All Activity
This stream auto-updates
- Past hour
-
GMP joined the community
- Today
-
-
I was going to pick up the T3i before seeing the 20D and thinking I'd make it work despite it being outdated. Is there a preference you have for either the T3i or the T5i? Thanks for the help btw, first time using DSLR to capture anything in the night sky. I'm lucky to have my ZWO running while figuring this stuff out.
-
Davis Instruments, with it's text file capabilities works well.
-
Be careful of the USB Ports as so many of the astronomy accessories are still very finicky with the USB port they will accept and sometimes adapters don't play well with astronomy products. Randall
- Yesterday
-
There are two problems with the Class of Laptop which you describe: Power Usage / Battery Life - High End Laptops with i7-Core CPUs and large amounts of RAM are Power-Hungry Machines, and while Battery Tech has Improved the Trend today is to design these as Gamers Laptops where Battery Size is reduced in tradeoff for additional Internal Components AND additional Cooling (to get rid of the Heat generated by that Power Usage) Gamer's Laptop Designs - The combo of High Spec and High Price have pushed most Laptop Makers to orient these Laptops to Gamers - High-End Video Card to compliment the High-End CPU; FullHD or better LED Screen; Illuminated/Colored Keyboards; High-End Sound and Speakers Perhaps you can overlook #2 - or even make use of the GPU to supplement the CPU for AP Image Processing (think PixInsight not PSP). And maybe all of your Imaging will be performed near Power Lines to alleviate concerns over #1. You'll LOVE such a High-End Gamers Laptop for AP Imaging if these are the case. Or, you could consider another route: Low-End Image Capture Laptop - i3-Core Laptop CPU and 4-8GB RAM and 0.5-1TB SSD/NVMe and smallish LED Screen - and Largish Battery Well-Endowed Customized Desktop Image Processing PC - i7-Core or AMD Rizen3 CPU and 16GB RAM and 0.5-1TB SSD/NVMe backed with Larger HDD The Laptop could be Energy-Efficient enough to operate a Full Night (or two) for normal Image Capture Duties. And then the Desktop could be engaged in Image Processing when back at Home Base. And, because the former is Cheap and Easy to come by, and the latter is Cheaper to Spec with Desktop Parts - the Duo may cost about the same as the Gamers Laptop. (Just a thought)
-
fsofso joined the community
-
Thank you, Both, for your replies. I was concerned that the suggestions offered by my "computer guy" were too over-the-top. I've used, without problems, Paintshop Pro by Corel since version 5 with a desktop computer that's 10 years old.
-
I would also suggest comparing the specs of the machine that you are looking at purchasing against the requirements of whatever software you are planning to use for image processing. Other things to consider are the USB ports and the speed of the video processor, since processing apps can use the video processor to speed up image processing.
-
MikeDols joined the community
-
Those specs are reasonable, but only because you want to process your images as well on that laptop. The only new term here is the NVMe drive. Just think of NVMe as the next generation of SSD drive. An NVMe drive is an SSD, but 3 to 5 times faster. It's the new thing. As for the i7, it's a safe bet. The recommended 16GB ram is also a good recommendation. I would not go below 16GB for a processing laptop. Regards,
-
I'm having to buy a new laptop for the usual everyday Internet uses but also for astrophotography, remote telescope operation, and image processing (Paintshop Pro X9). My former laptop was an Asus gaming machine which I chose because it was a beefy machine with more memory than usually found in lesser laptops and a dedicated video card with its own memory (I never played a single game!). A computer repair technician suggested either a Dell Precision or a Lenovo Thinkpad with i7 processor with solid state NVMe drive, 16 GB RAM. It has been 8 years since I had to think about buying a computer, and I've not kept up with advances in technology so the terms I see are new and a puzzle. Are the Dell and Lenovo laptops, both of which are very expensive, really necessary for my needs? Thanks in advance for any help on this subject. BTW, I'll have deal with Windows 10 for the first time - good grief!
