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CHDK AstroKam Support

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Offline Davo

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Re: CHDK AstroKam Support
« Reply #60 on: 18 / August / 2014, 04:45:34 »
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The lag may be due to the fact that AstroKam will finish any long exposures in progress before returning control.

I do have EQ mounts but I was just making the point that you can take pretty good deep sky fotos with a £50 camera and a £150 alt-az mount. I get a kick out of pushing the envelope with cheap kit - check out my latest solar animation made with the cheapest solar telescope available here:

Not a valid vimeo URL
ps Autoguiding function is coming along nicely  :)
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Offline Davo

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Re: CHDK AstroKam Support
« Reply #61 on: 19 / August / 2014, 11:02:55 »
Version 8 of AstroKam (attached) now has an autoguiding function that uses the PHD2 autoguider program. It will start autoguiding after the scope moves to a new target and then dither between each shot. You can turn it on and adjust the settings in Settings>Guiding. The PHD2 status will be shown at bottom right of the main screen.

This is very much a first test release so fingers crossed  ::)

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Offline mngc

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Re: CHDK AstroKam Support
« Reply #62 on: 01 / September / 2014, 16:30:05 »
Thanks for new version Astrokam. Livew problem exist, Now i see PHD2 control functions. Currenty bad weather, but i have indoor tests.

I confused with astrokam, i not understand how it works. I need step by step instructions how to set up astrokam (setup, start, stop exposure series) and how to start/stop exposure series works with or without dither. When start, stop, running main exposure series what i see in Astrokam? Of course liveview off, i intersting for normal messages, status line, progress bar, etc. when start, running, stop series of exposure.

I confused too, i think Astrokam control ascom to goto functions, phd2 control telescope too. How it works, both programs connected to ascom?
 
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Offline Davo

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Re: CHDK AstroKam Support
« Reply #63 on: 04 / September / 2014, 10:11:52 »
AstroKam works with SEQUENCES and PLANS and you set both up in the Settings menu.

A sequence is a series of shots of a single target consisting of lights, darks and flats. Use the Settings>Sequence tab to set up a new sequence and then click the Add Sequence to Plan button.

A plan is a list of sequences that Astokam will work thru overnight, moving the scope to each sequence target in turn.

To start shooting a plan, click the plan button. You can also shoot a single sequence using the Sequence button. All the buttons have drop down help tips when you place the mouse over them.

AstroKam uses ASCOM to move the scope around. PHD2 can do the same. AstroKam controls PHD2 directly.

ps One tip is to use CdC to make your plan. Set up CdC with an ASCOM scope simulator and use it to place the CdC scope cursor over each target. You can then use the Copy Curent Scope Position in the Sequence tab to copy the coordinates directly into the AstroKam sequence.

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Offline mngc

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Re: CHDK AstroKam Support
« Reply #64 on: 28 / September / 2014, 15:13:04 »
It was bad weather for a very long time so outdoor testing was not much possible. I have many indoor and daylight tests. I tested Astrokam with Ascom telescope simulator and Cartes du ciel. Thanks for the great tips of CDC integration. Now I am testing Astrokam with my a590is, not SX110 (Astrokam with SX110 liveview is unstable). Liveview is ok, but OSD is not displayed properly in Astrokam. With OSD some icons, for example battery, are displayed with wrong color, but many original canon and CHDK OSD are not visible. With CHDKPTP canon and CHDK OSD ok. The manual focus control OSD and adjustment OSD not visible in Astrokam.

I am still in the process of figuring out how Astrokam works. I understand a great dial of it but there is still a lot to figure out and test. 

New functions would be very useful:

- Most important function: lots of times you can not tell if something is frozen or the process is just taking a particularly long time. It would be great to have a progress bar for all processes that are taking a long time. For example: when someone is initiating a preprogrammed shooting, a progress bar would be very useful to show if it is still going or it is frozen out.

-It is not the best that one has to give a time period for a certain photo shooting. It would be great if a number of frames could be set.

- The program is now showing the actual picture number when a preprogrammed photo shooting is in process, but it doesn’t show out of how many it is (like picture number 15 of 35).

-When there is a plan in progress you can not interrupt it with the stop button. It would be great if it could be interrupted at any time and to have a response signal of it. 

- At each restart the settings would go back to default. It would be great if the program would remember the last settings.

-In case of a sequence the time can not be set to anywhere less then 1 sec (for normal image, not bias). For the daylight tests or in case of a bright target (like Sun, Moon, etc.) it would be useful to be able to set fractions of a second. 

When I set 1 sec exposition time on the sequence/plan tab, then the status line down below shows 16 sec. If you check the exif data, it shows that the pictures are 1 sec.

When I run a plan, I often get the following message:
Start settling scope (not responding). But after some time program works again.

I try dither with PHD2 too, not easy without real telescope and real sky. I think it works, but PHD2 does crash sometimes. Astrokam sometimes when running plan, displays error messages, on top status information (local language) English translation: The operation is not allowed on non-connected sockets.
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Offline Davo

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Re: CHDK AstroKam Support
« Reply #65 on: 29 / September / 2014, 04:40:32 »
Thanks for your detailed comments and suggestions which I will work thru.

I will soon be moving my mount from my Summer solar location to its deep sky location. This will allow me to start using AstroKam again myself.  - it is a lot easier coding with a real scope looking at a real sky :)
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Offline mngc

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Re: CHDK AstroKam Support
« Reply #66 on: 06 / January / 2015, 08:40:18 »
Any news for new version of astrokam?
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Offline Davo

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Re: CHDK AstroKam Support
« Reply #67 on: 08 / January / 2015, 04:33:21 »
Quote from: mngc on 06 / January / 2015, 08:40:18
Any news for new version of astrokam?

Sorry about this, real life is getting in the way of my hobby. However, it is still in my to-do pile.

Dave
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Offline hamster0730

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Re: CHDK AstroKam Support
« Reply #68 on: 08 / January / 2015, 14:50:05 »
Hi,
First off, thanks for all of the time you've put into working on Astrokam...I hope to make use of it in the near future!  I'm using an A540 and cannot get the live view window to work.  I can connect to the camera and navigate successfully using the Menu/Up/Down/etc. buttons, but get this error when I press the Live button:

ERROR could not get live image:  Index was outside the bounds of the array. at CHDKTPTRemote.Session.add_pixel(Byte[] buf, Int32 pos, Byte y, SByte u, SByte v) at CHDKPTPRemote.Session.GetLiveImage (Boolean set_active_area,  Rectangle& ac....

I can succesfully use the CHDKPTP program to get a live view, but was hoping to use the astronomy features of your program!  If you can suggest anything I might be able to try, I would be grateful!
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Offline reyalp

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Re: CHDK AstroKam Support
« Reply #69 on: 08 / January / 2015, 15:46:39 »
Quote from: hamster0730 on 08 / January / 2015, 14:50:05
I can succesfully use the CHDKPTP program to get a live view, but was hoping to use the astronomy features of your program!  If you can suggest anything I might be able to try, I would be grateful!
Possibly related, A540 has a slightly odd frame buffer layout: The normal live view view is 352x240 (or 704x if counting Ys), not 360x240. The UI bitmap *is* 360x240.

There was also a similar but slightly different error discussed earlier related to Astorcam not handling viewport size changes, see discussion starting at http://chdk.setepontos.com/index.php?topic=10799.msg113924#msg113924
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