Anyone tried NINA for image capture?

[KathyNS]

On another forum, I saw several people recommending something called NINA as an alternative to SGP for image capture. Has anyone tried it? Anyone care to review it?

[JayTee]

Here's the link. I'll be investigating it, but it may take me a little bit.

https://daleghent.com/nina-introduction

Cheers,
JT
Primary Features
Here’s a quick synopsis of the features in NINA as of version 1.8.0. The NINA documentation goes over them in detail.

Integrated control of telescope mount, camera, filter wheel, focuser, and rotator.
Native support for Atik, Altair, QHYCCD, ToupTek, and ZWO astronomy cameras as well as Canon and Nikon DSLRs. Naturally, non-native cameras are supported via ASCOM if those cameras have an ASCOM driver. Native support for other brands is certainly a possibility provided there is access to hardware in which to develop and test with.
Auto-Guiding: Integration with PHD2 to display in-app guiding statistics and to effect actions such as dithering.
Sky Atlas: Lets one search for targets and slew the mount to them, or to then pop into the sequence or framing editors.
Framing Assistant: once you decide on a target in Sky Atlas, use Framing Assistant to overlay the camera’s FOV and fine-tune the desired position in the frame and camera rotation.
Sequence Editor: Here is where you compose the sequence of exposures you want, with options to set filter types, dither between shots, and auto-focus based on a variety of parameters (temperature change, number of exposures, filter changes). It will also categorize your exposures into Lights, Darks, Bias and other types of frames.
Flat Wizard: Flat frames are essential to astrophotographers in order to remove noise and other unwanted artifacts from the end-product. Flat Wizard makes producing accurate Flat Field exposures as well as Darks easy to do and removes the burden of figuring that out manually.
Auto-focusing: Tools and actions to do automatic focusing at set points or after certain conditions, plus a wizard to help on pick good focusing targets
Synchronized Dithering: Multiple instances of NINA may work together with a single instance of PHD2 to accomplish synchronized dithering.
Plate Solving: Use one of several plate-solving software packages to plate-solve images for accurate telescope positioning and camera rotation needs. NINA’s polar alignment wizard also uses plate solving to allow you to accurately polar-align your mount. Astrometry.net, Platesolve2, and All Sky Plate Solver are supported.

[KathyNS]

Thanks. I'll be downloading it and checking it out, too. No personal experience as yet, though, eh?

[JayTee]

Not yet, I'm still recuperating from writing up the previous software primer.
JT

[OhNo]

Looks interesting.

[Gordon]

That sounds interesting!

I will load it up on my observatory laptop and if and when the clouds clear, I will give it a run.

[Gordon]

I'm playing with it now. So far I like it!!!

[Aidi]

I saw a post on facebooktwittertube thingy the other day and briefly read about it.. Seen it pop up in a few forums.. Downloaded it and taken a look at it briefly... On first impressions it looks good. Nicely laid out, intutive and a few nice features by the looks of it.

I think it will certainly get some of my attention to set it up with my equipment and invest some time with it.

[Gordon]

It's a semi cloudy day here today so can't really do anything on the solar side. So i may get a chance to attempt to get Nina set up. What I have found so far is that it appears to have a user guide that leaves a little to be desired. (typical of open-source software) I'm sure that will get better with time as people start using it. In doing my reading and just playing. It appears setup is pretty easy. I will find out once I get everything setup.

I will report back.

[cuiv]

Hello there - I'm a contributor to NINA (more like: I'm building stuff I need in NINA because it's Open Source - like Direct Guider and enhancements to star detection and autofocus) coming from an SGP background. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, although the easiest is just to join the Discord chat from the Discord link on the main page of NINA: https://nighttime-imaging.eu/

I'm also working on some quick start videos as well, that I can post when ready.

Cheers,

Yannick

[Gordon]

Hi Yannick!

Welcome to TSS!
I've been playing with NINA and have found it to be a great tool! So far the setup and function has been very easy. I still haven't had a chance to actually put it to use as it's been overcast during the evenings.

[JayTee]

Hello Yannick,

I've also been testing out N.I.N.A. over the last three or four days. I am an experienced APT and BYE user. So far, I'm very impressed with the software. I've had little difficulty connecting up my camera, a Canon T3i, I have yet to connect it to my scope/mount as the skies here have not been very cooperative. Hopefully, I can finish my review of the software this weekend since the weather man is saying it "might" be clear.

Cheers,
JT

[cuiv]

Thanks for the welcome guys For information, I created some videos on how to set up NINA, how the options work, how to set up sequences, and what my pre-sequence workflow typically is.

- First time setup, and in-depth explanation of all the options:

- How I set up sequences in NINA:

- My NINA pre-sequence worflow:

Also, while I contribute some features to NINA, I'm by no means an expert, so this is within my own understanding of the software.

Cheers,

Yannick

[Gordon]

Thanks again Yannick!

I got a chance to try it out just a bit. It was still hazy so didn't bother to try to take images, just ran it through it's paces and found a few things I had to change. There's a lot of tools so it does take a bit of learning where everything is but it seems to have everything needed. I will take a look at the videos and see if it makes the learning side a little easier.

[Altocumulus]

I'll give it a whirl - I must have the same cloud sheet that Gordon has - but I'm interesting in anything that combines the goto aspects with the imaging process.

Thanks for the nudge Kathy....

[Altocumulus]

Chuckles - NINA stands for Nighttime - and yet there's a Sun on the home page.

That's what I can't (yet) find in the listings, Sun or Moon - Perhaps I'll have to read some instructions


Seems it's DSO orientated, I haven't found any Solar System items. :twocents:

[Aidi]

I’ve also been looking at NINA and it sure does tick an awful lot of boxes for an image capture bit of software. Easy to install and setup.. and overall quite intuitive.

As I am an SGP user I thing it would have to do something that SGP doesn’t or do it better. That’s not a knock on NINA by any means.. I e already paid for SGP, so I’m not going to switch just because.

So, what will/can NINA do that is different, easier etc?

From what I’ve seen so far, I’d certainly recommend it to someone starting out in AP

[OhNo]

I just bought a license for SGP ~3 weeks ago. Typical!!!! There is one thing (that I've seen so far) that NINA has that SGP doesn't. Power monitoring for DSLR cameras. I am still way to new to SGP to add much constructive criticism, but the first few times I've used it Plate Solving worked great, lately I've had nothing but trouble. From other hobbies, I've noticed that "Open Source" programming leads to quicker up-dates to software, due in part to the actual users contributing positive criticism and solutions.

I am going to give NINA a try, when the smoke clears in the sky....

[bobharmony]

I like the native support for ZWO cameras. I have been tinkering with APT as a replacement for BYEOS, as I am considering a camera upgrade. APT supports ZWO through ASCOM, I would prefer the native support as a rule. I may have to take a look at NINA as well.

Bob

[Gordon]

Well,

I watched the first video Yannick provided in his post. I originally downloaded the 'tested' version 1.8. You really need to download the "nightly build" 1.9 version. It has SOOO much more!