Astrophotography

Chad : I bought SGP a while back and consider the plate solve and filter wheel control well worth the money. It is not as fancy as Maxim DL but a whole lot cheaper. You should also image in raw to get the best results. Also, I know the frustration that comes with process of getting everything to work.

One of the guys I met at Eldorado star party uses SGP to control everything from mount ,camera filter wheel, and focuser with good success.

Dave

---------- Original Message ----------
From: "Astrophotography" <astrophotography@centexastronomy.org>
To: "jde209@netzero.net" <jde209@netzero.net>
Subject: re: Sequence Generator Pro questions <<$196580933553$>>
Date: Fri, 11 May 2018 07:40:34 -0500




I am efforting that as we speak. I had to switch from my comfort zone of BYEOS to a more unfamiliar APT as it uses a third party plate solver and mount sync capability. In order to use the plate solver though, I have to switch the type of frames I am getting to Raw and Large being that the plate solver only reads FITS and JPEG. I think once I solve and sync the mount I can switch back to raw frames only to save data space.

I will admit I am having a bit of frustration wasting precious imaging time getting these processes worked out. It is a bit frustrating but I know it is gonna be awesome being able to go back to imaging exactly where I left off without shooting a 30 second shot, moving telescope, shooting another 30 second frame, etc until it gets back to where I want it. I always have to shoot on multiple days.

Before I spend the money, I just wanted to reac out and see if anyone else had freeware that would do it. i have been researching through internet searches and Cloudynights to get every bit of info Ican about SGP. I will continue to work out the APT and plate solving and once working well will add SGP.

I am efforting that as we speak. I had to switch from my comfort zone of BYEOS to a more unfamiliar APT as it uses a third party plate solver and mount sync capability. In order to use the plate solver though, I have to switch the type of frames I am getting to Raw and Large being that the plate solver only reads FITS and JPEG. I think once I solve and sync the mount I can switch back to raw frames only to save data space.

I will admit I am having a bit of frustration wasting precious imaging time getting these processes worked out. It is a bit frustrating but I know it is gonna be awesome being able to go back to imaging exactly where I left off without shooting a 30 second shot, moving telescope, shooting another 30 second frame, etc until it gets back to where I want it. I always have to shoot on multiple days.

Before I spend the money, I just wanted to reac out and see if anyone else had freeware that would do it. i have been researching through internet searches and Cloudynights to get every bit of info Ican about SGP. I will continue to work out the APT and plate solving and once working well will add SGP.

Chad : I have SGP but have not used the automated meridian flip but it is supposed to do all those things. Have you got the plate solve to work with the dslr ? The plate solve works well with my ccd camera but I only have tried it a couple of times with my dslr unsuccessfuly. I really did not dig into why it didn’t work other than I may have had some settings wrong. SGP is a good program and allows filter control with a monochrome camera. That is the biggest reason I have it.



Dave

--------- Original Message ----------
From: "Astrophotography" <astrophotography@centexastronomy.org>
To: "jde209@netzero.net" <jde209@netzero.net>
Subject: Sequence Generator Pro questions <<$196543766297$>>
Date: Thu, 10 May 2018 15:55:12 -0500




I am at a point where I am ready to automate my astrophotography sessions. I get headaches from getting 3 hours of sleep for imaging sessions and I don't want to miss out on clear skies being fearful of another headache. I have investigated SGP and was wondering about your thoughts. I have the Bresser 208mm coupled with a canon xsi, AVX, guidescope and guide camera and Teamviewer which allows me to control my laptop connected to the rig from inside the house on another computer. The chief intent is to use SGP primarily for the events surrounding a meridian flip. (i.e. check if it is time to flip, when it is- stop guiding, meridian flip, plate solve, start guiding and continue camera work, shut everything down when complete.)

From what I have read, SGP works with DSLRs. Please let me know if my coconuts are falling from a banana tree.

Ultimate goal is to set the rig up start the processes, sleep through the night and process in the morning.

If there is a freeware version that would be awesome, but I can live with 100 bucks if there isn't.

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I am at a point where I am ready to automate my astrophotography sessions. I get headaches from getting 3 hours of sleep for imaging sessions and I don't want to miss out on clear skies being fearful of another headache. I have investigated SGP and was wondering about your thoughts. I have the Bresser 208mm coupled with a canon xsi, AVX, guidescope and guide camera and Teamviewer which allows me to control my laptop connected to the rig from inside the house on another computer. The chief intent is to use SGP primarily for the events surrounding a meridian flip. (i.e. check if it is time to flip, when it is- stop guiding, meridian flip, plate solve, start guiding and continue camera work, shut everything down when complete.)

From what I have read, SGP works with DSLRs. Please let me know if my coconuts are falling from a banana tree.

Ultimate goal is to set the rig up start the processes, sleep through the night and process in the morning.

If there is a freeware version that would be awesome, but I can live with 100 bucks if there isn't.