Frame Type per Exposure

[mcintyre_sj]

The frame type applies to all exposure in the captyure sequence. Generally this is fine. However, when taking darks, my usuall practice is to take bias and dark frames after the imaging run. I just setup the capture sequence and go to bed. With a common "Frame Type" this means that both bias and darks are named "DARK" and i then have to rename them later.

 

Can the "Frame Type" be per expsosure sequence?

[admin]

Yeah, that does make sense for darks and bias only, good point.

[s3igell]

My usuall practice is to take bias and dark frames after the imaging run. I just setup the capture sequence and go to bed. With a common "Frame Type" this means that both bias and darks are named "DARK" and i then have to rename them later.

 

I'd suggest that you do the BIAS Frames first - if you even need to Collect a New Set of BIAS every Night as many of us Reuse our BIAS for many Nights as long as we are using the same ISO.  The BIAS Frame Collection should be completed in a few short minutes - no chance to Fall Asleep or even to Wander Far from the Keyboard.  THEN...  Start up your DARK Frames Capture Session, and Go to Bed...

[mcintyre_sj]

I think a few minutes at 3am waiting for the bias capture to complete are actually quite long minutes - espectailly at -20C. I usually setup the darks run from in the house (remote desktop), then quickly go out and close up the observatory and start the dark capture. So i'll just continue to setup for bias and darks as one run, and rename the files later. They are easy to identify. It's just an extra step.

 

I know that many people reuse bias frames (masters) and dark masters at the same ISO, exposure and temp. I've never done any testing to know how consitent a DSLR is over time and how temp affects bias. So i wonder about the variation from one run to another. Since it's easy and realtively fast to take them, i do this as a matter of practice. As for darks, with the limited opportunity to image i always seem to be at a different temperature and exposure time (with at least ISO being relatively consistent).

[dts350z]

"The temperature of bias frames is not important":

 

http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english/index.html

 

You don't need to take them every time. You are just using up shutter activations you don't need to IMHO.

 

I suggest  you keep all your darks in a "library" folder, and (assuming you use Deep Sky Stacker) use DarkMaster to pick the right temp files to match your lights. After a while you will build up a library of darks and you can stop taking more. Keeping your exposure time and iso consistent will help.

 

https://sourceforge.net/projects/darkmaster/