CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

You are right about the Vignetting Issue.
With my Full Frame I get it and when I used a APS-C not so much.
The APS-C crops it out.
Craig

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

Yep......I don't have a problem with the vignetting as I usually end up cropping a border 100 pixels or so anyway - stars are just not as sharp on the edges with either my Atik CCD or two Nikon's. I also get vignetting, though not as much, with my Atik 383L CCD camera. Again - I expect it...image for it and crop it in post.

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

So you are saying the CCD camera has the Vignette problem too???
Craig

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

Yes! The CCD Atik 383L has vignetting!

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

The Atik 383L uses the Kodak 8300 CCD as does SBIG and the Celestron model. Is the vignetting coming from the filter wheel? The size of the sensor is 3362x2504 and is 17.6x13.52mm (which is a bit larger than the 17.8x10mm 4/3 sensor. The pixels are 5.4x5.4um.

Since this sensor is considerably smaller than the APS-C sensor, I have to wonder if the vignetting is happening in the filter wheel.

Do you have any images that you have done using your Nikon 800 or 810 and the same thing using the Atik? And sensitivity wise, do you notice any difference?

As a comparison, I have the Atik Infinity which has an even smaller sensor, but it is actually more sensitive than the DSLR. It is CMOS and supposedly the CMOS sensors are more sensitive, but I don't have spec's on that.

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

I am clueless as to why but it is not the filter wheel. I have, now, three different scopes - two reflectors and one refractor. I have used 5 different cameras at one point in time. Primarily using either a ASI120MC (planetary), Atik 383L CCD, and two Nikons - the Nikon 810a was made for astronomy and happens to be Nikon's only astro imaging camera. I also converted a D800e before buying the D810a (which was a mistake IMHO) The only camera that does not vignette is the ASI120MC which happens to have a CMOS sensor.....or either Nikon body with any of my Nikon lens.

I would say that both nikons are as sensitive as the Atik ...if there is a difference I cannot discern it. The job Spencers did on my D800e was a game changer. I can cool the Atik to 30 plus degrees below ambient and have more noise and less signal than the spencer modified D800e.

Back to my point, to the extent that I have the ability to frame my subject - I can always account for the anticipated vignette. For that reason, I almost opted out of buying the chroma corrector as I hate to add more glass between my subject and my sensor.....and cropping is something I plan to do during the imaging process. Also, for that reason I am drawn to using reflectors (no lens) so I don't have to deal with flare, chroma noise, and inherent halo-ing....not to mention more dust/crud to collect in the optical train.

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

I imaged from 9:30 to 2:30 give or take a few minutes. I used 360 second exposures and dithered....the time dithering added at least 20 seconds to each exposure. I ended up keeping 40 subs, I think.....I also had 200 or so supporting files, bias, darks, and flats.

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

I like it!

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

I really like EQMOD - pulse guiding - and CDC over other planetary programs. I have a JMI motofocus for my SCT....today i order one for my NEWT along with and ascom device that plugs into my outside laptop - the one connect to the scope's camera and guide port....which I access from my inside desktop using TEAM VIEWER.

Other than setting up and doing a polar alignment which takes no more than 10 minutes max - 3 or 4 is more like it......I will be able to do everything else inside now that I have added auto remote focusing....I added the ASI120MC camera to my finderscope and center my alignment star using sharpcap and either APT or BYEOS for Nikon (depending on which camera I use) to complete the alignments. Of course the easy way to center your target is Astrotortilla. ...actually, I have fun aligning 20 plus stars using CDC and EQMOD for syncing. Gotos are so accurate.

No mosquitos or cold to deal with....as long as I am home.

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

Just curious do you shoot new Bias and Darks each night? I was under the impression you can save them and reuse them for a fairly long time as long as exposure time, and gain/ISO are the same, with the sensor temp being relatively close +/- 10c. I recently had to reshoot my D800e darks as I acquired a couple new stuck pixels since I first shot them, almost two years ago. Actually it is exactly two years tomorrow. Too bad that's counting almost 6 months of down time due to choosing the AVX over my first choice lol. Sad thing is, it is going back to Cali Monday since it developed it's all too familiar Error16/17 yet once again. I was even running it on a deep cycle battery ran through a solar panel rectifier to guarantee exact 13.5vDC. With a couple Zenger diodes acting as a crowbar circuit. So the fault is definitely not in the power side of the equation. I think it may either be in the stepper controller or the rotary encoder, can't see how it could be anything else, unless the fault is not in the power supply but directly in the circuitry of the PCB.