-
-
Sondra joined the community
-
It will accept in-camera TV values only, so AV-FLAT / PROGRAM are not valid arguments.
-
Thanks, that makes perfect sense. So, the argument for the shutter parameter can be any value that appears in the Shutter dropdown? Does it include 'AV-Flat' and 'PROGRAM' or are only the numeric values and BULB allowed? Thanks!
-
Well, this might already work after all. Looking at the API code it looks like there's an undocumented parameter called shutter. You need to use the shutter parameter instead of duration parameter. target:{name} duration:{duration in seconds, default is 1} shutter:{any camera valid shutter speed, default is BULB} iso:{100, 400, 800, 1600, default is 1600} quality:{jpg, raw, default is jpg} exposures:{number of images to take, default is 1} imagetype:{1=preview, 0=capture, default is 1} Examples: “takepicture target:M33 duration:300 iso:800” “takepicture duration:15 iso:1600” “takepicture duration:15” “takepicture shutter:1/100 iso:800” “takepicture quality:raw iso:1600” “takepicture target:M13 duration:300 iso:800 imagetype:0”
-
With the current API, it appears to be the case, yes. I was just looking and the code and there is support for shutter speeds in there, but it looks like it is just missing the mapping from the API supplied parameter to the actual valid TV shutter value. Might be a simple 10 minute fix. If this is the case I'll fix that for the next release for sure. Regards,
-
Just so that I understand...You seem to be saying that the current version of the API only does BULB exposures of 1 second or longer. Tv exposures, shorter than 1 second are not currently possible. Is that correct?
-
Frank.Ingermann joined the community
-
jsignorotti@sbcglobal.net joined the community
-
Matija joined the community
-
You are sending invalid parameters. As per the documentation these are the valid values for each parameters. target:{name} duration:{duration in seconds, default is 1} <<<=== you must send the duration in seconds, not TV shutter speeds iso:{100, 400, 800, 1600, default is 1600} quality:{jpg, raw, default is jpg} exposures:{number of images to take, default is 1} imagetype:{1=preview, 0=capture, default is 1} <<<=== you must send either 1 or 0, not FLAT. Sadly the current API only accept seconds for the duration, not TV shutter speeds specifically. You do bring up a good point however, perhaps TV shutter speeds should be added as a possibility. Internally, BYE has converted the errornous "1/100" TV shutter speed to 1 second and this may be why your flat is overexposed. Regards,
-
hunt760 joined the community
-
-
chris0808 joined the community
-
-
Thank you all for the answers knowledge is all I need - now that I know, it has turned my BEOS experience into a very pleasant one. The box you kept your camera aimed at was a 60D so that is how I got confused. BTW see my post here: Sorry for the confusion and at least the three line log summary tells me of my error. Thank you again for your time and consideration I could not be happier with BEOS! Randall
-
How to be a Star at a Star Party - Show off BEOS! Last night I attended the SCOVAC public star party. Equipment: Canon 60D, a vintage 1981 Meade Model 2080 SCT, on a Celestron CGEM DX mount and tripod, PoleMaster polar alignment camera, and BEOS on a 16" laptop. (Could have installed the alignment camera but kept it simple). I setup my scope much like everyone (five others brought their go to telescopes). I then took off my eyepiece and attached my 60D and fired up BEOs I got the 60D into fine focus with FWHM in Frame & Focus, which everyone thought was better than sliced bread. I did a couple more star alignments with BEOE using Frame & Focus with the Zoom box grid - educating them on what the goto was actually doing and calculating. Most people were checking in and out with the different scopes being awed by Orion M42. I instructed my mount to go there, leaving it in Frame & Focus - onlookers were underwhelmed as expected. I told them "lets throw some more light in the 60D" and took one under exposed, couple of seconds, photo by only selecting the first entry in the Capture Plan Center. Better, but they could tell I was up to something... I then ran the entire Capture Plan - they loved the count down timer - and as each new image appeared with more and more detail of Orion nothing but ewes and awes! They loved how each finished photo just popped up (occasionally going into presentation mode was killer as well) I was able to teach them a little bit about the histogram when asked about the weird graph "thingy". I finished M42 with a very overexposed core but a more detailed fringe. We moved onto Venus, Andromeda, the Pinwheel, and more. I kept hearing "He just took that with that..." I got to teach them a little about astronomy, photography and light science but it all would have been very dull and tedious without BEOS! BEOS was the real star of the party last night - Thank you Guylian for making it all possible! Randall Initially tried to put this in how to but not an option...
