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Adding my camera
#1
I am new to Skytools and only been trying to image the skies since last November.  My camera is a ZWO ASI 294mm PRO and unfortunately it is not listed in the Camera Pool.  There are about three available in the community pool but strangely enough the parameters of all three seem to be of when the camera is in Bin 2 mode.  Since I normally use my camera in the Bin 1 mode at gain 108, I tried to setup a new camera using parameters for the Bin 1 mode, but I am getting riduculously long exposure times.  I got the values from the manufacturer's website so I believe that the values should be correct. Should I actually be using the camera in Bin 2 mode.  FWIW the camera is coupled to a Willams Optics RedCat 61 WIFD.
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#2
What kind of predictions do you get if you set the camera up for BIN 2 mode? Maybe there's a good reason that the other entries use BIN 2. Exposure times should be significantly shorter using BIN 2 vs. BIN 1, for example. The optical system is a 61mm aperture, so the light grasp is limited.

What are you imaging and how do your images look? Are you satisfied with the quality that you're getting on the BIN 1 setting?

Hopefully someone with experience using your camera will offer some insights.

Hope this helps,

Phil S.
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#3
(2025-02-02, 07:21 PM)PMSchu Wrote: What kind of predictions do you get if you set the camera up for BIN 2 mode? Maybe there's a good reason that the other entries use BIN 2. Exposure times should be significantly shorter using BIN 2 vs. BIN 1, for example. The optical system is a 61mm aperture, so the light grasp is limited.

What are you imaging and how do your images look? Are you satisfied with the quality that you're getting on the BIN 1 setting?

Hopefully someone with experience using your camera will offer some insights.

Hope this helps,

Phil S.

If I select Bin 2 for the Rosette Nebula for example, I get 70min for Ha, 8.7hr for OIII and 43hr for SII
In Bin 1 I get 10.3hr for Ha, 112.3hr for OIII and 402hr for SII
All these selecting 15 SNR.
I have never tried Bin 2 yet for this camera but the results for Ha for the Rosette nebula in Bin 1 with Ha filter with around 7hr worth of exposures was quite acceptable.   
Was not using Bin 2 because, according to the CCD suitability calculator on the astronomy tools website, in Bin 2 I will be undersampling with the camera telescope combination, and I would be spot on with Bin 1 mode.
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#4
(2025-02-03, 01:42 PM)ecassar Wrote:
(2025-02-02, 07:21 PM)PMSchu Wrote: What kind of predictions do you get if you set the camera up for BIN 2 mode? Maybe there's a good reason that the other entries use BIN 2. Exposure times should be significantly shorter using BIN 2 vs. BIN 1, for example. The optical system is a 61mm aperture, so the light grasp is limited.

What are you imaging and how do your images look? Are you satisfied with the quality that you're getting on the BIN 1 setting?

Hopefully someone with experience using your camera will offer some insights.

Hope this helps,

Phil S.

If I select Bin 2 for the Rosette Nebula for example, I get 70min for Ha, 8.7hr for OIII and 43hr for SII
In Bin 1 I get 10.3hr for Ha, 112.3hr for OIII and 402hr for SII
All these selecting 15 SNR.
I have never tried Bin 2 yet for this camera but the results for Ha for the Rosette nebula in Bin 1 with Ha filter with around 7hr worth of exposures was quite acceptable.   
Was not using Bin 2 because, according to the CCD suitability calculator on the astronomy tools website, in Bin 2 I will be undersampling with the camera telescope combination, and I would be spot on with Bin 1 mode.

So let's see if I understand. Its not that its set up for Binx2 only, but that for this object the Binx1 results don't fit your expectations. If so, there can be a lot of explanations for why its not giving the results you expect; its not really about the binning.

If I understand correctly, you have seen "quite acceptable results" in 7 hours of exposing in the Ha, but SkyTools is suggesting 10hr to reach an SNR of 15. I'd say those numbers are in the ballpark, depending on specific circumstances, and how you define "quite acceptable."

Let's start by double-checking your OTA settings. Make sure that the aperture, focal length, and central obstruction (if there is one) are set correctly.

I'm looking at the first shared camera that comes up in the list, and it looks good. So be sure you are using that one.

The Rosette has high quality narrow band data, so this is a good target to make comparisons for.

What tool in SkyTools are you using to compute the time to reach the given SNR? Is it the Smart Project Builder? Or the Advanced Exposure Calculator? Or something else?
Clear skies,
Greg
Head Dude at Skyhound
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