Good Morning Forum!
I am a new user of Astrophotography Tools (
APT) and a new owner of a Nikon D5300 and really enjoying both so far. When I say new, I mean spanking new. I just got things connected in a spare bedroom and last night I took the rig outside under not so good conditions to test it.
All went pretty well. A good experience and a major upgrade from DigicamControl that I was using with my non-SDK supported Nikon D3300. Just to say though, a big thanks to DigicamControl for getting me started.
Something that I have available to me with
APT (there are also many things available that I have not used yet) is dithering. I am now capable of dithering with proficiency. My equipment is capable, but I am quite a ways off the mark in the understanding of the settings.
If there are any
APT/
dslr users here that might be able to direct me.
I have a Nikon D5300 on an Explore Scientific ED102. The Nikon has an APS-C sensor 23.5x15.6mm with a pixel distance (size) of 3.89um. My guide scope is an Orion MMAG with a focal length of 152mm and a pixel size of 5.2um.
I plugged this data into a image scale calculator
http://celestialwonders.com/tools/imageScaleCalc.html
and get an imaging scale of 1.2 arcsec for my imaging rig (ED102/D5300) and and imaging scale of 6.6 for the guide scope.
Am I thinking right to believe that if my software moves the guide camera one pixel, that will equate to 5.5 pixels for the imaging camera (6.6/1.2)?
Okay, assuming those values are correct, any idea how do I set up
APT and PHD2 to accomplish a dither of at least 15 pixels (what I read is needed as a minimum for a
dslr)?
This is what I have set for dithering in
APT.
This is my setting for dithering in the "Brain" of PHD2.
- PHD Brain Dither Settings.JPG (14.33 KiB) Viewed 1765 times
I was playing around with the scale value, so the scale of 20 just happened to be what I set it at to see the response.
This is what my guiding graph looks like (I know that it is very noisy in
RA), so I see that a dither is taking place, but I am not sure how to read the dither value of 3.960. Is that the dither move in pixels for the guide camera? Which would be the result of whatever values I have in
APT combined with the PHD2 dithering scale?
Any suggestions for settings in both apps to get me close to where I need to be?
I know that this is asking quite a bit. I appreciate the help and I thanks to anyone that can share their experience with me.
Thanks,
Jim
Jim
Scopes: Explore Scientific ED102 APO, Sharpstar 61 EDPH II APO, Samyang 135 F2 (still on the Nikon).
Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod
Stuff: ASI EAF Focus Motor (x2), ZWO OAG, ZWO 30 mm Guide Scope, ASI 220mm min, ASI 120mm mini, Stellarview 0.8 FR/FF, Sharpstar 0.8 FR/FF, Mele Overloock 3C.
Camera/Filters/Software: ASI 533 mc pro, ASI 120mm mini, ASI 220mm mini , IDAS LPS D-1, Optolong L-Enhance, ZWO UV/IR Cut,
N.I.N.A., Green Swamp Server, PHD2, Adobe Photoshop CC, Pixinsight.
Dog and best bud: Jack
Sky: Bortle 6-7
My Astrobin:
https://www.astrobin.com/users/Juno16/