time & figuring it out I can't see me ever going back. I can't see me ever using the advanced sequencer as my observatory will never be fully automated so I'll be shoving the dome round as & when needed lol. 

You could use the advanced sequencer and set a pop up message to remind you or even use the  Ground Station plugin to send a message to your phone 🙂

[teoria_del_big_bang]

First clear night of the year for me last night (although fog rolled in about 2 am to spoil the imaging sequence I hoped would go through till nautical dawn.)

And a few nights prior to this sat indoors while the clouds were still active practicing with the advance sequencer has paid dividends.
With help from this thread (thanks @scotty38 and @CedricTheBrave directing me to  Patriot Astro) I don't know why I was so afraid of the advance sequencer.
And wow, how good is this sequencer, I now love NINA even more, what can't it do ?

The centre after drift is great, although when thick fog rolls in off them Pennines it can't do owt about that  😂😂😂🤣

The parallel sequence instruction, a brilliant time saver, so much you can do, I am never going back to simple sequencer now.

And the ability to set up all these templates and just send your target from the Framing Assistant to the pre written template of your choice means you are up and imaging in no time, and being able to change things "on the fly" was brilliant as after a couple of images I decided I needed more exposure time for SII and OII I could just change them without stopping the sequence and starting all over again. brilliant.

I could go on and on, does it show that I really like this sequencer ? 🙂 

Steve 

Edited January 17, 2023 by teoria_del_big_bang

[scotty38]

Yep once you try it there’s no going back 👍