Z9 Connects, But is Acting Goofy

[greg@twi-millwork.com]

I can connect my Z9 and control it with BYN. Problem is I can't see a FOV when I'm in Frame and Focus. I can actually take a picture, but BYN keeps randomly changing my ISO/Image quality, Shutter Speed etc...

Under the imaging/frame and focus tab there are 3 small print lines that keep repeating parameter is not valid. 11:43:40 and the last digits change depending on what tab I'm on

Any ideas?

 

Greg

[astroman133]

The Log History entries that say Parameter is not valid may not be a problem. The digits that you are talking about are hour:minutes:seconds and will change as the log entry is recorded.

It is my guess that you are confused because you are new to BYN and tethered control and that BYN is doing exactly what it is supposed to do. When you change between F&F and Imaging the values in the Camera Information Center will change. This is normal behavior.

The ISO, shooting mode, shutter speed, f/stop, image quality values that are displayed in the Camera Information Center are the latest values that BYN has read from the camera. When you start LiveView or take a picture they will change to whatever values BYN downloads to the camera. There is a setting in the LiveView area of the BYN Settings screen labelled Maximum Sensitivity. This tells BYN to choose exposure values for maximum brightness of the LiveView image. Once these values are downloaded to the camera they will stay until you shoot a Snap image from F & F or take pictures on Imaging.

Also in Frame & Focus, images are always small JPG. However, in Imaging they can be RAW, Large JPG, or both.

 

 

 

[greg@twi-millwork.com]

Astroman,

Thanks for the reply!

You're righty. Brand new to BYN. I've tried other platforms for astrophotography with the Z9 (NINA, SharpCap,) and have not had any succes connecting the Z9. My "mentor" suggested BYN so I downloaded and am trying to make it work for me. (I do have the 3.5.0 x64 build). He lives on the left coast and I'm in Texas so it's been a little challenging. 🙂

When I connect my camera to my laptop, the camera shows up. I open BYN and am able to connect the camera. I've been through the settings page and made a couple of adjustments in that area, mostly file storage adjustments. When I adjust the settings with my camera, these settings show up when I'm in the imaging tab, when I hit the start capture button, the settings are changing. This might be the way it's suppose to be, I'm just not sure how to keep my settings, or control my settings in the BYN app.

Also, according to Mr. "YouTube", when I go to F&F I should see something in my computer window to use to F&F. My screen is blank. I'm using a standard USB C cable, should I be using a different cable?

I know it's my lack of knowledge in this area that's preventing me from getting it right. I have looked at several of the YouTube videos and I just can't seem to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Off to more YouTube. :-)

Greg

[astroman133]

 

When you press the Start Capture button on the Imaging screen BYN begins to execute your capture plan. You have specified values for exposure, ISO, f/stop, etc for each row in the plan. BYN will send the settings for the current (first) row in the plan to the camera. You may also see the Image Quality value in the Camera Information Center change to whatever value you chose on the Settings Screen.

You should also see similar behavior on Frame & Focus when you activate LiveView. The image quality value is an exception. It should change to small JPG. This matches the resolution and format of the LiveView frames AND is what is used when shooting Snap images.

These should then show up in the Camera Information Center since they are now the values in the camera. This is normal behavior.

I am not sure why you think that you need to keep/save those settings.

When you are using your camera not connected to a PC, do you see LiveView images on the camera's LCD screen? That is what you should see in BYN's Frame & Focus screen. If you have a body cap on the camera instead of a lens or a telescope, you should see a black screen. If you are using your camera attached to a telescope that is pointing up at the night sky you will only see the brightest stars as small dim dots. You need to select a high ISO and a long enough exposure (like 1 or 2 seconds) AND the telescope must be close to focused. Do you see anything when the scope is pointed at the moon? This can help you get close to focus. I have also had to resort to looking through the camera's viewfinder to get a rough focus.

If you are not close to focus the stars will be so blurred that they will disappear. When you are in focus they will be barely visible dots. So to get good focus, you need to slew the telescope to get the brightest available star in the field-of-view, and/or to the moon.

It is worth noting that in LiveView changes to the exposure valuedo not behave as you might expect. You should think of the exposure duration as another brightness control. That is increasing the exposure duration makes the image brighter, but in LiveView it DOES NOT actually change the length of the exposure. LiveView frames are a fixed duration that is only a few milliseconds long. This actual duration is built into the camera and is not changeable from BYN.

I hope this helps.

 

[greg@twi-millwork.com]

Just a little more info. It seems I am getting control of the camera. I can schedule and run a complete program. It's capturing the images and storing them accordingly. What I haven't figured out is how to see a live view in F&F. It's got to be a camera setting on the actual camera, I just can't figure it out. The BYN instructions does not go into great detail.

Greg

[greg@twi-millwork.com]

i was typing as your reply came through. I will check into the live view settings. I am in my office in a bright controlled environment, and through the back of the camera I see a normal scene on the LCD, it does not show this view through the live view in BYN. I'll play with the values in the F&F mode. 

[astroman133]

I am a Canon user and forgot about a difference between BYE and BYN. In BYE with my Canon T5i I can vary the LiveView exposure and ISO and see the LiveView image brightness change as I make those changes. In BYN I understand that you have to Pause LiveView make a change and then Resume LiveView in order for the change to take effect. This is not as convenient, but is not something that the BYN developers can change.