The G10 is not exactly known for its low light performance unfortunately. It's a high pixel count sensor but the noise goes up quickly at middle to higher ISO settings. Still, it's a fun camera.You might be interested in this wiki page : http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Meteor_Intervalometer_with_Dark_Frame_Management and the link to the forum thread that it references.
Post some of your best shots here when you get back?Update : I'm curious about what you were thinking when you mentioned writing your own script? What else would you want a "star trails" script to do? Also, have you worked out how your are going to power the two cameras? You can get hours of shooting from a fresh battery but it's not unlimited.
The meteor script for example I think was written for the Perseids meteor shower, or Iridium Flares (fast moving objects in the night sky, or satellites.. not something mundane as plain old 'stars').
Another script was written for catching Sunsets and Sunrises, manipulating the Exposure automatically to avoid blow outs or damaging the sensor during long exposures.
My "guess" is that 12v auto charger contains the complicated "diode" that prevents power flowing back out the port and the would provide power if I could just come up with a "power barrel connector" to "power barrel connector" to the DR50 DC Coupler.. that or I could "jumper" the diode inside the charger. The end result would be I could still charge it in an outlet, but might want to diode protect the12v autocharger if it isn't already wired with a diode. At worst, I would have to sneak a paper clip into the charger box. And never use the 12v autocharger port except to power the camera. At best, its already wired that way, and I can charge using an outlet or the 12v autocharger port and power the camera.
The comments about the 'Meteor' Script and the 'Sunset' Script are encouraging. I will look into them and try to set them up for a test this evening or next.
The larger 7.4v for 3400 mAh battery pack was my 'thought experiment' to go beyond the internal NB-7L battery pack in the camera. The NB-7L says it provides 7.4v for 1050 mAh. I'm not sure how long the smaller internal battery pack will last taking time lapse shots at night.
The larger battery pack would be 3.23 times longer whatever the Unit of time the original battery packs would last, but they will not fit the battery compartment of the camera.
So I was trying to come up with a way of simply charging them, then connecting them to the DC Coupler which fits in the battery compartment. The G10 has a very tiny spring loaded trap door in the side shaped like a little "foot" that a wire from the DC Coupler passes through, rather like a microscopic kitty door in the back door of a house. If by chance everything worked out perfectly it would be a fairly water and moisture resistant solution, good enough to fend off any condensation or dew. If I have to go down the path of opening things up and splicing them together.. I run the risk of a less elegant solution.
I guess the most direct answer to your question is "I wanted to use the battery charger and its battery clip/connector (when it was not connected to a 110v outlet for charging) to connect to the 12v autocharger port and then to the camera DC coupler, expecting the battery to then discharge through the 12v adapter port and into the camera to provide it power."
I am aware there is probably some sort of rectifier or diode protection to prevent accidentally discharging in the reverse direction into the automobile electrical system. But Kinda thought or assumed to save money, the manufacturers of the charger might put that extra diode protection in the 12v autocharger component that plugs into the car and leave the 12v port on the main charger unprotected.
Could be a problem with that simplistic thinking though, without stepping the voltage down from 12v to something closer to the 7.4V the battery is expected to provide.. it might generate a lot of heat while charging.. best estimates I've seen are 12v to 8v measured, that's 4v to dissipate across a resistor or something else.. I'm no electrical engineer.. so I'm not sure what their options are. They might have clever charge bucket bridges to do it these days. If you can use them to step up a voltage, I guess you can use them to step down too.]
Its mostly a thought experiment though, since I don't think I'll be able to get the parts before Friday.
And if I really can't capture anything of worth in shorter intervals, then maybe I shouldn't invest a lot of time in finishing this approach to extending the night time capture length.
I do have the ACK-DC50 adapters. I doubt they will make power ports available at the observatory out there, especially to transient guests. But I'll carry one along anyway.
Pardon my crazy formatted messages and images. I am not familar with BBC code yet and I'm learning as I type.
You can see I make a lot of mistakes.. lol.
I also read something about disabling Overrides?
Could you provide any general descriptions that might serve as a guide to me, and anyone else who might be browsing for information?
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