This is getting absolutely ridiculous, especially considering how great Celestron used to be, since Synta bought them though, they seem to on a slippery slope downhill. They are only one or two steps above Meade as far as their mounts go, and that is saying alot. Meade makes damn fine optics but I have never had a mount of their that was not plagued with Gremlins.

Best of luck on the trunk, I tried previously without any great success. Might have to give it a go next time she comes around.
Matthew

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

I have a library of supporting files but end up shooting new ones. I think it is an anal thing but I fret over new dust showing or new hot pixels developing and end up adding them anyway but I do have a work flow.

When I shot M101, I had a good view of it and dark skies at 9:30 so I started with the subs......the target reached the meridian at 2:30 for I parked the scope, put the dust cover on and covered with - then I shoot the bias frames...since they are at 1/8000 I can program 100 plus in 10 minutes or less, when done I program the Darks to go the rest of the night and I go to bed. When I wake up, the scope is already pointing towards the pole and if a blank sky, I shoot the sky using aperture prior while outside, firing the camera 20 images at a time - empty the buffer, and anther 20.

My next target will be the Elephant Trunk...but that will not rise above my trees until 2:30 so I will do a polar alignment at 8:15 or so, cover the kit and shoot bias first while outside, firing as fast as the camera can take...then head inside and program the darks to run until 2:15...using those same settings for my imaging setting. I will start the image process and will probably guide until 6:00 am...that is all programable with BYEOS for NIKON or APT. Once I get the subs going I will go to bed, awake and take the flats. It takes a few minutes to set up the supporting files but it doesn't cost me sleep....well a few minutes.

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

Don't mean to sound stupid but what does CDC stand for? I have BackyardNik also but only use it for its planetary direct LCD readout so I don't have to compress the video.

I have never used APT, not even a trial, which for me is highly odd, lmmfao. My moto program is SGPro. Seems to work seamlessly with everything I've thrown at it. It also allows me to run autonomously, I still check to make sure the Platesolve worked after meridian flip. Only time it has failed I chalked up to clouds.

Did you pick the relative or absolute option for your focuser? Is it Crawford style or the mirror knob version.

Matthew

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

Apologies on my end, CDC stands for Cartes Du Ciel it's free planetary software for astronomers. It connects with mounts with ease this is the link to download

https://sourceforge.net/projects/skychart/

I have been considering adding Sequence Generator Pro but for now, I have things working pretty smoothly. I watch the developer demonstrate it on the Astro Imaging Channel a while back.

I have two crayfords and one mirror on the SCT.

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

If I recall correctly I downloaded and played with CDC awhile back to no avail. At the time I was too familiar with Stellarium, but have since moved onto Starry Night Pro. In all honesty I rarely use any of these now, since my main reason for using these was to determine the FOV, which helped me decide which camera-telescope combination would be best suited for the object I was trying to image.

SGP has a small add-on called the framing/mosaic wizard which does all this for me. Since I come from a background of visual astronomy I tend to feel more comfortable just using simple star charts. I just need the time to cross Meridian and add 3hrs to each side. The fact I do not have to figure in obstructions like trees or really anything, plus having relatively dark skies, is the only upside to being in this Wasteland they call North Dakota, as far as astronomy is concerned. I guess I do have my house which blocks my view to the Northeast but nothing that hinders any real targets.

Once my cable company puts in the permanent fiber for my internet, I plan to use the piece I am running to the substation now, to carry 1-2 data lines up a hill I have out back a few hundred meters away.

Thought about using either WIFI or the network over 120vDC, but have my concerns with both. Never having used the AC route I have reservations about both the speed of bandwidth and the introduction of noise into any signals set over this net.

As far as wifi goes this would be doable especially within the N or AC bandwidth, but since Wi-Fi security is so laughable, I would not feel comfortable having this control circuit connected to my server network. Hell even the computer I am using to type this rarely connects to my home network. Wife thinks I am paranoid, but the server hasnt been infected in over five years. I have far too much data to risk it, plus physical connections are still faster.

Granted I do not believe there are people with the know-how to hack or even piggy back into my network, within the couple of families that compose my neighbors. Hell I've met them, they can barely figure out twitter or facebook.

Matthew

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

(Welcome to the real world. :roll: )