-
It is not clear from the API documentation whether the takepicrure command can take Tv exposures, but if it is supported perhaps you should use a decimal number, for example, 0.01 rather than a string like "1/100" that is not a number. I would also expect that if any of the arguments do not make sense, that the command would raise an exception rather than misinterpret the command.
-
Hi! I'm trying to create a FLAT capture program integrated with my observatory software. Is the system for sending commands with short shutter speeds correct? BackyardTcpClient.SendCommand(String.Format("takepicture target:{0} duration:{1} iso:{2} quality:{3} exposures:{4} imagetype:{5} bin:{6}", "FLAT_" _ & date1.Day & "_" & date1.Month & "_" & date1.Year, "1/100", "100", "RAW", "3", "FLAT", bin)) this is because it seems to me that the flat is completely overexposed. shutter speed is: 1/100 sec. for 100 ISO. Best regards, Riccardo.
-
Honestly, it would be so much Better to "cut your losses" by buying a Newer Canon DSLR. A Used DSLR can be had (Refurbed or just "Gently Used") for about the Price of an Intervalometer and one Software. You don't need the Latest Model, nor one without Scratches to the Camera Body, nor even one with all the Kit Lenses. All you need is a Used T3i or T5i (my favored models). You can pick up any Canon DSLR on the Supported Camera List EXCEPT the T4i (any model listed as supporting LiveView and Bulb (USB)). All of your existing Canon Lenses will work. And you will get Important Features that the 20D simply NEVER had - LiveView, USB Bulb Tethering, Better Sensor (Less Noise, More Sensitivity, Smaller Pixels, Higher MP, Better Daytime Focus), Modern Software, and more. Used Canon DSLRs can be found Online from many Reputable Dealers: Adorama, B&H Photo, KEH, Roberts, Spencers, Astromart, Cloudy Nights, and even eBay or Amazon.
-
Ah that might actually be the issue. I've been looking for a PC that's 32-bit but can also run the camera software and any related planetarium software. Would it be better to just cut my losses with software and try taking pictures just using the camera and a shutter release cable?
-
BackyardEOS and BackyardNIKON were designed with save to PC in mind; the save to card is optional and some model can't do it when the camera is tethered to a computer. For most Canon this is a non issue, but for most Nikon this appears to but more frequent. It's never been clear to me if this is a limitation of the SDK or not. The SDK is not documented and there is no support from Nikon so it makes it very difficult to fish features/options out of it. I hope this makes sense. The 4 second is normal to download the image.
-
I am not taking a 10 minute image, no where does my post say that!
-
Not missing any point, and am not using it for the intervalometer, i already have a wireless intervalometer and in camera intervalometer, just disappointed they show that as a feature and the programming doesn't work correctly when saving straight to camera. Only trying out software as stated before and you quoting my words, to focus on a larger screen. Not trying review any of the images as it shoots. Just for initial focus.
-
Is Windows 10 64 bits and your VM 32 bits? That may be the issue. Your host W10 may have to recognize the camera before handing it off to the VM. If this is the case it will never work because the host W10 pc is 64 bits and can't even see the camera for what it is. Someone with more experience with VM and USB handoff may be able to give you more info; I'm just speculating.
-
The executable isn't doing anything when I run it. Maybe I need to run the virtual machine in Windows XP and not in Windows 10?
